Photo by Dianne  Radmore/Fireweed

A LITTLE EXPERIMENT THAT WENT QUITE WELL: NO-KNEAD PIZZA DOUGH BAQUETTES–

I had some leftover no-knead pizza dough in my refrigerator yesterday. We had our fill of pizza for a while, so I considered freezing the dough, but then thought, “Why not try making a couple of baguettes out of it?” Why not, indeed. It’s a similar simple dough (see the recipe for the dough at the end of this post).

I have a baguette pan, but it has a hook on one end, which makes it difficult to place inside even my largest roaster.

I decided to line the baguette pan with 3 layers of foil, line the troughs with baking parchment and let the dough rise in that setup (for about 2 hours because the dough was cold).

When I heated up the oven (to 450 Degrees F), I also heated up my big rectangular granite ware roaster.

I stretched and folded the refrigerated dough a few times before shaping it into two loaves.

When the time came to bake, I slid the foil form out of the baguette pan onto the bottom of a baking sheet and then carefully slid that into the shallow bottom of the hot roaster.

The foil kind of spread outward at this point, so I quickly rolled up some more foil into two long “sausages” and used those to prop up the outside edges of my makeshift baguette pan liner (I saved all this foil for another use, BTW).

I scored the tops of the dough with a serrated knife before baking, but not deeply enough, evidently, because you couldn’t see the scoring at all after it was baked (I’ll use a razor blade on the soft dough next time). However, as you can see, it turned out well, had wonderful flavor (it was in the refrigerator for 2 nights), and disappeared very fast with a vegan stew I made for friends who came for dinner.

Photo by Dianne  Radmore/Fireweed

I’ll be doing this again!

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BRYANNA’S NEAPOLITAN-STYLE NO-KNEAD PIZZA CRUST ( or about 4 baguettes)
Servings: 36
Yield: makes about six 11″-square pizzas

This is our current favorite pizza dough– partly whole wheat and no oil added, but very tender.

6 cups unbleached white flour or unbleached bread flour (use bread flour in the USA– Canadian all-purpose unbleached flour has the same gluten content as USA bread flour)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 Tbsp sea salt (fine)
3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp instant yeast

In a large bowl, mix together the two flours and the salt.

In a 1-quart/L container, sprinkle the yeast into the water and let sit for a few minutes.  Stir and pour into the flour mix. Have ready another large bowl, oiled lightly.

Stir the mixture with a Danish dough whisk or large spoon.  Use your hands to mix/knead in the last bit of flour.  Using a dough scraper, scoop the dough into the oiled bowl.  Cover and let rise at room temperature for 2 or more hours (this is flexible). Refrigerate in the same bowl, either covered, or placed inside of a food-safe plastic bag (it won’t touch the dough if the bowl is big enough), or in a covered container such as a dough bucket or large storage container. Place in the refrigerator.

You can keep the dough in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks, although, in my experience, it gets kind of “soggy” by then.  It does taste marvelous after a long stay in the refrigerator!

Make as many pizzas as you like (refrigerate any leftover dough again) as usual and bake at the highest heat your oven can reach (500-550 degrees F) for 8-10 minutes, using a baking stone or cast iron skillet heated up in the oven as it comes up to temperature.

See these blog posts for tips about rolling out and baking pizza:
http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.ca/2006/05/vegan-pizza-night.html
http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.ca/2011/10/cast-iron-skillet-pizza-perfect.html

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/6th of one square 11-inch pizza): 93 calories, 3 calories from fat, less than1g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 189.1mg sodium, 47mg potassium, 19.6g carbohydrates, 1.2g fiber, less than 1g sugar, 3g protein.

Last week I made a large batch of pressure-cooked chickpeas that I over-cooked– they were pretty mushy!  I wondered what the heck I was going to do with all these mushy chickpeas.  My first thought was dinner that night– I didn’t have much time.  I remembered some Indian chickpea patties or “cutlets” that I had made years before– that sounded like a good solution for at least some of the chickpeas.  It turned out to be an excellent idea– tasty, quick to make, inexpensive and nutritious.  I served them (drizzled with homemade soy yogurt and chutney) with some bulgur wheat pilaf that I had in the refrigerator, and steamed green beans– a very satisfying and delicious dinner!

PS: What did I do with the remaining mushy chickpeas? I made a couple of delicious batches of super-silky hummus!  One night we made a filling and yummy meal of a large salad with various veggies and that hummus on homemade sourdough bread.

