Is there something that I can use as a substitute for the Resistant What Starch? Soooo expensive and only available from one website!

Unfortunately, KevinPa passed away several years ago. His recipes and oodles of experiments and knowledge were posted in the LowCarbFriends.com website/forum. Unfortunately, that was discontinued about a year ago. At this point, his recipes are probably only stored in people’s notes, their computers and printed recipe cards. I tried to dig them up through the Wayback Machine, but it looks like they’ve been lost to time (and I’m actually really sad about that!) … Sorry about this. Hopefully someone else will chime in with their notes!

Kevin Pa was a huge influence in my early story. I moved on from most all ingredients in this recipe, as well as Carbalose and ingredients like Isomalt. I love that they exist and I know they definitely have their fans, but these ingredients ultimately stalled me out (not the Isomalt. That’s actually fine, but … it caused some tummy issues). In any event, my story also likely wouldn’t even have begun without people like Kevin Pa. So, I encourage anyone new to pay attention to Cindy’s comment. It has a lot of merit and may even work for you, in the long run. It just personally held me back. Thank you for the input, Cindy!

Yep, I was (like most others) upset by KevinPa’s passing. His contributions were a huge part of my earliest experiments. I learned loads from him. At this point, I’m upset to see that the entire LowCarbFriends forum is gone. That housed a massive wealth of stable information and support for people. I understand social media, online groups, etc. but I can be a bit stodgy and honestly still prefer a good old-fashioned forum. I was very sad to see that go, as well. Hey, at least we still have Frankenloaf!

Removing Any Unpleasant Taste from Low Carb Baking Mixes and Carbalose Flour

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=666931

 Many people have complained that they detect a nasty, unacceptable taste in Carbalose and Carbquik. That is a pity as the products are actually very innovative and have some really wonderful uses. I recently discovered that by combining one of those flours half and half with my Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix, a wonderful thing happens – that strange taste seems to diminish or disappear completely depending on how sensitive you are to the aftertaste (I tasted nothing bad at all). Together the two make a fascinating new low-carb bake mix, not too unlike using real flour. Try it and see. You can order these wonderful products by Tova from Netrition.com. You will be taking your low-carb experience up to a new level, I think.

What is more, the sodium content of these flours is what has put many people off as well. It’s never fun to see a 2-lb water weight gain on the mean old scale in the morning. Now the sodium content will be cut by half and then it is cut further by the number of servings – not too bad at this point and no undue water weight should pile on.

I have yet to try it in several other recipes but I did make the Cheddar Bay Biscuits on Linda Sue’s fabulous website. She had a tweaked version of what apparently appeared on the Carbquik box and I followed it and substituted half the Carbquik with my Splendid Low-Carb Bake mix and half with Carbalose flour (probably could have used Carbquik but I didn’t have any). I also added 2 tsp of baking powder, because the Carbquik is like a biscuit mix with the shortening and baking powder included. I used unsalted butter. They turned out super! No funky aftertaste at all in my opinion.

 We just made 2 different blueberry muffins recipes. I really wish I could say that my bake mix stood head and shoulders over the combination of my bake mix and Carbalose flour, but alas I can’t. Although both are very nice, the Carbalose/Vital Oat Ultimate Bake Mix combo was very much like baking with white flour. It tasted so similar to me. This is good and bad news. Good news for Netrition and Tova if many people now go and purchase Carbalose flour to make this lovely bake mix and bad news too as it means using yet another specialty ingredient. To be honest it is worth buying a few specialty ingredients if one wants to be truly satisfied in the low-carb baking department.

I, for one, will now be buying much more Carbalose flour. I love it now!! I’ll be honest. The reason I wasn’t using it much, was not so much because of the aftertaste but more because of the high sodium content. I don’t like a lot of sodium in things as my DH has high blood pressure and I myself detest water weight gains.

Vital Oat Ultimate Bake Mix

1 1/2 C ground almonds (can use almond flour, but add a little more vital wheat gluten and oat flour – like 1 T of each)
1 C oat flour
1/2 C vital wheat gluten

Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix

1 2/3 C ground almonds
2/3 C whey protein (plain or vanilla*)
2/3 C vital wheat gluten
*add 1/2 tsp vanilla if using plain

In large tupperware-type container with lid, combine ground almonds, vanilla whey protein and vital wheat gluten. Replace lid and shake until all ingredients are well combined. This recipe may be doubled or tripled, so that one always has bake mix on hand. I keep it at room temperature in the container for months, but it may be kept in the refrigerator or freezer as well.
Nutritional Analysis: 1/3 cup
162.9 calories; 14.3 g protein; 10.3 g fat; 3.3 g carbs

Some flexibility with this bake mix exists:  Let’s see, some people feel the whey proteins are too expensive. They are expensive, but last a long time, especially if one does not bake very frequently. They also keep really well for ages at room temperature.

Instead of the whey protein, Carbalose flour (from Netrition.com – The Internet’s Premier Nutrition Superstore!), oat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour.

Some people balk at the idea of ground almonds, thinking perhaps that is the most expensive part of the bake mix. 2/3 C of the ground almonds could be replaced by any of the above suggestions. Ground almonds can be replaced by any ground nuts of your choice.

I made my Aunty Marie’s Blueberry Muffins from Splendid Low-Carbing for Life, Vol 1. First I made them with my bake mix and next I made them with half my bake mix and half Carbalose flour. Both muffins were delicious. The ones made from Carbalose rose a little higher (maybe because I used liners for them?) and were lighter in color and slightly less dense.

I’m very pleased with both of them. I like the idea of the extra fiber in the Carbalose flour. I like the idea that the muffins are still quite low in sodium, so no water weight blues. Use unsalted butter with the Carbalose version, although I forgot and used salted butter and it was fine (I did add a couple of Splenda packets extra though to make it sweeter because I used the salted butter – saltiness cuts sweetness, especially with Splenda).