healthful coffee breakfast/crumb cake

No mixer or added sugar.  The cake uses whole wheat, almond butter and a thick spicy oatmeal crumb!

Equipment:

9" cake/pie tin

parchment paper

bottom blade blender (I use vitamix), or you can use oatmeal flour

2 mixing spoons or forks

2 big mixing bowls

fork for mashing bananas

cooling rack

Ingredients:

CRUMB TOPPING

2 - 3 cups of oatmeal ground into flour

1/2 cup canola or light tasting oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp stevia 

The following spices are to your taste level, this is what I use

3-5 TBL ground cinnamon

1 TBL ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground white pepper

This is a very dense cake and batter that I will 
try adding aquafaba
this autumn, but wanted to post while I had the time

CAKE, preheat oven to 375

*  2 medium to large size very ripe bananas mashed very well

*  1/2 cup almond butter

*  1 tsp stevia

*  1/2 cup soy milk

*  1/2 tsp salt

*  1 1/2 tsp baking soda

*  2 cups whole wheat or 1/2 and 1/2 flour

*  1 TBL vinegar (white or cider)

Method  (wash hands)

Tear enough parchment to cover the cake/pie tin and press down or fold into tin

Mix topping ingredients together, adding the oil a little at a time until it sets up like moist sand, taste for spiciness, and set aside

Mix all cake ingredients except the vinegar, then add the vinegar last and pour into the parchment

Scatter the topping on top of the cake batter and somewhat press into batter (don't mix but lightly press) with your hands

Cook in 350-375 degree oven for around 45 minutes to 1 hour, test with a cake tester

You can lift out cake out of parchment and place on cooling rack and let COMPLETELY cool; otherwise, it will be gummy

vegan holiday links

Cheers to good eats and a peaceful holiday season

Veganize Everything:

http://veganizeeverything.blogspot.com/2013/11/vegan-holiday-re-copied.html

Vegan Dad:
http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

What the hell does a Vegan Eat?
http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-hell-does-vegan-eat-for.html

Gentle Chef: (this is a purchase from a chef who is full time effort and money developing these recipes, the purchase should be well worth it)
http://thegentlechef.com

PostPunkKitchen:
http://www.theppk.com/category/recipe/holiday-thanksgiving/

english muffins

10 minute bread video low to no kneading  

Taste better, homemade

I'm not promising all the nooks and crannies of the commercial brands we used to eat.  A good tip is low to almost no kneading for the 2nd rising.

Equipment:

big ceramic bowl for dough rising

muffin rings or a plastic cup that measures the size of the english muffin you like

large saute pan

parchment paper

cookie sheet, baking pan

spatula

cooling rack

plastic bag or wrap to cover rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin (french rolling pins are nice, no squeaky handles)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (NOT NOT the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

3 cups of all purpose flour, or, bread flour

2 tsps salt

1 1/2 TBL sugar

3/4 cup soy milk warmed with 3 tsp of vinegar mixed in to make "buttermilk"

as needed, vegan butter or canola/safflower oil for the bowl

These are not a thick as I wanted.  They were still delicious and better than store bought english muffins.  When I make again, I will roll out to around 2".  We toasted these and made breakfast sandwiches with muffin tin cut out tofu quiche and seitan breakfast sausage.

Method...

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper by your side and around 2 1/2 cups flour, instant yeast, salt, sugar combined in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1/2 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Combine your warm to room temp curdled soy milk with dough and mix with big spoon until becoming bread like (this is the hardest part to explain, it becomes a big ball of dough with a little left over flour, but NOT NOT a bowl of batter. (If you need more liquid use warm tap water)  Lift out of bowl, place on flour dusted work space and incorporate the remaining flour, yeast mixture, folding over until ready to knead.

Step 2:  This is a wet / somewhat sticky dough, not dry like bread.  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything.  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour until it forms a ball.  Should take around a minute or two.  I learned from the youtube video that kneading does not matter, its the form of rising (in the plastic bag, moisture i’m assuming) This will form a soft, somewhat sticky ball of dough.