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BRYANNA’S CHANA (CHICKPEA) CUTLETS
Servings: 6
Yield: 12 patties

3 cups well-cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 large onion, minced
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 Tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos
4 cloves garlic, minced
(Note: You can chop the onions, carrot, garlic, and jalapenos together in a fod processor if you wish.)
2 tsp garam masala or curry powder
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp grated peeled fresh ginger
3 cups fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
panko (dry Japanese breadcrumbs– they can be whole wheat) for coating

Mash the chickpeas with a fork or a potato masher.

Sauté the minced onion, carrots, garlic and jalapenos in a little oil until softened, along with the curry powder, cumin, turmeric and salt OR, microwave them in a covered micowave-safe covered dish until softened, about 4 minutes.

Mix the sautéed veggies with the mashed chickpeas, ginger and lemon juice. Add the whole wheat breadcrumbs.  The mixture should be thick enough to shape into patties.  If not, add more breadcrumbs. Taste for salt.

If you have time, refrigerate the mixture for a few hours.  It is easier to form the patties with a chilled mixture, but you can do it with the just-made mixture if necessary.

Divide the chickpea mixture into 12 equal portions.  Set out a shallow bowl and add the panko.

Shape the chickpea mixture into patties or “cutlets” about 1/2-inch thick.  Coat each side of the cutlets well with the panko.

You can cook these cutlets in 3 different ways:

1.) Brown them in a little hot oil in a heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat until golden brown and crispy on both sides.  Place on brown paper or paper towel-lined cookie sheet and keep warm in a low oven for a short time until you serve them.

2.) Place the cutlets on a lightly-oiled cookie sheet and bake at 450  degrees F until golden brown, turning once (carefully).

3.) Same as #2, but instead of baking, place the cookie sheet about 4-5 inches under your oven’s broiler, using high heat.  With this method, you must watch carefully.  When the top is golden brown, turn the cutlets over and broil the other side in the same way.  To keep warm for a short time, turn off the broiler and place the pan on the bottom shelf of the oven.

Serve the cutlets with vegan yogurt (or sour cream) and your favorite chutney. (See photo at the beginning of this blog post.)

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving– 2 cutlets): 304 calories, 39 calories from fat, 4.5g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 454.4mg sodium, 430.8mg potassium, 55.6g carbohydrates, 10.8g fiber, 6.7g sugar, 13.2g protein.

Enjoy!

I had played briefly in the past with a no-knead version of sourdough bread, but without much success. But, being a bit more experienced in this baking method at this point, I decided to try my hand at it again.  I made a batch a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn’t bad, but I wanted to use more whole wheat flour AND have more sourdough flavor. Well, yesterday I had success!  

There are very few ingredients in this bread, but its simplicity belies the complexity of its flavor and textures. The bread rose well, had fine sourdough flavor, and the crust was beautifully golden-brown and crusty.  I promised to share the recipe with you today and I’ve been working on this post most of the day, to make sure that I didn’t forget any details that will help you have success with sourdough bread baking.

3.) 3 times the recipe will make either three 2 lb. loaves, four 1 1/2 lb. loaves, six 1 lb. loaves, or (as I did) two (approximately) 1 3/4 lb. loaves + one 2 1/2 lb. loaf.
4.) 2 1/2 lbs. of dough (weight before baking) should be baked in a 10″ round pan or

6.) Before you start, read the information about pans and baking vessels in “Tips” below.

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Freshly mixed dough

A Danish dough whisk

Cover the bowl– here are some options for that: 1.) cover with a fitted lid, if the bowl has one; 2.) cover with a damp towel and set a large board or pan lid over that; 3.) place the bowl inside of a large food-safe plastic bag and twist-tie it closed, leaving plenty of room for the dough to rise; 4.) scoop the dough into a covered proofing bucket, if you have one.

After the first long rising, the dough should look softer and be doubled in size.

Don’t stir the dough down. Cloak the dough with flour, and cover your work surface with a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat, flouring it well. Note: The dough will be quite sticky– keep your hands and the parchment floured and use a bench knife/dough scraper to handle the dough whenever possible.

Using the dough scraper, scoop the dough onto the floured surface, sprinkle it with a little more flour and stretch the dough a little, folding it over on itself twice. 

Cover the dough with a domed lid or pot, or a damp tea towel, and let rest for 15 minutes.

NOTE:  If you don’t plan to bake right away, you can refrigerate dough in a covered bowl or bucket, or even a zipper-lock bag, for up to 5 days.  Then take the dough out and let rise for 8-12 hours or overnight.  

