Wholesome Whole Wheat Bread

Bread bread bread . . . I love you so!  One of my favorite appliances in the kitchen is my breadmaker because it allows me to make delicious, healthy loaves without actually knowing how to bake.  I have a whole collection of flours and love to experiment with mixing them to come up with something new.  With very few exceptions, there is no "bad" bread: even my total fails are good in my book.  I prefer dense bread with nuts or seeds mixed in, but that doesn't go over well with the rug rats in my house.  So, to keep the peace, I compromised with this recipe.  I mixed whole wheat, spelt (super healthy) and garbanzo bean (high protein) flours.  It's denser than, say, Wonderbread (not that my kids have had that for years), but still soft enough that it gets gobbled up by my boys. 

1 cup unsweetened almond milk, room temperature
2/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons Earth Balance, room temperature
2 tablespoons agave (or honey)
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup spelt flour

¾ cup garbanzo bean flour
2 1/4 teaspons active dry yeast (1 packet)

Optional add-ins:  3/4 cup old fashioned oats (or and combination of nuts and seeds you like)

 

1. Place all ingredients in the order they are listed into the baking pan of your bread machine up to add-in ingredients (if using).
2. Follow the directions on your machine for rapid whole wheat bread, 2 pound loaf.  Don’t forget to select crust color (I chose “light.”)

3.  When prompted, add in your oats or seeds or nuts (if using).

4. Remove from machine when done and allow to cool on a baking rack for at least one hour.

 

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Corn Fritters You Can Bring to a (Vegan) Hillbilly Hoedown

The first time I heard of corn fritters was as a little girl, thumbing through The Beverly Hillbillies Cookbook (yes, it's real. My mother used to have it. Ours was from the 1970's, but there appears to be a newish version from the 1990's). It was one of the first recipes I ever made on my own (with the exception of the frying in oil part- for that I was an eager spectator).

What I loved about corn fritters is that they combined two of my favorite things: corn, and deep frying! There were times as an adult that I had to admit I'd eat just about anything if it were deep-fried, and at least corn fritters started with a somewhat healthy vegetable.

When I thought about updating this to be vegan-friendly, I focused on more healthful choices of ingredients. What I didn't want was to essentially lose the guilty pleasure of eating them, though. So, suffice it to say these aren't going to melt your inches away. But they ARE chock full o' fiber, so there's that!

My favorite way to eat these is cold, but I'm told I'm weird that way. They're just fine hot, too. This basic recipe can easily be altered. For instance, use unbleached white flour instead of spelt for a "lighter" fritter, or add some cilantro and cumin, or you could omit the tumeric and peppers and sprinkle the finished fritter with vegan powdered sugar for a sweet treat. Whatever you do, be sure to drain them thoroughly after frying.

Corn Fritters

1 cup spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons golden flax meal mixed with 6 tablespoons of water (let it sit a few minutes to thicken)
¼ cup non-dairy milk, unsweetened
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
15 ounces canned corn, drained
1 tablespoon (more or less to taste) diced cherry peppers
Oil for frying



1. Blend flour, baking powder, salt, tumeric and nutritional yeast in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat prepared flax meal with milk and oil. Stir into flour mixture and add corn and peppers. It might be easier to mix gently by hand. Mixture will be fairly wet and thick.
3. Drop by tablespoonful into hot oil. Press dough until it's flattened a bit while it fries. Cook on medium-high until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Drain thoroughly on paper towels. Serve hot, or chill for an hour or so in the fridge and serve cold.

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Bob's Red Mill, You Had Me at "Hello"

My Honey-Molasses Multi-flour Bread.



Bread is all mixed up with so much history and folklore. Baking bread, “breaking bread,” tearing into it with your hands, that yeasty smell while dough rises under Grandma’s white tea towel . . .

I love stories when the hero traipses off to seek his fortune carrying nothing but a sack filled with crusty bread and a jug of wine. I could totally do that. Add a stockpile of vegan jerky and I’m all for it.

