Carb-Lovers, Unite!

I can’t fathom a world without bread. The foundation of many meals, this most basic staple is something that can elevate a ho-hum meal into something really special. I love everything about it- The taste, the smell, the texture, the way it must be kneaded and the way it rises by it’s own accord. It may surprise you since I’m so fond of creating desserts, but if I could only specialize in one baked good for the rest of time, I would choose to make bread.

Naturally, when I heard about the third World Bread Day, I was chomping at the bit to start a fresh loaf rising. Easy as it is to create, it always seems to be much more difficult to simply decide what kind to make! Pressed for time as it was, I settled on the first recipe that appealed, which happened to be Dakota Seed Bread. Why “Dakota”? I have no idea, but the hearty mixture of wholesome grains, wheat germ, and seeds sounded like the perfect bread to build a satisfying meal around.

But you know me; I can’t leave well enough alone, and my bread ended up with almost nothing in common with the original recipe. Substituting forbidden rice instead of wild, pepitas instead of sunflower seeds, and white whole wheat flour for almost all of the flour, not to mention omitting the dry milk altogether, it was an entirely different animal than the writers of Bon Appétit had intended. I’ve gotta tell you though, it was incredible.

Sure, it’s hard to go wrong with fresh, homemade bread in general, but this stuff was irresistible. Toothsome from all the add-ins, soft and tender crumb, with a strong but not brittle crust wrapped around it all, it definitely ranks near the top of my favorite breads. While I had planned on saving it to toast for breakfasts to come… I must sheepishly admit that I ate nearly the whole thing still hot from the oven, right then and there.

The black rice is more of a focal point in my loaf, coloring the interior an unexpected purplish hue, so I decided to name my version accordingly.

Yield: Makes 1 Loaf; 8 Servings

Forbidden Seed Bread

Name: Forbidden Seed Bread
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 3 h 55 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/4 Cup Uncooked Black Rice; 1 1/4 Cups Warm Water, Divided; 1 Tablespoon Light Agave Nectar; 1 1/2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast; 2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour; 1/4 Cup Pepitas, Toasted; 1/4 Cup Wheat Germ, Toasted; 3/4 Teaspoon Salt; 3/4 Cup Bread Flour

Toothsome from chewy whole grains and seeds mixed into a soft and tender crumb, with a strong but not brittle crust wrapped around it all, this might just be your new favorite loaf.

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 Cup Uncooked Black Rice
1 1/4 Cups Warm Water, Divided
1 Tablespoon Light Agave Nectar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Pepitas, Toasted
1/4 Cup Wheat Germ, Toasted
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Bread Flour

Instructions

In a medium pot, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and add in the black rice. Cover, reduce heat all the way down to the lowest setting, and cook for 25 – 30 minutes until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
Mix together the warm water and agave, and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let sit until the yeast has reawakened and become frothy, and then add in the cooked rice, white whole wheat flour, pepitas, wheat germ, and salt in large bowl. Stir well to combine, and once there are no more dry patches, slowly add in the bread flour at little bit at a time. It will still be very sticky, but don’t worry about it; it’s a rather wet dough which makes it a moist loaf.
Give it 15 minutes to rest before using a dough hook attachment to knead it in your mixer for 10 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and drop the dough into it. Toss it to coat, cover with plastic, and stash it in the fridge overnight for better flavor, or leave it out in a warm place for 1 hour if you want your bread the same day.
When you’re ready to bake the bread, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease an 8 x 4 loaf pan.
Grab your dough, and turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Knead it briefly by hand, adding in more flour if necessary, and then press it out into a rough rectangle, keeping it the width of the loaf pan. Roll the rectangle up and drop it into the pan, seam-side down. Cover loosely with plastic for about 30 – 45 minutes, until it has risen to about the top of the pan. It’s a fairly short loaf in the end, so it won’t reach any great heights.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until evenly browned all over and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Give it 10 minutes before de-panning, and let cool on a wire rack. Try your hardest not to wolf it all down immediately!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 198Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 202mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 4gSugar: 2gProtein: 8g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.

October 16, 2008September 26, 2022

Hannah (BitterSweet)39 Comments

Tastes of Nostalgia

For most of the Western world, thinking about Japanese delicacies would evoke images of sushi, fugu, and… Bread? No, scratch that last one off the list, you must be thinking. Even I have to pause for a moment and consider that statement, but for me, this one might as well top the list.

