poopiebitch.com - a vegan food blog » bread

Sourdough is sexy

poopiebitch — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:56:35 +0000

Thanks to everyone who has followed me to my new place, and for all the lovely compliments on the design. Yes, The Brit is quite skilled in web design – but you’d all better be careful or you’re going to give him a big head!

A couple of weeks ago, the amazing bazu heard my desperate pleas for help and graciously sent me some of her sourdough starter. It arrived in dry form, and I somehow managed to bring it back to life without killing it (or anything else) in the process. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to bazu (and also my soul, but that’s another story).

Having never worked with sourdough before, I’m having a good time learning about it and trying different recipes. The first bread I made turned out a bit dense and pale, mostly because I forgot about it and let it over-proof (oops!).

I know the slash pattern on the left one looks kinda like a pot leaf, but it was totally unintentional.

It was still amazingly delicious though, and most of it was consumed by dipping it in olive oil and black pepper, straight up. I’m planning a second batch soon, which I hope will be even more glorious than the first.

One a penny, two a penny

poopiebitch — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:27:00 +0000

First off, *thank you* to everyone who got excited with me over The Brit’s conversion! I’m still so stoked about it! We’re working on finding a non-dairy milk he likes right now. Soy was a no-go, rice was a definite no-go, as was almond… oat seems to be okay so far. Anyone have any other suggestions?

I hope everyone had a good Zombie Jesus Day! On Good Friday I made Hot Cross Buns. Except… I left off the crosses due to laziness. I tried to make pseudo-crosses by cutting an “X” in the top of each bun, but when they baked they ended up looking more like little horns. I guess I should have called them Blasphemous Buns instead.

I made another tester for Bianca’s cookbook! This time it was Buttermilk Biscuits – a southern staple. She hit the nail on the head again with this awesome recipe! They were light, fluffy, AND 100% whole wheat. I cut them into hearts because it’s cute.

And what would southern-style biscuits be without gravy? Bianca’s creamy Sausage-Sage Gravy made this an awesome breakfast.

This baked lemon-herb tofu didn’t turn out as fabulous as I’d hoped, but it was still tasty enough to eat! Mashed gold potatoes can make up for anything less than stellar, anyway.

There was nothing less than stellar about this pizza, though! I made apple-sage sausages to grill at my parents’ house on Saturday, and this was the perfect way to use the leftovers.

This was the first pizza I’ve ever made 100% from scratch. The ‘ricotta’ and pesto were inspired by the Isa Pizza in VwaV, but I didn’t have the right ingredients so I fudged it. Homemade: pizza dough, roasted red pepper sauce (no tomatoes – The Brit isn’t a tomato fan), tofu ‘ricotta’, spinach pesto (I didn’t have any fresh basil), apple-sage sausages and caramelized onions. This pizza was AMAZING.

And the best part? I still have half the pizza dough leftover, wrapped up in my freezer. I foresee much more homemade pizza in my future!

The upper crust

poopiebitch — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Every week, usually twice a week, I bake my own sandwich bread. I love it (and so does The Brit), but sometimes I want more. Something… heartier. Crustier. Chewier.

I decided to try my hand at no-knead bread, guessing it would pair perfectly with the soup I planned on making. I was right.

Check out that sexy crust.

Don’t let that tough exterior fool you.

Inside it’s all soft and chewy.

It’s not a great photo, but the leftover bread made amazing French Toast.

I definitely see more specialty bread in my future.

Rolled foods

poopiebitch — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:56:00 +0000

If you missed my last post, go check it out, and enter for a chance to win an adorable wee plush monster of your very own.

Okay, now that I’m done whoring myself out, on to the food! I baked some Asian marinated tofu (leftover from grilling), and put it in sushi along with avocado, green onions, carrots and black sesame seeds. Possibly the best sushi I’ve ever made:

And of course, gotta have something sweet… like cinnamon rolls! These were pretty much amazing. I let The Brit talk me into using all white flour (which NEVER happens in my house) and I made them extra-large (that’s a 12″ pan they’re in, so they’re 4″ each!). I put raisins in the filling, which I’ve never tried before, and it was so good.

