No-Knead Rye Bread

I love rye bread.  There’s nothing quite like a grilled cheese sandwich on good rye bread. This is a simple rye bread.  It doesn’t have the whistles and bells of a pumpernickel, but if you’re craving a bread where you can just enjoy the taste of rye with caraway seeds, this is the bread for you.  It contains no added sugar or anything super fancy.  It’s just a simple rye bread.

Ingredients

1.5 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for work surface

1.5 cups rye flour

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)

All-purpose flour, semolina flour, corn meal, or wheat bran (for sprinkling on the towel)

Preparation

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, and caraway seeds. Add the water and stir until combined.  You can mix it with a spoon, but I prefer to get in there with my hands.  The dough will be very sticky and a bit shaggy. 

Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil (or just spray it with non-stick spray if no one is looking), and place the ball of dough in the bowl.

Cover the dough in the bowl with plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap should be touching the dough; this will keep the surface of the dough from drying.  I also like to put a second sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl just to make sure everything stays well covered during rising.

Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably up to 18, in a room about 70 degrees in temperature. The dough's surface will be dotted with holes when dough is ready.

Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. The may be a bit wet.  Fold the dough over on itself once or twice. 

Sprinkle a non-terry cloth towel with all-purpose flour, semolina flour, corn meal, or wheat bran.  Shape the dough into a round shape and place the dough in the center of the towel seam side down.  Cover the dough with a second towel.

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours.

After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as a Dutch oven, in oven as it heats (you don't have to put the lid on the pan while it is heating). When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven, and roll the dough out of the towel and into the pan.  It might sizzle a little.  Put the lid on the pot and return it to the oven.

After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the Dutch oven to allow the bread to brown.  Bake for an additional 20 minutes. 

 

Vegan Double-Chocolate Bourbon Cookies

This is a small batch of cookies that I made to give the leasing office and maintenance of my building because they are awesome.  I ran out of sugar after I made the tequila lime cake, so I created this recipe with the last of my brown sugar.  They're bourbony!

Ingredients

• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup bourbon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together the coconut oil & brown sugar.  Add the almond milk and vanilla.
3. Slowly sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
4. When the dry ingredients have been incorporated, knead in the chocolate chips.  (The dough is going to be a little crumbly).
5. Roll into walnut-sized balls & place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten them a bit with your palm. 
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes.

Makes 15-18 cookies

Vegan Tequila-Lime Cake with Mango Jam Filling

Ingredients

Cake:

3/4 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

1 ½ cup demerara sugar (or raw sugar)

Zest of two limes (save the juice)

1 ½ tablespoon cider vinegar

2 cups rice milk (warmed to room temperature)

¼ cup tequila (plus ~2/3 cup tequila to sprinkle on the cake later)

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Mango jam:

Two mangoes, peeled, and finely chopped

1 cup demerara sugar (or raw sugar)

2 tablespoons lime juice (juice from 1/2 lime)

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

¼ cup tequila

½ cup water

Glaze:

1 cups demerara sugar (or raw sugar)

1/8 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lime

Zest of 1/2 lime

1/8 cup tequila

1 tablespoons Grand Marnier

(To make your shopping list a little easier: In total, you will need about 1 1/2 cups of tequila, 4 large limes, and 3 1/2 cups of sugar).

INSTRUCTIONS

Make the cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

In a stand mixer (or with handheld mixer), cream together oil, sugar, and lime zest.  Add the cider vinegar, rice milk, 1/4 cup tequila, and vanilla.  Slowly add the salt, baking powder, and flour.  Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.  Do not overmix.

Divide the batter between the three cake pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Check for doneness at 30 minutes.

Allow to cool and remove from pans.

Make the mango jam:

While the cake layers are cooling, make the mango jam.  Put the finely chopped mango, sugar, lime juice, Grand Marnier, tequila, and water in a medium sized sauce pan and boil stirring occasionally.  Boil hard until the mixture reaches approximately 245 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30-40 minutes).  It will get quite thick and turn a dark amber color.

Assemble the cake:

Slice the top off of two of the cakes to create a flat surface to work with.

Sprinkle one of the layers that has had its top removed with 2 tablespoons of tequila and 1 tablespoon of lime juice.  (I put it in a spray bottle and just drenched it).  Spread half of the mango jam on the layer. 

Gently place the second decapitated layer on top of the jam covered first layer.  Spray (or sprinkle) the second layer with 2 tablespoons of tequila and 1 tablespoon of lime juice.  Spread remaining mango jam on the layer.

Stack the final layer on the cake.  Spray (or sprinkle) the final layer with 2 tablespoons of tequila and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. 

After the cake has been mostly assembled, prepare the glaze:

Place the sugar, water, and lime juice in a medium sauce pan. Heat on medium-high heat and gently stir to dissolve the sugar. Allow to boil until large bubbles form on the surface (230 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in lime zest. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes.  Add the tequila and Grand Marnier (it will bubble up a lot when you add the liquor). 

Pour the glaze over the cake.

Loosely based on a recipe by Rocco DiSpirito

http://www.roccodispirito.com/recipes/tequilalimecake

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips

While on the phone with my sister the other day, she told me about this wonderful concoction that she made for breakfast.  Into her regular oatmeal, she mixed some banana and chocolate chips.  I suddenly got very quiet on my end of the phone.  After a few seconds, I proclaimed, "I can make that into a cookie!"  

The recipe has very little sugar or fat.  It is mostly held together with the bananas which keep the cookies quite moist.

Ingredients

3 mashed bananas (approximately 1 ¼ cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup shortening (Crisco)

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cup rolled oats (old fashioned or quick oats)

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the mashed bananas, vanilla, and water.  Incorporate the shortening to the banana mixture.
3. Slowly incorporate the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until blended. 
4. Stir in the oats, followed by chocolate chips.
5. Rest the mixture for about 10 minutes to allow the rolled oats to soften.  If you are using quick oats, you can skip this step.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

 Makes approximately 18 medium-sized cookies.