It was on my second trip to Japan when I was a freshman in high school, joining in on the annual school trip, that I really got to explore the city of Tokyo. After a week of home-stay and at times when we didn’t have tours scheduled, friends would bound about in clusters of four or five, free from adult supervision and free to do as we pleased (within reason, of course.)

[Bet you can’t guess which one’s me?]

A daily allowance of 1,500 yen (a little less than $15) was provided for food and we had to eat on the cheap. The first and last stop of the day would always be at one of the numerous konbini in the area, and the aisles of cheap snack foods were always the highlight of the expeditions. Ramen and pocky were bought in such vast quantities, it’s a miracle that no one returned home with indigestion. One day, however, I was lingering around the miniature pastries all wrapped up so nicely in transparent plastic when I saw my friend scooping up a loaf of bread and adding it to her basket.

What was she wasting her money on that for? I wondered with just a tinge of fear. No way was I going to share my own precious junk food when she got hungry that night. It was only later when she unwrapped that golden brown parcel and offered one of those thick slices that I understood. Tender, dense and yet light, the perfectly rectangular bread was unlike anything I had seen or tasted in the US. Often sweetened with honey and enriched with eggs and butter, it was one of my last times eating animal products, and how delicious it was still haunts me today. Later on I learned the name of my long lost love: pain de mie, otherwise known as a pullman loaf.

For years the thought to veganize it never crossed my mind, as I quickly discovered that it required special pans, and quite frankly, a $40 loaf pan just sounds like an absurd waste of money, especially considering how much I’ve already spent on my exhaustive collection of bake ware. That’s not to say I wasn’t tempted, or really gave up. It was only a matter of time before the solution hit me, and that huge selection of pans already in my kitchen proved to be more multipurpose than perhaps even the manufacturers intended.

Emerging from the oven as an almost perfect square with straight sides and sharp corners, the struggle to make it happen immediately seemed insignificant. All it really took was two bricks, two sheet pans, and one standard loaf pan; standard equipment that most any baker should have on hand. The procedure might be a bit unorthodox, sure, but you wouldn’t care either if you had tasted this soft, golden-hued loaf.

A tight, orderly crumb surrounded on all sides by a delicate but chewy crust, just one slice sent me back to that time in Japan. While it isn’t exactly the same, this bread is such a delicious treat in it’s own right, any dissimilarities or flaws are easy to overlook. Although I was so smitten that I couldn’t take the time to do more than just toast slices and slather them with a buttery spread, I can only imagine what a delight they would be in bread pudding, or fried up as french toast. Anyone want to be so adventurous as to try it out and let me know? In that case, here’s the recipe!

Yield: Makes 1 Loaf; 8 - 10 Slices

Pan De Mie

Tender, dense and yet light, this perfectly rectangular bread is a unique Japanese specialty. While traditionally made with lots of eggs and dairy, this vegan version makes an equally indulgent facsimile.

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 Cup Plain Non-Dairy Milk
3 Tablespoons Agave Nectar
2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
3 – 4 Cups Bread Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Vegan Butter, Melted

Instructions

In a small saucepan, combine the non-dairy milk and agave, and heat gently over medium. Easy does it here, because you don’t want the temperature to be any hotter than 110; exceed that and the yeast will be dead instantly. Once the agave is dissolved into the mixture and it’s around 100 degrees, turn off the heat and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit and become frothy, about 5 minutes.
Pour the liquids into your stand mixer with the dough hook installed, and add in 3 cups of the flour, plus all the salt and melted vegan butter. Start it off slow just to combine, and let it work for a good couple of minutes to come together. If the dough seems excessively wet, go ahead and add more flour in, 1/3 cup at a time, until it mostly pulls off the sides of the bowl and feels tacky but not sticky.
Let the dough hook knead it for about 10 minutes before scraping it out, kneading it briefly by hand, and shaping it into a smooth, elastic ball. Drop the ball of dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for about two hours in a warm place.
The dough should more than double in volume, at which point you’re ready to punch it down and shape it. Lightly flour a clean surface and pour the dough out onto it. Either use your hands or a rolling pin to press it out into a square of about 8 – 8 1/2 inches on all sides. Roll it up as if you were making cinnamon buns and pinch the finishing edge closed.
Lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan, and drop the rolled dough into it, seam side down. Cover and let rise again, for about an hour, or until the loaf is almost peeking out above the rim of the pan.
In the mean time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and grab two bricks. Wash them off thoroughly if they have been outside, and then wrap them in aluminum foil. When the dough is ready, take one sheet pan, grease it thoroughly, and place it on top of the loaf. Scoot a second sheet pan underneath the loaf pan so that it’s easier to maneuver. Now, take your wrapped bricks and situate them on the top sheet pan so that they’re solidly balanced and the sheet is completely sealing the top of the loaf pan beneath.
Warning: This will be heavy! You might want someone to help if you have miserable upper body strength like me. Carefully scoop up this whole assembly and move it into the oven.
Let it bake for approximately 45 minutes. When you remove your bread, be even more cautious because those bricks are burning hot, and they stay hot for hours. Uncover the loaf, and if it seems a bit pale for you, return it to the oven for just 5 or 10 minutes longer. Let it cool on a wire rack completely before you even think about slicing it, no matter how incredible it smells. Trust me, your patience will be rewarded!

