Plaited Challah Bread

This bread is something that I tried when I was a teenager and have loved ever since. I have not had it for many many years, and I always thought it would be daunting to try making it. It just looked so difficult.

One of the vegan cooking groups that I belong to on Facebook (Australian Vegan Foodies) has a weekly theme. All the members get to vote on a theme and the winner theme is announced on Sunday. It is just a bit of fun but I always like to make something from the theme.

This week's theme was right up my alley, "Baked goods". I love love love looooooove baking. So I decided to finally give challah a go. I went in search of a recipe, and having just been given a bread maker by my mum (she gave me her old one), I went in search of a recipe for the breadmaker.

I found this one, and set on veganising it. I usually write down all the ingredients and then note my substitutions. I like to weigh everything if cup measurements are used, given that there is a difference between imperial and metric cup measurements.

In my excitement I dumped the flour into the bowl without taking note if I had pressed "tare" on the scales or not. There would be a 90gm difference in the recipe if I had not pressed it. I thought that it would not be a problem, so I weighed the same cup amounts of another flour. The weight was more than 90gms off, which told me, that I had not measured the ingredients correctly.

So today I went back to the drawing board, made the recipe slowly and made a few more substitutions.

The dough is kneading in the breadmaker at this very moment.

The bread maker takes 30 minutes to mix and knead the dough, and another hour to rise.
I have listed the ingredients below in metric cups and grams. The metric cup is 250mls. The tablespoon I used, is a 15ml one, if you have a 20ml tablespoon, then you can use 3 x 1 tsp for each tablespoon, as one teaspoon is 5mls. I hope that is not too confusing.
The recipe is very straight forward.

NOTE: In my previous attempt, I used vegan margarine instead of oil. I also used kala namak, to get an eggy flavour, and did not use the bread improver. The bread improver made a huge difference, and the dough rose to double the amount than it did yesterday.
Today I used the tumeric to give the bread the yellowy colour it would normally get from the egg yolks. I cannot taste it.

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UPDATE - 30/09/2016
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I just wanted to add a note about a couple of ingredients and some common questions that have come out after posting this recipe in the Vegan Meringue - Hits and Misses Facebook Group.

Bread Improver - is a mix of various acids and enzymes that serve to strengthen the gluten in the flour and feed the yeast, both of which yield a better loaf. (Source: Seasoned Advice). Here is an article on Wikipeadia that give you more information.

I just wanted to say that I have read in places where people say that bread improver is not required, and its just a gimmick. I can tell you from the experience of making two versions of this bread, only one day apart, that bread improver IS NOT A GIMMICK. It certainly makes a difference to the dough. The volume of the dough was at least double once risen, the bread once cooked was at least half as big, and the texture was so much better. Here is the link a home made improver recipe.
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UPDATE - 1/10/2016
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I have removed the links to the bread improvers online as one of the readers from the USA called the US company that sells the bread improver, and it is not vegan. Erring on the side of caution, I will just leave the link to the home made bread improver. This is a recipe online for a natural bread improver. I will give this a try next time I make this bread. Here is the link to the recipe.

Kala Namak - or bire noon literally "black salt" is a type of rock salt, a salty and pungent-smelling condiment used in South Asia. It is also known as "Himalayan black salt", Sulemani namak, bit lobon, kala noon, or pada loon. Wikipedia
Please note that this is an optional ingredient. The purpose of it is to give the dough a bit of an egg flavour given that this egg is traditionally made with eggs. A word of warning, once this salt is wet it will give an awful smell, I found it stuck to my nostrils for hours!!!
I would not recommend trying it, as when i did, the taste was in my mouth for about a day!
I have seen this type of salt added to scrambled tofu to give the egg flavour.

No Bread Maker - Many people have asked me about making the dough for this bread without a bread maker. I have not had much success in doing this, but then I am not very good a kneading at all. I have heard of people having great success in kneading bread with a stand mixer. I found this article which has some tips on converting a bread machine recipe to be done by hand or stand mixer.
Let me know if you try it and it works.

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UPDATE - 6th of October 2016
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Bread Improver - I have made two more batches of this challah since this recipe was published. I used the home made bread improver. I did not have any lecithin granules. I read in another recipe that the baker used psyllium husk to improve the bread. I used that instead. I blend the husk in a coffee grinder so that it is like a powder. All the ingredients suggested by the recipe are sifted with the flour prior to adding them to the bread maker.
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UPDATE - 1st of July 2018
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Unfortunately, it seems that the website that I keep linking for the bread improver recipe is down, and has been down for some weeks. I have been able to find an amended recipe in one of my other dough recipes, which I will post here. I have made a big batch of this bread improver and stored it in an air-tight container to use in all my bread or dough recipes.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Volume (Metric Cup/ 15ml Tablespoon)	Weight
Warm Soy Milk	1 Cup	250 gms
Aquafaba	6 tablespoons	95 gms
Oil	1/4 Cup	65 gms
Salt	1 teaspoon
Sugar	1/4 Cup	60 gms
Flour	3 3/4 Cups	575 gms
Yeast	3 teaspoons	15 gms
Bread Improver	1 Tablespoon	12 gms
Tumeric (Optional)	1/4 teaspoon
Kala Namak (Optional)	1/4 teaspoon

