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Cows milk can be replaced by other liquids. Rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, coconut milk, and almond milk are all excellent non-dairy milk substitutes. All of these are available as ready made commercial products, but all of them can be made at home as well. Almond Milk and Coconut milk work very well for many desert recipes, but they tend to be the most expensive. Soy, and oat milk are excellent cows milk replacers, but they may need to be flavored to taste with sweetener or an extract. Rice milk is very universal and perhaps the least expensive to make or buy.
Rice Milk
Rice milk is a good dairy substitute for many desert recipes. It is naturally a little bit lighter and somewhat sweeter than oat milk or soy milk. You can find it canned or in plastic containers in most grocery stores. A popular brand is "Rice Dream". Though it is a sweet milk, popular opinion would indicate Oat Milk is better to drink or pour over cereal than Rice Milk. Depending on how Oat Milk is made, it might also be considered to be at least as sweet as rice milk, but not as light.
A common recipe to make your own rice milk:
6 c warm water
1 1/2 c cooked rice
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Place all three ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for about three minutes or until smooth. Let stand for at least 45 minutes (and preferably several hours). Strain into another container with a doubled over coarse cheese cloth. The standing will settle most of the sediment.
Soy Milk
Soy milk is a good dairy substitute for most cooking and baking applications. Soy milk can be found in almost any grocery store refrigerated, canned or powdered. Common brands include: "Isomil", "All Soy", and "Eden Soy". Soy milk is often used as a base for liquid baby formulas.
A common recipe for Soy Milk:
Soak 1 c dried soy beans in 5 c water for 12-14 hours. Heat 5 c water in a large saucepan medium heat. Drain your beans, and take 1 c at a time to blend with 1 1/2 c luke-warm tapwater on high in blender. Blend for 1 minute. Add blend to heated water in saucepan. ( you will probably have about 3 or so cups beans to blend 1 c at a time ). As soon as you have added all of the beans to the heated water, bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat. Strain through doubled over cheesecloth in a colander. Press any remaining milk form the okara with a large spoon. You may pour another 1/2 c water through it to get it all. The soy milk can now be sweetened and flavored if it is intended for drinking purposes. Start with 1/2 c or so sugar and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract and flavor to taste.
NOTE: Do not scorch the milk while heating! It will taste HORRIBLE!!! Also, there is no need to waste your okara. Okara has many cooking applications. I will include a link on the links page to some related information.
Oat Milk
Oat milk is a nice substitute for 1% or Skim milk. For drinking or pouring on cereal, it has about the same consistancy as low fat milk, but it needs to be thickened for baking applications. There are a few ways to make it. Some are more difficult than others.The best oat milk is made from sprouted oats, but the availability of whole, unprocessed oats can be a problem unless you grow them yourself or happen to live in a rural area where oats are raised.
There is a common recipe for oat milk that includes using a banana that any search engine on the web can find for you. I've tried it. I don't recommend it. With that recipe, what you basically end up with is an oat shake. The results are not really a milk that is useful for cooking or baking.
Because sprouting oats are difficult to find, making oat milk presents another challenge. The most available form of oats is Rolled Oats. When you heat rolled oats in water, you end up with Oat Meal. That isn't necessarily bad, but it does make harvesting the milk interesting. So, the solution is to mix the oats with another grain. However, if you can purchase whole oats at your local grocery or natural foods store, then you'll have an easier time making oat milk.
There is a difference between whole oats and sprouting oats. Sprouting oats have not been processed. Whole oats are heated before distribution to eliminate bacteria, fungi, and insects. The heating eliminates the possibility of germination (they will no longer sprout).
A recipe for Oat Milk From Whole Oats:
Take 2 1/2 cups of whole oats and put them in your blender (an electric coffee grinder will work, too). Put your blender on its lowest setting and blend for 30 to 45 seconds. All we want to do is beat them up a little and break 30 to 40% of the kernels. We do not want to powderize the kernels. We just want them roughed up a little and some of the kernels broken.
Put your 2 1/2 cups of "beat up" oats in a medium sauce pan and pour 4 cups of hot water on them. Bring that to a boil on your stove. Boil 5 minutes stirring constantly. Let cool for an hour. Pour on 2 cups of hot water. Add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a big pinch of salt. Stir for a minute. Let soak at least overnight and preferably 18 to 24 hours. If you are able to let the mixture soak for 24 hours, you should stir the mixture once or twice in that time period. After soaking, strain through a doubled-over cheese cloth and refrigerate the milk. You can sweeten if necessary.
If your intention is to bake with your oat milk, you will probably find that it needs to be thickened. Put 2 cups of your Oat Milk in a small sauce pan. Place on stove at medium heat. Do not boil, but keep hot and steam off half a cup of water. It will take about an hour or so. Be careful not to scorch.
Also, Oat Milk can be mixed with Almond Milk. I recommend it, in fact. Two thirds oat Milk to One third Almond Milk makes a nice drink and makes a fuller flavored dairy substitute for baking recipes.
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