Agar-agar question
Okay, I was very excited to get Vegan Pie In The Sky in the mail recently, and even more excited to try the pumpkin pie recipe that's included. But I do have a few questions about that recipe, all revolving around agar.
Firstly, the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of agar powder, but I could only find agar flakes at my local natural food store. Should I ground the flakes so that they are more powdery? Would I be able to use the flakes as is? I'm assuming that a different measurement would be necessary if I kept them in flake form. What would the measurement difference be?
Also, I've ready different things about needing to prepare agar, but the recipe mentions nothing of that. Here's the recipe and instructions, and maybe I could just get some confirmation that nothing needs to be done to prepare the agar for this recipe?
Filling Ingredients:
3 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soy milk
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon agar powder
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a blender, pulse together the pumpkin, maple syrup, soy milk, canola oil, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, cornstarch and agar powder until very smooth. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
2. Bake the pie for 60 to 65 minutes, until the center looks semi-firm, not liquidy. Check the edges of the crust after baking for 40 minutes; if the edges appear to be browning too rapidly, carefully remove the pie and apply crust protectors to the edges to keep the crust from getting too dark.
3. Remove the pie from the oven and transfer it onto a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing it.
~*~*~*~
So am I right that with this recipe, there is no agar preparation?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide! I'm always intrigued by new ingredients, but this one is confusing me a bit!
Firstly, the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of agar powder, but I could only find agar flakes at my local natural food store. Should I ground the flakes so that they are more powdery? Would I be able to use the flakes as is? I'm assuming that a different measurement would be necessary if I kept them in flake form. What would the measurement difference be?
Also, I've ready different things about needing to prepare agar, but the recipe mentions nothing of that. Here's the recipe and instructions, and maybe I could just get some confirmation that nothing needs to be done to prepare the agar for this recipe?
Filling Ingredients:
3 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soy milk
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon agar powder
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a blender, pulse together the pumpkin, maple syrup, soy milk, canola oil, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, cornstarch and agar powder until very smooth. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
2. Bake the pie for 60 to 65 minutes, until the center looks semi-firm, not liquidy. Check the edges of the crust after baking for 40 minutes; if the edges appear to be browning too rapidly, carefully remove the pie and apply crust protectors to the edges to keep the crust from getting too dark.
3. Remove the pie from the oven and transfer it onto a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing it.
~*~*~*~
So am I right that with this recipe, there is no agar preparation?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide! I'm always intrigued by new ingredients, but this one is confusing me a bit!