Baking without eggs, gluten or dairy: what to swap and how not to ruin it

Before you swap an egg, work out what job it was doing. An egg does several at once: it binds the batter, raises it (beaten eggs hold air), adds moisture and fat, and gives a golden colour when baked.

That's why there's no universal substitute. In biscuits and pancakes the egg is mainly a binder and easy to replace. In a sponge or meringue the eggs are the structure and the lift, and you need a completely different approach.

Aquafaba is the liquid chickpeas were cooked in. Thanks to its proteins and starches, it whips into a stable foam almost like egg white. You can make meringue, mousse, macarons and mayonnaise with it.

For meringue: whip 100 ml aquafaba (from a 400 g can) for 3–5 minutes to soft peaks, add ¼ tsp citric acid or 1 tsp lemon juice to stabilise the foam. Then add 100 g icing sugar a spoonful at a time, whipping another 5–7 minutes to firm, glossy peaks. Dry at 90–100 °C for 1.5–2 hours.

Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye and barley. It's what makes dough elastic and lets bread hold gas and shape. Without it dough is crumbly, sticky and won't rise, so gluten-free baking needs a substitute binder.

Gluten-free: rice, buckwheat, corn, almond, coconut, chickpea and amaranth flours, quinoa, sorghum, and starches (potato, corn, tapioca). Oats themselves have no gluten but are almost always contaminated with wheat during processing — people with coeliac disease should only use oats labelled gluten-free.

A single gluten-free flour rarely works well: rice is gritty and dry, buckwheat heavy and dark, starch gummy. It's better to blend several.

Almond flour is rich and moist; bakes made with it are tender and juicy but brown quickly. Lower the temperature by 10–20 °C and watch the colour. It can't replace wheat flour 1:1 in yeast recipes: there's no structure.

Coconut flour is the most temperamental: it absorbs 3–4 times more liquid than wheat flour. If substituting, use only a quarter of the wheat flour amount and add 1 egg for every 30 g of coconut flour. Best to use tested recipes written specifically for it.

Gluten-free dough behaves differently, and the usual cues don't apply.

Replace milk with any plant milk 1:1. For baking, unsweetened soy or oat milk is best: they have more protein and starch, so the batter behaves closer to dairy. For "buttermilk", add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 250 ml plant milk and leave for 5 minutes.

Butter can be replaced with:

Sugar in baking isn't just sweetness: it holds moisture, keeps the crumb tender, helps the rise and gives a golden crust. Simply leave it out and the bake turns dry, dense and pale.

Honey and syrups (maple, agave, date) are sweeter than sugar and liquid: use three-quarters of the sugar amount and cut the recipe's liquid by 3–4 tbsp per 200 g of sugar. Honey bakes brown faster — lower the temperature by 10–15 °C.

Banana, dates and apple purée add natural sweetness and moisture. Sweeteners (erythritol, stevia) all behave differently — follow the manufacturer's guidance.