yeasted coffee cake

when i saw this picture of a yeasted coffee cake on friday i pretty much knew immediately what my sunday baking project would be. i've made, and loved, traditional coffee cakes but never thought to go the yeasted route. thank you vegansaurus for posting that picture because i can say for certain that this is a treat i will turn to again and again. imagine a coffee cake filling swirled within a light sweet bread dough...it's like if coffee cake and cinnamon rolls had a baby. the best part is that there are no super long rise times so you can easily make and eat this in a day, the dough is easy to work with and when it's baking it will make your entire home smell delicious (at least if your entire home is a teeny lil apartment). it's best the day of or day after baking but even after that you can heat it up a bit and it's still quite delicious. i loved the nutty date filling that i made but i also look forward to trying out some variations. you could make a glaze to drizzle over the top as well but i think it's pretty much perfect as is.

yeasted coffee cake
(makes one ring cake)
ingredients for the dough:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/3 cup almond milk, with a splash of apple cider vinegar to curdle
1 ounce water (any temperature)
1/4 cup margarine, room temperature
1 container (6 ounces) plain soy yogurt

ingredients for the filling:
1 tablespoon margarine
2 cups pecans, chopped
5 dates, chopped
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

first, make your dough. combine 3/4 cup of the flour with the sugar, salt and yeast.
in a saucepan, combine almond milk, water and margarine and heat until warm and the margarine is just melted.

on low speed, add the milk/margarine mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. increase speed to medium and add the yogurt and 1/2 cup more of flour and beat for 2 minutes. stir in enough of the remaining 3/4 cup of flour (or more if needed) so dough holds together. knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

place in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat. cover with plastic and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.

meanwhile, make your filling by mixing all the ingredients (except the margarine) together.

once your dough has risen roll it out into a rectangle that is about 9x17 (that is the very precise measurement i came up with by comparing my rectangle to my baking sheet). cut off small bits of 1 tablespoons of margarine and spread them around on the dough then sprinkle with your filling evenly covering the dough, leaving a small border around the edges.

starting at the long edge carefully roll your dough into a log and pinch the seam closed. then shape it into a ring and pinch that seam closed. using scissors or a nice sharp knife cut slits all around the ring. place on a parchment/silpat lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. let rise for another hour.

when your dough is almost done rising heat your oven to 350. brush the top of the loaf with almond milk and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.


-d

rye bread: a near disaster

sometime fails turn into gigantic successes and it's oh so delightful when they do.

sunday i made rye bread, planning to use it for tempeh reubans for dinner. actually, to back up a bit, i started the bread at about midnight on saturday night so it could rise overnight easy bread style. smart, right? earlier in the evening we spent some time getting to know the menu at smuggler's cove. then we went to get dinner and had some wine. then we went to a show where i started to get very tired. then we walked home and that's when i whipped up the bread dough. still smart? not so sure. either my yeast has gone bad or my measurements were very very off because when this bread came out of the oven it felt like it had a brick inside.

needless to say we bought a loaf of bread for our sandwiches, but we pondered what to do with the rye brick. not sure it was even worthy of turning into croutons, kris and i decided to have a taste and decide it's fate. holy goodness! dense, yes...but also bursting with absolutely delicious rye flavor! it deserved to be more than croutons, more than breadcrumbs, and luckily i have a smart husband who came up with the idea to use it as a base for "eggs" florentine, or benedict...whatever the one with spinach is.

we used a couple of components from vegan brunch - hollandaise sauce and then the omelet recipe for the egg. we heated up the bread and as it got soaked with the hollandaise it was just perfect. this was one super delicious dinner!

