Vegan MoFo Day 21: Pumpkin Bread

I think I'm moving back into Thanksgiving, or at least, into autumn fare and away from Christmas cookies. I've been meaning to make pumpkin bread since I bought two little sugar pumpkins this fall, but then just didn't get to it. Then when I did get to it, the pumpkins weren't good. One was like, squishy when I cut into it. The second I roasted in the oven with intent to puree and make bread, and it was bitter. I finally just resigned myself to using canned pumpkin and I'm so glad I did, because it's delicious.

This recipe calls for a ton of sugar which really makes it more of a "cake" than a "bread" even moreso than like, banana bread is more cakey than bready. It is very moist and delicious though! The boy ate a piece tonight, declared that he didn't like pumpkin bread, but that he loved my pumpkin bread!! I think that's a pretty good endorsement! I have no idea where this recipe came from. I've been making it for over a decade and have veganized it. It makes either 3 small loaves or 2 big loaves or like 2 dozen muffins, so I guess maybe the sugar thing isn't TOO bad.


Pumpkin Bread
2 cups pureed pumpkins
1 cup vegetable oil
2 2/3 cups white sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup non dairy yogurt
3 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose or white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 large or 3 small loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, vegetable oil, sugar, applesauce, and yogurt.

3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

4. Divide the batter between the loaf pans and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Pretzels! or Let's Get Twisted!!

Recently I got struck with this insane craving for a fresh hot soft pretzel with mustard. I couldn't get the idea out of my head so clearly I had only one choice!

Drive to the mall?!
No. Those are dipped in butter aren't they?

Buy some frozen?!
No! They get dry and stale and freezer-burned so fast.

Make my own?!
Of course, where did you think this was going? It's a food blog.

Fortunately pretzels are both easy and fun to make, and pretzel recipes don't require much veganization as they don't have a lot of animal bits in them. I used Alton Brown's recipe off the Food Network website. The only changes I had to make were subbing Earth Balance for butter, and omitting the eggwash, which is supposed to give them a nice golden brown color. Seems if you just sprinkle salt onto the wet pretzel and put them into a hot oven, they do actually turn golden brown on their own. Go figure!! These were so delicious the boy and I ate way too many pretzels in one go, but you really have to enjoy them while they're hot and fresh since they get stale so quickly. Like bagels, hot pretzels are boiled and then baked to give them a chewy interior and a crisp exterior.


Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees F - should feel just barely uncomfortable)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp (one packet for those of you who don't buy bulk yeast) active dry yeast
22 oz (about 4.5 cups) all purpose flour
2 tbsp margarine, melted
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
Vegetable oil to non-stick up your bowl and cookie sheet
Parchment paper if you've got it
Rock salt/Pretzel salt


1. "Proof" your yeast (test to make sure it's active) by adding it and the sugar to the warm water and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes. If it gets all bubbley and foamy looking, it's ready to go! If nothing happens, it may be time for new yeast.

2. Stir your flour and salt together in the bowl of your mixer (or in a large bowl if you're going to knead by hand). Add the water/yeast mixture and the melted margarine and mix until it is combined well, then knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it's smooth and elastic.

3. Lightly coat your bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough ball back into the bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warmish spot for an hour, or until the dough about doubles in size.

4. When it's getting towards the end of the rising time, you can start prepping the rest of your things. Line the cookie sheets with parchment (or foil, or silpat, or nothing) and lightly brush with vegetable oil. In a large pot, bring the 10 cups of water and 2/3 cups baking soda to a boil. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

5. Back to the dough! Punch it down and divide it into 8 balls of dough. Roll each ball into a rope, and twist each rope into a pretzel. (Make a U shape, then cross the ends, then stick the bottoms onto the original U shape.) One at a time, gently place the pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove them with a slotted spoon and sit them on your prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

6. Bake your pretzels for 12-14 minutes or until they're all golden. Allow them to cool a few minutes on a cooling rack before you eat them.

Not-Quite Zucchini Bread

HEY MEGATARIAN!! What's with all the breads??

I dunno, it's cold out, I'm baking again.

My last run of squash this summer were pattypans. I ended up with more than I knew what to do with, and despite giving a bunch away, I still had a bunch of pattypans in my fridge. I'm down to the last couple now, and instead of throwing one into a stir fry like I normally would, I thought it might be nice to bake a loaf of zucchini bread.

Only without zucchini.

Pattypan is just another type of summer squash. They look sort of like scalloped flying saucers. They're in the top right of this picture of one of my garden hauls taken in August:

Back on topic: I mutated this recipe from vegweb for zucchini bread into pattypan squash bread with blueberries, but certainly you could use zucchini, or any other summer squash you have handy.

