Hello everyone,
I'm not sure if a thread exists on this topic or not; i did a search and nowt came up so i thought it safe to post. I recently tried making some non-dairy milk. I'm not lactose intolerant (as far as i know), but my mum avoids dairy (its a phlegm issue) and i was sure it would turn out cheaper if we made our own, so i embarked upon a little experiment. She likes rice milk best, so i checked online and saw there were two methods i could employ; one using cooked rice and the other not. I decided to try uncooked version. I toasted half a cup of the rice (not grain brown, as recommended on a few sites) in a skillet until a few started to pop. Then i covered with 2 cups of hot water and let it soak over night. Next day i blended this mixture along with 3 dates and strained it through a cheese cloth over a fine sieve (did the sieving twice). My mum was very happy with it. She said it was a bit thicker than her usual rice milk and when she cooked her porridge oats in it they multiplied much more in size. The next time i made it i soaked half a cup of almonds also to add some protein. I blitzed the almonds separately though, so the ground almond meal left over after straining wasnt mixed with the rice meal, and i dried this in a very low oven and crumbled it into my ceral the next day (waste not want not). I didnt know what to do with the rice meal left over, as its more coarse than rice flour so wasnt sure if it would work for thickening sauces as well as the fine flour (thats mostly what i use rice flour for).
Has anyone else made their own dairy-free milk alternatives? if so please post your tips on how to get the best results!