Robin,
I sympathize with your situation but if hubby wants close to the real thing, he's gonna have to compromise and let you order more stuff. I know that's easier said than done but get him on here and we'll explain. I make yeast rolls and yeast garlic breadsticks that my husband loves but I use Carbalose, Wheat Protein Isolate 5000 Wheat Resistant Starch, and some Gluten Flour. Fortunately, my husband doesn't mind what I order as long as he gets good food out of it. We live on one pension so money is tight. He's on low carb at doctor's orders and depending on me to get him food he likes. So far he's happy and we've been doing thisWOE for 10 months now. I'm going to try Scott's ( Ira's version) pizza crust recipe. I checked the carbs on that recipe and it's 21 net carbs in total.

FYI--Low carb flours (like Carbalose) have a kinda weird aftertaste so you need the wheat resistant starch which has a neutral flavor to mask that. The WPI 5000 gives elasticity so the dough will rise. In this case I think the Polydextrose is for the yeast to feed on--a little sugar should work fine. (I love polyd for baking sweets though, gives the bulking quality of real sugar and retains moisture). The wheat gluten flour adds structure and chewiness. There is no "one will do it all" flour in LC baking. It takes a mixture to get good results. That's just the way it is. But if your hubby will go along, I think he'll be pleased with the results.

I read a little too hastily, and didn't read until now where Robin said sshe couldn't do a Netrition order.
I can't imagine subbing carbalose straight up for flour would produce a good product, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Robin, here's how I'd approach it.

Make Jackie's brownies with the tweaks Kevin provided. When your husband tastes them and can't believe how good they are, explain to him that you've tracked down a pizza recipe that's of a similar caliber, but you'll need to put in another order/spend more $ in order to make it.

I think the brownies should be fantastic enough to sell him on the need for additional specialty ingredients as well as provide him with an excellent perspective of the value he's getting for his investment.

Scott - that's a good suggestion.
The defiant irritated part of me wants to just place the order and let him figure out how to balance the budget. But I know that the balance would come from my gas money. So I'd be stuck at home and not able to take DS anywhere to play etc. (not that I'm going anywhere right now anyway...see below)

I started feeling blechy on Sunday - have a full blown cold now, so I haven't done/won't be doing any baking for a little bit. I feel like a semi truck ran over me. Yesterday, I could still sit at the computer for a while - today, I've been on for 5 minutes and my eyes and head hurt really bad already.

I'm really excited about trying the pizza dough recipe. Thanks to Scott and Ira. I wish I had a baking stone. I assume/hope the resistant starch is wheat--it's all I have and much less carby than the corn anyway. How big a pizza should it make--that would give me two measurements instead of just thickness to be sure I get it right.

Ira or Scott (or anyone else who knows!)

So, I was looking at Netrition - may just play the aggressive card by placing the order anyway and consequences be hanged... maybe it's the cold talking (making me less tollerant than usual...) at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...LOL

The WPI 5000 is sold out. There is also something called WPI 8000 - it sounds like it has the vital wheat gluten in it. Would it work - and would that eliminate the need for the vital wheat gluten in the recipe?

WPI 8000 and 5000 are entirely different. The WPI 8000 is like a concentrated wheat gluten flour--it has lots more protein so you could use it in place of gluten flour but you'd have to use alot less (too much gluten and you end up with a rubbery product). The WPI 5000 adds elasticity/stretchiness. They are not interchangeable.

OK thanks - there's my answer - I'll just HAVE to be patient now. LOL

Yay! WPI 5000 is back in stock on Netrition.
Got that, the resistant wheat starch and erythritol ordered! (Helps that I had a garage sale so I had some extra $ to spend this month! Woo Hoo!) I found vital wheat glueten at WalMart, so that's taken care of too.

Now, when it comes, I'll be able to try some of these TNT recipies!!!

Any other "MUST HAVES" for the baking pantry?
(stuff that isn't usually found at mainstream stores)

Sweetzfree. It involves a pretty big initial outlay, but because of it's level of concentration, it's actually very competitively priced. The carb savings you get are pretty dramatic.

Netrition just started carrying splenda packets. They aren't carb free, but they're very low- something like 3 carbs per cup of sweetness. They're also about the same price per cup as sweetzfree. The only catch is that they might be tricky to measure in quantities less than a cup- you'll probably need to blend them with something like erythritol to make them more measurable.

Those new "quick packs" vs. the traditional (==2 tsp ea) packets? Interesting -- first time I've seen this one. Good for larger scale baking apps...being equiv to 1 C sugar sweetness and only 3.3g filler (dextrose/maltodextrin). What I find MOST interesting, though, is the apparent response of Splenda® brand (at least part way) to a much lower carbohydrate option without actually going to the much in demand liquid version...interesting indeed as a marketing ploy, and just maybe quite effective!

Odd, though, this on the Netrition page (wonder which it is, I'm presuming the second number is actually correct):

"One SPLENDA® QUICK PACK™ pouch provides eight servings, less than 2 calories and less than 0.5 grams of carbohydrate per serving.

One SPLENDA® QUICK PACK™ pouch contains 13 calories and 3.3 grams of carbohydrate..."


Hmmmmm. Wonder when/if QuickPacks available up here...

I saw those SPLENDA QUICK PACK at my local store before. Figured they were more expensive and not worth it, but that's a huge carb difference. 1C granular splenda = 24 carbs. 1 pkt of that (= 1 C sweetner) 3.3 carbs. WOW! I'll have to rethink that! LOL

I'll definetly have to order from netrition again. I have been using splenda tablets in my morning coffee with great success. They aren't really good for baking applications though, and they are extreamly hard to get living in the US. There is a small town in washington that has a ferry going to canada. If I end up moving there, you would be able to identify me as the idiot trying to carry 12 grocery sacks at once as she stocks up on the Canadian shopping.

You'll just need to get a couple of wheeled shopping bags! LOL

Actually, there are TWO small towns in WA that have ferries going to Canada...but you could just drive on in on the I5 , it's only a little ways up the road from one of the ferries... and gas is still a bit cheaper than the ferries.

BTW, we don't have the Splenda tabs, but we DO have the good tasting Sugar Twin(s). What else could you possibly be after? I'm usually trucking down to WA to do my LC shopping !