More Bread Baking - Moroccan Seed Loaf

Well Nat has had a few days off and so I haven't really needed to do any baking. He started back at work this morning and when I asked him what type of bread he would like he replied with "Surprise".

I looked through The Big Book of Bread and found a recipe for the Moroccan Seed loaf. This is a white loaf which uses honey and milk instead of sugar and water. It also includes sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds.

To veganise, I used agave for the honey and a 50:50 mix of warm water and this soy milk. This bread didn't rise quite as much as I thought it should have and actually sank a little when it went into the oven - I also had to remove it about 10 minutes before the end of the recommended baking time or it would have been burnt to a crisp. I was a little worried that the loaf would be dense as it doesn't have any oil in the dough (aside from a little soy milk) and the fact that it didn't rise, but as you can see it turned out really well. Nat was really impressed and ate about 3 pieces with avocado (our favourite bread spread) yesterday afternoon.

Next time I will reduce the temprature a little and double the amount of seeds as they were quite dispersed throughout the bread. But definitely a loaf with lots of potential that I will make again.

Pita Pockets with hummus, baby spinach and falafel

mmmm... is there anything better than pita pockets stuffed with yummy fillings. I remember loving it when my mum bought pita bread for our school lunches. When I saw Jessy's post about her awesome pita/hummus/falafel meal I just couldn't help myself. I had to learn how to make pita bread and then devour it.

I used this recipe as the base for my pita bread. I modified the recipe a little and so here is my version of pita pockets:

1 cup white spelt flour *
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour*
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp raw sugar
2 tsp instant dried yeast
1 1/4 cup water (room temp.)
2 tsp olive oil
*you can use 3 cups of any flour you want really.

1. In a large bowl - mix the yeast, flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. If necessary add more water so that all the flour is incorporated into the dough.
2. Once all of the ingredients are combined, place the dough on a work surface and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for about 90 mins until it has doubled in size.
4. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place a baking stone or upside down cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven.
6. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin and roll the dough into a circular shape. It should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
7. Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Here is half a pita with hummus , falafel (from VWaV) and baby spinach.

Delightful Olive Bread

Well - its the last day of Vegan Mofo *sniff*. I have really enjoyed the challenge and loved reading all the awesome blogs. I also posted every day this month... YAY! (Being a student who loves to procrastinate has helped a lot).

So for my last post of the month (and incidentally my 50th post) I wanted to bake something special. Or at least something that I had been eyeing off for a while but was a little scared to try. As I also had to bake some bread for nat to take for his lunches I thought I could attempt a more daring loaf.

A few months ago we were having lunch at a friend's place and we were served some olive bread. It was delightful, especially spread with avocado and topped with a number of yummy salad toppings (including avocado, sundried tomato, salad greens and fresh herbs). On the way home from that lunch I remember nat commenting that it would be nice to have some of that bread sometime.

This loaf was a (very successful) attempt at recreating that olive loaf.

I based this recipe on one I found in The Big Book of Bread. It turned out so well - crusty on the outside and a perfect soft texture on the inside. I will be making this again!! Nat is in heaven - he had some while it was still warm and then had to be reminded that dinner was not too far off (I think he probably could have devoured most of the loaf if left unchecked).

He has taken it to work today for sandwiches with avocado, seitan, a vegan Mayonayse that I whipped up using this recipe and some salad greens from our little vegetable box on the balcony.

Next time I think I am going to use more olives.
I have just discovered that American and Australian measuring cup sizes are different Grrr... so to help stop confusion I have put the weights.

