I have grown to love making homemade bread.I once was terrified of making breads, and wold sit there in fear waiting for the dough to rise, only to wait extra long then predicted, only to find the bread to be too heavy, and just not very good.
Maybe you have had the same issues, and maybe making bread has slowly driven you mad.But, maybe, just maybe, you too have finally come around to having a marginally good idea of what you are doing, and maybe you wish to go past just making simple whole wheat loaves, Italian, and French breads.
Or, maybe you have never made any bread in your life, found this recipe, and make it perfect the first time.Well, I hate you , and desire that you leave my blog, right now.Jerks.
No, well maybe, no, I do not mean that.Okay, maybe I might.
I should note, before moving on, that I tried a few recipes, and found this one to be the best to work with when trying to make a vegan version.Give credit where credit is due is my motto, or something like that.
Ingredients.
- 1 and 1/2 half a cup of soy milk.
- 1 cup of warm water, does not have to be super hot.
- 2 packages of yeast.
- 2 tablespoons of egg replacer.
- 1/2 cup of sugar.
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
- 1/2 cup of Earth Balance(melted).
- 1 and 1/4th cups of raisins.
- 7-8 cups of flour.
- A few tablespoons of soy milk
- 3/4th cup of sugar.
- 3 tablespoons of cinnamon.
- A few tablespoons of melted butter.
Lets get shakin’ , okay? Okay.
In a large bowl, and it should be large, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.Let that sit and ponder it’s existence for about 5 minutes, then add your butter,milk,sugar,egg replacer, salt, raisins, and mix that well.
Now, add the flour, not all at once, but slowly work it in, till you have a nice dough that is coming unstuck from the sides of the bowl.Work it for a few minutes on a lightly floured surface., kneading with your hands and pressing down with palms.
Wash out your bowl, or find another one, and place the dough in it, cover with a warm, damp cloth, and let it double in size.This could be in an hour, it could be in two hours.Go read a book, or something.
Has it doubled in size? okay, place again on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out, into a large rectangle like shape, so that the dough is only about half an inch in thickness.
Brush the edges and surface with the few tablespoons of soy milk, mix the 3/4th cup of sugar with the three tablespoons of cinnamon and cover the now milked surface with it.Carefully, as to cover it all, and evenly.
Now, and do not be sacred, roll the dough, the long way, until you have rolled the dough up, thus making the cinnamon swirls in the dough,This should only be about 3 to 4 inches in thickness.I then cut mine into a few smaller rolls, you should, too.
Find a baking pan, and grease it, or cover lightly in starch, and place the rolled dough loaves on the pan.Let it rise again for about an hour, and then bake them at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.
You will know when they are read when they sound a bit hollow when you knock on them.
As they cool, brush the melted butter on the tops of the loaves.
There you have it; You just made some pretty tasty cinnamon raisin bread, you should be proud, and possibly a few pounds heavier in the process.My work is done.
I do not make New Year’s Resolutions, ever.For one, I fail enough at things, and do not need to add one more failure to the list, every single year.Two, what am I going to do? Quit something? I like having an occasional drink, and I do not smoke crack, so there really is nothing for me to quit.Or, should I say there is nothing that I would want to quit?I do not know.
But, I do, on occasion make goals.Sometimes I keep them , sometimes I do not.I recently decided I would like to cut down on processed snacks.I have already cut out a huge portion of processed foods over the years, but I still like a snack, or two, or three.So, that is a goal, and so that means making more snacks.Today, I made crackers.Go, me.
(This also counts towards my week of using a flour everyday for a week.)
Ingredients.
- 1/2 cup of walnuts.
- 3/4th cup of all purpose flour.
- 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour.
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.
- Teaspoon of salt.
- Teaspoon of baking powder.
- Teaspoon of cinnamon.
- Half a teaspoon of nutmeg.
- 1/4th cup of Earth Balance.
- 1/2 cup applesauce.
Ground your walnuts! If you have a mortar and pestle, and wondered if you would ever use it, this is that time!
Now, in a large bowl, mix the flours, salt, baking power,ground walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon,nutmeg, basically all the dry ingredients.I probably should have just said that.But no, I went and wasted some time, and space.Oh, well.
