Protein powder for baking

Contents:

• Introduction
• Can you bake with protein powder at all?
• Which protein powder is suitable for baking?
• Baking with Whey Protein
• Casein protein powder for baking
• Multicomponent protein powder in cakes
• Baking with vegan protein powder
• Low carb baking with Whey Protein
• 6 tips for use
• Do proteins remain intact during baking?
• Bake healthier with protein powder

Healthier baking with Whey Protein and our tips

If you want to achieve your training goals, you also need to pay attention to a conscious diet. Baked goods, bread and sweet pastries unfortunately do not fit into a healthy diet and training plan at first glance. However, it is not easy to completely resist sweet temptations. Especially in diet and definition phases, in which discipline is required, the renunciation of cakes and cookies is often all the more difficult. But thanks to protein powder, the renunciation is not necessary at all, even for athletes. Because the powder can do much more than just be used for shakes. Whey protein is very suitable for baking and through the protein powder your baked goods also become healthier. If you pay attention to the choice of ingredients and use protein powder for baking, calories, carbohydrates and sugar can be saved.

In this guide, we'll show you which ingredients can be replaced with protein powder, which protein powder is best for baking, and how you should use it.

Can you bake with protein powder at all?

Whey protein can be used well for both baking and cooking. Protein powder improves the nutritional value of baked goods without sacrificing flavor and sweetness. This is because Whey can replace some of the flour and sugar.

Most athletes have protein powder in their cupboard. Often the powder is drunk as a shake or added to cottage cheese. But Whey protein has even more uses. Protein powder also offers many advantages in baking.

Protein helps maintain and build muscle mass, so your body needs the protein in training. Depending on how it is prepared, Whey can also provide the protein to your body in the form of baked goods. Using a protein powder that is suitable for baking not only increases the protein content in baked goods, it even has other positive aspects - Whey protein also contains fewer carbohydrates and fats than regular flour. If you use protein powder for baking, you can replace part of the flour and sugar can alsobe reduced or omitted completely. Because of the sweetness of the powder, you do not need additional sugar, depending on the taste and recipe. Therefore, you can also use Whey Protein in a diet. At the same time, you can try out new recipe variations due to the different flavors of the protein powder.

The same advantages as in muscle building can also be used in baking with Whey Proteins. This makes baked goods, breads and sweet pastries not only delicious, but also healthier.

Looking for inspiration on baking with protein powder? Discover our Whey Protein recipes.

Which protein powder is suitable for baking?

Any protein powder can be used forbaking , which is also used for a shake. Whey and casein protein are just as suitable as a multi-component protein or for the vegan diet, for example, a soy protein powder. However, each type of protein powder has certain properties. That's why not every powder goes well with every baked good.

Which protein powder you can use for baking also depends on personal taste. If you don't like casein powder in your shake, you may prefer to bake with Whey protein. But the flavor of the protein powder also plays an important role in baking. Because the dough or the cream of the baked goods takes on the taste of the protein powder. So you should make sure that the flavor matches the recipe when you prepare it. If you want to bake cakes or muffins with Whey Protein Banana and Biscuit, the dough will also taste like these flavors. If you actually want the cake to have a fruity note, a fruity Whey Protein powder will also fit better.

We show you the advantages of baking with Whey and Casein protein powders and for which baked goods and cakes vegan protein powders and multi-component proteins are particularly suitable.

Baking with Whey Protein

"Whey" is the English word for whey and is created during cheese production. The biggest advantage of Whey is itsprotein content and high biological value.[¹] This means that the body can use Whey protein very efficiently to form its own proteins. Whey contains not only the semi-essential amino acids, but also the essential amino acids that the body cannot form itself.[²] Among them also the BCAAs. At the same time, Whey is easily digestible and absorbed by the body faster than other protein powders.[³]

When baking with Whey protein, the biggest advantage is that the protein powder mixes very easily with the other ingredients such as eggs, flour, milk and butter, creating a good mass for the dough.

Tip:

Even when baking with Whey can not be completely without flour. The flour acts as a stabilizer in the dough. Without this property, the dough becomes rather rubbery. Too much Whey protein in baking makes the dough compact and dry. The delicious consistency you expect from your cake would not result.

To still bake a delicious dough, you can add juicy ingredients like apple, zucchini or cottage cheese during preparation. This will loosen up the dough and it will not be dry. Due to the properties of Whey Protein in baking, especially cakes, protein bars and energy balls succeed very well. The powder is less suitable for fluffy baked goods such as pancakes or rolls. Since Whey is quickly absorbed and metabolized by the body, you can eat the healthy snacks with protein powder especially well after training. As a "bedtime snack" you should rather not take them, because Whey protein is not suitable for a long-term protein supply overnight.

Casein protein powder for baking

Casein also comes from cow's milk and makes up 80% of the protein there. Just like Whey, it contains all the essential amino acids. The difference lies mainly in the absorption time in the intestine. This is because casein protein is digested much more slowly and therefore also supplies the body with proteins more slowly and over a longer period of time.[⁴]

Both casein and whey are very high quality protein powders. However, when baking with casein protein powder, it behaves differently than with Whey. As in the shake, the casein powder provides a creamy consistency. You can take advantage of this property when baking. If you mix the casein with liquid foods such as milk and quark or in a liquid dough, the consistency immediately becomes creamier and gives the dough a binding effect without drying it out. For this reason, it's best to bake with casein protein powder when you want especially fluffy baked goods such as panpacks or muffins . Quark dishes or cheesecakes can also be prepared well with casein powder. Crunchy pastries like cookies are better baked with Whey Protein.

