Challah

I am normally the sort of person who gets things done quickly and efficiently. But lately all the things that need to do are purely self motivated and without deadline. So I have been putting them off for longer & longer. I have still been baking. I have about seven things baked and photographed, but I haven't made a single peep on this little space in two weeks for no real reason other than I haven't sat down & told myself that it was time to make it happen.
I got a pretty gross flu type thing, and for the last week while I laid in bed for hours on end, I kept thinking that I would magically write a new blog post. But that never happened. Instead I read six young adult books. Because teen fiction is really my main drive at this point in the winter. It keeps me from growing stir crazy at work on my lunch breaks or rolling out endless cinnamon buns, and it keeps me pedaling the stationary bike at the gym. It has also been winding it's way into my dreams. I keep waiting to find out that I am truly a witch or that I can overcome the government in a post-apocalyptic society. I re-read one of my favorite books, the Golden Compass. I read all three books of the Infernal Devices (which is infinitely better than the Mortal Instruments). I read Divergent & Insurgent, and am currently the 89th hold on the last book in the trilogy. I just checked out three more random young adult books today, A Great & Terrible Beauty, Legend, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone. So forgive me if things are a little quiet around here. I just keep hoping to grow into my magical powers that will help me break this spell of winter.


I can't remember when I made this challah. I had promised Greg numerous times that I would make it, and I finally kept my promises. It's Isa's recipe from the PPK. The bread was wonderfully soft and fluffy and a beautiful shade of yellow. I felt like the banana flavor was a little too strong for me, so next time I might try to use either pumpkin puree or applesauce or some other sort of mixture to replace it. I forgot how much I love braiding bread. It's been so long since I was on a bread kick. There was a time where I was making the the yeast braid from Seitan is my Motor once a month or more.
Also in the last week I have learned that it is very difficult, but not impossible, to cook & eat dinner with a book in your hand. If you are right handed you probably want to save that hand for the stirring and what not, but you can set the book down on the edges of the stove that aren't hot and turn the pages with your right hand when needed. Also, it's best if it's a book that you bought so you don't smear pasta sauce or soup all over the pages before you return it to the library & sadden an actual teen. They have volatile emotions, so it could cause an uproar. And they might be a witch or a fairy or demon hunter, so it could turn out badly for you. Consider yourself forewarned.

Brown Sugar Pecan Banana Bread

This recipe is brought to you by inspiration from the cookbook Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe. I grew up in rural Tennessee, and Loveless Cafe was the stuff of legends. The last time I was in town, I drove by and there was still a line out the door just like normal. While their cookbook is probably one of the least vegan things you can look through, I found it super comforting. It sent me on a hunt for sorghum & made me yearn for the blackberry bushes & fresh peaches outside my front door. Most of all the Loveless cookbook reminded me that my insatiable sweet tooth is totally a normal thing in the South. We are talking about a place where people pour chocolate gravy on a pile of biscuits for breakfast. So it's no wonder that by the time that I finished flipping through the pages, the banana bread I was making that afternoon couldn't be just banana bread. I had to add extra brown sugar & pecans. Pea-cans y'all. 


Brittany at Real Sustenance, came up with the best vegan gluten free quick bread base recipe. The following recipe is her's just tweaked with a little spice & some sugar swapping.  
Brown Sugar Pecan Banana Bread

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose flour blend
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup full fat, canned coconut milk
1 tsp white vinegar
1 1/4 cup banana puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 335 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix until evenly distributed. Puree bananas. In a small mixing bowl combine sugars, oil, coconut milk, vinegar, banana puree and vanilla. Mix wet and dry until no visible lumps. Fold in pecans. Pour into greased loaf pan (I normally make mini loaves, but this was an 8x4" pan). Top with additional pecans and brown sugar if you can't restrain yourself likes me. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

This is the best gluten free quick bread I have ever bitten into. It's got a phenomenal texture & no beany aftertaste. I also tried the recipe with pumpkin purée, but that was no where near as enjoyable. The garbanzo bean flour in the Bob's Red Mill AP blend was too strong for such a subtle flavor. I know this recipe will become a mainstay in my gluten free recipe bank. 