-d

bbq black bean burgers

i've had the idea for these burgers kicking around in my head for quite some time now and a few days ago i decided it was finally time to get it out of my head and onto a plate. the wonderful thing about making your own beany burgers is you can really take the flavor in any direction by switching out different beans or spices or liquids. i decided to go with a smokey bbq burger. i tend to enjoy bean burgers and veggie burgers that incorporate a grain as well so for a little more nutrition and a little more oomph i mixed in some quinoa. i got seven hefty burgers out of this recipe but i think if you plan in the beginning you could get eight good sized patties.

now since you've made your own burgers why not take an extra minute to whip up some buns and really make your dinner fabulous? i used this recipe from one frugal foodie and found them to be super quick and simple to make and got wonderful results (i replaced the egg with a cornstarch egg and cut the sugar down to two tablespoons).

we had these for dinner twice and froze the remaining burgers and buns. we haven't tried reheating them yet but i love knowing that these guys are only minutes away next time a burger craving strikes.

bbq black bean burgers
ingredients:
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup onion, very finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons bbq sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 teaspoons cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

mash the beans in a medium sized bowl until no whole ones are left. add the rest of the ingredients and mix together really well, i recommend using your hands. form the mixture into patties and cook in a lightly oiled pan for 2-3 minutes per side until lightly browned. serve on a fresh bun loaded with toppings!

-d

cornmeal bread

kris and i recently got home from bouncing back and forth across the country for two weeks and i'm finally settling back into normal life and getting back to a regular cooking routine. after being away from the kitchen for so long i decided to ease back into things with one of my favorite baking projects - bread. wanting to try something new, i settled on this cornmeal bread which is basically white bread with cornmeal standing in for some of the white flour. the finished product has a light toasty cornmeal taste and a slightly heartier texture than a normal white bread. we used it first to make sandwiches and later to scoop up artichoke dip on our saturday picnic.

cornmeal bread
(adapted so slightly from 1,000 vegetarian recipes)
ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 3/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons melted margarine

stir together the soy milk and cornmeal; set aside.

in a glass measuring cup, stir together the warm water and 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar. stir in the yeast and set aside for about 5 minutes, until foamy.

in a large bowl (i used my stand mixer) stir together 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and the salt. stir in the yeast mixture, the cornmeal mixture and the melted margarine. stir in 1 cup more of the remaining flour.

turn onto a well-floured surface and knead in enough of the remaining flour until dough is elastic and no longer sticky (or pop in your dough hook and sit back while your mixer does the work).

place the kneaded dough in a large, greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. let sit until doubled in bulk (about an hour or two).

punch dough down and form into a loaf. place in a greased loaf pan. cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk (probably an hour or less).

preheat oven to 375. bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until loaf is browned on top and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. cool on wire rack.

-d

rye bread

we recently made the tempeh rubens from veganomicon (amazing!) and what better time to test out a rye bread recipe? i looked around online and settled on one that appears to be from artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. the taste was perfect! it tasted just like deli rye bread. however, the loaves were small and did not rise as i had hoped. so i recently took another stab at it. instead of dividing the dough into multiple loaves as suggested i made one large loaf and changed the cooking and shaping method to that of my never-fail easy bread. it worked out great and we have one nice big 'ol loaf of rye bread perfect for sandwiches or just eating plain.

this recipe is really easy because, much like easy bread, it does not require kneading. and, even better, it only takes about 3 hours start to finish!

rye bread
(adapted from artisan bread in 5 minutes a day)
makes 4 1-pound loaves*
ingredients:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup rye flour
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
cornmeal for sprinkling
cornstarch for cornstarch wash

mix the yeast, salt and caraway seeds with the water in a large bowl. mix in the remaining dry ingredients without kneading. cover with a towel and allow to rest at room temperature for about 2 hours. at this point, you can prepare the dough for baking or store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

dust the dough and the counter with flour and stretch the dough and fold the sides in over each other. stretch the dough again in the other direction and fold in thirds one more time. form into a nice little round.** place dough in a 9-inch pie plate, dusted with cornmeal, and allow to rise again for about 40 minutes.

preheat the oven to 500 with an empty pan of some sort on the shelf underneath the one you plan to bake on.

whisk together a tablespoon of cornstarch and 3 tablespoons of water. brush the top of the loaf with the mixture and sprinkle with additional caraway seeds.

when your oven is heated, place some ice cubes in the empty pan. bake the loaf for 10 minutes at 500, 10 minutes at 450 and 10 minutes at 350, removing the loaf from the pan for the final 10 minutes of baking. when done, the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. if it doesn't give it a few more minutes at 350. allow to cool before slicing or eating.