I never made my own bread before becoming a vegetarian. I always loved to cook, but was never a baker. Anything with pastry or dough or a kneading stage was definitely out of my comfort zone. I know now part of that is that one should really follow a precise recipe to get the best results from baking. That’s not me at all. I’m a “little of this, little of that” kind of cook. Actually, I think it goes deeper. I have a real attitude problem and don’t like being told what to do. Then for my first post-meat Christmas I asked Santa for a bread maker. Soon I realized that even if I “screwed up” and the bread had a big old crater in the middle, it was still delicious.

With the bread maker I’ve become a (sort-of) bread baker. I’m still intimidated to go all “old school” and do the hand kneading and punching down and greasing of loaf pans. But now I love combining different flours and grains and coming up with a new loaf. Sometimes it’s a delicious (but damn ugly) loaf. Sometimes I get lucky, and it looks as good as it tastes.

A Book of Verse

A book of verse, underneath the bough,
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread - and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness -
Ah, wilderness were paradise now!

- Omar Khayyam

NOTE: All flours and grains used in the following recipes are from Bob's Red Mill. Their products are wonderful and the sheer variety of grains makes me a happy baker!


One more note: I get my honey from a personal friend who is a caring, educated, ethical bee-keeper in Michigan. His honey is fantastic. If you're in Michigan, you can contact Don Schram via email (don@mibees.com), at his website, Huron City Bee Company, or Facebook. If you'd prefer, veganize these recipes by swapping out the honey for agave nectar. I just recently made the multi-flour loaf with agave in place of honey, and it was wonderful!



My Honey-Molasses Multi-flour Bread
This bread is dense, moist and “rustic.” It rises about half the height of an average loaf. It’s really good toasted for sandwiches.

1¼ cups water (warm for rapid setting)
1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
2 tablespoons grape seed oil (or canola oil)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cups spelt flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Add the following on the “add in” stage:
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 tablespoon raw sunflower seeds (or coarsely chopped pumpkin seeds)
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped almonds

Directions:

1. Put the ingredients into your machine in the listed order, up to the seeds and nuts. Make a well for the yeast in the dough so it stays dry as long as possible.

2. Choose setting on bread machine: light crust, 1.5 pound loaf, rapid wheat settings.

3. Add the seeds and nuts at the “add-in” stage of the cycle.
 


My Soft White Bread

1¼ cups warm, unsweetened almond milk
1½ tablespoons honey
1½ tablespoons Earth’s Balance No-Soy spread, cold
1 tablespoon almond or cashew cheese (optional. If you add it the bread will be really soft. If you don’t the loaf will be yummy and soft as it is)
1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
3 cups unbleached white flour
1½ teaspoons bread machine yeast

Add the following on the “add in” stage:
¼ cup rolled oats OR wheat germ

Directions:

1. Layer ingredients in order listed in your bread maker

2. Use the white bread setting for a 2 pound loaf. Use the LIGHT crust setting

3. Add the oats or wheat germ during the “add in” stage


My Dense Wheat Germ Bread

1¼ cups warm, unsweetened almond milk
1½ tablespoons honey
1½ tablespoons Earth’s Balance No-Soy spread, cold
1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup wheat germ
1½ teaspoons bread machine yeast
½ plus ¼ cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Layer ingredients in order listed in your bread maker, stopping at the oatmeal

2. Use the white bread setting for a 2 pound loaf. Use the LIGHT crust setting

3. Press start. When your machine reaches the “add in” stage, add the ½ cup of oats

4. When the dough reaches the final rise, sprinkle the ¼ cup of oatmeal on the top


Teff-Amaranth Bread
Stolen from Bob’s Red Mill with a few minor adaptations

1 cup water (room temperature)
¼ cup unsweetened almond milk (room temperature)
1½ tablespoon Earth’s Balance (room temperature)
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
¾ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons teff whole grain
1 tablespoon amaranth grain
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour, unbleached
¼ cup organic amaranth flour (I used soy flour)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature and follow your bread machine cycle instructions. Set machine for a 1½ pound loaf with a LIGHT crust setting

2. Allow bread to cool on rack 15-20 minutes before slicing

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