Step 3:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and place a little oil in the botom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough and roll it around to cover with the oil, then cover with the plastic bag and towel and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 1/2 hours.  This is the first rising.  Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the 2nd rising.

Step 4:  Second rising:  after the hour and 1/2, take the dough out of the bowl and press down on it and start kneading, while incorporating flour if it is way too sticky to work with, around 1 minute?  Place back in bowl and turn plastic bag inside out, then let sit, again, for around 1 hour this time.  Clean your workspace, once again.

Step 5:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and have your rolling pin, muffin tins, spatula and sauté pan oiled and heated until very hot.

Step 6:  When the 2nd rising is complete, dust your hands and workspace with flour, take the dough out of the bowl, press lightly into a small circle, then, using a rolling pin, roll out to around 2" thick then start cutting with muffin tins or plastic cup.  Carefully lift the dough muffins onto the oiled and heated until very hot sauté pan and let cook around 30 seconds, then carefully flip with spatula (if they are too light, flip again and keep cooking another 20-30 seconds, if they are too dark turn the heat down on the sauté pan.  Remove when both sides are brown and move to parchment lined baking sheet, place in 350" oven for around 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack until room temperature.  Store in refrigerator or freeze for use.  When cool, try to pull apart with fingers of use the side of a spoon, makes more nooks and crannies.

tangzhong vegan rolls

I have experimented with tangzhong (japanese roux) in roll making for quite awhile now, and have finally hit the jackpot.  My older veganizations of tangzhong bread were too heavy, using soy milk or vegan milk.  I have taken my vegan parker house roll recipe, added tangzhong and the result is a roll that is moist, fluffy and stays fresh much longer (days)and does not have a dry taste when it hits your mouth.

You can see how fluffy and amazing this looks

This will make a sticky, heavy dough that seems counter-intuitive to light bread

Equipment:

small saucepan

small silicone whisk

big bowl for dough rising

plastic bag for covering rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin

3-4 inch, or 7-8 centimeter round cup or biscuit cutter

8-9” round pie pan for placing the rolls
baking rack for cooling 

Tangzhong:

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 cup water

Ingredients: rolls

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (not the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

2 - 3 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour

1 tsp egg replacer (I use Enter-G egg replacer)

2 tsps salt

2  TBL sugar

3 TBL tangzhong

2 TBL melted vegan butter

oil spray

as needed, warm water

Use this dough to make cinnamon rolls and doughnuts!

Method…

Tangzhong:  place the tangzhong flour and water in saucepan, medium heat, and use whisk to incorporate until mixture becomes thick and pudding-like and smooth, while constantly whisking to keep lumps out.  Turn off and remove from heat when mixture reaches this consistency.  cover with plastic wrap.  set aside.  refrigerate left over cover wrapped tangzhong.

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper and tangzhong by your side and around 2 cups flour mixed with the dry yeast, egg replacer, salt and sugar in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Add the warm (not hot) 3 TBL tangzhong to the flour mixture, then add the melted vegan butter, then start adding warm water from the tap (NOT HOT), mixing with your spoon until the mixture starts forming a dough ball.  This should just be coming together, not batter like but dough like.

Step 2:  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything (although this dough will be heavier and sticker than non-tangzhong dough).  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour for around 5-10 minutes until very much combined (yes, it will still be stickier than non-tangzhong dough).  

Step 3:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and put a little spray oil in the botom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough into the warm bowl, then cover with the plastic bag and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 hour or double in volume.  Since this is a heavy dough, it must be in a warm environment to rise efficiently (warm (not hot) oven, warm bowl).  This is the first rising.  Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the 2nd rising.