*as i mentioned i had some issues when i divided the dough. the first time i cut the recipe in half and made two loaves. the second time i halved it and made one loaf and was pleased with the result.
**was that confusing? watch the easy bread video for visuals.

-d

hot dog buns

as far as i'm concerned, the weekend is for me to try out new bread baking projects (and, ok, maybe sit in the park and drink and play games and go shopping too....). this weekend it was operation:hot dog bun!

and since a hot dog bun on it's own is no fun (well, maybe it is a little fun) i made the cherry sage and the chorizo sausages from vegan brunch and we topped them with carmelized onions, tomatoes and avocado. delicious!

these were really easy to make, just a basic dough that came together quickly and was easy to work with. and no overnight rising so you can start these and enjoy your dogs on the same day! the recipe was in gourmet and i just tweaked it a bit to make it vegan. note that the recipe is for 16 buns so you might want to cut it in half (though they say they can be frozen for a couple of weeks).

hot dog buns

(from gourmet june 2009, makes 16 buns)

ingredients:
2 1/4 cups soy milk, divided
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup warm water (105—115°F)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

mix 1 cup of the soy milk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. set aside for a few minutes until it curdles.

bring curdled soy milk and and remaining 1 1/4 cup soy milk to a bare simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. cool mixture to 105 to 115°F.

meanwhile, stir together warm water and yeast in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (if mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

add warm milk mixture, sugar, flour, and salt to yeast mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until dough forms. turn dough onto a floured surface and knead, incorporating only enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic (about 7 or 8 minutes).

transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl and turn to coat with oil. cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

butter 2 large baking pans (about 9x13). punch down dough, then divide into 16 equal pieces (about 3 oz each). roll each piece of dough into a 6-inch-long log on a lightly floured surface. space 8 logs evenly in each pan so that there are 2 columns of logs that run parallel to long sides of pan.

loosely cover buns with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until buns just start to touch, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

bake buns, switching position of pans halfway through, until tops are golden and undersides are golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. before using buns, pull apart and cut lengthwise down center of each (but not all the way through). load 'em up and enjoy!

we also made cajun oven fries (from vegan with a vengeance) and broccoli (gotta have something green) sprinkled with smoked salt.

-d

black sesame buns

one of my favorite restaurants not only in san francisco but anywhere ever is millennium. if you're not familiar, it's an upscale vegan restaurant with some of the most exciting and interesting dishes i have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. and now, thanks to kris's mom, we can create these masterpieces at home (or at least try our very best) with the artful vegan cookbook. the recipes are not simple. they have lots of different components going on but making them was a perfect sunday project. since we couldn't choose just one...or even two...dishes to make we took bits and pieces from four or five different dishes and put them together into one fantastic dinner.

if i remember correctly, these sesame buns were paired with a vegan caviar of sorts. we just did the buns on their own and they were deliciously onion-y and sesame-y. the texture was just like a nice, soft, lightly browned dinner roll. we think they would be a perfect bun for a korean barbecued tofu slider. but more on that another time....

black sesame buns
(from the artful vegan)
ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1/2 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 scallions, white and green parts, minced
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

in a large bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar. let sit 10 minutes, or until bubbly

whisk in the sesame oil, olive oil, scallions, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper. slowly whisk in the flour, switching to a wooden spoon when too thick for a whisk, until 1 3/4 cups of the flour has been used. reserve the remaining 1/2 cup flour to dust the work surface when kneading the dough.

turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. place in a large oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 450. punch the dough down, turn out onto a floured surface, and cut into 6 pieces. roll each piece into a long strip, about 8 inches long by 3 inches wide. brush the surface with sesame oil.* starting at one end, fold the dough over 1 inch and continue down, folding the dough into a tight coil. flatten and lengthen the dough with a rolling pin until about 4 inches long by 2 inches wide. place on the baking sheet. brush the top with sesame oil and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. repeat with the remaining dough to make 5 more buns. bake for 15 minutes, or until the buns are lightly browned and crisp on the bottom.