"Before"
"After"

Summer Squash Bread with Blueberries
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup ~milk (soy/rice/almond/whatever's open in your fridge)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour/whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 + 1/8 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
large pinch ground nutmeg
large pinch ground cloves
1 1/2 cups grated summer squash
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

2. Combine the flax and water and let it sit for about 10 minutes to get goopy. (This is a good time to grate your squash)

3. Combine the flax goo, sugar, oil, ~milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed. Fold in the squash and blueberries, then pour into the pan.

4. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

And on an unrelated note, I'll be gone tomorrow through Monday visiting my parents downstate, and helping with/attending my Nana's 90th birthday party. I will be cooking a bunch, but I don't know how much time I'll have to blog. I'll try my best! Don't be too sad if I'm gone a few days ;) I'm just surprised I got through half the month so far!!

Irish Soda Bread

Getting back to the Scottish stew I never got to eat this week, I also baked some Irish Soda Bread to go with it, which I did get to eat. It was a sort of disjointed tribute to the UK or something. I love homemade bread in any form. The benefit of doing soda bread is, of course, you don't have to knead it for more than a minute and you don't have to wait for it to rise. You can have the whole shebang in the oven in about five minutes.

I had a lot of issues to consider when making this bread... raisins or no raisins? Half raisins? All whole wheat, half whole wheat, no whole what? One recipe? A half recipe? Which recipe? In the end I made a half recipe of the Soda Bread from The Joy of Vegan Baking, all whole wheat, no raisins. My only mistake with the half recipe part. I saw 4 cups of flour and 2 cups of milk and thought it would make much too much bread for the two of us, and it totally would have, half was plenty for two with some left over... but mmm homemade bread?! I should have made more. But of course, it's so fast and easy I could just throw another loaf in the oven and bake it up anytime I like :) I didn't make too many changes to the original recipe other than halving it, and using white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, and I used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar (I really feel like that's more for cleaning than eating! ACV is so much milder. Plus I only have white vinegar in a gallon jug and I thought pouring a tsp out of that would be a mess). Also I used soymilk when you can use "any milk" but soymilk curdles so much better than rice or almond. And so, here's a recipe for a small loaf of soda bread adapted from JOVB.


Irish Soda Bread
1 cup soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups white whole wheat flour + a little extra if the dough is too sticky
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted earth balance or other margarine of your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a round cake pan (it can be way bigger than your final loaf, it's just a place for it to bake)

2. In a small bowl, combine the soymilk and vinegar and leave it to curdle for a few minutes.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

4. Mix the wet ingredients (margarine, milk mixture) with the dry and stir until you have a sticky dough.

... This is the point where I deviate from the recipe some more. The dough was WAY sticky for me. Like a thick cake batter sticky. I needed to add about 1/4 cup more flour to get it sticky, but into a ballable dough. Baker beware!

5. Knead the dough about a dozen times, form it into a ball, put it in the pan, and cut an X into the top with a serrated knife.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the crust is golden and it sounds hollow inside if you knock on it.

7. Eat a slice as soon as it's cool enough to handle!! The fresh crust is so delicious!

Cornbread

Cornbread is one of those foods I'm consistently obsessed with. There's rarely a time that cornbread doesn't sound good. Now that the weather is turning cold, however, cornbread is sounding ESPECIALLY good! It's great with chili or soup or as a side dish, or for breakfast... or with lunch... I'm not sure there's a bad time for cornbread! This is a Thanksgiving staple as well, but do test it out before the big day... if for no other reason because it means you get to eat more cornbread!!

When I was a kid my parents always bought those Jiffy Corn Muffin Mixes. I believe it was the first Thanksgiving I was a vegetarian that I was making the stuff and happened to look on the side of the box to find it contained LARD! I was HORRIFIED! And so upset, I mean come on, my cornbread was ruined by pig fat. It was a sad, sad day. I always figured if things came in a box mix, it meant that they were difficult to make, and thought my cornbread eating days were over. I couldn't've been more wrong. Cornbread is silly easy to make, and everyone LOVES my recipe! It's mutated from a recipe I found online, and really makes a nice moist loaf. I use whole wheat pastry flour, but if you're looking to be less healthy about it, white flour will do. Use blue cornmeal for an extra colorful version!


Cornbread
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cup unsweetened milk of your choice
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water and left to sit until gooey
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 8X8 square baking pan.

2. In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal and the milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes (This will help the cornmeal start to absorb the liquid to make a nice moist bread!).

