Pain a l'Ancienne: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

This bread was a very tasty exploration into some new techniques. The dough is made with ice cold water, kneaded, then placed in the fridge to retard overnight. Like most rustic breads, the dough is very wet and sticky and so plenty of flour is needed to shape the final loaves. The end result is a wonderfully chewy loaf that has an absolutely amazing flavour for the relatively little amount of work that goes into making it.

GENERAL NOTES
- none

VEGAN NOTES
- none

Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

I'm not sure this bread is really as extraordinary as Reinhart thinks it is, but it is still really good. Making this bread was also a good reminder about how you can make a bread sound really healthy even though it is still pretty much made with white flour. This loaf is multigrain, made with whole grains, has bran, but is still essentially white bread with a tan.

GENERAL NOTES
1. The recipe calls for rolled oats, but I used a 12 grain cereal mix.
2. The recipe makes one large loaf, so you may want to double the recipe.

VEGAN NOTES
1. I replaced the honey with maple syrup.

Penne with Seitan Sausage and Tomato Sauce

I am still on the quest for kid-friendly dishes for my newly veggie nephew and had recently concocted a pasta dish with lentils and beans, but then found out that he really does not like beans. Alas! So, this is a much less complex dish that uses good ol' seitan sausages and a simple but tasty tomato sauce. Since this dish only calls for 2 sausages, fire the other two in the freezer to have ready for next time. This is adapted from The Sopranos Cookbook. If you want more zing, add some red pepper flakes to the sauce.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb penne, or rigatoni, or ziti
- 2 seitan sausages, cooled and sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 28 oz can plum tomatoes (juice and all) passed though a food mill, or 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp basil
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

METHOD
1. Prepare pasta according to the directions on the box.
2. While paste is cooking, heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Fry sliced sausage for a few mins on each side, until nicely browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining tbsp of oil, then fry the garlic until very lightly browned and fragrant.
3. Add wine and simmer until wine reduces by about a third to a half. Add tomatoes then seasons with salt, pepper and basil. Simmer for 10 mins, uncovered.
4. Add tomato paste and nooch and stir well to thicken. Add more paste if needed. Add sausages to the pan and heat through.
5. Drain pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve.

2nd Annual Mother's Day Neighbourhood Vegan Brunch

Last year we had two families over for a mother's day brunch. This year, we went crazy and had 20 people over. It was, if I do say so myself, a grand success! Both kids and parents stuffed themselves to capacity with purely vegan fare and no one made a single joke about bacon. So, let's take a look at the spread:
In the front on the left are two spinach and sun-dried tomato frittatas, based on Isa's swiss chard frittata from Vegan Brunch.
I had two bags of baby spinach I had intended to use in an Indian dish this week but never got around to making. I figured sun-dried tomatoes would make the perfect accompaniment (they did). I was a little worried about the whole thing holding together so I added 2 tbsp of chickpea flour. The end result was amazing: nice and tender and bursting with flavour. I scaled back on the soy and seasoned with black salt to get a nice eggy flavour.

On the front right is polenta rancheros, also from Vegan Brunch. What you are looking at is a bowl of soft polenta, a bowl of black beans in rancheros sauce, and a variety of fixins (red onion, tomato, cashew sour cream, guacamole). This is a fantastic dish. You start with some beans, add a dollop of polenta, then garnish. This one is going into my brunch rotation.

In the back are oven roasted potatoes, and piles of pancakes (also Isa's recipe from Vegan Brunch.)
I also made some whole wheat bread for toast.
Son#1 made these signs for all the homemade jams and jellies.
In addition to cinnamon buns, I made these thumbprint rolls from Reinhart's Artisan Breads for Everyday. These are a sweet roll filled with fruit and glazed with icing, and they disappeared pretty quickly. I put the fruit filling in a piping bag and I found that to be an effective way to get maximum filling in without making a huge mess.

The guests brought muffins, fruit salad and trays, juices, and coffee and tea.

Croissants

This is one of those annoying posts because I don't have a recipe to go along with the picture. That being said, I can point you to similar recipes and discussion of technique so you can experiment on your own. All good croissants are the same: a slightly sweet and leavened dough layered with fat. I used Peter Reinhart's recipe in Artisan Breads Everyday (another book of his I recommend) which adds the additional element of an overnight fermentation of the dough in the fridge for added flavour. I like this method because it means you work with a cold dough that helps keep the fat above room temperature.

So, let me impart some words of wisdom should you decide to embark on the adventure of croissant making. I completely messed up two batches of dough before I finally had success. Yes, there were a few tantrums and half-laminated dough may or may not have been thrown across the kitchen. Obviously, the main obstacle that needs to be overcome for the vegan croissant maker is replacing the butter. My experience is that Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Flavor Sticks work best. The key here is that you need a firm margarine that will not get too soft. I first used the whipped Earth Balance and that was a complete disaster. If the margarine is too soft it will squirt out from between the layers of dough. If your margarine gets too soft, put it in the fridge to firm up.

The second obstacle for any croissant baker is actually rolling out the dough. Here my advice is to be patient. You need to give the gluten time to relax so the dough can be rolled out. Be firm but gentle, if you know what I mean. Reinhart says to roll from the centre to the four corners first, then along the length and width. This is an excellent method that results in an almost perfect rectangle of equal width and depth. Keep your work surface well floured and be patient.

Most recipes I have seen call for an egg wash on the final dough. Reinhart thinks this is unecessary and I agree. As you can see from the pic above I had some problems getting the perfect crescent shape, but they tasted great. I also did not roll them tight enough, but no one seemed to care.

So, where to go for recipes? Vegan Lunch Box has a recipe with half whole wheat flour if you are so inclined. The recipe is also pretty simple and clear (Reinhart's recipe goes on for 8 pages, complete with pics. It is thorough for the first timer). This recipe is more detailed. Both of these recipes use pure butter, while Reinhart blends 2 tbsp with 1.5 cups of butter for the butter layer. Finally, here is the recipe from Foodbeam, the blog I used to make a vegan puff pastry.