Step 4:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, at least 1/2 hour before this step

Step 5:  Second rising:  take the dough out of the bowl and press down on it and start kneading again, while incorporating flour, until it is getting kind of hard to knead, approx. 5-10 minutes?  Dust with flour and rollout with rolling pin until around 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) depth.  Cut into as many rounds as you can get with the bisquit cutter or cup, then fold each round in half and pinch somewhat together and place in oiled pie pan (they will rise and stick to each other and become pull apart rolls).  ALTERNATELY, make vegan burger or hotdog rolls by shaping into the desired shape.  Cover with plastic bag, again, and let rise for another 1/2 hour - 45 minutes or until doubled again.  Since this dough is heavy, it must be in a very warm environment to rise (warm (not hot) oven turned off)

Ahhh, you have never had a hotdog roll quite like these, promise.  This is a field roast vegan frankfurter and if you have never had one, you must…they are absolutely delicious

Step 6:  Place in oven, and bake until nice and light brown (watch that you do not burn) , approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place on baking rack until completely cool,  spray with oil for that nice gloss and serve.

Store in tight plastic bags overnight when completely cool or freeze.

flat bread

flat bread takes around an hour and a half off of making loaf bread or pizza bread.  this is the same recipe, but with one rising, then quickly fried.

Equipment:

big bowl for dough rising

small bowl for yeast rising

plastic bag for covering rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin (french rolling pins are nice, no squeaky handles)

tongs for flipping flatbread

non-stick griddle or sauté pan for frying flatbread

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (not the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

3 - 4 cups of all purpose flour, or, bread flour

2 tsps salt

1/4 tsp sugar

as needed, warm water

as needed, olive oil or oil of choice for the bowl

Method...

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper by your side and around 2 1/2 cups flour mixed with the gluten and salt in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1/2 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Place the yeast into a small bowl, add the sugar, add a very small amount of warm water (not hot, warm to touch), mix with a small spoon and cover with towel for around 1/2 hour.  This doubles the yeast in volume and lets it rise, different from just proofing the yeast.  

Step 2:  Once the yeast has doubled, pour on top of the flour mixture and add more “warm” water with a spoon until the dough is coming together, if the water is not soaking into the flour, add more until it does

Step 3:  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything.  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour until it is not sticky.  Should take around a minute or two.  I learned from the youtube video on my pizza dough recipe that kneading does not matter, its the form of rising (in the plastic bag, moisture i’m assuming, that forms the gluten and the dough) This will form a soft ball of dough.

Step 4:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and place a little olive oil in the bottom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough and roll it around to cover with the oil, then cover with the plastic bag and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 1/2 hours. Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the rolling.

Step 5:  Rolling out flat bread:  dust your hands and workspace with four, transfer the risen dough to the work surface and take 1/4 of the dough and roll out to the size that fits onto your sauté pan.

Step 6: Heat a little oil on your sauté griddle until griddle is hot (there are many non-teflon available nowadays).  Place flatbread down until it starts bubbling and flip with tongs until it puffs a little and looks similar to a tortilla

Let cool to room temperature before storing.  Store in plastic bags until use.  Makes great mini pizzas, toasted bread bits for dipping and delicious wraps.

southern biscuits and gravy

Equipment:

big mixing bowl

heavy spoon

measuring cups and spoons

oven or toaster oven

saucepan

makes 1 huge, hungry size portion of biscuits and gravy

Ingredients:
*   2 large "buttermilk" biscuits:
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup soy milk or vegan milk of choice 1/4 cup fresh light oil such as sunflower, safflower or canola (If you will be using a lot of oil, try to buy small bottles on sale instead of huge bottles in bulk, the oil tends to go rancid then will taste bad)
1 1/2 TBL baking powder
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
salt to taste
Gravy...
*   1 1/2 cups of almond heavy cream
*   2 or 3 vegan breakfast sausage links, diced into bite size pieces (either make yourself from seitan, or purchase tofurkey breakfast sausage, or, buy vegan crumbles and add the breakfast spices you prefer (just google breakfast sausage and you will get an idea of the different herbs and spices that go into different sausages)

Method...Preheat oven to 425 degrees
•   Oil baking sheet
BISCUITS...combine sifted flour, milk, oil, baking powder and vinegar until mixed, but not too thorough, just enough to let it set into a dough.
add salt and taste (southern biscuits tend to be on the salty side), form into high, round biscuits and place on oiled sheet into oven
let cook around 20 minutes, or 30-40 minutes until top is browned

these are "oil" biscuits and are not as high maintenance and dry as the shortening biscuits 