Method

1. Place the ingredients into the bread maker in the order listed above.
2. Set your bread maker to dough setting and wait until completed.
3. Take the dough out of your bread maker and place on a well floured surface.
4. Divide the dough into even pieces. You can divide the dough in as many pieces as you want to braid. 3, 4 5, 6. I decided to try 8 for this one, but the process is exactly the same as if you're doing 6.
5. Place the finished plait on your tray and put in a warm spot to rise for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven to 200 C (400 F).
7. Make your glaze and brush your bread all over.
8. Place in the oven and lower your oven to 190 C (374 F) and bake for 30 minutes. If you find that your bread is browning too quickly, lower your oven to 180C (350F).
9. Remove from the oven and set aside on a cake rack to cool down.

Glaze

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
1 Tablespoon Rice Bran Syrup
1 Tablespoon Sunflower Oil

Mix together until combined and use to brush on the bread.

I recorded the whole braiding process on video, but because I could not see what I was doing, when I played the video, my arm is covering the whole part of the braiding, so it can't be seen.


Here is a link to another YouTube video that has some really lovely braiding techniques.

Enjoy!!! Shana Tova!!!

Royals, royals, royals

Ever since I discovered the Vegan Meringue Facebook group (and subsequently became vegan), I have been meaning to make vegan Royals.

Finally got to it today. They are easy, but time consuming. There is no particular cooking skill required to make these. And they are delicious.

I will tackle some other bickie favourites in future.

Wagon Wheels, watch out, I'm coming for you!!!

Please note that this was an experimental recipe, so the amount of marshmallow I made was far too much for the number of cookies. I got 21 cookies out of this mix, however also keep in mind I had a five year old steal a piece of dough ;)


You can choose to make the same amount of marshmallow and double the cookie recipe and the amount of chocolate you melt.  Alternatively, you can make snowballs with the remainder of the marshmallow mix.

Enjoy and let me know how you go!

NOTE: The cookie recipe is a modified version of my Pasta Frola dough. The marshmallow is the same I used for the snowballs :)

Biscuit

Ingredients

180gms white spelt flour
6 gms baking powder
65gms nuttelex
50gms caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS aqua faba

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Line two cookie sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
4. Place Nuttelex in a bowl. 
5. Using a hand mixer to beat it until it is creamy. 
6. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, and keep beating. 
7. Once sugar is all incorporated, add one tablespoon of aqua faba, keep beating, then add the other tablespoon of aqua faba. Add vanilla, and beat until just incorporated.
8. Add the flour mix to the nuttelex mix and using a flat knife gently fold it in, until a dough is formed.
9. Gently knead it for a few seconds until it all comes together. You may need a bit more flour. Do not over knead.
10. Roll it out thinly (parchment paper helps to keep it from sticking to your bench), around 1/2 a cm, and cut out with a circle cookie cutter (I used a 4cm in diameter cutter).
11. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until slightly coloured.
12. Set aside to cool.

Mashmallow Filling

Ingredients

2/3 cup of aqua faba
1 cup of sugar
1-3 drops of pink food colouring (optional)
1/2 TBS strawberry flavouring (Queen)
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 pinch of cream of tartar

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 100C (212 F). 
2. Place aqua faba in your stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. Add cream of tartar and set to whisk on high until light and fluffy. Start adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated. Keep whisking.
3. Add flavourings, and mix well. Then add xanthan gum, and whisk for a couple of more minutes. The mixture will start to pull away from the sides. Add food coloring if using.
4. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then, place it in a piping bag with a large piping tube. I used a Loyal round tube No. 20. I bought it from eBAY and it was perfect for this.
5. Squeeze the bag over the cookie, pressing the tip initially into the cookie then lifting up, until you get the size you want, then twist the bag around, pulling up, until you are able to detach the tip from the marshmallow. Repeat until all the cookies are covered.
6. Place them in the oven for 45 minutes, or until they feel dry to the touch, they should not stick to your fingers. You do not want them to be crunchy or to have any color. If they start to color then your oven is too hot. Leave the door ajar and leave them until the oven is completely cool. This is the step I didn't follow, and the marshmallow was too soft. Doing this with the snowballs, meant perfect texture snowballs.