Due to the longer absorption time, casein is more suitable for baked goods for breakfast to supply the body with protein throughout the day and less as a power snack after training.

Multicomponent protein powder in cakes

Multicomponent protein powders are based - as the name suggests - not only on one protein, but on several types. Whey and casein protein are often combined, as this makes the powder perfect for muscle building. A multi-component protein powder like ESN's Elite Pro Complex combines the advantages of casein and Whey and provides the body with quickly absorbable proteins, but also ensures a longer-term supply.

The combination of the different protein powders not only brings benefits for the body and muscle building, but also in baking. Because of the creamy consistency of casein and the firmer of Whey, multi-component protein powders make good dough - even with less flour. If you use protein powder with several proteins for baking, you will succeed in making fluffy pancakes and cakes as well as delicious breads.

Baking with vegan protein powder

If you, as an athlete, forgo animal foods in your diet, vegan protein pow ders are a good alternative to the classic protein powders - and also for baking. Vegan protein as a healthy, alternative protein source is in no way inferior to whey and casein in terms of protein content and can be used just as well in baking. Vegan protein powders can be made from a variety of protein sources, some are made from soy, others from peas or hemp.

Protein powder made from soy yields a similar creamy consistency to casein powder when baked. However, soy products can also be used as a binder. This means you can even use it as an egg substitute. This simplifies vegan baking and with the vegan Soy-Pro-Isolate from ESN you will succeed in particularly juicy recipes. Protein powder from rice you can use well for baking protein bars and muffins. These two vegan proteins are rather neutral in taste. Here, the respective flavor of the protein powder is decisive for the subsequent taste.

Powders with peas or hemp, on the other hand, have a slight taste of their own. When cooking or baking cakes with fruit or chocolate, however, you will not notice the taste very much.

Low carb baking with Whey Protein

In a low carb diet you reduce the intake of carbohydrates. If the body receives too few carbohydrates, it starts to use the energy from the fat reserves. This leads to rapid weight loss in the short term.[⁵] However, when it comes to baked goods and bread, it is very difficult to give up, because very few sweet pastries do without carbohydrates.

It's also hard not to use carbs when baking with Whey Protein, but protein powder often contains fewer carbs than regular wheat flour. If you want to bake low carb, pay attention to the percentage of carbohydrates in the protein powder when preparing it. The ESN Fruity Whey Isolate contains particularly few carbohydrates and fat and is therefore well suited for a low carb cake.

So using protein powder with low carbohydrates for baking is a good way how you can save more carbohydrates even on a low carb diet.

Protein powder in baking: 6 tips for use.

With our tips for baking with Whey , you'll get any recipe done without any problems and also prepare them tasty and, most importantly, healthier.

1. High quality protein powder

No matter what cake or baked good: it is especially important that you use a high-quality protein powder for baking. Otherwise, the baking result may not turn out as desired.

2. Replace only part of the flour

Never replace all the flour with Whey Protein when baking. Otherwise, the dough will be too dry and will not get the consistency of a delicious cake. You should not replace more than ¼ of the flour with Whey.

To save even more carbohydrates, you can use coconut or almond flour instead of wheat flour. These flours provide nutrients, are gluten-free and contain fewer carbohydrates, so they are also recommended for a low carb diet.

3. Less sugar

If you use protein powder for baking, you won't need the amount of sugar that's in the recipe. Powders with flavors like cookie, vanilla or chocolate already bring a certain sweetness.

Instead of refined sugar, you can also use coconut blossom sugar. This causes blood sugar to rise less quickly[⁶] and is therefore healthier than refined sugar. You can also save more calories by using sweeteners such as birch sugar or stevia.[⁷]

4. Ingredients With moisture

Whey for baking in particular can cause dough to dry out quickly. Foods with lots of moisture, such as apple, carrot, zucchini and banana, work against this and the dough becomes moist and delicious.

5. The right protein powder

Not every protein powder can be used to bake every pastry. If you use Whey instead of casein protein to bake a cheesecake, the end result may have the wrong consistency.

6. The right flavor

The same goes for the flavor. Here, too, you should make sure to choose a flavor that matches the pastry.

Do proteins remain intact during baking?

Both animal and vegetable proteins are heat-resistant and are not destroyed during baking and cooking. They retain the same effect as in a cool shake. So protein powder can be used well to replace some of the flour, sugar or egg while providing protein.

The heat generated by baking and cooking in the oven or on the stove does not affect the protein content of protein powder. Only the structure of the amino acid chains changes. Since the amino acids are broken down into their individual parts in the body, it is not important in which order they arrive. Even with protein-rich foods, the proteins remain intact after cooking.

Bake healthier with protein powder

The body can do well without cookies and other baked goods, but sometimes you may just give in to the craving for something sweet. By baking protein-rich cookies with healthy ingredients, even you as an athlete don't have to give up your piece of cake. Protein powder for baking can save carbohydrates, sugar and calories . This is a great advantage in a conscious diet. In addition, the protein powder in your pastry gives you an extra serving of protein.

Together with healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, flour alternatives like coconut flour and sugar substitutes, sweet snacks baked with protein powder are comparatively healthy.

Sources:

[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/food.19970410103

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9405716/

[4] https://examine.com/supplements/casein-protein/

[5] https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0032-1327034

[6] https://www.kokosbluetenzucker.com/naehrstoffe/

[7] https://www.aok.de/bw-gesundnah/ernaehrung-und-rezepte/gesunder-zuckerersatz