# Adding ground flax to baked goods



## greeny (Apr 27, 2007)

I'm making banana bread today with my standard recipe (an older Joy of Cooking recipe).

I want to add as much ground flax as I possibly can without screwing up the bread. I've never baked with substantial quantities of ground flax, and I have a few questions:

- What does adding ground flax do consistency wise to baked products?

- How much could I add to one loaf of banana bread and still have the bread turn out okay? (Are we talking a few tablespoons, for example, or an entire cup?)

- Do I need to take something else out when adding flax? In other words, is it a replacement for something else (like flour or fat), or is it just an "extra?"

- Any tips on adjusting recipes for flax? Or can I just add it and keep everything else the same?

Thanks!


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## sedalbj (Mar 17, 2004)

Does the heat from baking destroy the good oils in flax? I have been thinking of adding it to cookies etc, but was wondering about the heat.


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## greeny (Apr 27, 2007)

Good question.


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## sojourn (Oct 8, 2006)

I use milled flax in place of some flour in recipes and I don't notice a difference in consistency, but maybe in color (coming out darker). I don't think cooking or baking temps get high enough to destroy anything good in it, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't go crazy w/it, as a little goes a long way, but like replace a C of flour w/maybe like a 1/4 C of flax give or take (ground or milled, not whole seeds). As far as in other recipes, I just add a tsp to tbsp or so here and there in dishes. You can even just sprinkle some directly on top of foods.


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## avendesora (Sep 23, 2004)

Salmon also has omega-3s, and people cook that all the time... I think that the omegas could handle some baking, or salmon wouldn't be recommended so much.

Aven


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## 425lisamarie (Mar 4, 2005)

I don't remember the exact conversion....sometimes it's on the packaging. You can substitute the fat for flax, or the egg, or just add it on top. My point being that I think you use quite a bit for in place of the fat so I'm sure a few tablespoons would be fine. Those chia seeds have the same health properties or some think even more, and they have no flavour...and you don't have to grind them


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## rachdoll (Aug 18, 2003)

I add ground flax to just about everything I bake - I would imagine 1/4 C just in your regular recipe wouldn't be a problem. I have heard that flax meal can be substituted for eggs, but i've never tried it, just always add some in addition to the regular ingredients.


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## carnelian (Feb 24, 2006)

Yes, the good oils from flax are destroyed by heat. So if you want those benefits raw is the way to get them. However flax oil is notoriously unstable and subject to rancidity very easily.


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## kjbrown92 (Dec 13, 2007)

I don't think the good stuff in flax is lost to heat, because they say not to have more than 2 Tbs. uncooked per day, because it contains cyanogen which is harmless in small amounts, but in large amounts can act to keep your thyroid from taking up enough iodine. Cyanogen is rendered inactive by cooking. Also they say your body uses it better milled than whole.

In my bread recipes that use about 4 cups of flour, I'll replace 1/4 c. of the flour with milled flaxseed (I do it in pizza crust, baguettes, wheat bread, etc.). I also have milled flax in my pancakes and muffins. In all of those, I just replace some of the flour with the milled flax. If you were to just add the flax, on top of the flour, I think it would come out too dry. Because my daughter can't have eggs, I also use it as an egg substitute.

I store my milled flaxseed in the freezer (tends to get rancid when left unopened at room temp.

1 egg = 1 Tbs. milled flax + 3 Tbs. water (microwaved on high for 1 minute) comes out gelatinous, like an egg. Can replace 1-2 eggs in a recipe. If the recipe calls for more eggs than that, it's usually too important an ingredient.

Kathy


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## einalems2 (Jun 8, 2006)

I usually add about a 1/4 cup to all of our baked goods, including packaged foods (w wheat pancake mix, org brownies, etc.) in addition to regular ingredients. I adjust by adding a touch more liquid (couple Tbsp water by sight). Bob's Red Mill has a website with recipes that include ground flax. Maybe look there for banana bead?

http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipe/

HTH!


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## sedalbj (Mar 17, 2004)

I just bought Nourishing Traditions and was reading the section on fats yesterday. Here is what it says:

"Flax oil contains 9 percent saturated fatty acids, 18 percent oleic acid, 16 percent omega-6 and 57 percent omega-3. With its extremely high omega-3 content, flax seed oil provides a remedy for the omega-6/omega-3 imbalance so prevalent in America today. Not surprisingly, Scandinavian folk lore values flax seed oil as a health food. New extraction and bottling methods have minimized rancidity problems. It should always be kept refrigerated, never heated, and consumed in small amounts in salad dressings and spreads'. pg 20

"Polyunsaturated oils (omega-3 is one) should never be heated or used in cooking." pg 9

Fallon talks about the overabundance of polyunsaturated oils in the american diet today (soy, corn, safflower and canola oils). then goes on to say:

"One reason polyunsaturates cause so many health problems is that they tend to become oxidized or rancid when subjected to heat, oxygen and moisture as in cooking and processing. Rancid oils are characterized by free radicals - that is, single atoms or clusters with an unpaired electron in outer orbit. These compounds are extremely reactive chemically. They have been characterized as "marauders" in the body for they attach cell membranes and red blood cells, causing damage in DNA/RNA strands that can trigger mutations in tissue, blood vessels and skin." and it goes on, pg 10

My interpretation of this is, our omega-6 is very imbalanced because of the 'seed based' diet we are on today. We need the omega-3's to balance them out (and also reduce the 6's) but cooking a polyunsaturated oil like corn isn't the answer, it is eating them raw, like flax oil.


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## greeny (Apr 27, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I ended up not making the bread at all, because the frozen bananas I was going to use liquified when I let them thaw out, so I composted them instead.









I normally eat about two tablespoons of ground flax mixed into oatmeal. (I mix it into the cooked oatmeal, so it gets heated up, but I don't cook the flax with the oatmeal.)

I have, however, been hearing conflicting things about flax, including some suggestions that there is really no health benefit, that the Omega's in it can't be absorbed (or something like that). I need to do some research.....


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## sojourn (Oct 8, 2006)

I am interested in more research on this (and thinks for the info thus far!). This is fascinating to me.

I thought the deal was that the oil wasn't great b/c it already lost beneficial stuff, and seeds-while ideal in theory, aren't easily broken down and digested like already milled (so you don't necessarily get all the goodness that flax offers), so milled (ground) was the way to go. I also didn't think cooking killed off or made unstable the efa's. This is very interesting to me.

Interesting too-kj-I too thought it was something you *could* overdo but wasn't really sure why (couldn't remember what I read on that).

Well, at least I knew to fridge or freeze mine. I actually freeze mine after it has been opened.


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