3. In a larger bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, then stir in everything else until the batter is smooth.

4. Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. The top will also look a little cracked.

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

All summer long I had study groups at my house for a big crazy PhD exam. I tried to have different homemade breakfasty things every week for my study buddies, and had my heart set on making cinnamon rolls one morning. All the cinnamon roll recipes I found were just jam packed full of margarine... Up to 3 sticks!! I didn't want my rolls to be that heavy, or that fatty. I remembered how much I liked my modified version of Potato Rolls from Veganomicon (Sweet potato rolls) and thought they'd make a fine cinnamon roll. I was right! The dough itself isn't too sweet but the icing and cinnamon sugar more than make up for it! I let these rise in the fridge overnight and took them out of the fridge an hour before baking in the morning so they'd be hot and fresh for my guests. A light powdered sugar frosting topped them off, and they were completely irresistible!

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup rice milk
1 tbsp margarine
1 heaping tsp yeast
~1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
~1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cold, mashed sweet potatoes

2 tbsp margarine
1/2 c brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 3 tbsp rice milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 cup rice milk with 1 tbsp margarine in a small saucepan. Heat until the margarine melts, but don't allow it to boil.

2. Meanwhile, proof the yeast by adding it to the remaining warm water and letting it sit for about 10 minutes. It's "proofed" if it gets all foamy. If it doesn't foam up, then either your water was the wrong temperature, or it isn't active anymore! (Both are problems. The water should be between 110 and 120 degrees. You can try again with correct temperature water, if that doesn't work, it may be time for new yeast)

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl if you haven't got a stand mixer), mix together the flours, sugar, and salt. Mix in the potatoes using the paddle attachment until it becomes crumbly (or use your hands).

4. Mix in the soymilk mixture, and the yeast mixture. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour a tbsp at a time. It should be soft and smooth, but not dry.

5. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

6. Lightly grease the bowl and put the dough back in, turning once to make sure it's coated. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave in a warm space to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled.

7. Punch down the dough and roll it out to about a 10X15 inch rectangle.

8. Melt the 2 tbsp margarine and brush melted margarine onto dough rectangle. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Sprinkle liberally all over the dough rectangle.

9. Roll the dough up so you end up with a 15 inch dough log. Cut into 10-12 even slices using a serrated knife.

10. Press the sliced rolls down to flatten just slightly and place them side by side in a greased 9X13 inch baking pan. They won't fill it all the way.

11. Options! Want 'em now? Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise in a warm place for about a half an hour until they've doubled.
Want 'em for breakfast tomorrow? Cover the rolls and place them in the fridge to rise over night. Remove from the fridge about an hour before you're ready to bake them.

12. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

13. Mix together the powdered sugar, rice milk, and vanilla. Start with 1 tbsp milk and slowly add more until the icing is of desired consistency. Honestly, I just dump a bunch of sugar in a bowel, add vanilla, and gradually add milk. I just don't measure.

14. Spread the hot rolls with the icing. Try to wait until they cool just a bit before you wolf them down! (Good luck)

Blueberry-Lemon Bread

Fresh berries are one of my favorite parts of summer. I bought a pint of blueberries last weekend and excitedly made myself a bowl of hot cereal for breakfast, topped it with the blueberries and some nuts and maple syrup, took a nice big bite and... nothing. I took another bite. Squishy like blueberries, but completely void of flavor. How did I manage to get flavorless blueberries in July?? It was a tragedy for sure. They've been sitting in my fridge ever since as I tried to find a use for them. I had study group at my house this morning, and was thinking about making cranberry-orange bread from Veganomicon since I had cranberries in my freezer, and an orange or two, but decided instead to try it with lemon and the blueberries, since cooking them should theoretically concentrate their flavor a bit. After I rinsed the blueberries I tossed them with a bit of powdered sugar to sweeten them up, and the bread came out DELICIOUS! It's really zippy and lemony without being sour, and you can actually taste the blueberries! It would be so much MORE delicious with really yummy blueberries to start with, but this was a good solution and yielded great results! And so, another recipe altered from Veganomicon (though I do also recommend the original!)

Blueberry Lemon Bread
1/2 cup rice milk
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons, depending on size and juiciness)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

1. Mix together the milk, juice, oil and sugar in a large bowl.

2. Stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed.

3. Fold in the zest and blueberries.

4. Pour the batter into a greased 9X5 inch loaf pan.

5. Bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Pina Colada Banana Bread

I love bananas when they're solid yellow with a bit of green at the top. I tolerate them when they are all yellow with a few brown spots. Much beyond there all hope is lost for eating outright and their fate is muffins or quickbread. This weekend I was staring at the brown bananas on the counter, and next to it was a container of coconut and a bottle of coconut extract gifted from a friend. I thought "Hmm... if I just had some pineapple I could make pina colada bread..." so when I grocery shopped a got a can, and this is the result! It definitely has a coconutty flavor, and the little pineapple bits are a nice surprise! This is sort of way adapted from the Veganomicon recipe that merged with my Nana's banana bread recipe that merged with my brain.