Simple Sprouts

Zooming about the kitchen at a manic pace on even a good day, it’s difficult enough to muster the patience for bread to rise, or dough to sit overnight at times. With the instant gratification of simple cookies and rolls tugging at the corners of my pleasure-seeking mind, it’s hard to justify taking more than a day or two to make one single item. It doesn’t help that counter space is at a premium as its teeming with baked goods of all sizes and colors; there’s barely even space to house more time-consuming recipes.

Thus, sprouting seemed an impossible venture to attempt. Despite all of the wonderful reports on how delicious and healthy sprouted grains and beans are, I never took the initiative to go ahead and try it out for myself. Thank goodness I was finally given a reason to step out of my normal pattern and do just that for this month’s Bread Baking Day, as chosen by Zorra, which involves baking with sprouts.

Limited knowledge and supplies both dictated my decision to sprout quinoa, which I’ve heard is faster to sprout than most options. Still figuring that I would have a full 2 or 3 days to wait until the actual bread baking could begin, I nearly gasped in shock when only 24 hours after beginning when I lifted the cheesecloth covering my jar of previously raw grains and discovered this:

Look at those beautiful tails! How they had grown so quickly, I can only attribute to the incredibly humid weather we’ve been experiencing lately. While I hate this wet, clammy warmth, I suppose it’s good for something after all! Tossing in a good handful of my sprouted quinoa and continuing a wholesome theme by using all whole wheat flour and no refined sugars, the dough came together with ease. Before I knew it, I had a beautiful loaf rising and browning in the oven, dispersing its yeasty aroma throughout the kitchen. Really, there are few things that smell as good as freshly baked bread.

Besides just being a lovely, healthy loaf, it has incredible flavor, drawing upon Mediterranean influence; Sun-dried tomato paste is mixed in, as well as a touch of balsamic vinegar for a slightly tangy bite, toasted pine nuts provide a toothsome crunch, and fresh herbs straight from the garden round the whole thing out. A nice change of pace from the usual onslaught of sugar, this could very well take a place of honor as one of my favorite savory recipes.

Yield: Makes 1 Loaf; 10 - 12 Servings

Mediterranean Sprouted Quinoa Bread

Besides being packed full of healthy, high-protein sprouted quinoa, this loaf has incredible flavor, drawing upon Mediterranean influence. Sun-dried tomato paste and balsamic vinegar add a tangy bite, toasted pine nuts provide a toothsome crunch, and fresh herbs straight from the garden round the whole thing out.

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours 3 seconds

Total Time 3 hours 3 seconds

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Sun-Dried Tomato Paste
1 Cup Warm Water
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
2 Teaspoons Agave
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
3 1/2 - 4 Cups Whole Wheat flour
1/3 Cup Toasted Pine Nuts
Handful Fresh Parsley and Basil, Finely Chopped
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Sprouted Quinoa
1 Tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten

Instructions

First, stir the tomato paste into your water so that it dissolves, and then add in the agave and yeast. Let that sit for about 5 minutes or so until the yeast reawakens and it becomes frothy.
Toss this mixture into your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, and stir in the oil and vinegar. Add in about 2 cups of the flour, as well as all of the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly to combine, and then add in enough of the remaining flour to create a cohesive dough that is neither very sticky nor dry.
If using a stand mixer, let it kneed on a slow speed with a dough hook for 5 – 10 minutes, or knead by hand for 10 – 15 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Lightly grease a large bowl and let the dough rest there, covered, until doubled in volume.
Press down the risen dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Kneed is very lightly to flatten it out into a rectangle approximately the length of your loaf pan, but much wider. Roll it up tightly and lay the log into greased medium loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled again.
Bake it in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.

