Using flax meal in baking

[Mindy]

Has anyone ever subbed flax meal for some of the flour in baked goods? I just made muffins and subbed 1/4 cup of the flour with the flax meal. It didn't say on the package. I was just wondering if anyone knows the exact substitution.

[Gilgamesh37]

The usual substitution is for eggs, not for flour, since flax is counted as a fat (I think, iirc). I know I've done this in a T&T muffin recipe and I disliked the texture, plus the muffins didn't hold as well at room temperature. This is the sub I just found with a quick on line search--pretty sure I just substituted ground flax mixed with water, but no baking powder. As I said, I disliked the texture, even when I was only substituting for 1 (of 2) eggs.

Make flaxmeal by grinding flaxseed in a blender until it has the consistency of cornmeal. Use two tablespoons flaxmeal plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder plus 3 tablespoons water for each egg called for in recipe

[sneezles]

You can use it in recipes and sub for some of the flour. Cut the flour by 1/2-3/4 cup adding back in the same amount of flaxseed. Unless you are subbing for eggs treat it as a dry ingredient and you may have to increase the liquid in the recipe (only a few drops at a time though).

As a sub for eggs it's 1 tbs ground flaxseed + 3 tbs water per egg. Mix and let sit for a couple of minutes before adding to the batter.

[Kathy B]

I do what you did Mindy, and sub 1/4 cup of ground flax for 1/4 cup of flour. I do it in almost all the baked goods I make, and it works just fine. I could probably sub more, but I also tend to sub WW pastry flour for the AP flour in most recipes. I don't want to get carried away!

[Mindy]

Kathy B- that's just what I did. My kids love muffins and I'm always trying to make them more nutritious. Today I made CL sour cream coffe cake muffins from the 2007 annual. Instead of 1 3/4 cup white flour I used 1 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup flax meal. My kids were none the wiser! Those are their favorite muffins and they couldn't tell the diference!

It said on the package (bob's red mill) that the flax meal can be used to sub for oil....but how??? It's a dry ingredient like flour or oats. I'm going to continue to use it like I did today. I'd be scared to use more than 1/4 cup that it would change the texture too much.

[KimKelly]

I add a few TBS of flax meal to just about all of my baked goods. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, whole grain breads... even cakes and brownies!

[Anne]

I often substitute ground flax seed for half or so of the fat in quickbread recipies - use about a 2 or 3 to one ratio of water to flax to equal the volume of oil/butter replaced.