Coating

Ingredients

400gms vegan chocolate (I used Callebaut - please note that not all Callebaut chocolate is vegan friendly)

Method

1. Using a double boiler, melt your chocolate. They are tricky to dip, if you are an expert at dipping things in chocolate, you will have no trouble. I tried a few different methods. 
2. Method 1 - coat the whole cookie, turning them around in the chocolate, and then trying to drip any excess. Try to over up the finger marks once you put them on the baking paper lined cookie tray. 
3. Method 2, coat the bottom of a few cookies, then let them dry, and then do the tops. 
4. Method 3, coat the tops, and do the bottoms after the top is dry. 

I think Methods 1 & 2 are just as successful. Not too keen on 3.

Enjoy, let me know if you have any feedback.

Vegan Kit Kat fingers.......

I have been intending on making Kit Kats for a long time. I bought the wafers months ago, and just never got around to doing it.

Yesterday I finally decided to do a bit of research as to what the filling in Kit Kats actually is.
Lo and behold, the filling is more Kit Kats.

Apparently Kit Kats that don't make it, as in they are not perfect, get ground up and used in the filling. So I started with the clue, that the filling has to have wafers in it.

I used these wafers (Altimate Natural Ice Cream Wafers). Please note that these are the natural and not the extra thick. The extra thick will not be as nice when you assemble the Kit Kat finger as they are too hard.
This recipe makes 8 Vegan Kit Kat fingers.

Filling Ingredients

12 wafers
50gms of icing mixture
50gms nuttelex
50gms vegan chocolate melted(I used Callebaut)

For the Assembly

16 wafers
200gms of melted callebaut chocolate

Method

1. Place your chocolate in a double boiler to melt. Keep it melted until you're ready to dip the wafers.
2. To make the filling, put the wafers in the bowl of a small food processor, or the processor that comes with a stick blender. Process until they turn to a powder.
3. Add sugar, nuttelex and chocolate and process until all combined and a uniform paste is formed.
4. Each wafer has a large pattern on one side and a small pattern on the other. Spread the filling on the large pattern. Do two at a time and then stick them together. Gently press them so that any excess filling comes out of the side. Gently scrap off the excess with a butter knife.
5. Once the 16 wafers are done,  you will have 8 sandwiched wafers. 
6. Spread filling on the top of 4 of the sandwiched wafers, and cover with the remaining ones. You will be left with 4 sandwiched wafers, each having 4 layers.
7. Cut each of these in half lengthwise.
8. Dip half the fingers in chocolate, and place on a tray to set. You can put them in the freezer to speed up the process.
9. Once that side is set, you can grab the finger and dip the other end.
10. Allow to set and voila, you're done

Snowballs

Yesterday after I got home from work I decided to make two dinners. One for that day, and one for tonight.

So I made a stew with dumplings for last night's dinner, and an eggplant, chickpea and sweet potato curry for tonight.

That left me with the juice from one can of chickpeas. Of course, it could not be thrown out. I had to do some experimenting. Although I have used aquafaba for so many things in the past, I have only made meringues once. I have not tried marshmallow, or macarons.

I decided to just start with the meringue, not sure at the time what I was going to make. I then decided to add some xanthan gum to see what would happen, and then one thing lead to another, and voila!!! Vegan snowballs :)

I had been thinking about making snowballs for a long time, but these were really not planned.

Please note that I have never worked with xantham gum before, so I have no idea if they really need baking or they would set on their own. To err on the side of caution, I would make them again, exactly the same way :)

I must say, I never imagined that they'd be so easy. It takes long because of the waiting for them to cool, but if you know how to work with xanthan you may find that you don't need to do all the waiting or baking. Let me know please :)

Ingredients

2/3 cup aqua faba ( I used the juice from one can of Macro Organic Chickpeas from Woolworths)
1 cup caster sugar
1 pinch of cream of tartar
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1-2 tbs strawberry flavouring (I used Queens, but any flavour you want to use is fine, just as long as there is no oil in it)

1 block of vegan chocolate (I used Whittakers Dark Ghana, however found it a bit too bitter, I would prefer the Coles Dark Chocolate or another brand)

2-3 TBS of desiccated coconut

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 100C (212 F).
2. Prepare two cookie trays by lining them with non stick paper.
3. Place aquafaba in your stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. Add cream of tartar and set to whisk on high until light and fluffy. Start adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated. Keep whisking.
4. Add flavourings, and mix well. Then add xanthan gum, and whisk for a couple of more minutes. The mixture will start to pull away from the sides.
5. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then, place it in a piping bag with a large piping tube. Preferably round, however I only had a star tip (Loyal No 17) so that is what I used.
6. Squeeze the bag, until you get the size you want, then twist the bag around, pulling up, until you are able to detach the tip from the marshmallow. Repeat until all the mix is used up. You do not need to space them more than two or so cms as they do not expand.
7. Place them in the oven for 30 minutes, or until they feel dry to the touch, they should not stick to your fingers. You do not want them to be crunchy or to have any color. If they start to color then your oven is too hot. Leave the door ajar and leave them until the oven is completely cool. I left mine overnight.
8. Using a double boiler, melt your chocolate. One block is able to cover most of the marshmallow. I used a plastic glove to grab the marshmallow and dip it in the chocolate, making sure all sides were covered, then placed on a piece of non stick baking paper. Once you have one tray done, sprinkle lightly with coconut.