Notes

If you have a lot of pine nuts on top of your loaf, you might want to tent it with aluminum foil after the first 15 or 20 minutes so that they don’t burn.
Kalamata olives or finely chopped artichoke hearts could make a lovely addition to this loaf as well!

Luck of the Eater

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, an excitement fills the air. People are preparing their most impressive green outfits, planning meals of “traditional” corned beef and cabbage (bleh), and most importantly, stocking up on the libations. You don’t need much of an excuse to drink around here, but this holiday seems like the perfect reason to get totally smashed, so that seems to be the point of the whole day by the time one reaches college.

Of course, I don’t drink and am not even the least bit Irish, so this holiday has typically fallen through the cracks for me. To be perfectly honest, I still don’t know what it’s all about or how one is supposed to celebrate without imbibing great quantities of alcohol, but I’ve decided that I want to pay my respects to the celebration in the only way I know how: By baking!

Setting aside the sugar after having overdosed a bit on marshmallows, it was high time to get something green back into my body. And what could be more appropriate for St. Patrick’s day than green clovers, after all? Smuggling a handful of spinach into the young dough, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not about to fulfill anyone’s daily requirement, but it did add some lovely flavor and just a hint of natural coloring.

Even if this holiday doesn’t hold much significance for me, just pulling those lovely golden buns out of the oven was cause for celebration. Finally, a simple sort of bread that is cooperative, easy, and incredibly tasty, appropriate for more than just special occasions, too. Even my mom was taken aback by how buttery they were!

For all those who are yeast phobic, give this one a try. You might just find that you luck will improve. It’s no coincidence that they embody such a fortuitous symbol!

Yield: Makes 12 Rolls

Four-Leaf Clover Rolls

Infused with chopped spinach for a subtle green color, these four-leaf clover rolls will improve your luck for working with yeast, since it's a truly foolproof recipe.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 Cup Plain Non-Dairy Milk
1 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 (1/4 Ounce) Package Dry Active Yeast
5 Tablespoons Vegan Butter, Divided
1 Tablespoon Flax Seeds
2 Tablespoons Water
2 Teaspoons Salt
1/2 Cup Frozen Chopped Spinach, Thawed
4 Cups All-Purpose Flour

Instructions

Briefly heat the milk just until it’s lukewarm; around 90 degrees or so. Add in the sugar and yeast and let it sit for about 15 minutes to become frothy and active.
When ready, melt the 1/4 cup of vegan butter and add it to the liquid mix. Grind up the flax seeds using a spice or coffee grinder, and then process them for just a minute with the water. Incorporate this into the other liquids as well, along with the salt and thawed spinach (make sure you squeeze as much water out as possible!)
Now, transfer this mix into your mixer and begin gradually adding flour in a couple of installments. You may need more or less than called for, so just keep an eye on it and allow it to fully combine everything before changing the amounts. Once it has more or less come together, switch in your dough hook, and allow it to process for about 10 minutes, until it’s a smooth elastic ball. You can also knead it by hand, but be aware that it will take longer to reach the proper texture.
Lightly grease a large bowl and drop the ball of dough in, covering lightly, and allow it to sit in a warm place for about an hour and a half, until doubled in size. After it’s nicely risen, lightly grease a muffin tin in which to house the rolls. Gently punch the dough down, and cut it into four pieces. Each of those pieces should be cut into 12 more pieces, and then you’ll want to roll each of those pieces between
your hands to form nice smooth little balls. Fit four balls into each muffin indentation. Cover the whole tray with a clean towel, and let it sit to rise again for one and a half hours.
As the rolls near the end of their final proofing, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and melt the single tablespoon of butter. Lightly brush the tops of each roll with the margarine just before popping them into the oven. Bake for about 16 – 20 minutes, until golden brown. Let them sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes after leaving the oven, and then finish cooling them on a wire rack.

