Category — Bread

It’s cranberry season in Ottawa (finally!).  I’ve had the recipe for cranberry maple butter bookmarked all summer and have waited patiently for cranberries to appear at the market.  I picked up these Upper Canada Cranberries a week ago – they’re pretty perfect looking.

I followed the recipe from the Small Batch Preserving cookbook and ended up with almost two full cups of delicious cranberry butter.

The boy and I sampled it on top of our “cheesy mouse biscuits”  (homemade herb crackers that actually have no rodent or cheese components).  If you want to know the story of the ‘salty cheesy mouse biscuits’ you just need to pick up a copy of the book Cherry the Pig.  In the story, Cherry bakes a lovely apple cake, but the mice who nibble at it think it’s awful.  Cherry’s feelings are hurt until she figures out that mice like salty cheesy biscuits.  Suffice to say, we’ve been reading this book a lot.  And I get a lot of requests for “cheesy mouse biscuits!!”.

Using this easy (and vegan!) recipe from the Straight from the Farm blog, I whipped up another batch this week for work.  I happened to be making pasta on the same night, so I thought it might save time to roll the cracker dough out in the pasta maker.  It worked like a charm!  I fed the dough through the rollers to the 3-4 setting and then cut out squares using a rotary ravioli cutter.

Homemade crackers are pretty unusual – despite the fact that they are a snap to make.  The novelty factor will impress everyone from toddlers through senior executives.

Exhibit A.  I’m really proud that he tried the cranberry maple butter (and liked it!) – he’s usually a bit of a jamophobe.

One problem.  Canning seems to require a lot of dishes.  And dishwashing.  Ugh.  What a mess!

Serious burger bunnage.

I totally rocked the burger bun baking yesterday.  After reading a few tips in my Artisan Breads Every Day book about shaping the perfect boules, I whipped up some dough in the breadmaker.

I was contemplated buying a Kitchen Aid stand mixer after reading this book to whip bread dough, but I just couldn’t justify the cost (or counter space).  If you don’t have money or space for a stand mixer, your breadmaker can do the mixing for a fraction of the cost. (Well, at least for the smaller recipes.)

Ok, so burger buns.  Yes.  They are easy.   They look homey.  And who doesn’t love the smell of bread baking in the oven? I reserved a quarter of the dough and made it into a baguette for some crostini dealies later on the BBQ.

Toasted and ready for bruschetta topping!

If you follow my Flickr stream, you may have noticed my first attempt at baguettes.  Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.

It's official: ugliest bread ever.

I’m embarrassed that I even published that photo.  It’s the ugliest bread I’ve ever seen.  (It did taste ok.)   I went back and reread the shaping instructions (which I admit, I ignored -  FYI, it isn’t like playdough, you can’t just roll out a ‘worm’ and call it bread).  Then I watched this great tutorial on YouTube from Ciril Hitz and rolled out the baguette (see top photo).  Not perfect, but progress.

The buns turn out so soft and fluffy, you’ll be the star at your next BBQ with a plate of these.

Ready to mix - Baby Jaguar minds the trucks

I picked up a copy of Artisan Breads Every Day and the first recipe that I wanted to bake right away was bagels.  We haven’t had bagels at home for almost three years because they contain egg.  Three long years.  That’s a long time without bagels.

I got my mom to whip out her hand crank bread maker.  You know, the kind they had before the era of KitchenAid mixers.

One dough ball - ready to rise

It didn’t take long to whip up the flour, water, yeast, honey and salt into a dough ball and then set it aside to rise.

Shabby attempt at smooth dough rounds

I did my best to roll the bagels by hand, but I just couldn’t get the join quite right.  I think my dough might have needed a bit more water to make it more pliable.  I think.  Or maybe I just need more practice.  Maybe both.  Rolling bagels is definitely skill.

Boiling - looks bad, but at least they float!

The bagels got boiled in honey water.  (Mom, I swear the water was boiling when they went in!  I am often not very patient when it comes to boiling water.  Ask anyone.)

A bit wrinkly, but hey... who isn't?

They went in the oven for 8 minutes and then I turned the pan and they baked for another 3 minutes.  I pulled them out when they were golden brown.

Tastes like a bagel.

And the result?  I’d say, they’re still more bready than a Montreal bagel – but maybe that has to do with not using eggs.  At any rate, they were delicious and I ate three before noon.

It’s a recipe that I’d definitely double next time as it does take a bit of extra effort to roll, boil and bake.  Like most allergy baking – the result is totally worth the effort in order to have safe versions of familiar foods.

We picked up some ground lamb from the farmers market last week. It took a week to figure out the perfect way to prepare it. Since it was the weekend and we didn’t have to rush, I decided that we would make these lamb patties and serve it on some homemade pitas with a side of soy yogurt and the last of the mint from the garden.

I still love trying new recipes even if it’s a gamble on the toddler front. In this case, the gamble paid off and the sandwich wrap was a great toddler meal! (Pheeeeeeyew!) Alden really got into rolling the bread and making his little wrap. It was a total toddler hit. And bonus, the husband and I loved them too. I can see this recipe being a staple weekend meal. I could eat a whole stack of those homemade flatbreads! Mmmm.

We’ve tweaked our favourite New Brunswick brown bread recipe just a little to make it allergy-friendly and swapped the oatmeal for ground flax. I have to give the husband credit for the oatmeal/flax swap – it gives the bread more flavour and keeps it from drying out.  We also substituted canola oil for the butter in the original recipe.  Despite the changes, the flavour and texture remains virtually the same.  I can’t see us going back to the oatmeal version anytime soon.

{ Saturday toddler lunch: potato dumplings, date & fennel loaf with smoked white fish.