Try not to eat them all at once. They're really good!!!!!

Almond & Spelt Cookies

A few months ago, I made my first batch of almond milk. It was a revelation, after years of hating the stuff, I realised, that I only hate the store bought almond milk. The homemade version, is absolutely heaven!!!

However, after making almond milk, you are left with an almond sludge. Some people use it as almond meal. I haven't made anything with almond meal for a long time, so the stuff just goes into the freezer waiting for me to get inspired to make something, anything with it.

Last weekend, I made two batches of almond milk. It was delicious. Also, it's all gone. I had quite a bit of almond sludge left over. It stared at me sadly from a bowl ont he counter, knowing that soon it would join it's brethren in the depths of my freezer, soon to be forgotten.

I couldn't take it, and in about half an hour or so, I had a batch of almond cookies made up.

Warning, these are a little bit too sweet. I will give you the recipe as I made them, however, the next time I make them, I will reduce the sugar but at least 50gms.

Nevertheless, they are awesome with a cup of chilled almond milk. These are soft cookies.

Nom noms, enjoy!!!

Ingredients

285 gms of almond sludge (leftover meal from making almond milk)
150 gms coconut nuttlex
200 gms raw organic sugar
100 gms spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Break up the almond sludge, until it's crumbly.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together.
3. Cream sugar and nuttlex until light and fluffy.
4. Add almond and flour mix to the nuttlex mix. Fold in gently, to form a dough. You want to keep as much of the air beaten in as possible.
5. When thoroughly  mixed, either place the mix into a piping bag with a large star tip (Loyal No 17 has approximately 2.5cm wide star) and pipe stars or roll into 2.5 cms balls and slightly flatten.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, do not allow to brown too much.
7. Cool on a rack and store in an air tight container.

Polenta con tuco - Polenta bolognese

I belong to a "Vegan Foodies" group on Facebook. Each week a theme is set,and members are invited to post foods within that theme. It is just a bit of fun, and completely optional.

This week's theme is Mushrooms. Probably the easiest theme we've had since I've been a member, given that I put mushrooms in so many things :)

So here is my Polenta Bolognese. This is how we eat it in Uruguay, well except that this is my vegan version.

My whole family adores this!
The sauce below can be used for polenta or with pasta. I make a big batch and freeze leftovers.

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped
10 button mushrooms chopped finely (mine were the size of a 50c piece)
1 red capsicum (pureed or chopped)
1 small zucchini, finely chopped or grated
1 and 2/3 cup of TVP
1 large garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons of oil
2 cups of tomato puree or passata
3 cups of water
1 TBS mixed Italian herbs (thyme & oregano are great with this, however I use this this. )
Salt to taste
2 TBS chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan, and add onion, sauté until translucent.
2. Add mushrooms and stir for two minutes.
3. Add garlic, zucchini, capsicum and cook for two minutes.
4. Add TVP, passata, water and herbs. Add salt to taste.
5. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
6. Serve on top of polenta.
7. Garnish with chopped parsley.

NOTE: Cook the polenta as per packet instructions, if the polenta is too firmed when cooked, add a little water, you want it to spread out on the plate when served.

Smokey Breakfast Beans

I made a potato with breakfast beans and lime cashew cream this morning. The whole combination was delicious, but the beans were the stand out. I am sharing the recipe for the beans as they would be absolutely delectable on toast as well, or in a wrap, or on nachos.

This recipe makes enough for four people, and some leftovers. We will be having the remainder for brekkie tomorrow with toast :)

Smokey Breakfast Beans

Ingredients

1 425gm can of cannellini beans

1 425gm can of red kidney beans 

1 onion finely chopped

1 TBS olive oil

1 cup of tomato puree

2 tsp mixed herbs

2 TBS coconut sugar

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Salt to taste

Method 

1. Heat oil in a pot, add onions and sauttee until tender and see through.
2. Add beans, PLEASE DO NOT DRAIN THE BEANS. You add the whole can, liquid and all.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer on low until thickened (about 30 minutes).
4. Serve on toast, or a roast/steamed potato. Top with avocado and cashew cream.

Lime Cashew Cream

Ingredients

2/3 cup of raw cashews

1/3 cup of water

Pinch of salt

Juice from half a lime

Method

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Adjust amount of lime/salt to make it more savory or tangy.