Lactose-free milk products contain less than 0.1g laktose per 100g. In Austria I can buy the following products at the stores:
- By „MinusL“ (at Merkur, Billa):
Milk
Cream
Joghurt
Sour cream
Buttermilk
Cream cheese
Curd cheese
Mascarpone - By „free from“ (at Spar):
Milk
Cream
Joghurt
Curd cheese
Crème fraiche
Hazelnut Cocoa Spread
Lactose-free milk products are comparatively easy to find since „lactose-free“ is usually written on the package in bold letters.
With baking ingredients and sweets as e.g. chocolate or cookies things are more difficult. I always have to read the list of ingredients in order to find out if they contain lactose. This is not so easy, as lactose hides behind a lot of terms.
- Laktose is in:
Buttermilk powder
Milk sugar
Low-fat milk / low-fat milk powder
Milk / milk product / milk powder
Milk sugar
Whey / whey product / whey powder
Sweet whey / sweet whey powder
Acid whey / Acid whey powder
Whole milk / whole milk powder - Lactose is not in:
- Clarified butter.
That means I can eat e.g. Lindt “Edelbitter Mousse Sauerkirsch-Chili“ chocolate and Lindt “Edelbitter Mousse Chocoladen-Trüffel” chocolate. - Products which contain „traces of milk“ or „traces of milk constituents“.
I only have lactose intolerance and not a milk allergy, so I am fine with those products – e.g. Oreo Cookies and “Manner Schnitten”.
If I bear those aspects in mind, I have a great variety of products I can use for lactose-free baking. Here is a list of some ingredients I use – I am sure there are many more, but these are the ones I have tried and use often.
- Really important is lactose-free chocolate:
Lindt Excellence 70%
Lindt Excellence 70% Mild
Lindt Excellence 85%
Lindt Excellence 85% Mild
Merci Edelbitter 72%
I almost exclusively use Lindt chocolate. It simply tastes great in cakes, cookies, pies.
Cheaper lactose-free chocolates are:
Bensdorp cooking chocolate (Bensdorp Kochschokolade 42%)
Manner chocolate 70% (Manner Schokolade 70%)
- For uncomplicated and fast treats:
“Aunt Fanny´s Puff Pastry” (Tante Fanny´s Blätterteig)
- Cookies, e.g. for a crust:
Karamellgebäck by Lotus (z.B. at Billa)
Grazer Ringe by Coppenrath (z.B. at MPreis)
Buttertaler by Burggreve (z.B. at MPreis)
Butter-Spekulations by Burggreve (z.B. at Billa)
Oreo Cookies
- Ladyfingers:
Forno Bonomi (at Billa)
- Unfortunately not okay, as they contain lactose:
- Suchard chocolate
Nougat
Shortbread available in stores (contains whole milk powder)
Ladyfingers by Manner („Manner Biskotten“)
Evaporated milk (contains about 10% lactose!)
M&Ms. Okay, I do not need them for baking, but I just love them.
Comment:
I still bake with nougat every now and then, especially around Christmas. “Baking” does not mean “eating,” right? If I am tempted to try some of the cookies or cakes made with nougat, I will take some lactase capsules. They allow me to eat lactase without any problems.
In addition to lactose intolerance I also have fructose intolerance. That means that I have to watch my fructose intake. With baking, though, I hardly notice the fructose intolerance since I fortunately tolerate sugar and do not have to substitute it.
If I use ingredients which contain a high amount of fructose, I will mention it with the respective recipe.