Bread and Butter

A Loon's Spoon Post

I love French bread and I have almost got the process where I want it - thanks to the Master Recipe: Boule and directions in Jeff Hertzberg's and Zoe Francois' book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

In the morning I mix 6 cups lukewarm water, 1.5 tablespoons yeast, 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt and 6.5 cups of flour together right in my food storage container.

Then, I cover it and carry it into the Snuggery, this is the warmest room in the house and a great place to let the dough rise for 2 hours. The Snuggery is also my office and a favorite place for all 3 dogs to hang out when I'm working.  I am very careful to keep the dough away from the dogs and never leave the dogs and the dough alone - it's just not a good combination and I speak from experience.

After 2 hours or so the container is moved to the refrigerator until I want to use it.

Refrigerating the dough, for at lest 3 hours, makes it less sticky and a lot easier to work with.  About an hour and a half before I want to have warm bread I remove the dough from the refrigerator and form it into loaves.

I place the loaves on parchment paper and use perforated French bread pans that my mother-in-law, Gwen, gave me from Williams-Sonoma. Then, they go back to the Snuggery for 40 minutes to rise.  After about 20 minutes I preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a low sided pan, I think it's the oven's broiling pan, on a low rack filled with water.  This will create a steam environment, which is GREAT for producing a crisp crust.

The dough goes into the oven for about 30 minutes.  First, I brush the loaves with tap water to help with a crusty crust.

After 30 minutes, or so, the bread comes out of the oven and is ready to eat.  WARNING: Keep it way far away from counter-surfing Weimaraners.  Again, speaking from experience, they have been know to take the whole loaf in the blink of an eye.

I love butter and on this point I agree with Julia.  Unfortunately, butter is not part of a plant-based diet.

Neither, is cream.

So, I decided to try one of the butter substitutes that have come out since my last round as a vegan.  Earth Balance products have received excellent reviews from the vegetarian/vegan communities.

I think I picked the wrong product.  I bought the sticks and they're more of a baking product.  It didn't taste so great spread on the bread.  Earth Balance offers a number of different spreads and I think that's the route I should have taken if I wanted to "butter" my bread.  

You know what? I've ALWAYS been a fan of olive oil.  Dipping French bread in plain or flavored olive oils beats butter in my book.

Special Events - Don't Say No

A Loon's Spoon Posting

It's only hard to attend special events if you make it hard - true if you're vegan or any number of other things that might make you self-conscious or different from the "average" attendee.  My thinking is that people are more worried about their own differences than mine.  

Last night Pete and I attended the 8th Annual Taste of the North in Minocqua.  This is a fabulous food sampling event that showcased about 22 different food and dining establishments in the area with 31 different items.  

The dishes included breakfast, appetizer, entree, pizza, cafe and dessert items, but not a one of them was animal-product-free. No problem; I anticipated as much and had a BIG lunch.  For me it was a time to enjoy the company, catch up with folks I hadn't seen for months and sip a few NAs.

People ask what do I do at special occasions that don't have vegan options.  I don't do anything - I don't eat, I don't complain and I don't turn into the vegetarian/vegan that no one wants to talk to.

The Taste of the North is easy; it's a walk and talk, grazing, come and go as you please type of affair.  A couple people asked me what I had to eat and I told them nothing as I had adopted a plant-based diet, but how great it was to see everyone. No muss, no fuss. 

A few folks tried to figure out if there was something I could eat and honestly, that was a great educational opportunity.  "Yes, eggs are an animal product." "No, I don't eat cheese anymore either." "Desserts? Dairy."  It's all about keeping a sense of humor and not attacking the eating habits of others.

 Vegans/Vegetarians should not isolate themselves.  Become comfortable with your decision and plan for social events ahead of time for your own comfort and those around you.  Sarah Hohn has a nice article on her blog, Homemade Levity titled Overcoming Isolation as a Vegan - good tips.

Pete, the meat-eater, and I had a wonderful time.  We left before the raffle drawings and I think someone must have forgotten to call us about our prize!

Sweet Potatoes and Tahini

A Loon's Spoon Posting

There is a lot of help online for vegans.  In just a few minutes I found some amazing blogs and recipe sites with beautiful pictures and easy recipes.  Just last night there was a Facebook post pointing me to the Top 50 Vegan Blogs.  One of the first blogs I ran across I really loved - great name, great photos, fun commentary and a mix of recipes - This Raswsome Vegan Life written by Emily, you can can her Em.  Her philosphy is similar to mine.  She writes, 

". . .With the knowledge I've learned about what animal products do to me, you, our earth, and our beloved fellow animals - I choose not to put anything that has caused suffering in my body. My lunch shouldn't require murder. In any case, humans can certainly thrive without eating animals. Being vegan simply means caring about others."

I found an easy recipe for baked yams and tahini on her blog and since I had some organic sweet potatoes just waiting around for something to do I decided to try it.

Well, the sweet potatoes were good, but I think I have to find a better tahini source.  It was thick and globby from a jar (I won't reveal the brand).  I  had a great tahini sauce from au Bon appetit that I brought back from Milwaukee, but it's all gone.

So, my sweet potatoes ended up like this - note the tahini glob on the top.

Again, the potatoes were great, but the drizzled tahani effect didn't work out and it didn't taste great.

Asher thought it was all great!