Check out the giant deliciousness:

That’s it for now!

“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said, “is what we chiefly need.”

poopiebitch — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:20:00 +0000

On Saturday I baked four loaves of whole wheat bread. I was hoping that they would last us through the whole week, but I’m not sure they will. The Brit goes through a lot of bread, and I find it kind of hard to resist when it’s homemade and fresh. It’s cheaper than buying bread, but I may have to supplement with store-bought. Either that, or bake twice a week. Also, our bread intake will probably go down a bit once homemade bread stops being such a novelty and becomes the norm.

Meanwhile, I’m really enjoying it. I’d forgotten how much better fresh home baked bread was than store bought. Here it is starring in a tempeh BLT:

And here accompanying some tart lingonberry jam:

Delish.

For lunch today I made baked marinated tempeh with pan-fried polenta and peas.

I used a store-bought marinade (Annie’s Naturals Island Marinade), and while I thought it was ‘okay’, The Brit did not like it at all. He ate about two bites of the tempeh (at least he tried!), but it was a definite ‘no’. I managed to confirm that it wasn’t the tempeh he didn’t like – he said the texture was just fine – but that the marinade tasted too ‘vinegary’.

I’m afraid I have to agree. I didn’t find it unpalatable, but I wouldn’t buy it again. That’s what I get for taking shortcuts! It did remind me a little of a Jamaican Jerk type flavor, so I plan to use the leftover tempeh in a Jamaican Jerk style sandwich, ala Spiral Diner. I’ll let you know how that goes.

On the bright side, he ate all of the polenta.

Test cookies, care package and Food Not Bombs

poopiebitch — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:36:00 +0000

My latest batch of test cookies for Kelly and Garrick’s vegan cookie book were Peanut Butter Molasses (or Mary Jane) Cookies. Apparently they taste like the candy Mary Janes, but for those of us who have never had it, they taste to me kind of like PayDay candy bars. If you’ve never had either, just trust me that they taste like awesomeness.

I am glad I found time to bake four test recipes this last week, because I’m pretty sure I won’t be making any this week. I have a wedding cake and groom’s cake due on Friday, and believe it or not I’m a little baked out. By the end of this post you may understand why.

I sent a little package to my friend Cloudy last week, and now that I know that everything arrived in okay condition, I’ll post what I made (all vegan, of course)!

Low Fat Banana Bread:

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti (my first ever biscotti!):

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies (I call this photo “cookiehenge”):

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:

Spicy Savory Nuts:

Spicy Sweet Nuts:

And here is a shot of everything together, all wrapped up and ready to go:

Cloudy informed me that everything arrived in good condition, and amazingly still fresh! I guess my mad wrapping skillz payed off. One day I will figure out how to ship a decorated cake.

On Friday I made some cupcakes and cookies for our local Food Not Bombs group. The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center put together a huge event called Bands not Bombs on Saturday, at which Food Not Bombs had a booth and planned a little bake sale to raise money for the pantry, which is used to feed the less fortunate.

My contribution was 16 (I know, weird number, whatever) Vegan Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes, brushed with Kahlua and topped with Espresso Buttercream (sound familiar?):

And five dozen Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies:

I don’t know how the sale went yet (I wasn’t able to make it out to the event), but I’m hoping we were able to raise at least a little money.

And that is why I am kind of tired of baking.

Compensating

poopiebitch — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:07:00 +0000

We have water! We still have to have someone come out and rehang drywall so they can put the sink back. Right now it’s living on our (wet) bedroom floor:

The plumber cut a very large hole to find a very small pipe:

Hopefully all of that will be over with soon. Oy.

