Creamy Corn Soup

If you are a low fat vegan type you probably should stop reading now. As I was putting the cookbook together (almost done!) I noticed how much of my food is related to some childhood memory. This soup is no exception. I always got to choose my birthday dinner as a kid, and I usually asked for tacos and corn soup. The original is made with cream and milk, so I used soy milk and coconut milk. It's pretty rich, but also pretty tasty. We always garnished it with corn chips, but I didn't have any on hand.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 5-6

- 3 tbsp margarine

- 3 cups plain soy milk

- 1 cup soy creamer

- 4 cups corn

- 1 can coconut milk (I like Thai Kitchen--it is less "coconuty" for stuff like this)

- salt and pepper to taste

- corn chips to garnish

METHOD

1. Melt margarine over medium heat in a large pot. Add soy milk and creamer and bring to bubbling.

2. Add corn and return to bubbling. Simmer for 5 mins, stirring regularly.

3. Add coconut milk and season to taste with salt and pepper. (I like a good amount of pepper to contrast the creaminess). Do not boil.

4. Serve garnished with some corn chips.

A Tale of Two Breads

I haven't bought a cookbook in a long time, but recently I treated myself to two new ones. The first is Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I have been eyeing this for a while and thought it would be a good purchase, what with the bakery business and all. This book is all about both the science and the art of great bread. Today I made this stollen, a German Christmas bread. I am going to do a little Christmas baking for the teachers at the boys' school so I wanted to take this for a trial run first. I'm usually not the biggest fan of the candied fruit in fruit bread/cake, but this is really good (probably because the fruit is soaked in rum first). If you have the book, I subbed a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed whisked in 3 tbsp of water) for the egg, and margarine for the butter.

The other purchase was Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, a book that, in essence, says that Reinhart is full of crap. All the kneading, gluten development, sponges, and starters are unnecessary. All you need to do is mix together a simple dough and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you want to make bread, you shape a chunk into a loaf and bake it. The results are actually pretty good. The flavour is not a good as more complex recipes (like Reinhart's) but for easy everyday baking the work to taste ratio is quite good.

So if you are in the mood for some baking, I recommend these books.

On Feeling Like a Deadbeat Vegan Dad

I really have been neglecting the blog lately what with all my extra time going into finishing up the cookbook. I am starting to feel pangs of guilt, like a negligent parent. I miss the regular postings and interaction with you all. I also feel bad that I have not been offering any ideas for the impending holiday season.

On the cookbook front, things are moving along nicely. I have shown the draft to my inner circle of 7th level vegans, and a friend from grad school is copy editing as I type. I have also received a kind offer for help with the cover photography. More on that later.

Things have been plenty busy around here, even without a book to finish. Much time has been spent shovelling the ludicrous amount of snow that has fallen. *sigh* And to think that winter has not even officially started.

I also baked up a bunch of lemon currant rolls for the Christmas bazaar fundraiser for the boys' school.

Business at the bakery is brisk, and I feel like I am honing my baking craft. I have also been trying to make soy yogurt. No success so far.And, I do have a few recipes to post. I will get to them this week.

The Cookbook is Almost Here!

Good news! I have finally finished the rough draft of the cookbook. I need to do a few edits and all that, but it is almost ready to go on sale. I had no idea it would be so much work!

The book's near completion raises the question of how to sell it. I was planning to integrate Google Checkout into my blog, but it is not available to Canadians (grrr). PayPal looks complicated, so I was thinking of selling it through eBay. It already has a PayPal option, and I can place a posting on both the Canadian and American site. I'm not sure how the whole thing works when you are selling a digital file, so if anyone has some advice I would be much obliged.

Multi Grain Bread

As promised, here is my multi grain bread recipe. The bread looks pretty much the same as when I posted before, so I am reusing the picture. My kids love this toasted in the morning and have given up their regular diet of cereal.

INGREDIENTS

Starter

- 1 tbsp active dry yeast

- 1 1/2 cups warm water

- 2 cups whole wheat bread flour

- 1 1/2 cups 7 (or 12) grain cereal

- water

Dough

- 1 tbsp yeast

- 1/2 cup water

- 1/2 cup rye flour

- 1/2 cup kamut flour

- cereal from above, drained

- 3-4 cups white bread flour

- 1 tbsp salt

METHOD

1. The night before you want to make the bread, whisk yeast into warm water, then whisk in flour until smooth in a large bowl. Cover and set aside over night. Also, place cereal in a bowl and cover with water. Cover and let sit over night.

2. To make the dough, whisk yeast into the water, add starter, rye and kamut flours, and cereal (after being well-drained in a fine mesh sieve). Add 3 cups of the bread flour and the salt, then bring together into a rough dough. Turn out onto the counter top and add enough of the final cup of flour (I never use much) to make a slightly tacky dough. Knead for 10 mins, until smooth.

3. Place in a large bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Punch down, and press down/stretch on the counter top into a rectangle. Fold like an envelope, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat. Shape into a ball and return to the bowl. Let rise until doubled.

4. Cut dough into 2 pieces and shape into two loaves. Cover and let rise until almost doubled.

5. Heat oven to 450 degrees with a pizza stone on the middle rack. Place a cast iron pan on the bottom rack,and get some water boiling in a kettle. Transfer loaves to a peel dusted with cornmeal and slash tops with a razor. Slide loaves onto the stone, and pour 1 cup of water into the pan. Bake for 10 mins.

6. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and remove cast iron pan. Bake for 25-30 mins more, until crust is a deep golden brown and loaves sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.