**I was able to cook this in my little toaster oven with no ill effects. It just fit diagonally onto my 20cmx20cm baking tray. **

Olive Bread
1 cup whole black olives (or equivalent seeded/diced black olives) - use more or less to taste.
500g white spelt flour (or plain white flour)
2 tbsp gluten flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
approx 250ml warm water

1. Remove and discard the pips from the olives and roughly chop the flesh.
2. Sift flour and salt into a bowl then stir in the yeast. Make a well in the centre and add half the chopped olives, the oil and enough water to make a soft dough.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
4. Grease or lightly flour a baking tray and set aside
5. When risen, tip dough back onto floured surface and press the centre of the dough with your palm to knock out the gasses. Gently stretch the dough and fold the ends into the centre, rotate 90degrees and repeat the stretching and folding into the centre.
6. Roll the dough out to form a rectangle, scatter the remaining olives on the surface and then roll the dough up (like a swiss roll) starting from one of the shorter sides. Pinch either end of the roll to seal the ends.
7. Place the rolled loaf on the baking tray (With the seam facing down). Cover and leave to rise again until double its size (about an hour).
8. Preheat the oven to 200degrees Celsius. Dust the loaf with sifted flour. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 190degrees Celsius for a further 20-25 mins until the loaf is golden and hollow when tapped lightly.
9. Transfer to a wire rack.

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag with garlic naan

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag

Well tomorrow Nat and I are driving up to our parent's homes for a little under a week. It is our nephews naming ceremony tomorrow and as I am studying for exams nat asked if he could do a few tours to Cradle Mountain for his tour guiding company. So I am busy trying to clean out the fridge of veggies so we don't have too many nasty surprises when we get back.

The thing that I was worried about the most was the pumpkin, because I had been saving it to make some cookies to take tomorrow - but now have to find something gluten free to cook. Although it has been a little chilly lately, I still didn't feel like making pumpkin soup so I flipped through Veganomican and found the recipe for pumpkin saag. I didn't have any fresh spinach but I did have some frozen so I thought that this would be the dish of the night. I remember Jessy from happyveganface making some garlic naan a few days back and I thought that it would be a nice surprise for nat when he got home from work (he is a bread lover).

For the saag I pretty much followed the recipe - with a few additions. The dish was good - but not as flavourful as I would have liked.

I roasted and added some sweet potato with the pumpkin. I also used frozen rather than fresh spinach. I also added a little chili paste. The dish wasn't as moist as I would have liked - I think next time I will add a little vegetable stock and maybe some canned tomatoes or tomato paste. Also - if you want a spicey dish (and I think this would be good spicey) add more chili paste.
But I will definatly be making this again with those few more alterations.

Garlic Naan

What I am most excited about are these little beauties!!! Garlic Naan. I am not going to post the recipe because it is exactly like Jessy's which can be found here. It is WONDERFUL and easy though so I think you should try making it. From first bite nat commented on the wonderful garlic flavour and that it would rival indian naan (now he may have been stretching the truth a little there).

The most ecclectic Zucchini Bread recipe ever

So... we have all these zucchini's - I got them cheap at the market a little while ago. When I was talking about what I could make, Nat thought I was joking when I mentioned zucchini bread.

Well, to enlighten him on the wonders of zucchini bread, I had to first find a recipe. I found a couple of lovely ones - particularly Lindsay at Happy Herbivore's fat free fruity zucchini bread and one on Vegan Food: More than Tofu and Sprouts which just looks so versatile.

I decided that the fruity one looked good - but that was too much for nat (he has an aversion to fruit cake and I think a zucchini loaf with dried fruit was just too way out there) so I settled for looking at the other recipe.

I changed the recipe quite considerably - sometimes because I didn't have enough of the ingredients (I ran out of sugar and apple sauce) and I did a few of my own substitutions just because I wanted to make it oil free.

The loaf was awesome - I used Tofu mum's recipe as a base - and forgot to look at how many loaves it made (which is two) - I don't have two loaf pans and so I made 6 muffins and one loaf.


The verdict. Nat loves them. I think I have dispelled his fear of a vegetable being the base of a sweet bread and maybe next time I will stick in a few sultanas or chopped dates... when he doesn't get a choice he usually finds out that he likes it.
So without further ado my version of the zucchini loaf.
Ecclectic moist oil-free zucchini bread

1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp water
300g silken tofu
1/4 cup applesauce
2 large ripe bananas - mashed