While the dough is resting, get your pan(s), or whatever baking vessel(s) you are using, ready. Then choose the similar-sized and shaped vessel(s) in which you are going to rise the loaf or loaves. Cut a piece or pieces of baking parchment to fit into the rising vessel(s) with some overlap. Just lay it over the vessel and sprinkle the middle with flour. (NO OILING IS NECESSARY!)

Place the shaped dough seam-side-down on the parchment-lined rising vessel(s) you have prepared earlier and dust the top of the dough lightly with more flour. With scissors, cut off the excess parchment just above the top of the rim of the vessel, leaving just enough to be able to grasp on each end in order to transfer to the hot baking vessel(s) when the time comes.

If you can resist, it is best to wait until the bread is cooled (mostly, at least!) before tasting.

Nutrition (per serving): 60 calories, 2 calories from fat, less than1g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 157.3mg sodium, 48.2mg potassium, 12.7g carbohydrates, 1.4g fiber, less than1g sugar, 2.1g protein.

Tips

You can improvise a cloche for bread baking: a flower pot cloche. It’s simply an inexpensive unglazed domed flower pot turned upside down on the matching rimmed dish that comes with it. The dish is 9 inches across the bottom, 11 inches across the top and 2 inches deep; the pot itself is 7 inches across the bottom, 10 inches across the top and 4 1/3 inches deep. Place the risen bread in the dish (with the baking parchment it rose in) and turn the flower pot upside down over it. You can plug the hole in the flower pot with a little wad of aluminium foil. (The bread never actually touches the clay, by the way.) This will set you back $10; a La Cloche Baker costs upwards of $50. (Alternatively, place the risen dough on a heated pizza stone and place a large overturned dome-shaped clay flower pot over the dough.)

Two 9 x 5″ or 8 1/2 x 5″ bread pans (with no handles), or two 7″ round pans, or one 10″ round pan will fit in a large oval roaster 15 1/2″ long, 11″ wide and 4″ deep. (That’s my largest oval roaster, but there are 18″ and 19″ ones, and even a rectangular one 21″ x 15″!)

A medium oval roaster 12″ long, 8″ across and 3″ deep will hold a 9 x 5 bread pan (with or without handles).

Pre-heat the bread pans inside the roaster. Rise your bread in a pan or basket or anything else that will yield a loaf pretty much the size and shape to fit into the heated bread pan. When the oven comes up to temperature and the roasters and pans are hot, transfer the loaves (with the parchment) into the hot bread pans, cover the roaster and bake as directed.

UPDATE Jan. 14, 2016: I was lucky enough to find a large rectangular roaster in great shape at Value Village, and it only set me back about $4.00 Cnd– a real bargain! (Actually it might be a Granite Ware roasting/baking pan with a roaster lid, but they fit together.) Below I’ll post some pics I just took of the pans I can fit into it. I could probably also bake 3 short baguettes in this pan.

When used with the smaller pan on the bottom, the baking space is about 14 1/2 x 9 1/2″.

When used with the larger pan on the bottom, the baking space is 14 x 9″.

Three 8 x 4″ bread pans fit perfectly.

One 9 x 5 plus two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ bread pans.

One 10″ round pan plus one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ bread pan.

Two 9 x 5″ bread pans (with handles– you might get 3 in without handles and edges).

Happy Baking!

Last night’s dinner

This is going to be blog post with no real recipes, but I thought this would be a good topic for the beginning of the year, when I always reassess how I cook and what I want to work on in the new year. First on my mind as I peered into the refrigerator yesterday evening was what I needed to use up and what I could find to make a tasty meal in a hurry. I know I wasn’t the only person in this situation, and the meal I came up with turned out to be pretty darn good, so I thought I might share my process for dealing with such a situation, a situation that can be even more difficult for new vegans.

We are going food shopping tomorrow for the first time in two weeks, so we’re getting low on fresh stuff. Brian was going to make his spaghetti sauce for tonight, but what the heck did we have left that I could make into a tasty, quick (and low-fat) meal for last night?

Okay, begin with the easiest part of the meal, the “starch”.  We had plenty of potatoes over the holidays, and pasta coming the next day, but I have plenty of grains in the pantry, and after a quick peruse of the shelves, I decided that a Middle Eastern-style bulgur and toasted noodle pilaf would be a good place to start. 10 minutes in my new Instant Pot (1 cup medium bulgur wheat, 1/2 cup Persian toasted noodles [reshteh],  2 1/2 cups vegan broth, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, large pinch dried oregano) and the pilaf is ready. (On the stovetop, in a covered pot– 20 minutes.)

As is my habit, I began to think about a theme for our meal, and the pilaf gave me the idea to run with Middle Eastern flavors.