•   combine almond cream and sausage pieces in saucepan and cook until heated and thick and bubbly (add water, a little at a time, if too thick).
•   when the biscuits come out of the oven, cover in sauce and serve

low fat kentucky fried pancakes

Equipment:

non-stick fry pan

heavy duty spatula

big bowl for mixing

big spoon for mixing

measure cups and spoons

Use this pancake batter as a "kentucky fried" batter for anything you wish to have this spice combo and taste

Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
1 tsp light oil
1/2 tsp pinched thyme
1/2 tsp pinched marjoram
1/2 tsp pinched oregano
1/2 tsp pinched basil
1/2 tsp pinched sage
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
as needed...vegan milk

Method...
Combine all ingredients, add milk as needed to make a pancake batter consistency.  Pour onto hot non-stick surface and make just like pancakes.  Enjoy hot or refrigerate and eat cold.

vegan parker house rolls

Good looking and even better tasting, vegan, fluffy, sweet and salty, pull apart Parker house rolls

Whether it is bread, pizza or rolls, forget about those big mixers and labor intensive recipes you bought from a professional and spent too much $$ on

Here is my favorite YouTube bread making video, 10 minutes of labor, (around 3 hours of rising time and 1/2 hour baking time)

10 minute french bread video

canola oil spray as soon as you remove from the oven gives them shine!

pull apart, add some vegan butter and its heaven

Equipment:

big bowl for dough rising

small bowl for yeast rising

plastic bag for covering rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin

3-4 inch, or 7-8 centimeter round cup or biscuit cutter

8-9” round pie pan for placing the rolls

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (not the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

2 - 3 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour

1 tsp egg replacer (I use Enter-G egg replacer)

2 tsps salt

2 - 3 TBL sugar

2 TBL melted vegan butter

oil spray

as needed, warm water

Method...

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper by your side and around 2  cups flour mixed with the egg replacer, salt and sugar in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Place the yeast into a small bowl, add a pinch of sugar, add a very small amount of warm water (not hot, warm to touch), mix with a small spoon and cover with towel for around 1/2 hour.  This doubles the yeast in volume and lets it rise, different from just proofing the yeast. (I learned this, letting the yeast rise tip, from my friends at Gentle World.org and my favorite vegan cookbook: “Incredibly Delicious”.)

Step 2:  Once the yeast has doubled, pour on top of the flour mixture. Add the melted margarine (make sure its not too hot) then add more “warm” water with a spoon until the dough is coming together, if the water is not soaking into the flour, add more until it does

Step 3:  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything.  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour until it is not sticky.  Should take around a minute or two.  I learned from the youtube video that kneading does not matter, its the form of rising (in the plastic bag, moisture i’m assuming, that forms the gluen and the dough) This will form a soft ball of dough.

Step 4:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and put a little spray oil in the botom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough, then cover with the plastic bag and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 hour.  This is the first rising.  Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the 2nd rising.

Step 5:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, at least 1/2 hour before this step

Step 6:  Second rising:  after the hour, take the dough out of the bowl and press down on it and start kneading, while incorporating flour if it is sticky, until it is getting kind of hard to knead, approx. 3-4 minutes?  Dust with flour and rollout with rolling pin until around 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) depth.  Cut into as many rounds as you can get with the bisquit cutter or cup, then fold each round in half and pinch somewhat together and place in oiled pie pan (they will rise and stick to each other and become pull apart rolls)  Cover with plastic bag, again, and let rise for another 1/2 hour.

Step 7:  Place in oven, and bake until nice and light brown (watch that you do not burn) , approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven, spary with oil for that nice gloss and serve.

pizza / bread dough

10 minute french bread video

I’m not a bread expert.  At one time, I had almost given up the process completely.  My dough was like cement, and my baked pizzas were as hard as cement.  Could not get past the measurements of the water to flour ratios.

The attached youtube video helped me with the motto:

“kneading doesn’t matter, measurements do not matter, go at it with reckless abandon”

This recipe is really a bunch of tips of what works for me personally, with the least amount of effort.  Tips for people who are afraid of, or have had bad experiences, making their own pizza dough.

