Dry Milk Powder

[Joni63]

I have a book that only uses dry milk powder in it's recipes. I'd like to know how I can use Soy Milk or Rice milk in place of the dry powdered milk. Is there some kind of formula?

I always have milk on hand and don't want to add another ingredient in the house right now. I'm running out of room quickly with all my gluten free stuff.

Thanks,

Joni

[cruelshoes]

Many times, powdered milk is added to a gluten-free recipe to increase the protein. Many of our flours are much lower in protein than wheat flour, and dry milk is a good way to make up the difference.

Without seeing the recipe, it is difficult to generalize about what substitution is best. You have to know what the dry milk is intended for in the recipe - is is to sub for milk for convenience (meaning you could just add water instead of milk) or is it intended to replace protein?

The general ratio for reconstituting powdered milk is as follows:

* non-instant powdered milk: 1/4 cup per cup of water

* instant powdered milk: 1/3 cup per cup of water

If I were converting a recipe, I would look at the ratio of dry milk (and what type) per cup of water. If the proportions are similar to what I mentioned above, I would just use straight soy/rice milk in place of the water and leave out the dry milk. If the ratio were higher than mentioned above, I would use soy/rice milk for the water and add something else to boost the protein. There are lots of options to increase protein - nut meals and powdered, unflavored gelatin to name a few. In many recipes, I have subbed almond meal for powdered milk 1:1 and acheived acceptable results.

Sorry if this answer is more than what you wanted. As always, you will probably just need to experiment until you get the results you want.

[Joni63]

Wow! Thank you for that explanation. It is more complicated than I expected, but you explained it all very well. I should be able to adapt some of the recipes. I never realized the milk powder was used to replace protein in some recipes.

Thanks!