*oops, just realized i forgot to do this. they were still good.

-d

moosewood focaccia

I made this delightfully easy bread to go with a nice, light Spring Minestrone, also from Moosewood. The result was two rounds of delightfully chewy focaccia. And the recipe could not have been easier - minimal kneading paired with relatively short rising and baking times. Definitely a recipe to turn to over and over again, and very adaptable to different toppings. Next time, I want to try making sandwiches with the leftovers.


Focaccia
from the Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

makes 2 9-inch rounds, or one large flatbread

Dough
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose white flour
scant 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil

Extras
1 to 2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
cherry tomatoes

Using a heavy-duty mixer or food processor (or a strong arm!) beat together all of the dough ingredients for about one minute. The dough will be very wet and sticky, but resist the urge to add more flour. When the dough has become elastic - you will notice a certain stringiness - scrape it into an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside in a draft-free area until doubled in volume, 2 to 3 hours depending on the temperature. The slower the rise, the more flavorful and chewy the focaccia will be.

When the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 500 degrees.



Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and make two rounds (or one large rectangle). To make the rounds, divide the dough into two equal parts. Flatten each piece of dough into an 8- to 9-inch round. Dip your fingers in flour and dimple the top of the dough. Brush on some good-quality olive oil and sprinkle with the rosemary, salt (and garlic or other herbs, if you like). Transfer the rounds to a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal and let rise for 10 to 15 minutes. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned.

* This is best eaten the day it is made, but day-old focaccia can be revived by warming it in a hot oven for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

- e

crusty cornstalk rolls

i love gourmet magazine but when i pull a new issue out of the mailbox and a giant hunk of meat has overtaken the cover it takes a little more work and searching to get excited. such was not the case with the february issue. a cover photograph of rolls! all different kinds of gorgeous, golden dinner rolls...i didn't know where i would begin! yesterday i decided on the crusty cornstalk rolls. i'm not sure what made me choose them over the others. maybe it was the shape (a cornstalk!)? the interactive element of ripping off each roll? the promise of a hearty exterior and a chewy interior? or maybe it's just because they didn't require me to buy any additional ingredients (except flour but, ya know, they all kind of require that)?

whatever led me to it, it was a good decision. the dough was easy to make and easy to work with. it only took about four and a half hours to go from mixing ingredients to taking warm bread out of the oven allowing for (near) instant gratification (as far as breadmaking goes). it was really yummy and the texture sort of reminded me of ciabatta. last night we enjoyed it with a lemony-thyme white bean spread. tonight it will become bruschetta. while we were eating it, i thought that this would be a great bread to make for thanksgiving but, of course, by the time november comes around i'll probably forget.

crusty cornstalk rolls

(gourmet, february 2009)

ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F), divided
1 teaspoon mild honey or sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided

stir together yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and honey/sugar in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (if mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

mix flour, salt, 1/2 cup cornmeal, and remaining cup warm water into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.

turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. form dough into a ball.

put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours (mine was closer to the 1 1/2 side).

punch down dough (do not knead) and fold into thirds like a letter (dough will be soft), then gently roll into a 12-inch-long log with lightly floured hands.

sprinkle a large baking sheet evenly with remaining 2 tablespoon cornmeal and put dough diagonally in center. alternating sides, make 3-inch-long diagonal cuts, about 1 1/2 inches apart, into sides of log using kitchen shears (ends of cuts should not touch; maintain a center "stalk"). gently pull apart cuts to stretch dough, forming rolls that are separate (about 1 1/2 inches apart) but connected to center stalk. cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (mine took 1 hour).

preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.

spray rolls with water, then bake, spraying into oven 3 times in first 5 minutes of baking* (to help form a crust), until golden, about 20 minutes. transfer rolls to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.

as you can see in my picture, after i cut the rolls they sort of grew and baked back together so the cornstalk element was not quite as dramatic. however, they still pulled apart easily. maybe next time i would just stretch them a bit more after cutting.

