6 month anniversary and PIZZA

Sorry I have been neglecting the blog - camera went MIA for a little while and so although I was cooking a fair bit, I didn't take any photos of it.

But I am back - welcome to 2009. I am going to try and be a little healthier in my cooking for the next little while (trying to shed xmas festivity weight).

But first - today Nat and I celebrated our 6month wedding anniversary!!! The time has just flown by.

I asked Nat what he wanted for dinner to celebrate and he wanted pizza. I had never made pizza before - and I had the recipe from VWaV so I decided to give it a go.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!
For all those people like me who think that pizza is too hard its not!! I don't like any of the soy cheeses available in Aussie and so I didn't think it would be so good without cheese - it was so yummy.

It is easy and so SO worth it. We are going to be eating pizza a lot more in this house (at least once a month) - and once we have got a few nice pizza combinations going we are going to have a pizza party!! I need to get another pizza tray first though!!




I used the VWaV pizza dough and sauce recipes and then topped it with the following:
sundried tomatoes
olives
onion rings
pineapple
kittee's seitan, cubed
capsicum
vegan parmesan cheese (I don't think this is necessary for a good pizza - we just had some in our cupboard)
BBQ sauce
mushrooms

The finished product - isn't it awesome!!

I would love to hear your favourite topping combinations for pizza (especially if you don't use fake cheese).
Have a great 2009

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.