Bread With Jam

Category: Quickbreads

  • Vegan Naan

  • Short Cake

    as in with strawberries! Yes, in spite of the fact that we got three inches of snow this morning, even though most of it is melted by now, it is getting damn near the season of strawberries. And though I can’t find local strawberries here in Kansas for the life of me, I’m moving ahead with some shortcake with strawberries from California (well, Costco). So… get ready!

    I found this quick and easy recipe on the web:

    INGREDIENTS
    2 cups (240 gr) all-purpose flour
    1 TBSP (14 gr) baking powder
    1 TBSP (14 gr) Cane sugar
    1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
    1/2 cup (1 stick, 113 grams) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
    3/4 cup-1 cup (175-240 ml) almond milk

    Rice the buttery sticks into the combined dry ingredients. Moisten with the almond milk till it holds together. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice for “butter-almond-milk”. Drop into cast iron skillet. Bake in preheated 450° oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

    Print it here.

  • Friday Morning Sourdough Pancakes

    Part of the process of maintaining a lively sourdough starter is to feed it, by adding more flour and water to the original culture. This should be done about once a day. Unless you’re making bread every day, before too long, your carefully nurtured bubbly mass will be consuming all available space. What most of us do is discard a sizeable portion before the feeding process. Just dump a cup of it in the trash, and get over it.

    Here is another idea. It’s already bubbly. And somewhat acidic. So, if you add a few secret ingredients, you will have a pancake batter!

    Today I began with maybe two cups of starter. It was pretty thick. So, I added some water, some almond milk, a couple of tablespoons of EVOO, and maybe another cup of flour until it was pretty much pourable. You know, like pancake batter. Before adding the flour, I mixed in a teaspoon of baking soda, two or three tablespoons of cane sugar, and a teaspoon of salt. In other words, I pretty much recreated a standard pancake recipe with two exceptions: No eggs. And no baking powder.

    Somehow or other, the eggs weren’t necessary, probably because the gluten from the sourdough culture had formed sufficient structure to keep things together. Baking powder has an acid added to it causing it to rise. Baking soda requires acid, but there’s enough of that from the sourdough.

    I used a nonstick electric griddle to make four at a time, each about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and ended up with about 16. Served with warm maple syrup and Earth Balance. Four of them are now zip-locked in the freezer for another day.

  • Jalapeño Corn Bread

    Jalapeño, (oven roasted sweet) corn bread freshly baked in a well seasoned 10.25″ Lodge cast iron skillet. Moist, delicious, spicy warm, and sweet, with or without NY State Maple syrup. Get it while it’s hot or before I eat the rest. I’ll definitely make this again. Recipe follows.

    The basic recipe came off the Quaker Yellow Corn Meal Box (Easy Corn Bread). I added roasted corn kernels (from three ears of corn – I’d go for 4 next time) and Jalapeño peppers and made it vegan (why not?!)

    • 1 -1/4 Cups of King Arthur Flour (All Purpose)
    • 3/4 Cup of Quaker Corn Meal (Yellow)
    • 1/4 Cup of cane sugar (more or less)
    • 2 teaspoons of baking power (maybe 3)
    • 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
    • 1 cup of almond milk (60 cal)
    • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used canola)
    • The equivalent of two eggs (Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer)
    • Three ears of corn roasted (high broil in husk until caramelized) – rotate every 8-10 minutes until husk is well charred- approximately 35 minutes. Husk corn and slice off the kernels when sufficiently cooled.
    • Three finely diced Jalapeño peppers, adjust to taste; I removed the seeds. For more heat, keep the seeds.Mix dry ingredients together. Separately, mix prepared egg replacer with the oil and almond milk, roasted corn, and Jalapeño peppers. Add the wet and dry ingredients together and mix well. The batter should be like a thick pancake batter. If too wet, add flour and/or corn meal. If too thick, add almond milk. Pour into pan.Bake in greased 10-1/4 inch cast iron pan at 400°F for 27 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and top is beginning to split. Golden brown.Let it rest in pan for about 20 minutes until cast iron isn’t too hot to touch (or until you can’t possibly avoid it any longer!)Serve warm. Add Earth Balance and/or NY State Maple syrup to taste.

