The best thing since sliced bread

OMG, you made bread!

Patty cake, patty cake, baker men and women. This recipe will supply you with two delicious loaves of whole wheat bread for sandwiches, toast, or whatever it is you like to do with your bread. I won’t judge.

I found this recipe, which I altered a bit because I apparently can’t help myself, in a list of Seven Delicious Vegan Bread Recipes. I also made the foccacia, and highly recommend it. Noooommmm.

Before we begin, a few words of advice:

• Wear an apron or get cozy with the idea of being covered in flour
• Buy several packets of yeast because, if you’re anything like me, you’re going to screw up at least your first two attempts at getting it to activate. Apparently yeast is lazy.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp + 3 Tbsp organic molasses
• 2 Tbsp active dry yeast (one packet)
• 3 cups + 5 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup organic oil (I rock the sunflower)
• 1/4 cup organic soy milk
• 3 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp ground flax + 3 Tbsp warm water (to make 1 flax egg)

This is how we dooo it, na na na na na, nana naa…

Bubbling yeast. It’s aliiiiiiive!

1. Mix warm (but not steaming hot) water, 1 Tbsp of molasses and yeast in a large bowl.
2. Place the bowl somewhere warm (I recommend a microwave that’s been run with a cup of water for a minute), and wait about 10 minutes for foamy bubbles to form.
3. Stir in the first 3 cups of pastry flour and mix well.
4. Cover the bowl with a towel and set it back in the previously discovered warm place for a minimum of 20 minutes (or up to 24 hours if you’ve got places to go and things to do).
5. Mix in the first 3 Tbsp of molasses, along with the oil, soy milk, sea salt and the flax egg.
6. Begin adding your remaining 5 1/2 cups of flour, a 1/2 cup at a time. After the dough gets too dense to stir, start kneading it right in the bowl. It will be sticky, and you will get messy, but forge on and continue adding the rest of the flour. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until the flour is all mixed in, and the dough is smooth and elastic instead of sticky.
7. Divide the dough into two equal parts, then shape those lumpy fellows into loaves and pop them into two oiled bread pans (I like olive oil spray).
8. Cover the pans with a clean towel and set them back in that special, warm place your dough is so familiar with by now. Let it sit there and think about what it’s done for about an hour and 15 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.
9. Bake both loaves at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden-brown and you can run them clean through with a knife or toothpick.

Twinsies.

Voila! You have made bread.

Unless you eat a ton of bread, I recommend freezing one of the loaves so it doesn’t go bad while you’re working your way through its sibling.

If that creeped you out, I am sorry I’m not sorry.

Bon appetit!

Yummy vegan French toast

I made this for breakfast, and it was delicious!

Easy Vegan Life

•  1 loaf French or whole wheat bread
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups soy, almond, or rice milk
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup, plus extra for serving
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Preparation:

In medium bowl whisk together flour, nondairy milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.Slice bread into ¾” thick slices.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Submerge one slice of bread in to the batter making sure to coat both sides. Put in to the hot skillet and brown on both sides. Repeat with each slice of bread. 

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Heaven is a place with blueberry walnut banana bread

I will make your kitchen smell divine

Has a bite of food ever made you want to weep with joy? No? Well, in that case, I feel bad for you. And also, I recommend you make my world famous (okay, my garden apartment famous) blueberry walnut banana bread.

Even if you don’t bawl from sheer tastebud delight, you’ll probably at least want to give yourself a hug after you taste your first slice.

I like to think it’s the addition of maple syrup that vaults this loaf from merely “yummy” to “I’ll punch a room full of babies for another piece” status.

On that note…Bon appetite, my future fellow would-be baby punchers!

Ingredients

Get ready to mush.

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup pastry flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup organic, raw sugar
• 2 Tbsps ground flax, plus 1/4 cup hot water (this here is our egg replacer)
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 big ole’ cup frozen blueberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp organic, pure maple syrup
• A smidgen of love and dollop hope and a dash of dreams (Just playing. Use as much of these as you want).

Get your loaf on…

Just try to resist eating me with a spoon.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, mix the ground flax with the hot water to make a “flax egg” and pop the mixture in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This helps it thicken up for its egg duties.
4. In another small bowl, mash the bananas before stirring in the almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla. If the thought of biting into warm banana bits as you enjoy your bread sounds as yummy to you as it does to me, leave a few lumps.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until just combined. Note: If you over-mix your bread it will get tough, and not in the good Chuck Norris sense.
6. Fold in the walnuts and blueberries.
7. Resist the urge to just say “to hell with it,” and eat all the batter with a spoon. Instead, pour the mixture into the bread pan and shake it a little to even it out.
8. Pop it in the oven for an hour to 75 minutes.
9. To make sure the loaf has cooked through, poke the middle of the loaf with a toothpick or knife. If it comes out clean, you’re golden. Now stay that way, pony boy.

Warning: This bread is highly coveted and disappears quickly in my household. In fact, I’m off to hide the remainder of my latest loaf in a locker at Union Station. Later.