Rolling in Dough

Hungry for some instant gratitude that goes by the name of delivery pizza? It seems to be a food that few stop craving even as the years of childhood are left in the dust, something that 90% of people at a party could easily agree on, and a forbidden temptation for many vegans. Not satisfied to simply report that Sheese did not perform as I had hoped on top of a pita pizza, I racked my brain to figure out a way around such a huge obstacle. In a moment of inspiration, [or perhaps insanity] I began drafting blueprint a on how to reinvent this classic Italian American favorite, and morph it into something that my enthusiastic taste testers could even consider to be an improvement on the original.

Before the fiercely loyal pizza-lovers start to protest and defend their ways, allow me to explain how I ended up with a rolled bun, and not a flat bread at all.

As effortless and comforting as a floppy slice of grease-laden carbohydrate heaven may be, I have a few pet peeves about the traditional pie. The least of these would have to be the clearly un-vegan layer of cheese, often thick enough to smother a small child. Also, what about those portion sizes? Even if the slices are reasonable enough to form an average-sized meal, the leftovers some how never fit quite right into any sort of container in which to preserve them, and foil allows their aromatic scent to impregnate any of the more impressionable food items sharing the same fridge space. Additionally, that labor-intensive crust on which the whole structure is based tends to become a doughy, unpalatable excuse for bread when attempted by popular franchises. Consider it the Wonderbread of pizza; perfect in appearance to the point of looking like plastic, almost completely devoid of nutrition, and akin to swallowing rocks when it comes time for your stomach to digest it. But what is the average person to do, lacking the time to knead their own and then allow it a proper rise? Being somewhat intimidated by yeast and its curious properties myself, my starting point in this adventure was facing the challenge of working with it, and surely enough, it began to work with me.

Wanting to craft a recipe for dough that needed no time to rise, I found that just adding in yeast without giving it any special treatment would provide those lovely flavors present in any real bread, without extra work or worry. Relying on chemical leaveners as well, this hybrid holds its own when asked to do some serious cooking, but is a bit less elastic and forgiving as a traditional pizza dough, so it must be worked gently.

Rolling it up with shredded vegan cheese safely tucked inside prevents it from burning in the oven, while still melting in your mouth. Once baked, they can be eaten on the side to make room for a more varied meal, and then frozen to easily enjoy later. No awkward wrapping here; they should easily fit in the average Tupperware container.

Consider it the pizza of the future; vegan, delicious, perfectly portable, and decidedly un-greasy. What’s not to like about that?

Yield: Makes 12 - 14 Rolls

Pizza Rolls

Prepared with an effortless pizza dough recipe, these vegan pizza rolls are an instant crowd-pleaser.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 Cup Plain, Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk
1 Packet (2 1/4 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Vegan Butter
1/3 Cup Pizza Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
3 Ounces Shredded Mozzarella-Style Vegan Cheese
Marinara Sauce, to Serve (Optional)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Heat the non-dairy milk in a microwave-safe dish for just about a minute in order to warm it through. Add in the yeast and let sit. While those two ingredients become better acquainted, in a separate bowl, combine both flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter in, and make sure to chop all of the fat into the smallest pieces you can manage, so they are completely coated in the dry ingredients to make fine crumbs.
Pour in the milk mixture, and stir it all together so that it all forms a cohesive, but still rather moist dough.
This is where things get sticky. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface, flouring your hands lightly as well so that you can manually pat it out into a rectangle measuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 x 8 inches. Being such a loose dough, it won’t play nicely with a rolling pin, so you just need to poke and prod it into shape with your hands.
Once you achieve a satisfactory rectangle, spread the pizza sauce over it, going most of the way to the edges but leaving perhaps a centimeter uncovered all around. Sprinkle the garlic powder over it, followed by the shredded cheese. Try to cover the surface evenly.
Finally, you’re ready to roll! Gently roll up the dough from the long side, moving with care and without stretching or pulling the cylinder.
Once you have a nice log, cut 1-inch pieces with a sharp knife, using a sawing motion and as little downward pressure as you can muster to prevent the rolls from becoming smushed.
Move the rolls to one or two baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. You should space them out to about 9 per sheet so that they have room to spread. Reshape gently if necessary, and bake for 13 – 17 minutes, until golden brown. Enjoy warm or reheat in a toaster oven later.
Dip into or top with marinara sauce, if desired.