Vegan Cornbread

     A southern classic. Ryan's grandfather was from the deep south and absolutely loved cornbread, so Ryan's grandmother used to make it all the time. They seemed to pass on their love of cornbread to Ryan because we eat cornbread all the time now!

Papa Ed and (tiny!) Ryan

      I can remember the first time I had cornbread, some 10 or so years ago. I hadn't ordered it, but it was at the table. I remember being really confused at why there was cake at the dinner table. To my surprise, it was cornbread. So needless to say, I am not a fan of a super sweet cornbread (but I don't need the extra calories anyways!). So this recipe is a play on the classic cornbread, made in the cast iron and everything, but with less than half of the usual sugar and vegan, of course. The subtle sweetness of this cornbread goes perfectly with a spicy chili (I love the heat, but sometimes, I just can't handle it, so cornbread is the perfect solution).

     Give this recipe a try next time you want a starch to accompany a southern soup or a chili. The recipe is much easier than traditional breads, and there is no wait time before baking. Mix and bake, it's that easy!

Time: 10 minutes + 35-40 minutes (bake)

Serves: 8 (~4" wedges) to 12 (~2.5" wedges)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (300g) cornmeal (white and/or yellow)
• 2 cups (275g) all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup (140g) white sugar
• 1 Tbsp (30 ml) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5ml) salt
• 2 cups (500ml) non-dairy milk, unsweetened*
• 1 cup (250ml) water
• 1 tsp (5ml) apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup (125ml) canola oil

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients.
3. Mix all wet ingredients and then combine with the dry ingredients.
4. Pour batter into your large cast iron pan.
5. Bake at 400°F/200°C for 35-40 minutes.
6. Let cool for 10-20 minutes before serving with margarine over a bowl of chili!

Vegan Pumpkin-Beer Bread

     These past few days have been feeling very fall-like. Between classes back in session and the cool autumn breeze, and even the release of Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks (not that it's vegan appropriate) I figured I should re-post one of my favourite fall recipes. This Vegan Pumpkin-Beer Bread is one of my all-time favourite fall recipes.

     We made this last night and were very satisfied, once again. This bread is moist but hearty. If you made my chocolate zucchini bread last post, this bread is definitely more of a bread than a cake, I promise this time. This pumpkin bread is just subtlety sweet with pumpkin-pie like aromatics. It makes for a perfect breakfast or a snack for school or work.

     This recipe was inspired my a recipe on Slate. It's not vegan but you can check it out here

Serves: One 9-inch loaf, serves 12

Ingredients

• vegan margarine for greasing the pan
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour,can use a mixture of white and whole-wheat
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 heaping teaspoons pumpkin pie spice OR
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch ground nutmeg (optional)
• Pinch ground Asian 5-spice (or allspice)
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 1 cup pumpkin purée (a third of a can)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin ale, I suggest "St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale"; alternatively, use mulled apple cider

Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. With margarine, grease a 9" loaf pan. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a medium sauce pan over low heat melt margarine. Stir in the pumpkin and brown sugar until smooth. Pour the pumpkin ale or cider into the sauce pan and mix until smooth. 
3. Add the wet pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until combined, then transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan.
4. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you can smell the bread from the living room, it's probably done! Otherwise, bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Leftovers should be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days, although I've never seen it last that long....its normally finished in 3 days.

No-Knead Bread

This is hands-down the best bread I've ever had. The recipe here is adapted from Jim Lahey's excellent book My Bread. His technique works so well that we never buy bread anymore - we just bake it! There are two versions of this bread, depending on how long you're willing to let it rise. The slow rise version uses less yeast, and takes 12-16 hours to rise, but the added fermentation time makes the bread taste more complex. The quick version only takes four hours to rise, but it uses a heck of a lot more yeast. 
Note: We have modified the bread recipe for a smaller loaf with less salt. No-Knead Bread 2.0 is healthier and doesn't end up moldy before you can eat all of it. We've also improved the techniques below.

Ingredients

No-Knead Bread 2.0
3 3/4 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 tsp salt (or less)
1/4 tsp yeast
1 3/4 cups cool water

No-Knead Bread: Slow rise

6 cups all-purpose or bread flour 

2 1/2 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. yeast

3 cups water

Quick rise

6 cups all-purpose or bread flour

1 tbs. salt

1 1/2 tbsp. yeast

3 cups water

Preparation

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. You can use white or whole wheat flour, or a combination depending on how you like it. The quantity of salt you add affects the crispiness of the crust, but you can use less.

2. Add the water and mix until all of the flour is absorbed. You don't need to knead the bread, just mix and let it be. If there is extra flour in the bowl, add more water a few tablespoons at a time until the loaf is sticky.

3. If you're attempting the slow rise dough, cover your bowl with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Let the dough rest for 12-16 hours, or until it has doubled in volume. For the quick rise, do the same but let it rest for 4 hours.

4. Once the dough has risen, scrape it out of the bowl onto a well-floured surface, like a silicone mat or parchment paper. At this point you can either divide the loaf into two, form it into a neat shape (like baguettes, buns, pretzels), or keep it as one large boule. These instructions are for an undivided loaf:
With well-floured hands, shape the dough by folding the edges in towards the center four times (top, bottom, left, right or some variation thereof). Next, flip the loaf over so that the seam you've created is on the bottom, and shape the dough into a round ball with your hands. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle a bit more flour on it. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest for 1 to 2 hours, until it has doubled in volume. If, when you poke the dough, it springs back immediately, let it rest another 15 minutes. If your finger leaves a 1/4" deep indent, the dough is ready to bake.
Note: If you would like your bread to have something interesting on the outside like wheat bran, cornmeal, flax, poppy seeds  sesame seeds etc., you can either sprinkle those ingredients on now (after you have shaped the loaf), gently lifting it and sprinkling underneath, or you can wait 30 minutes (my approach) until the bread has moistened again and then add them. 