1 medium-large zucchini - grated
1 1/4 cup unprocessed sugar (cause thats all I use in the house)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups unbleached spelt flour (just cause thats what I cook with)
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F)
2. Grease two loaf tins (or 1 loaf tin and 1 6x muffin pan)
3. Mix flax meal with water and set aside to expand
4. Place tofu, banana, applesauce and flax mix into a food processor and blend till smooth
5. In a large bowl mix zucchini with the sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Add the tofu mixture and mix well.
6. In a separate bowl, mix flours, salt, bicarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder.
7. Mix a little bit of the dry mix with the zucchini mix. Continue to add dry mix a little bit at a time until it is combined. (The mix will be very heavy - don't worry it worked really well for me)
8. Pour into loaf tins or spoon into muffin pan.
9. Cook for 30-40 mins (mine was done at 30) for the loaf and about 10-12mins for the muffins.
10. Let cool and then enjoy

Optional variations
choc chips
dried fruit pieces
you can replace applesauce or banana (or both) with oil - you might need a bit more sugar
use any egg replacer for 3 eggs (instead of tofu and flax)
use any vegetable or fruit in place of zucchini (I guess within reason - carrot would go well)

Vegan MoFo #11 - Homemade bread and rolls - Portabello and seitan burgers for dinner

Well, I must confess. Although I love homemade bread I have only ever used a breadmaker to make it (which doesn't really have the same quality as homemade - but it is better than store bought). Well, as I felt it was Vegan MoFo and I didn't feel like studying - I decided that I would try my hand at baking a loaf of bread (which was yesterday) and some wholewheat hamburger rolls (which was today).

They went down really well. I am not a big bread eater but over the last two days nat has polished off most of the loaf and half of the rolls (I tend to stack on the kgs if I eat a lot of refined carbs - which is a shame because I think carbs are my favourite food - btw - just because I try not to eat a lot of refined carbs doesn't mean that I am not chubby!!)

I based the bread recipe on the basic wholewheat loaf in The Big Book of Bread. I think the bread would have done better if I had let it rise a little bit more - I started to run out of time and I hadn't found the best place to leave the dough to rise. The bread turned out ok - it just didn't rise as much as I had hoped - so it was a little heavy - but the flavour was really good - so I think I will try the recipe again.

The rolls on the other hand were GREAT! I used Vegan Dad's Recipe.

My first attempt at baking bread rolls -
I think it turned out pretty good - thanks to Vegan Dad

It takes a heck of a long time - but it doesn't involve a lot of hands on work - in fact while I left it rising today I walked into town to the local veggie shop and bulk foods health store and then came back and finished off the recipe. I halved the recipe and used spelt flour instead of plain flour.

ok - so it doesn't look that flash we were getting hungry

- but trust me -
at the end of the day it was yummy, quick and filling.

Nat came home from his guiding trip late this evening and so I was able to quickly make a burger using this seitan, tomato, lettuce and a grilled portabello mushroom based on this recipe ( it is grilled with garlic, balsamic vinegar, oregano, salt and oil). It was tasty and very filling.

Spring, showers and pumpkin soup

I have been thinking about starting up a blog for some time now. Don't ask me why I have started now... I think the main reason was that the camera was sitting on the kitchen table while I was cooking tea... so I took a few photos and here I am. I was lucky enough to grow up in a vegan household and mum was always cooking wonderful creative recipes. Dinner tonight was one of "mum's recipes". Its a pumpkin soup. I have another pumpkin soup recipe that is much heavier (which I will post here when I next cook it), but this one is lighter and perfect with some freshly baked bread. My husband and I prefer a little more spice than what mum used to use so I added a few extra things.
Mmmmmmm...

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp curry powder (I use a madras curry powder)
1 tsp sambal olek (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1.5kg pumpkin, chopped (about one medium sized butternut pumpkin)
1 1/2 litres water
1 tbsp chicken STYLE stock powder
fresh herbs to garnish (optional)
hot sauce to taste (optional)

• saute onion in oil or water, add spices when onion is soft.
• Add remaining ingredients (except garnish). Bring to boil and then simmer until pumkin is tender (about 30mins)
• Blend the soup until smooth.
• Serve with fresh bread

Mum's Homemade Breadmaker Bread
2cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 cups white spelt flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
420ml water

Place ingredients in breadpan in the order that your breadmaker specifies. Set cycle to rapid with a light crust.

Makes 1kg loaf