Gluten-Free Country Batard

In the wake of the Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! giveaway, I thought I'd post a few bread recipes to get you on your way to some great lunches.  As you know from all my previous baking posts, I am very familiar with gluten-filled baking.  And, while I have always been intrigued with gluten-free baking and what methods can produce tasty loaves, I have never explored it in any detail.  I was really looking forward to Peter Reinhart's new gluten-free cookbook and had it on pre-order for quite a while.  I figured if anyone could crack to code of wheat-free baking it would be him.  I love all of his previous books and find his recipes very easily veganizeable (usually eggs serve to enrich the dough and little else, and thus are easy to replace).  Not so this time.  All the recipes rely heavily on eggs and egg whites to give the bread structure and rise.  So, while it is easy to replace an egg or two in some enriched dough, it's not so easy to replicate the role 8 eggs whites are supposed to play in a wheat-free loaf.  Le sigh.

So, I was excited to discover Jennifer Katzinger's Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread.  I ordered it right away.  Katzinger's basic baking theory is gluten-free bread does not need to rise like its glutinous counterpart.  Instead, these loaves rely on oven-rise to give them some spring and a lighter crumb.  I decided to make a loaf for an NDP dinner party for which I was providing a variety of baked goods.  This country batard seemed like it would be a crowd pleaser.  Here is the recipe, taken from the preview on Amazon.

Now, if you are a baker you might be wondering how you can bake a loaf for almost 2 hours at 425+ degrees and not have it turn into a burnt brick.  Well, the answer is you can't.  The first thing that struck me as I read through the recipes were the incredibly long baking times (as long as four hours!).  I was dubious, but plunged ahead.  After an hour things were smelling burnt so I removed the almost black loaf from the oven.  So, while I like how these loaves come together (some may question the amounts of tapioca and/or arrowroot), I am perplexed with how way off the baking times are.  Thankfully, she does say that a loaf that reaches 205 to 210 degrees is baked.  So, armed with my thermometer, I tinkered around and found the following baking times produced a pretty impressive loaf:

1. 15 mins at 400.
2. 15 mins at 350.  Rotate loaf in the oven then
3. 15 mins at 350.

An hour less baking time?  Can that be right? Making the recipe a third time I accidentally added 1.5 cups of water.  It meant that I had to shape the loaf with extra flour, but the oven rise was better.  That is the loaf you see pictured above.  I also made the following changes:

1. Ground the chia seeds.
2. Used warm water for the yeast--I could not get it to activate in room temp water.
3. Added the oil after the yeast had activated.

I also made the Soft Millet Sandwich Bread and the Quinoa Sandwich Bread.  Again, the baking times are a bit mysterious.  The two loaves are essentially the same ingredients and the same wet to dry ratio.  And yet, the Millet Bread is supposed to bake for 1 hour 45 mins, and the Quinoa Bread for 2 hours and 30 mins at 350.  I found that an hour sufficed. 

So in the end I am not sure what to make of this book.  The basic ideas seem good, but the recipes are unreliable. But, if you have some baking sense, the end product can be tasty and not too dense.  

Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone for entering the Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! giveaway.  I really enjoyed reading all of the comments.  Some of you are new vegans, some have been at this for a while, some busy and in need of a quick meal, some with kids, some with vegan partners, or with non-vegan partners who need convincing, some are young, some more . . . mature.  It really is amazing to see the great diversity of the vegan community.  You are all hippie weirdos, of course, but each in your own way.

270 people entered the giveaway.  The random number generator spit out the number 61, so the winner is Kelsey Marcus who wrote, "Looks like a great book! I would love to learn about making "topless" sandwiches! ;)."  Congratulations, Kelsey!  Please email me at vegandadDOTblogspotATgmailDOTcom and I will get the book headed your way.

Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day Giveaway!

Hey kids!  It's a giveaway!

That's right!  You can win your very own copy of Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes' fabulous new cook book Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!  I was first got acquainted with this project when Tami contacted me seeking permission to use the "steam, then bake" method of my veggie lunch meat.   I said yes, of course, since sharing recipes and methods is what the vegan blog community is all about (after all, the veggie lunch meat itself was a version of Julie Hasson's sausages).  So, there I am on p. 183 with a "huge thanks" from the authors (the nod to Julie Hasson is on the previous page).  I reviewed Tami's previous cookbook back in 2010, and I emailed back and forth with Celine back when I first started my blog.  So, every though we have never met in person, I feel like I am sharing in the great success of some good friends.

The first thing that strikes you about this book is the art.  Celine took all the photos and they are perfection.  Combined with Debbie Berne's book and cover design, the book is a visual feast.