     

  • Large Cranberry Orange Muffins

    This morning, I baked these muffins for my wife to take to work. This is my third attempt in as many weeks. I’m finally quite happy with them. Here is the recipe…

    Ingredients:

    • 2 cups all purpose flour
    • 3/4 cup sugar
    • 1 tsp baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1 cup Ocean Spray Craisins
    • 1 tbsp flax seed (or egg replacer)
    •  3/4 cup fresh orange juice
    • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
    • 1 tsp orange zest

    Directions:

    1. Combine the dry ingredients
    2. Stir in Craisins
    3. Grind the flax seed to a powder and whip with about the same amount of water until it looks like whipped egg.
    4. Whisk the flax seed “egg” (or egg replacer) together with oil, zest, and fresh orange juice.
    5. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened. Add water as necessary to make batter just barely able to fall off a large spoon.
    6. Spoon into greased muffin cups (3 1/2 inches at the top)
    7. Sprinkle tops with cane sugar
    8. Makes 6 large muffins
    9. Bake in preheated moderately hot (375 degrees F) oven for 30 min or till tooth pick comes out clean and tops are golden brown
    10. Cool for 10 minutes before gently removing to platter
    11. Serve warm or cool
    Tips: If you’re using a smaller muffin tin, bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Don’t try to remove muffins from tin right out of the oven; they’re not firm enough.
    Also, I baked a second batch that included chocolate chips. They were also good, but I prefer them without. You could also add chopped walnuts. I haven’t tried that.

  • Corn Bread

    This recipe tastes great when served hot tableside
    with jam or Earth Balance, or try some Vermont Maple Syrup!

    Ingredients

    Dry
    2 cups coarsely ground corn meal
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup granulated sugar
    2 teaspoons kosher salt
    4 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    Wet
    2 2/3 cup almond milk
    4 (equivalent) egg-replacer (approx 4 tablespoons –
    refrigerate 20 min after mixing)
    4 ozs vegetable
    oil
    2 cups frozen corn
    Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a 12-inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while making the batter.
    Whisk together the dry ingredients.
    Whisk together the wet ingredients with egg replacer.
    Add wet to dry and stir till combined. Don’t overdo
    it. (like pancake batter).
    Carefully
    remove the hot skillet from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
    Coat the bottom and sides of the hot skillet with the spray
    oil. Add batter. Return uncovered skillet to oven. Reduce temperature to 400
    degrees. Bake until firm, 200 degrees in center and golden brown.
    About 30 minutes. Your results may vary. Allow to cool
    in skillet 15 minutes and serve.

    If
    using a 9″ skillet, reduce recipe by half.

  • Sourdough Waffles with Apple Glaze

    This morning’s breakfast was a repeat from last week with the addition of an apple glaze made from cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and Merritt Estate Niagara Wine (in place of apple juice). Topped with maple syrup and fresh banana. Over the top! Posted by Picasa

  • Sourdough Waffles

    This morning we made waffles from a 100% hydration sourdough starter that fermented at room temperature last night. The batter made 8 delicious waffles that were about 4 inches square.
    Here is the recipe:
    • Sourdough: 3 cups (600 grams)
    • Sugar: 2 tablespoons
    • Salt: 1 1/2 teaspoons
    • Baking soda: 1 teaspoon
    • Almond milk: 4 tablespoons
    • Flax eggs: 2 tablespoons of seed ground fine, mixed with water and refrigerated
    • EEVO: 2 tablespoons (other vegetable oil is fine)
    Combine all ingredients in a sufficiently large bowl until well blended. Don’t worry about over mixing like you would with traditional methods. The mix should be homogenous.
    Spray your waffle iron with a non-stick spray. Bake according to directions provided by manufacturer.
    Serve with maple syrup or the topping of your choice.
    Leftovers (if you have any!) can be wrapped and frozen. Great in the toaster for the mornings when you’re in a hurry!