Bread 2.0: smothered in wheat bran!

5. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees, 40 minutes before the end of the dough's second rise. If you're baking the bread in a French or Dutch oven (the best method), put your vessel in the oven now, with the lid on (make sure the handle is heat-proof), so that it can preheat. If you don't do this now, you might crack your vessel by putting it into the already-hot oven. If you're using bread pans or a baking sheet (use parchment paper underneath), you can put a shallow heat-proof container of water into the oven now, to rest underneath your bread. This will create steam when the bread is cooking, which will condense on the surface of the cold dough, ultimately helping the crust not to burn, but keeping it crispy. Cooking your bread in a French oven accomplishes a similar thing, but keeps the steam contained in the vessel, and results in a better bread.

6. Once the oven is preheated and the dough has rested, remove your cooking vessel from the oven. Make sure the dough is well-floured and is not stuck to the surface it's resting on.  Once you're ready, flip the dough over and into your cooking vessel (gently!). Be careful because that sucker will be hot. Replace the lid and put the vessel back in the oven.

7. Bake your bread for 30 minutes with the lid on. Then take the lid off and bake it for another 25-30 minutes. Removing the lid part way is essential for getting a nice crust. 

8. Once it's cooked, tip the bread out of the pot and onto a cooling rack. You should hear crackling noises at this point (called 'singing'), which means the bread is cooling. You should leave the bread for around an hour to cool. If you cut the loaf too soon, you'll halt the last stage of the cooking process and you can ruin the consistency of your baby.

9. Enjoy! Store your bread in a container, or in the (cooled) French oven itself, just not in the fridge or it will go stale faster. 

Vegan Banana Bread

Waking up to the smell of banana bread is absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I was the one in the kitchen, not the one leisurely waking up. :)
This is hands down the best vegan banana bread I've had to date.  It has the components of every good bread that doesn't know if it should be eaten for breakfast or for dessert. Well, if you are fortunate enough to have any left after breakfast, you might just be able to indulge after dinner too.

Serves: 6-12
Bake at 350°F for 1 hour

Ingredients

2 ripe and frozen bananas/ 1 cup mashed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Granola, optional

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Remove bananas from freezer, cut off ends and cut in half, place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high until defrosted, about 1 minute, 30 seconds. 
When dethawed, squeeze banana out of peel, and mash in medium mixing bowl. 
Add wet ingredients, brown sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well.
Mix dry ingredients and add to wet. Mix well.
Pour batter into greased bread pan.
Top with granola.
Bake at 350°F for approximately 1 hour.
Test with a knife/chopstick/cake tester before removing.
Remove, let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from bread pan. Let cool an additional 10 minutes (minimum) before cutting.

butter it up and enjoy!

Pretzels

These pretzels are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. It's a good thing that this recipe is so easy to make because these pretzels are quite addicting! This recipe is diverse and can be used to make bread sticks or twists and can be stuffed with garlic, herbs or cheese.

Makes approximately 24 medium pretzels
Preheat oven to 425F

Tasty goodness

Ingredients

1 tbsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups hot tap water
olive oil and course sea salt

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
Add hot water and knead well, will take about 5 minutes.
Stretch, roll and sculpt into desired shapes.
Place on greased baking sheet or baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
Brush olive oil on top of the pretzels and grind or sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake for 12-15 minutes at 425F

Enjoy guys!

Biscuits

This biscuit recipe is quick and easy and can really add a little extra to last night's leftover soup. We've also used this dough for a quick Friday night pizza crust. If you enjoy a heartier pizza crust, then I'd give this a try. It doesn't need much kneading or any rising time at all, and if you have extra dough you can just make biscuits for left-overs or nibbling. Great with chopped garlic, cheese, herbs or all of the above, this recipe is very versatile  I've also given the sweet variation of the recipe if you are feeling more the sweet tea biscuit route rather than the soup dipping, margarine slathering route.

Biscuits

Cooking Time: 15min, Preheat Oven to: 450°F

Ingredients 

4 cups flour, white, whole wheat or a combination
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 tsp vinegar

Preparation

Mix all dry ingredients. (Add in optional dry ingredients, see variations)
Cut in margarine (like you were making a pie crust), be very gentle to not over mix.
Add milk and vinegar just to moisten. Gently combine.
Drop large blobs by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. OR roll the dough out with flour to 1" thick and cut with a round cookie cutter or an upside down drinking glass for round, formed biscuits.
Bake at 450°F for around 15 minutes or until golden.
Enjoy!

Variations 

Sweet Tea Biscuits:

scant 1 cup brown sugar
1 cup orange peel, or mixed peel or raisins or currents or dried fruit of choice
       Add to dry ingredients

Biscuit Pizza Crust:

3 cloves minced garlic
herbs of choice
       Mix in additional ingredients with the dry goods.
       Roll out onto large baking sheet, forming a thick outer crust if desired. Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F, dress as desired than bake for a minimum of 10 more minutes, or until everything is cooked.