As it gets cooler out I have been craving more breads & muffins, so I have a feeling something similar will show up here again soon.  What's your favorite quick bread/muffin flavor? I don't think anything can ever top blueberry streusel, but I am always willing to give things a chance. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Swirled Bread

Thick yeasty bread filled with a homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread? Count me in. When I saw this recipe on Maple Spice, I knew it was only a matter of time before it went into my oven. I enjoyed this bread for breakfast for a few mornings. Due to the minimal sugar in the bread and the lack of sugar in the nutella spread I made, it actually wasn't a sweet bread. It was just rich and complex and super filling. However, I am sure if you used a store bought chocolate hazelnut bread, it would be much sweeter. You could also add a bit more sugar to the bread dough if you are hoping to eat it as a dessert rather than a breakfast (but what really is the difference these days).
I very loosely followed the no-tella recipe in Veganomicon. I basically pureed hazelnuts with cocoa powder and a bit of vanilla extract and canola oil until it was smooth enough to spread on the dough. I am sure that if you actually used hazelnut or peanut oil and added the recommended sugar that it would be even more phenomenal. Also, I baked this bread in a bundt cake pan than already doesn't get enough use. I don't have an angel food cake pan, because vegan angel food cake is still sort of a mystical thing. I didn't have any problems with the bread sticking to all the indentations once the pan had been floured.


I was really excited to use those rose tea cups & plates. I have been having a ton of wonderful thrift luck lately. Last week I found, the tea cup & saucer and a bundle of saucers that all very loosely matched the tea cup for just a dollar. Recently I have also found all sorts of wonderful vintage napkins and bakeware that I can't justify spending twenty dollars on but have no problem grabbing for a dollar or two. I even found a few more vintage mason jars at a shop called Jinxed when I was in Philadelphia this weekend. I thrift pretty regularly but often forget to document my finds. Sometimes it's nice seeing how beautifully everything pairs together.

Pumpkin Bread

When I started MoFo, I didn't really know if I was going to have a theme. But last night I realized that I unintentionally created a theme. It's fall sweets. Apple, pumpkin, a little bit of pear, and a lot of spice. I might get wild and throw chocolate in there. Because I just can't break chocolate's allure for a whole month. No shame.


There are two pumpkin bread recipes that I always end up back on. They are very, very similar. There's only slight difference in flour choice, a touch of maple syrup, and a bit more spice. Isa's pumpkin bread will never fail you. But if you love your pumpkin bread to be a bit more nutrient dense and have a spice profile reminiscent of gingerbread, then this recipe is for you. I sometimes make things even more convoluted, and make Isa's recipe but replace half of the flour with whole wheat. I didn't do it with those loaf because I was running low on supplies, but I definitely suggest you top the bread with a handful of pumpkin seeds. It adds a lot of beauty and a nice crunch to the crust.
This is the kind of bread that you eat on a rainy morning when you woke up at 4am. This is the kind of bread that you eat when it's the last morning you have to wake up before a mini vacation, where you get to fly home to Tennessee for your friend's wedding. When you are stressing about how everything will get done at work in your albeit brief absence, and whether you have jewelry to match your bridesmaid dress, and if the electric bill ever showed up this month or not? This is the kind of bread that will comfort you, calm down for a few minutes to savor the cool morning, and urge you to treat yourself to a really fancy cup of coffee. I did it, so you probably should too.

Strawberry Biscuits

It has been such an intense week already, and it's not even Wednesday night yet. When I got home from work Monday, I was set on having the most relaxing night every. I ordered sesame tofu from a takeout place down the street, put on my PJs by 6PM, and spent a few hours catching up on a back log of blog posts I had been meaning to read and reading Game of Thrones. The relaxation took its toll, and I went to bed really early. Out of pure exhaustion I did something I never do and left my laptop and bag downstairs in the living room, because I could only carry myself and my blanket up the stairs. I woke up early Tuesday morning to go to work, after showering and heading downstairs to grab my lunch, I realized that someone had dumped all the contents of my bag on the couch and the canvas bag was missing. I went into the kitchen to grab another canvas bag and noticed that the rest were missing too. In my still waking up haze I thought someone had needed all the bags to grocery shopping and started to head towards the door. As I was unlocking the front door, I realized that my bike was missing. Some friends had been playing a late night game of kickball the night before and I assumed that someone had borrowed my bike to make it home. I also thought that maybe my housemates were playing a joke on me for going to bed so early yet again. It wasn't until I got in my car and went to grab gas money out of my wallet that I realized something was horribly wrong. My wallet was open, and all the money I had gotten from the ATM the night before was missing. I bolted from the car, went back inside, and realized the house had been pulled apart. Sofa cushions were overturned, shelves had things knocked off and pulled out. I went upstairs to wake up my other housemates. We started tallying up all the things that were missing. Among them were a few bikes, my laptop, an Xbox and several games, the money from my wallet, an ipod, a few bottles of alcohol, and a few other random things like running shoes and canvas shopping bags. We waited around for a few hours while we answered the police's questions and watched them dust for fingerprints.
It seems like they broke in through a window and unlocked the back door. They probably had a car in the alley behind the house. We eventually figured out that we had been robbed sometime been midnight and 2am when another housemate came home from the kickball game. He probably scared them off, which is why they left several things that they had moved but not managed to get out of the house. I spent most of the day thinking about how terrifying it is to have people in your house, while you and your friends/family are sound asleep. How easy it would have been to hurt any of us. How violated I felt. I spent most of the afternoon reading and trying to distract myself, I warned the few neighbors that I saw on the streets to check their locks and windows and texted a few friends who live in the same neighborhood as us.
I slept at my partner's house last night because I knew it would make me feel a little safer. This morning I came home, intent on cleaning up the house and baking something comforting. I had settled on strawberry biscuits and just finished chopping the strawberries. I realized that my flour jar was empty and started to look through some shelves near the back door for an unopened sack. I spotted a canvas grocery bag and grabbed it. There wasn't flour inside, but I had found my laptop! After a minute of staring at it in disbelief, I set it down and found the flour too.