Now, mix in the butter, using a fork to mix it in.The flour should begin to look clumpy.Making a well in the center,space, pour n the apple sauce, and then mix it , well.Yeah, I just used well twice, and used two different meanings.I am like that.Get used to it.
form a ball, and then two ball.On a floured surface, roll out the dough.You want it quite thin.Remember, these are crackers.Cut out any shape you desire; Triangles, squares, rectangles, hearts, I do not care.You could even use a small cookie cutter, if you want.Again, I do not care.Place them on a no stick sprayed baking pan.Poke holes in each cracker, with a toothpick, or a fork.
Bake in your oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, or so.You will know when they are done.Do not burn them, as that will make you, and maybe me, sad.Cool them on a rack, and much away.You know you want to.
Sometimes, I like to ignore what season it is.This goes for mainly Winter, and summer.For one, I am a master of layers; Sweaters, with shirts.Things like that.I find wearing just t-shirts offensive, and slobby.So, that means in warmer weather, I may forget that I am slowly overheating and will still wear said layers.
You calling me crazy? Well, you could have a point, maybe.You may also be wondering what is my point? Well, other then my need to ramble, I do have a fucking point.I do.That point is this; I should have maybe made this recipe in the in the time of Apple Pies.Autumn.But, I did not.Oh, well.I could say better late then never, or some other cliche.But, maybe, just maybe, this was the inner me just doing what I like to do; Ignoring what season it truly is.
Or not, whatever, just enjoy the recipe, ingrate.
Ingredients.
- Apples, peeled and chopped, smaller then you would for regular apple pie.
- 3 Tbsp of lemon juice.
- 3 Tbsp of cinnamon.
- 1 Cup of sugar.
- 1 Tbsp of nutmeg.
- 3 Tbsp of whole wheat flour.
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- 2 cups and another half a cup of flour.
- 3/4th cup of vegetable shortening.
- Teaspoon of Salt.
- Ice water.
Well, first you should make the crust, as you will have to cool it in the fridge for a bit of time.Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.Add the shortening in small amounts, mixing in with a fork.You want the flour to become clumpy.This is fairly easy to do, so if you fail at this, perhaps you should stick to making salads.
Now, taking a tablespoon, add three tablespoons of the ice water, and mix that in,then another three, then add more tablespoons , one at a time, till its more of a dough, but do not too much,perhaps 2 tablespoons after the first 3.Clump the dough together, it should not be that consistent.Talk about run on sentences, you see that last one? Fuck.
Anyways, clump the dough up and rap in plastic, and sit it in the fridge for an hour, at least.This should give you a somewhat flaky pie crust.
Did you peel those apples? Chop them up? Well, what are you fucking waiting for? do it! Okay, I got bossy there.Sorry.Please, do those things.That’s better.
Now, mix the lemon juice,brown sugar, nutmeg,flour, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Drizzle and toss this with your chopped apples.Now, grab your pie crust dough out of the fridge, and on a floured flat surface, roll it out.I feel as though I should not have to say flat surface, as what kind of maniac would be rolling out dough on some curved surface? But, I digress.Again, as always.
So, cut out a square shape, in the rolled out dough.I would say about 5 inches by 5 inches, but I did not measure.
Place a portion of your filling in the middle, as you can see in my ever so helpful photos.
Now you want to roll them up, carefully.You do not want to be poke any holes in the crust!Seal them up using your fingers, fork, and some water.This will take some trial and effort, or it did for me.They may not look the prettiest, but whatever.Seal up the edges around the edges too, or it will all drip out while cooking.Place them as you make them on a sprayed baking pan.
I think I made 5, but you could maybe squeeze out 6.When you are done sealing each one, brush it with soy milk, and sprinkle with sugar.I should have maybe said that before the whole pan thing, but whatever.Slice a few slices in each, so air can escape.Filling juices may bubble and escape but that is also okay.
You should have preheated your oven , too.I should have added that.Well, I am now.So, set your oven to 425 degrees.Cook them on one side for 20 minutes, and then turn them over and cook another 20 minutes.
I served mine with a scoop or two of ice cream.You know, for fun.You can just pick them up and eat with your hand , or be civilized and use a fork and knife.Your call!
The photo would have been better, if only I had not picked out a piece of apple filling to eat, alas! Shame about the filling leaking out, but whatever, this is not a beauty contest!Or, maybe it is.Whatever.