Saturday, July 01, 2006

Broiled Tofu, Flax and Soy Bread, Brown Betty, etc

I'll be away from my computor, or without ability to post pictures, etc. to this blog anyways until the 5th of July. I am making a great take along "chik" gluten soy patty to throw in the grill for that family fourth outing PLUS and I have been doing some yummy things with zucchini, I'm looking forward to sharing this on Wednesday when I get back!

HAVE A GREAT FOURTH!


More on Tofu. This is marinated in Bryanna's Breast of Tofu marinade (see post earlier this week for recipe) and then broiled at 450 degrees in the oven on a blackened old cookie sheet. I dipped these slabs into seasoned flour before baking (see recipe below). Bake until you like the looks of it, checking first at eight minutes, flip and then eight minutes (or less /more, depending on how crispy you want it). I wanted mine pretty brown, but is still flexible and a little moist on the inside.

Bryanna's Seasoned Flour
(the almost no fat cookbook p. 49). Combine the following and keep in sealed container in refigerator (or freezer): 2 C whole grain flour, 1/4 C nutritional yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp onion powder, pepper to taste. Dori Note: Make sure what you are coating is wet. If you are a "deep-fried" person who likes a thicker breading, flour your tofu, dip in marinade or soymilk and flour agian...repeat once more. I did this once to satisfy a disgusting "chicken fried steak" burger craving for Dave to show him that it could be done. It worked, but I prefer mine lightly coated and baked.

I like to pack these "breasts" into cold sandwiches to carry for a day, umm but now that I have gained some freegan tips, I will now only use my own reuseable container to carry sandwiches! The bread I used here is flax and soy bread, a recipe I developed at the bakehouse when I first started my little business. Bear with me while I walk down memory lane. The first year I came out with this bread I sold alot, I'm not kidding. ... I was seriously cooking! The state newspaper had a write up on the health benefits of flax and soy one weekend when I happened to be at the right place and time. This was before supermarkets caught the whole grain organic idea. Flax and soy became my signature bread and niche.

I really do love working with the my customers at the bakehouse, but I also really wore out from the first couple of years and got to the point where I realized I had to go pro and hire people or downsize and stay a mom and pop shop... stay small for enjoyment, that's what I decided to do. I am strictly a VEGAN, ORGANIC, WHOLE GRAIN baker (period), no more and no less. I capitolize those words 'cause I used to get asked, "Do you have anything with with white flour", (no) and then many thought that a baker must specialize in eggy, white refined sugary, or dairy in my breads (no no no). I was once asked.... how do you make bread without milk? I thought the question was dumb, but I wanted to be respectful. I said EASILY, want to try some!

Some people expect the same from a small business as they expect from their 24 hour chain food market. I think they should instead expect the same kind of expertise and friendliness from their chain food store instead. I know ... rants, I am getting phone calls from former market customers asking where I am and I miss being there, transitions always have sort of issues. I also know I desire to finish my certification and that takes priority this year. I hope my former customers (vegan and otherwise) read my blog and realize how easy it is to eat great anyways!

Here is a BAKEHOUSE Flax and Soy Bread Machine recipe I created to help my non- baking sister (who doesn't use it anyways because she waits until I make it before eating any again). I made changes in this recipe 7-2-06.
You must have a 1 1/2 - 2 lb capacity machine. NOTE: I use a BOSCH Universal to knead my bread, it kneads so well that a 100% freshly milled whole grain gets enough gluten development to be able to give the nice rise and lightness many appreciate on a sandwich bread. In my cheapo (but $50) Oster bread machine I must use a little organic all purpose flour to get this to work and rise well. You can replace spelt for both the white wheat and all purpose flour in this recipe one for one. ALSO - check your machine five minutes into kneading to make SURE the DOUGH BALL is a ball and that when you touch it with your finger you can almost hear the giggle from the infamous TV doughboy. If not you may need to add more water or flour!