If I can do this,  ANYONE can

If you are a pro, please skip this

bench scraper, must have tool for cleaning up flour

Equipment:

big bowl for dough rising

small bowl for yeast rising

plastic bag for covering rising bowl

some clean towels

bench scraper

big spoon

rolling pin (french rolling pins are nice, no squeaky handles)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsps or 1 package of active dry yeast (not the self rising type or the pizza dough, or the bread machine type)

3 - 4 cups of all purpose flour, or, bread flour

1 TBL gluten (optional)

2 tsps salt

1/4 tsp sugar

as needed, warm water

as needed, olive oil or oil of choice for the bowl

Method...

Workspace and prepping:  Have a very clean, dry, somewhat open, large workspace (like a kitchen island, or a large counter).  Have a clean towel on hand, your bench scraper by your side and around 2 1/2 cups flour mixed with the gluten and salt in a big mixing bowl, set aside and ready to go.  Have around 1/2 cup flour at the edge of your workspace, on the table top, ready to be dusted and used.

Step 1:  Place the yeast into a small bowl, add the sugar, add a very small amount of warm water (not hot, warm to touch), mix with a small spoon and cover with towel for around 1/2 hour.  This doubles the yeast in volume and lets it rise, different from just proofing the yeast.  In the picture the yeast looks like dough (I learned this, letting the yeast rise tip, from my friends at Gentle World.org and my favorite vegan cookbook: “Incredibly Delicious”.)

Step 2:  Once the yeast has doubled, pour on top of the flour mixture and add more “warm” water with a spoon until the dough is coming together, if the water is not soaking into the flour, add more until it does

Step 3:  Dust your hands and work area with the flour you have setting aside, and remove the formed mixture from the bowl, fold it over a couple times, while dusting with flour until you feel you can knead it a little without it sticking to everything.  Start kneading the dough, flipping over and pressing your palm into it, while constantly incorporating more dustings of flour until it is not sticky.  Should take around a minute or two.  I learned from the youtube video that kneading does not matter, its the form of rising (in the plastic bag, moisture i’m assuming, that forms the gluen and the dough) This will form a soft ball of dough.

Step 4:  Let the dough ball sit uncovered,  then wash your big mixing bowl with hot, warm water.  Dry the bowl and place a little olive oil in the botom of the bowl.  Transfer the dough and roll it around to cover with the oil, then cover with the plastic bag and set in a somewhat dark place for around 1 1/2 hours.  This is the first rising.  Clean up the workspace with the bench scraper and leave the flour pile to use for the 2nd rising.

Step 5:  Second rising:  after the hour and 1/2, take the dough out of the bowl and press down on it and start kneading, while incorporating flour if it is sticky, until it is getting kind of hard to knead, approx. 3-4 minutes?  Place back in bowl and turn plastic bag inside out, then let sit, again, for around 1 hour this time.  (If you are making french bread, you would form the loaves on the pan, cover, and let sit for the 2nd rising.  For this pizza, just put the dough back into the bowl).  Clean your workspace, once again.

Because Daiya vegan cheese melts, it really helps to "hold" the toppings on and keep the pizza together

Step 6:  Preheat the oven to 450 - 475 degrees, at least 1/2 hour to 40 minutes before you make the pizza.  The oven has to be very hot, this is one of the pizza making tips I learned over the years

Step 7:  When the 2nd rising is complete, dust your hands and workspace with flour, take the dough out of the bowl, press lightly into a small circle, then, using a rolling pin, roll out to the size you want.  You should be able to pick the dough up and let stretch from side to side (if you cannot stretch, don’t worry, just roll the dough out with a rolling pin or press out with your hands), then place back down and roll out and carefully place on a pizza stone or a oil sprayed baking sheet or pizza sheet.  You probably will not get a perfect circle or uniform dough, but thats the artisan way.  After time, you will get better and better at this.

Step 8:  Assemble your toppings and remember, too many heavy, water bogged toppings will affect the handling of each slice (so if using spinach, or mushrooms,  for instance, drain all the water out before placing on the dough)  Now, bake until the sides are light brown, remove, and serve.