As you can see from the table of contents, Celine and Tami have redefined what "sandwich" means.  Turns out, you can eat sandwiches for every meal of the day!  You could start with Berry-Stuffed French Toast Pockets for breakfast, eat a Ratatouille Sandwich for lunch, move on to Chickpea Shawarma for dinner, and end the day with Oreo Wafflewiches.  Yes, please!

The book also has the basics covered, from bread (I would have liked to see more recipes, but I know baking scares many people off), to several veggie meats.  Scattered throughout the book are various dressings, spreads, pates, and toppings.  There really is something for everyone here.

CONTEST DETAILS:
Residents of Canada and the U.S. only, please.
To enter, leave a comment about the book in the comment section below by 6:00 pm EST November 12.  One entry per person.  Each entry will be assigned a number, and the winner chosen by a random number generator.  Good luck!

Apple Galette

One last Thanksgiving recipe!  I can post this one late because it is really easy, but tastes and looks great.  I started making these in order to use up the extra dough left over from making multiple pies at a time.  So, if you have some dough left over from making pot pies, and still need a dessert, make one of these and top it off with pumpkin ice cream (sans candied pepitas tastes best in this scenario, I think).

INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 recipe pie dough
- 3 large cooking apples (I like Granny Smith for this one)
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 tbsp margarine

METHOD
1. Make the dough as per the recipe.  Roll out on a floured surface into a 12-14 inch circle.  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Peel the apples.  Chop in half, from stem to flower end.  Remove stem and flower ends.  Use a melon baller to carefully remove seeds/cores.  Use a paring knife to thinly slice the apple halves, keeping all the slices together.
3. Place an apple half in the centre of the dough.  Fan slightly.  Place other halves around the centre apple and fan.  Sprinkle lemon juice over the apples.

4. Mix together sugars and spices. Sprinkle over apples.  Dot with margarine. Gather dough up into the centre (trim edges first if you like).

5. Place galette in the fridge for 20-30 mins so the dough can firm up.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees with a rack on the bottom third of the oven.
6. Bake for about 45 mins, until crust is golden and filling is bubbling.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool before eating.  

Tofu Pot Pie

I post something like this every Thanksgiving.  There is something about the crisp weather and fall colour that makes me want to put vegetables in a crust.  I mean, look at this scenery!

Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I wanted to post this recipe right away.  I love individual pot pies (as previous posts will attest) and I think this recipe delivers more of a vegan comfort food punch than any of my previous posts. It does make 9 pies, which is great if you are having a bunch of people over for dinner.  You can also freeze unbaked pies and bake them up later as needed as per these directions.

INGREDIENTS
Makes nine 4.5 inch deep dish pies
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 cup chopped white mushrooms
- 1 pkg tofu, small dice
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tsp poultry spice
- 1/2 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp rosemary, crushed
- 1 cup plain soy milk
- 1 cup hot water (from cooking veggies above)
- 1 cooking apple, shredded
- 1 cup peas
- salt and pepper to taste

- 2 cups small diced potatoes
- 1 cup small diced carrots
- 1 cup small diced butternut squash
- 1 cup chopped yellow beans

- 1.5 recipe pie dough, minus the sugar
- nine 4.5 inch deep dish aluminum pie plates

METHOD
1. Get a large pot of salted water boiling.
2. Melt margarine in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Saute onion, garlic and celery for 10 mins, until a nice golden brown.  Add mushrooms and fry for another 3 mins.  Add tofu and fry for 2 mins.  Sprinkle flour over and mix/fry for another 2 mins.
3. Add spices, then slowly add soy milk and stir well.  Mixture will thicken.
4. Meanwhile, add potatoes, carrots, squash, and beans to the boiling water.  Boil for about 5 mins, or until potatoes and carrots are slightly tender.  Remove from water (but save the water) and add to tofu mixture.  Slowly mix in 1 cup of the water you used to boil the veggies.  Add shredded apple and peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from heat.  Let mixture fully cool in the fridge.
5. While mixture is cooling, make your pie dough.  Roll out slightly more than half of the dough (for the bottom crusts) and cut to fit the pie plates your are using.  Make sure to cut a big enough circle to leave you some overhang.  Fill each crust with cooled filling.  Roll out remaining dough for the top crusts and seal as you would any pie.  Poke some vent holes in the top.
6. Place pies in the fridge to cool down and firm up.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with your rack in the bottom 1/3 of the oven.
7. Bake for 45-60 mins, or until filling is bubbling and crust is golden.