Mix the following ingredients in the order specified by your bread machine:
1 1/3 C distilled water
2 Tbsp light virgin olive oil or safflower oil
2 Tbsp turbinado or sugar in the raw
2 tsp sea salt
1 3/4 cup freshly milled whole grain WHITE WHEAT (Montana gold, aka golden 86) flour
*I have noticed some groceries stores have began to carry this or you can actually mill your own IN STORE! (yeah!) If you do not get freshly milled your flour will have lost a lot of natural vitamin E and will be drier, you may need to compensate with a little more liquid
1/2 C soy flour (or besan chickpea flour if you cannot find this)
1 C organic all purpose wheat flour OR whole wheat BREAD MACHINE flour (pkg specifies)
* 3 Tbsp ground flax meal
* 3 Tbsp brown flax seed (is the prettiest, you can use golden also)
1 Tbsp yeast (I use SAF brand, but I think flieshmans will work too)
DO NOT USE EXPRESS BAKE CYCLE! I do not use the whole wheat cycle which takes a bit longer, I use a light crust. My machine makes a good batch in just under 3 hours, I know machines do vary. I have also had the opportunity to experiment with five other brands of machine at various costs. They all bake just a little differently

Okay, now more great food! How about a little more stirfry from Bryanna's authentic Chinese Cuisine, this is Chinese 'Beef' and Broccoli in Vegetarian 'Oyster' Sauce. The apple brown betty is my own breakfast creation with a side of wildwood soy yogurt, plain but stevia sweetened.
It's simply leftover brown rice with cinnamon and organic raisins, sweetened to my preference. I have added crushed pineapple to this breakfast concoction before and liked it well enough. I sometimes heat it and other times leave it cold.

And at last the little one, although we are debating names we have not yet decided. He is licking his baby paws here, he agrees that the food here is paw licking good. This guy loves my bread!

He has this thing with jumping to attack anything that moves, anything, but is slowly learning that we don't like to play like that. Moving thing - talking lips.... try having a conversation and then suddenly this furocious kitten appears playfully attacking your face like he would another kitten, but you have skin that rips and bleeds. = not fun! We are now trained to look to make sure we know where the kitten is before we open our mouth to speak.

He has also decided that his place to "potty" is in the bathroom... good even though the litter box is not there. Ummm, let me finish this statement.... the bathroom bathtub. Of all the places he could be going I have to admit that this one is easier to clean. We are moving his litter box to the bathroom today to see if we can retrain.

11 comments:

urban vegan said...

This looks yummy. I'm sure it will be great on the grill.

As for the kitten [What a sweet little thing!], we went thru the same "attacking everything that moves" stage with Bossa Nova. For the first six months, she jumped on our heads in the middle of the night. And since we live in a loft with an open floor plan, we could not shut her out of our bedroom -- we have no door! [We occassionally banished her to the bathoom--but only for 15 mins at a time.] Luckily, she grew out of that stage--your cute kitty will too.

Happy 4th!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

it all looks wonderful! and even the kitty knows the food there is paw licking good. :o)

Eat Peace Please said...

Dori, all the food looks and sounds great and I love how you stick to your business, no more no less.

As for "kitty", I think it's funny (sorry) that he peed in the bathtub. Maybe so, because I keep Killian's litter box in the bathtub (we use the other bathroom to shower in) and it keeps away by the shower curtain and we now use Feline Pine so it doesn't stink in there. Killian has never gone in the actual tub, but I think it's a good hidden place for a litter box.

MeloMeals said...

I love hearing about your business... you definitely have a gift..
I don't use a bread machine, what changes do I need to make in that recipe to adapt it?

I've also found that freshly milled flour definitely doesn't rise as well... good to know it wasn't just me!

Kuntal Joisher said...

the tofu looks yummmmmmmm!!! same goes for the chinese stir fry!!

KleoPatra said...

Your adorable kitty picked a good place to go... i mean considering all the places in a house that are available!!

Hope you enjoy your break and i look forward to hearing more from you when you are back.

By the way, as always, your creation looks soooo good. I had a forgettable tofu in teriyaki sauce "meal" today at this beach-area Hawaiian restaurant and i only wish it was 1/100th as good as i'm sure yours is here!!

Dori said...

Unrban vegan, thanks for the kitty encouragement. It's good to know that kittens like kids have stages that they will grow out of.

Thanks Vicki, McSeitan and Kleopatra, and teddy.... Somedays I wish I had the opportunity to check out hawaiian beach style restaurants, but then that would mean I have to leave my little piece of earth here and I like it (most days).

Melody...
On baking with freshly milled flour. I use somethings called "white wheat", aka golden 86. It grows in Kansas and Montana, something about the climate there is right for it. It has the same nutritional make-up as RED HARD wheat, but bakes into a lighter whole grain product. With red hard wheat you must add refined higher gluten wheat flour to get it to rise well unless you are using them for denser breads.