These strawberry biscuits are really comforting and likely to make you feel like your day is getting better, but probably not as good as mine. I was too excited to take the time to cut the biscuits and re-roll the dough, so I just sliced them as one would scones. It worked for me.



Vegan Strawberry Biscuits
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen


2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 cup chopped strawberries
1 cup full fat canned coconut milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in Earth Balance with two knives or a pastry cutter. Toss strawberries in flour mixture until evenly coated. Pour coconut milk over the dry and slowly fold until just mixed. It's important to not overwork the dough. On a lightly floured surface, press out the dough to less an inch thick. Either cut with a bench scraped into wedges or with a cookie cutter to make round biscuits. Brush tops with additional coconut milk and sprinkle with Turbinado. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.

These are not the sweetest biscuits. The Earth Balance makes them taste quite savory. I also added a half teaspoon of salt to cut the sweetness even further, but I am not sure that I would do that again. If you like sweet breads, I would definitely play with the sugar ratio a bit more. I've had a lot of success at making cream scones with just coconut milk, so that might be another option to take. It will also make the process a few minutes faster since you won't have to cut the Earth Balance into the flour. If you want to attempt that I would add an extra quarter cup of coconut milk to the dough.
I hope that no one else is having the sort of week that I am. But it's a good reminder that we can all be a little more careful. I'm going to finally get renter's insurance and back up my hard drive for once. Last night we installed a new heavy duty lock on the gate to the alley and took a few minutes to check the locks on all the windows. Stay safe and if you are having a rough day, maybe these biscuits will help turn it around for you too.

Strawberry Corn Muffins

Even though it has been such a warm winter, I'm still really excited that it's starting to feel like spring. I love that it's light out until seven at night already. The daffodils are blooming everywhere, and I'm ready to spend my first official cherry blossom season in DC. I sort of jumped the gun on berry season and bought a quart of strawberries grown in a hot house. I was worried that they would be flavorless reminders of strawberries, but these berries were so juicy and wonderful. I savored them for a few too many days, and the last berries were getting overly ripe. I had bookmarked a recipe for strawberry corn muffins a few months ago and knew it was time to put it to use.
These muffins were light and subtly sweet. They were great for breakfast or lunch. I will definitely be throwing fruit in my cornbread from now on. While I love the portion control that muffins offer, these would definitely work in a pan if you want to make a sheet of cornbread.

Strawberry Corn Muffins
adapted from Eating Out Loud

3/4 cup cornmeal
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup oil
1 cup almond milk
1 & 1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into a well in the center of the dry. Gently fold the batter until just mixed. Add the chopped berries, and fill liners 3/4 full. Bake for 22-25 minutes.


Do you like sweet cornbreads? I have always been a fan of them. I know a lot of people prefer savory mixes with jalapenos or spices, but I have always preferred sugary things.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

