BoozDay Tuesday I

It's Booze-day Tuesday!

Day two of my vegan mofo means a day full of spirits, bubbles, vino, booze! Today I'm exploring food made with alcohol, particularly beer. Surprisingly, I've never made or tasted beer bread. After a quick perusal of the interwebz, I realized just how easy beer bread would be. Frankly, I'm dumbfounded as to why I haven't made beer bread before, considering how much I love beer and bread. The result was well worth the five minutes it took to throw together, and an hour in the oven is hardly a long time when you're busy playing video games with your boyfriend (you remember the breakfast wizard, right?)

 

I chose something I had on hand, a Southampton Keller Pils. I thought a pilsner would be good for my first beer bread, as it is generally a lighter beer and would result in a more basic flavored bread. I definitely plan to experiment with darker beers, like a stout, and even some flavored beers - I can't stop eyeing the pumpkin ales rolling into the liquor shop around the corner!

Above is the dough, which came together like so:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Mix your dry ingredients and then add a 12 oz beer of your choice. Mix until combined and add to a greased loaf pan. Drizzle the top of your dough with 1/4 cup melted vegan butter (I used earth balance) or olive oil and bake for one hour in a 375 degree oven. Voila!

And it was good! It was slightly sweet, very soft, and had a very crunchy top. I chose a really basic recipe, but I think this bread could be vamped up a number of ways - dill & cheddar, pumpkin spice (with that pumpkin ale I mentioned earlier), garlic, etc. 

I paired my (huge) chunk of beer bread with a convenient boxed soap. I've never tried this soup before, but I enjoyed it. It was a little thin, so I added some boiled potatoes and carrots, and topped it with basil and cashew pieces. Not pictured is the half-empty bottle of wine - it's wouldn't be booze day without one.

So readers, do you have any suggestions for incorporating alcohol into food? What are some of your favorite dishes in which your pour on the booze?

Vegan MoFo - Day 31



Day 31 - Kaisers!

Oh, hi there! This past weekend I explored one my favorite pastimes, and learned a new recipe! Baking bread is such a calming and rewarding activity, but the summer heat here in Louisiana is quite a deterrent. Now that the temperature is dropping, let the dough start rising and preheat that oven! Making your own bread isn't as difficult as anyone will try and make you believe. Infact, some recipes damn-near make themselves. Take one of my favorite bread baking cookbooks, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day; sure they take some shortcuts, but they are also redefining traditonal methods so that homemade bread can be available to households of all types and time constraints! Baking your own bread is also much cheaper than buying presliced bags at your grocery store (not to mention, far less ingredients to mull over!). For $10 you could have (fresh, warm, soft or crunchy) all kinds of loaves for months!

Seriously, kids; start baking your own bread. You'll instantly understand what all the hype is over.

Most recently and for Veganmofo, I wanted to make something I've never attempted before. Kaiser rolls just happened to fit that bill! Naturally, I seek Vegan Dad's advice and almost all things bread - he did bake his way through the Bread Baker's Apprentice, you know! He had a great video tutorial on Kaiser rolls, including the infamous pate fermentee, a pre-fermented dough used in artistanal bread baking! There wasn't anything challenging about this recipe, aside from testing my patience with all that waiting. I ended up with 12 enormous rolls, perfect for sandwiches, burgers, and soup dipping.

I dressed my Kaiser roll with creamy chicken-style seitan salad, spinach, cucumber, stoneground mustard and hot sauce!