This post is pic heavy because I am both trying to make up for my lack of posts, and trying to make up for the fact that it will probably be Monday before I post again. I have a wedding cake and groom’s cake to make and deliver to Oxford, MS tomorrow, and another small wedding cake to be delivered in Memphis on Sunday. I will be crazy busy/extremely exhausted, so I’m apologizing in advance.

In the meantime, pictures!

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins from V’con. These were very tasty, and not too sweet. I baked them in muffin liners with little animals on them, because they are adorable.

My first ever seitan! I used the recipe for Seitan O’Greatness from the PPK forums. I really liked the flavor and how easy it was. The Brit loved the texture, but wasn’t so crazy about the flavor. Anyone who knows him would know what a huge deal that is – he actually almost liked it! I’m going to make it again and switch up the seasonings until I find something he’ll like.

I will take this opportunity to introduce two of my favorite kitchen tools. First, my cast iron wok (all oiled up here, ready for action):

Second, my rice cooker. I freaking love my rice cooker:

Using these two tools, together with my Seitan O’Greatness, I made a yummy sweet and sour stir-fry that was actually pretty good. Even The Brit ate it!

I always make a little extra rice so I can have rice pudding. This time I added some currants, which I love! I shook up the soy milk before adding it, and for some reason it stayed really foamy even after cooking it with the rice. You can see the little bubbles:

We bought some more strawberries and I decided we should have strawberries and champagne. After trimming and cutting the strawberries, I macerated them in some Grand Marnier and a little sugar for about half an hour. Then I poured on a little Silk Soy Creamer (The Brit used real cream) and served them up with a glass of nicely chilled champagne. Indulgent, I know! (sorry for the crappy picture)

And last, this morning I made ‘Egg McVegans’ using this recipe. I pressed the tofu overnight in the fridge so I would have more time this morning. Also, I used Gimme Lean ‘sausage’ instead of the veggie bacon. The tofu was a little too vinegary for my tastes, but I may try making these again with less vinegar and maybe some more seasonings. All in all they were pretty good, though.

They sure looked like the real thing!

Pumpkin muffins

poopiebitch — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:04:00 +0000

This morning I made The Best Pumpkin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. I made my standard changes (whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose, turbinado sugar for the white), but I also subbed blackstrap molasses for the regular. These changes almost allowed me to convince myself that they were healthy… almost.

The recipe says it yields 12 muffins, but I must have some abnormally small tins because I managed to get 18 out of the batch, although I only baked 6 of them this morning. The rest I divided up into a lined tin then stuck the whole thing in the freezer. Once they were frozen I put them in a zipper freezer bag, and now I’ll be able to bake however many I want at a time. Is anyone seeing a theme here?

Oh yeah, and they are really good still warm with a little Earth Balance… mmmmm…

The muscles from Brussels

poopiebitch — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:36:00 +0000

I had two firsts on Friday night. My first time cooking Brussels sprouts, and my first time enjoying Brussels sprouts.

I grew up hating them – no, loathing them. The very smell of Brussels sprouts could make me gag and lose my appetite. I’ve discovered, it’s all in how you cook them. This is probably old news to everyone else, but rather than boil your Brussels sprouts beyond recognition like my mother does, you should roast them. Roasting gives them a nice crunch on the outside, and makes them almost… creamy inside. I don’t know what made me try them, but I’m so glad I did.

On Saturday I felt like baking. I found a way to use the pulp from making almond milk – scones! I used the recipe for Hazelnut Scones from Vegan with a Vengeance, subbing almond meal for the hazelnut meal and omitting the chopped hazelnuts. My almond meal was still kind of wet, so I cut back on the wet ingredients a bit – although I don’t think I cut them back enough because the dough was still pretty soft. They were tasty anyway. Next time I think I’ll add more spices, though.

Now, I will leave you with a gratuitous shot of my adorable nephew, Jonah. He’s about to go Kung fu on yo’ ass.