When I originally made Celine's brioche recipe I knew it would be a recipe that I would make several times. I also knew I had to try her pull apart variation, especially since it has a much shorter chilling time.
I'm going to be honest with you, I have never been a cinnamon bun fan. I love the swirls of cinnamon through the dough, but I don't desire the too sweet sticky icing ever. That is not to say that there have not been a few low points where I have devoured a grocery store, chemically vegan cinnamon bun or two. But if I were planning out a breakfast option for friends, I would choose this cinnamon sugar variation over buns. The pull apart bread is positively to die for. It's slightly yeasty and just enough sweet. No toothaches necessary.
You will need a mixer with a dough hook, a rolling pin, and a pretty specific pan size. I didn't have a 7.75 inch x 3.75 inch x 2.75 inch pan. I did have a pan that was about 5 inches longer and similar heights and depths. I put in all the squares of cut dough because they fit, but during baking a few of them popped out. I was glad for the foil I put down on the oven rack below. If you have a smaller pan, just put in a fraction of the dough. If you have a slightly larger pan, the pieces might fall over a bit during a baking so that they pull off a bit weird. You could also split the dough into two mini loafs. Or even bake the bread in rose form like Tiffany for a real 'aww' factor.


Also, if you make this bread early in the morning your whole house will smell heavenly for most of the afternoon. That's the kind of aromatherapy I enjoy.

Brioche

There is nothing that I crave more than bread. It's so satisfying and filling. I've been really interest in homemade breads lately. The loaves at grocery stores are rarely milk, honey, and corn syrup free, so I thought it would be best to do it myself. And if I am going to make bread, then I want it to be something really rich.
I had seen Celine's brioche recipe in the summer, but didn't have a standing mixer with a dough hook. I have been patiently biding my time, and now I can make it as frequently as I want. Granted, this bread is no after thought. There is almost a day in preparation as you must let it refrigerate for several hours. I made my dough in the evening and let it chill overnight, because the smell of bread baking makes for a really wonderful morning.
Not only was the bread delicious alone, but it made amazing stuffed french toast. I used a silken tofu batter full of spices and vanilla bean and stuffed it with a cream cheese & strawberry mixture. This picture does not do the taste of the stuffed toast justice. The hint of coconut in the bread works really well with the other french toast flavors.


If you love bread, then I highly recommend this recipe. It isn't challenging, and only takes a little patience due to the chilling time. Do you make your own breads?

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Loaf

Gluten free baking is still something that intimidates me. I have so many flours around that I have gathered, but am never sure what the best way is to combine them. Maybe I should have started with buying a pre-mixed gluten-free flour combination, but what's the fun in that? When I saw this recipe posted by PeaSoupEats, I knew I would need to try it. I have been on a citrus kick lately, and with a friend who is gluten sensitive in town, it was the perfect excuse to try it out.
For the two cups of flour, I used a mixture of almond meal (~3/4 cup), coconut flour (~1/2 cup), white rice flour (~1/2 cup), and tapioca flour (~1/4 cup). I subbed the the 2 measures of cointreau, for 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil.
To help in easing the loaf out, I baked it with parchment paper in the pan for easy removal. My folding wasn't incredibly precise, so the edges are a bit wonky. But the edges perfectly baking didn't seem as important to me as removing the loaf unbroken. I know from experience that coconut flour browns pretty rapidly, and my loaf was definitely a bit darker than hers with the same baking time but I think the flavor is worth it. The flavor of this loaf was something that I really enjoyed. My batch turned out a little too moist, but I think I can remedy that when I bake it again.
Do you have any tips for gluten free baking? What are you favorite flours or flour combinations?

Cranberry Orange Bread

Today was one of those Sundays where I sit around drinking coffee and slowly working on several assignments. I knew that I needed to bake something to warm the kitchen a little and give me energy to sustain all the graphing.


Cranberries were on sale since the Thanksgiving rush is over, and a friend who was in town for the weekend left an orange in my room that was perfect for zesting. I searched through a few cookbooks looking for this recipe, since I remembered making it last fall. This wonderful recipe is in Veganomicon. It also calls for crushed walnuts, but I prefer my bread soft and crumbly.


It smelled too delicious to let it cool enough to properly slice. Even if I had let it cool, I have never quite figured out how to make slices of baked goods look delicious. Do you have any tips?

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filled Bread

When I first saw this recipe last winter on Seitan is my Motor, I realized I had all the ingredients in my pantry and made it hours later. Since then, I have made this recipe at least a dozen times with various fillings. There has never been a loaf that has turned out poorly.



I filled this batch with a pumpkin tofu cream cheese a friend had left over when they got home from New York this week. I would assume it's from the Bagel Store. I also used Pumpkin Spice Silk rather than a quarter cup of soy milk and for brushing on the top of the braid. My favorite thing about this bread is how crisp the crust gets, while the inside stays so soft.



The first loaf was eaten by my housemates in less than an hour, so I made a second loaf which was braided a little neater. It didn't finish baking until it was dark, so my camera wouldn't have gotten a decent photograph. My friend did however!