That brought me to the vegetable part of the meal.  I had some lovely winter squash given to us by some friends, so I cut and seeded them and divided them into manageable pieces, which I placed in a Pyrex casserole and microwaved for about several minutes (some chunks took longer than others), until softened.  I wracked my brain for what I had to dress them with that would have a Middle Eastern touch.  I love the spice mixture za’atar and always have some in my spice drawer, so I sprinkled the cavities of the squash chunks with the lemony sumac, wild thyme and sesame mixture, spooned in some homemade soy yogurt and drizzled that with some sweet/sour pomegranate molasses.  With my fingers crossed that this combo would be a good one, I placed the squash on a baking tray and popped it into my little counter-top oven to keep hot while I figured out the main dish.

I could have taken some beans out of the freezer, but I had some of my Breast of Tofu (B of T– recipe here) marinating in the fridge which needed to be used.  So, I coated a few slices with my usual flour mixture (in the same recipe file) and crisped them under the broiler on both sides, while my brain was madly working on how to make a tasty sauce for them with some sort of even vaguely Middle Eastern overtones.

In the end, I sliced up half a green and half a red bell pepper, along with a 1/4 of an onion, some garlic and a few mushrooms. I roasted them quickly under the broiler, allowing some pieces to char a little. I dumped the vegetables into a skillet over high heat and stirred in a mixture of vegan broth (Better than Bouillon No-Chicken vegan broth base), lemon juice and a little white vermouth just to up the umami factor (even though wine isn’t generally used in Middle eastern dishes)– about 1 cup in all. I slipped in the crispy B of T slices and kept cooking them over pretty high heat so that the sauce would cook down and the flour on the slices would help to thicken it.  I added a bit of dried mint and oregano. It tasted pretty good, but it was on the sharp side. It needed toning down.  I thought something milky would help, but I was afraid to add my soy yogurt to the bubbling sauce– I thought it might curdle.  So I grabbed a carton of So Delicious Original Coconut Creamer (which I know is pretty stable in hot mixtures) and stirred in some until the flavors melded into a tart, creamy, rich-tasting melange.

The sauce made a delicious foil for the mild B of T, which I served over the pilaf. And the squash?  Delicious!

Start to finish, this took about 1/2 an hour.  It wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever made, but I wouldn’t have complained if I’d been served it in a restaurant!

Happy New Year!

I’ve been refreshing my old sourdough starter lately, thanks to the interest of a couple of friends.  I’ve been playing with no-knead crusty sourdough bread and will do a post on that very soon.

While refreshing my starter and making extra for my friends, I found myself with too much starter today, but so nice and bubbly and sour that I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.  Since we were expecting company today, I decided to make a batch of sourdough biscuits.  I literally hadn’t made them for years.

These are the BEST biscuits– golden and crispy on the outside and tender and layered on the inside.  Make sure that your starter in active and fresh.  It should be about the consistency of a pancake batter, but full of bubbles.

Fresh, bubbly sourdough starter

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BRYANNA’S SOURDOUGH ROLLED BISCUITS
Yield: 12

1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup very cold (or frozen) vegan butter (see my homemade palm oil-free vegan “Buttah” recipe)
1 cup fresh, bubbly sourdough starter (see my starter recipe and instructions for use)
NOTE: you may need a few sprinkles of non-dairy milk OR flour

Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Add the cold vegan butter and quickly rub in with a pastry cutter or your fingers until bits of vegan butter are like crumbs.

Pour in the starter and stir with a fork until it is a dough that holds together.  If the dough is too wet, add a bit more flour.  If it is too dry, add a few sprinkles of non-dairy milk until it hold together.

On a floured surface (best to use a piece of baking parchment or a silicone mat) pat or roll out the dough into a rectangle about 3/4″ thick.  Fold in thirds.  Roll out again and fold into thirds.  Roll and pat into a rectangle about 1/2″ thick.

Turn oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut the dough into 12 squares or, with a biscuit cutter, into 12 rounds or hexagons. (You can push the scraps together, fold once and roll out gently, then cut out as many as you can.)

Place the biscuits in a 9-10″ round shallow layer cake pan, not quite touching.  Cover loosely with a clean tea towel and let rise for 15 minutes.  Brush the tops with soymilk or spray lightly with oil. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Serve hot or cool on rack and reheat in a 350 degree F oven for a few minutes

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per biscuit):  95 calories, 36 calories from fat, 4g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 175.5mg sodium, 51.5mg potassium, 12.4g carbohydrates, less than 1g fiber, less than 1g sugar, 1.9g protein.

Enjoy!