Dear Whalesbone Retail Shop and True Loaf Bakery,

In the last two weeks, Alden and I have made visiting your shops part of our new Saturday foodie errands.  I know lots of people love going to your shops and that you supply some of the top restaurants in town with your products, but for us it is extra special.  You see, before Alden came along my husband and I were your typical “foodies” – we loved stopping by cafes and eating at nice restaurants.  With baby in tow, our foodie outings pretty much ground to a halt.  And when Alden’s food allergies were confirmed, we haven’t been able to introduce him to the pleasure of being able to stop in to a cafe for a cookie or join eat at a local restaurant.  This makes me really sad because he’s starting to notice that he is different from his friends.

But on Saturdays, when we stop by Whalesbone and True Loaf for fish and bread, Alden can nibble on our purchases right away (well, except for the raw fish).  And we don’t have have to wait until we get home to have a snack.  It’s the little things like this that you begin to appreciate.

In your stores, Alden transforms into an adventurous “foodie” – he devours date & fennel loaf and hoovers down smoked fish.   Did you know he won’t eat any fruit other than banana and has a strict no squash allowed policy?  It’s true.

But when we are at your shops, Alden and I are just another customer looking for a lovely bit of food. And to have your stores in walking distance from our house makes it even better.  Thanks for being in the neighbourhood!  See you both next Saturday!

———–

True Loaf Bakery – 573 Gladstone Avenue, Shop hours: Tuesday-Saturday  7am – 1pm.

Whalesbone Retail – 504A Kent Street, Shop hours: Thursday-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-2pm.

Last Saturday the boy woke up bright and early at 4:30am.  (ugh)  Really.  Chip chip chipper – Alden chatted away in his crib while mom and dad wearily dragged their feet out of bed and got the coffee on.  By 7am, we had finished breakfast, done the dishes and tidied the kitchen.  Now what?  I decided to make bread.  Knowing the little guy would surely crash in the morning, we stayed in and mixed up our first batch of hot cross buns.

Now, I feel pretty food adventurous, but one of the few things I hate (and have always hated) was raisins in baked goods.  Slimey, gross, wet, chewy raisins.  YUCK.  So for my version of hot cross buns, there are no raisins or currents, just spices.

It’s rather hard to find a good egg/dairy free hot cross bun recipe, but this one came close.  I replaced the butter with canola oil and milk for rice milk and voila – vegan hot cross buns!

And they were delicious.  Next time, I’d use two baking pans and make the dough balls smaller.  My buns were enormous (J-Lo size!) when they came out of the oven.

Unfortuately, I didn’t get a photo after I put the icing crosses on top… we were too busy eating them.

Hot Cross Buns Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp instant dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm rice / soy milk
• 1/2 cup castor sugar
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water | Egg replacer
• 3 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus some more for dusting
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all spice powder
• 1 tsp salt

1. Mix everything together and knead until smooth.  Place in an oiled bowl and cover.  Let stand until the dough has doubled in size.

2. Knock the dough down and give it a few more kneads.  Cover again and let stand until the dough doubles in size.

3. Knock the dough down and shape into balls.  Place in baking tin (oiled, parchment paper etc.) and bake at 400F for about 15 minutes.

4. Once the buns have cooled, you make make a quickie icing cross using icing sugar and a splash of milk.  Mix until it forms a thick paste and decorate the buns by drizzling the icing on top using a spoon.

I’ve been reworking some of my old favourite bread maker recipes to make them dairy free and this “faux buttermilk” loaf has been a total hit with the little guy.  It’s so easy and so delicious.  It’s my go-to recipe for sandwich bread.  The loaf ends and crust also make fabulous crumbs for homemade stuffing or casserole toppings.  Bonus!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cup non dairy milk (I used enriched rice)
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp instant yeast

Set bread maker to “light crust” setting for a 1 1/2 pound loaf.  Put your feet up and wait for delicious bread!

I saw a recipe for toddler quesadillas online and I knew that Alden would love them.  I pulled out a package of whole wheat tortillas that were in our freezer, sadly they were clearly labeled “may contain milk and soy”.  Ugh.  Not to mention, the rest of the preservatives that I can’t pronounce.  Hmm…   again, I turned to Google.  Could I make tortillas at home?  And make them vegan?  Answer: yes!

I based my version on the recipe posted by the Homesick Texan.  Of course, I tweaked my version to omit the milk.  Instead, I used regular rice milk.  I had pretty low expectations for this experiment.

I followed all of the directions, letting the dough rest in between kneading it and dividing it into the little dough balls.  I rolled out the dough as thin as I could without it tearing and cooked them up in the non-stick frypan.

As you can see, they look like tortillas!  It worked!  I served them for dinner alongside our chili and the husband and I both agreed that these were the best tortillas we’d ever had.  Alden agreed.

Recipe (modified to be vegan from the Homesick Texan):

• Two cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
• 3/4 cups of warm rice milk

Method:

• Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
• Slowly add the warm milk.
• Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
• Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
• Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
• After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate  and cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes.
• After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
• In a dry iron skillet or  non-stick pan, heated on medium-high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
• Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.

Makes eight tortillas.

Sometimes dinner just tastes better with fresh rolls.  And the nice thing about making them is that it takes no time.  Well, as long as you’re handy with a bread machine.  This recipe for “country white” dinner rolls had a lot of positive reviews, so I gave it a try.  And they were tasty.  The best rolls ever ever ever?  Maybe not.  In fact, they reminded me a lot of the rolls you get with your lobster dinner back on PEI.  (Which isn’t a bad thing.)  I guess what I’m trying to say is that they taste sort of homey.  Nutritional void of white flour aside – it’s a keeper recipe for standard white rolls.