Pina Colada Banana Bread

2 large super ripe bananas, well mashed
1 8oz can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 cups flour *
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, pineapple, oil, sugar, and extracts.

3. Stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed.

4. Fold in the coconut.

5. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.


*I used half white whole wheat and half spelt and it's a wee bit dry. I might go with half something white next time to lighten it a bit.

Whole Wheat Rosemary Boule

I have been a very bad blogger. Finals + New job = No blog updating. I have been taking pictures though, so if I can remember what the heck I put in things, I'll be back-blogging a bit. Or, if not, I'm sure we'll eat again next week.

Last night we celebrated mother's day, late, with the boy's parents. They were out of town last weekend, and I was busy with finals, so this worked out best for all of us. Among the things I made was a homemade whole wheat rosemary boule. I love fresh bread more than just about anything, so this was a good excuse to whip up a loaf. I do all the mixing and kneading in my Kitchenaid stand mixer. No reason why you couldn't do it by hand.

This recipe is adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe. I do an extra rise on it, but if you're pressed for time, you can leave it out.

Whole Wheat Rosemary Boule
2 1/2 - 3 cups white bread flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat bread flour
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups very warm water -- 120-130 degrees
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp salt

1. In the bowl of your mixer, combine 1 cup of each of the flours, the sugar, and the yeast. Stir in the warm water and mix for about 1 minute until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it get all bubbly for about an hour.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the oil over low heat and add the rosemary, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let it sit until the bread is bubbly.

3. Stir the oil and rosemary mixture and salt into your bubbly flour mixture. Stir in the remaining 3 cups of flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until a smooth, soft dough forms. If it seems sticky, keep adding flour about a tbsp at a time until it becomes less tacky.

4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

5. Grease a large bowl with olive oil and turn the dough over in it. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.


6. Punch down the dough and turn it over forming it into a ball. Put it back into the greased bowl, and re-cover it for another hour. It may not rise as much this second time.

7. Punch the dough down again, and form into a smooth ball by tucking the sides under to make a smooth top. Place on a cookie sheet or pizza stone (my favorite) sprinkled with cornmeal, cover with a clean, dry cloth, and leave it alone in a warm place for another hour or until almost double.
8. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put an 8X8 square baking dish on the bottom rack of the oven with about an inch of water in it. When dough is ready, mist it with water, dust it with flour, and using a serrated knife, carefully cut three slits into the top of the loaf.

9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the loaf is nicely browned and sounds hollow when you knock on it. During baking, mist the loaf with cool water a few times in the first 10 minutes, then about every 10 minutes until it's done. This will encourage a thick, crunchy crust!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This is stolen evolving recipes as it's best. I stole the base recipe from this bread from the Everyday Dish TV blog, where, at the time, it was Oatmeal Toasting and Sandwich Bread... which was stolen an adapted from a King Arthur's Flour recipe. The "original" Everyday Dish recipe is also great, and I tried that one first, then went "oooo cinnamon raisin" and here we are!



Ever Evolving Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) yeast dissolved in 1 c warm vanilla rice milk
1/4 cup pureed silken tofu
~1/2 - 3/4 c raisins

2 tbsp margarine, melted
1/2 c cinnamon sugar

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of your Stand Mixer, as in my case), stir together all the dry ingredients.

2. "Proof" the yeast by dissolving it in the warm milk and then let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. The yeast should get foamy/frothy, that means it's good to go!

3. Add the yeast mixture, oil, molasses, tofu, and raisins to the flour mixture and knead for 5 minutes by machine or 10 minutes by hand until the dough is smooth. Form it into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough, and lightly cover with a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm spot to rise for an hour.

4. Punch down the dough and roll it out on a a lightly floured surface so it is the length of your bread pan and about a foot to a foot and a half long. Brush the dough with the melted margarine and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Roll up your dough tightly, tuck the ends under, if needed, and place in a greased bread pan. Sprinkle the top with oats for dramatic effect, if desired. Cover again, and let it rise another hour until it's risen about an inch out the top of the bread pan.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the bread for 35-40 minutes until the center has a temperature of 190 degrees -- or it's nice and golden brown and sounds hollow when knocked upon.