Milled flour (I use a microburst low temperature mill) which yields EXTRA fine flour without high heat milling nutrition loss. If you are milling in your vitamix, even though your flour might appear fine ... it's not fine enough to make a bread that will satisfy the kids.

There is also "soft" wheat which is good for cookies,, muffins, etc. I can make a great whole grain cookie, but with muffins I prefer a little higher rise... a little lemon juice added to higher proportions of baking powder/soda sometimes help that.

It is possible to get an acceptable whole grain golden 86 white wheat floured bread from the bread machine, but without a zorushi bread machine (double paddles) it cannot be kneaded well enough to rise well.

But you asked, can it be done by hand... yes but you'll never get "GREAT" results... the secret to light and well risen whole grain bread is The BOSCH universal. It has a taffy pulling like paddle that will develop the gluten in 6 minutes AND allow you to use much less flour which is the second "secret". If you have a kitchen aid you will have to knead the freshly milled whole grain dough three times longer and this will cause your motor to burn out sooner.

You can make a great 1/2 fresh mill and 1/2 processed flour bread by hand though... just try really hard not to keep adding flour otherwise you;ll have drier and denser loaf.

This comes from a lady who made 967 loaves of bread to sell at a special event once (along with 1000 pounds of granola).

MeloMeals said...

Dori,

Thank you!! You are a wealth of information.. I guess I should check into the grain you mentioned.. and just use half of my storebough "white whole wheat" flour along with some vital wheat gluten in the bread.. Personally, I like really dense bread. I eat much less of it, but my family is another story..

Catherine Weber said...

Melody, I have neither a bread machine nor a KitchenAid, and I bake 100% wholegrain bread sometimes -- not quite as light and fluffy as I'd like it to be, but it turns out well enough for me: toast, sandwiches, etc. I use a "sponge" method, which takes longer, but results in a more tender loaf.

Dori, I'm amazed by your expertise! I now know who to call (email) with serious baking questions!

Here's the first one: I'm having trouble getting my cupcakes for the cookbook to rise properly -- they like to sink in the middle. Bah. I've tried extra baking powder -- should I include a little acid, too? (Cream of Tartar or lemon juice?) What's really wild is, my muffins rise just fine without any additional egg-free adjustments! Good golly.

funwithyourfood said...

what areyou getting certified in?

Still in NY, just found a computer at my aunts house woo hoo!

Teddy

Dori said...

Catherine,
About muffins and quick breads, sure I have played with them but not to the point I have made much money doing it. I am a bran muffin fan and anything beyond that is "candy" to me. That's just me though... no scientific evidence to back that up. :)

I sounds like the amount of liquid in your muffin recipe is to much so when the muffin comes out of the oven it doesn't have enough "dry" structure to keep it risen or you might not be baking long enough.

Here's a helpful sight for info on that: http://www.baking911.com/

Teddy, I've found a computor too :) and can't seem to quit checking in, but I'm enjoying it... it's supposed to be vacation, it is vacation.

My "expertise" (which I tell others deals with soup and bread, that's all...don't ask me about cakes and cookies, etc.).... not really expertise, just I've spent a few sleepness nights over the past seven years pondering why something didn't rise right. I notice the hours when I have an order for 18- 40 loaves of bread that didn't turn out right yet I need to stay up and try again. Sometimes I cried redoing it, but I learned a few things besides the fact that I'm a real grouch when I don't get enough sleep.

The biggest things I've learned is that sugar, fresh garlic, and cinnamon effect yeast rise. I haven't mastered many areas yet though.

If you ever want to go into the whole grain bread business my average market sales at one market for the past four years had been over $300 per market (At maximm cost of $5 loaf, minimum $2.50). I baked for a variety of local businesses/ organizations and special "shows" in our state thorughout the year though. I do have a state registered kitchen commerically zoned though, but it's not required in our state to be that way.

A gift to me is that I have poor circulation problems, I am cold all the time. I can work for hours at the bakehouse running a commercial oven in 110 degree outside heat and no air conditioning... I can honestly say that at that time I am not cold. Baking is hot work and in the summer even other "bakers" don't like to, maybe that's why I could capitalize on my ability to tolerate the hotter job better.

Anyways - you asked about my certification.... I will complete my masters in family and consumer science specializing in occupations with a primary concentration in the food industry. At the same time I will complete the requirements for a secondary teaching license (which is what I returned to school for).

Even in this I am not an "expert" just another foodie who loves to learn. Enjoy your vacation!