*i don't have a spray bottle so i just lightly brushed the dough with water before putting it in the oven. i also put a bread pan with a few ice cubes in the bottom of the oven in place of spraying. it was fine. the bread was crusty.
-d

bread 2.0

I find it refreshing when we can reign in the ego a bit and admit to our mistakes. Which is why I am writing about bread. While Darcy is an accomplished bread maker, I am not. A big part of the problem is that I have serious issues with directions. Try as I might, I never seem to follow them. I in general find this to be one of the more endearing aspects of my personality, but a great bread baker it does not make. So the other day, while reading of Orangette's cooking tribulations, I realized that we shouldn't just blog about the good /great dishes. We need to discuss the failures because - hey! - it's not a perfect world. And maybe you can all learn from some of our missteps! Which is, again, why I write today about bread.

Last week was attempt number one at bread making. I have watched my mom make rolls and things, but had never tried my hand at it. So I decided, with the guidance of a Mark Bittman cookbook, to make my first attempt. I can't say it was an abject failure, but the result was inedible. My mistake - using a white whole flour in place of standard all-purpose flour (I wanted something healthier). I knew from the beginning something was not right. The dough took much longer to rise than indicated in the recipe, and it lacked the desired spring in a well-risen dough. Only after my very flat sandwich loaf emerged from the oven did I decide to research what might have gone wrong. And it ends up, it is all in the flour. White whole white is not a blended flour (as I thought) but rather a different variety of wheat (whole wheat flour is made from red wheat, white whole wheat from white wheat). And wheat flour takes longer to rise. About twice as long. For both rising times. So really, I just needed to give my bread a bit more time! I do not have a picture of my sad little loaf, as I was not impressed; but it did not go entirely to waste, and nourished some very happy little birds.

Not one to accept failure, I gave breadmaking another go last night. Whereas version 1.0 was made entirely by hand, I listened to Mark Bittman's advice and used my food processor (it really makes everything so easy!). Instead of a sandwich loaf, I decided on french bread. Easy enough, right? So I made my sponge last night, around midnight, and as directed, left the whole thing in the food processor, covered it with plastic wrap, and went to bed. This morning, I awoke to a yeasty explosion on my kitchen counter. The sponge had risen a bit more than expected and literally oozed down the side of my Cuisinart. But all was not lost.


And in the end, the bread turned out beautifully. Two nice little boules. I of course had to slice one open within minutes of removing them from the oven. It was perfect. Warm, yeasty with a nice crust. I can't wait to make it again!




Overnight French Bread
from Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

3 1/2 cups bread or all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt

Put 2 cups of the flour in a food processor, add the yeast and half the salt, and turn the machine on. With the machine running, pour about a cup of water through the feed tube (ed. note: I used about a cup and a half). Process until you have a smooth pancake-like batter. Cover and let rest in a cool place overnight, or for at least 6 hours.

Add the remaining flour and salt to mixture, turn the machine on, and add water, a little at a time, until a moist well-defined ball forms (ed. note: this took about half a cup of water). If the dough sticks to the side of the bowl, you have added too much water. Add about 1/4 cup flour and keep going.

Dump the lump of dough into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour.

Dust a counter or work surface with a little flour. Shape the dough as you like (I made boules, but you can make rolls, baguettes). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while you let the bread rest, covered with a towel.

When you are ready to bake, slash the top of each loaf once or twice with a sharp knife. Bake on a stone or a lightly oiled baking sheet. Turn the heat down to 375 degrees, and bake the bread! The baking time will vary, based on the shape of bread you choose to make. Rolls take about 15 minutes, baguettes about 25 minutes, and the boule 35 to 45 minutes. Bread is done when it makes a hollow sound when tapped. Enjoy!

- e