6 posts tagged “agave nectar”
The September Daring Bakers' challenge has been chosen by Steph of A Whisk and A Spoon. She wanted us to make our own puff pastry in our home kitchens. What a great idea! I've always wanted to make homemade puff pasty and I saved about a dozen different recipes. I finally got to make it this time. I don't know what I would do without this lovely Daring Kitchen.
The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
Since I have made homemade croissants before, I'm not intimidated by the "laminated dough". It was actually really fun making this kind of pastry dough. For the full recipe with detailed instructions, click here.
(Makes 4 servings)
1 jar water-packed artichoke hearts, well drained and chopped
1/2 package Tofutti cream cheese
1/2 package Tofutti sour cream
3 tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. capers, well drained and roughly chopped
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
A pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
I still have some leftover puff pastry in the freezer. I'm looking forward to making another batch very soon.
For more mouth-watering vols-au-vent, check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll.
Sadly, I wasn't able to make the injera for April's challenge because we were moving. May's challenge is the PANE DI PASTA TENERA CONDITA or the Italian Knot Bread. This Italian bread is not a crusty country bread we love so much, but its moist and soft crumbs really hit the spot for us vegan butter hounds. The only big challenge is to promise myself that I will make only half the recipe (but I still ended up with 14 knots). Otherwise our waistlines will increase another couple of inches overnight. For making the dough and shaping the knots, I got very helpful pointers from Cookie Baker Lynn and Ilva of Lucullian Delights ~ An Italian Experience. Head over to their blogs if you are interested in making these cute knots yourself.
Biga:
500 g / 1.1 lb normal bread flour
5 g / 0.17 oz fresh yeast, 1/4 tsp dry instant yeast, or 1 tsp active dry yeast
240 ml / 1 cup water
- Dissolve the yeast in a little water and quickly work the dough together.
- Put it in a container, cover it with a half closed lid or kitchen towel and leave it for 15-24 hrs.
Bread:
1 kg / 2.2 lb. flour (type 00)
60 g / 2.1 oz lard (or shortening) [I used vegan shortening.]
30 g fresh yeast , or 2 Tbsp active dry yeast
450-550 ml / 1.9-2.3 cups water, handwarm
25 g salt (about 2 Tbsp)
50 g/ 1.7 oz extra-virgin olive oil
25 g / .88 oz honey [I used agave nectar.]
500 g / l.l lb. biga
- Put the flour either in a big bowl or on a baking board, add the lard (or shortening) and mix it with your fingers until it has 'crumbled' and is completely mixed with the flour.
- Dissolve the yeast in little tepid water and add it to the flour. Mix as well as you can.
- Mix salt, olive oil and honey with the handwarm water and add it to the flour. Now work it it until it holds together and then add the biga.
- Work the dough until it is smooth and doesn't stick.
- Put it into a big bowl, cover it with plastic film and leave to rise until it has doubled.
- Now take up the dough and divide it into 12 equal parts and roll them it into long strands (about 30-35 cm).
1- Roll out the dough into snakes and lay them out on a flat surface.
2- Make a semi-circle with the dough strands.
3- Twist the two ends together like in the photo.
4- Bring the two ends towards the upper part of the circle.
5- Lift/fold the top part over the twisted part.
6- Take the two end and join them together under the actual knot, this will make the knot part come out more and it hides the ends.
- Put the knots on baking sheets and leave to rise (covered) until they have doubled in size.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 25-35 minutes until golden brown.
PANE DI PASTA TENERA CONDITA is being served up as the Bread Baking Babes challenge of the month. May's challenge is hosted by Ilva of "Lucullian Delights ~ An Italian Experience", May’s kitchen of the month. If you also want to become a bread baking buddy and earn a badge, you have until May 30th to bake this bread and submit it to Ilva. Check out further details on becoming a buddy on My Kitchen in Half Cups.
I have seen many people make these banana sour cream pancakes by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa Family Style). One of them is Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake. Her pancake photo looks really gorgeous, so I tried her version of these pancakes today. A great recipe with great results. I simply skipped eggs and used agave nectar instead of the sugar. I had to add more milk to the batter but everything turned out fabulously delicious. Nothing beats a stack of pancakes with melting butter and pure maple syrup, at least when you really crave for some warm pancakes.
I also tried baking my chickpea cutlets in Veganomicon this time. I would have to admit that I liked the fried version a little more. But it was still worth one try.
I found a great use for the pumpkin chocolate chip bread I made two days ago - to make part of it into a warm heart-melting bread pudding. I followed this excellent recipe by Ricki of "Diet, Dessert & Dogs". I didn't have any oat flour or rolled oats (sorry, not a big fan for oats), so I used all-purpose flour instead. This is what the pumpkin bread pudding looks like right after being baked.
I stood in front of the stove for more than an hour whisking my soy milk constantly to make one cup of "condensed milk". Then I made the warm caramel sauce. The whole process was about an hour and half. But it was so worth it!
Now, the final product is ready for consumption. Sometimes you just don't want another piece of chocolate cake. This warm bread pudding is totally the way to go. It can really melt your heart, after melting in your mouth.
I have been cooking more food lately, probably because of the warm weather we are still enjoying, for which we are really grateful. Now I am actually contemplating what to cook again for tomorrow.
Polenta Casserole, recipe on page 138 of Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I used nutritional yeast instead of soy cheese and It is the cheesiest thing we have tasted in five years.
Szechuan-Style Tofu with Eggplant, page 56 of Vegan Express. This is a great recipe. The dish is so flavorful. You can easily whip it up in 20 minutes and serve it over a bed of warm brown rice. I am discovering more good recipes in Vegan Express every week.
Chickpea Cutlets, from Veganomicon. I do not have this cookbook any more. This recipe was saved from more than 6 months ago. I guess by now I am the last person on this planet to have tried this recipe. These cutlets are literally everywhere in the blogsphere. I certainly do not need to praise them more.
This is one of those recipes that I knew it sounded crazy but would absolutely taste great. Good Tempeh, Mushroom and Potato Stew by Megan the Vegan. I didn't use any carrot or peanut butter but added some edamame. I subbed sesame tahini and peanut satay sauce. It was a really meaty and healthy stew.
