Rosemary-Walnut Bread

More bread! I made this one with part white flour and part whole wheat. I suspect that the all-purpose flour I usually buy is a little bit soft for bread, so I've been using King Arthur Bread Flour, which I really like. For whole wheat, I've tried both Arrowhead Mills and King Arthur White Wheat. The White Wheat is supposed to be more like white flour, but with the nutrition of whole. It's lighter in color than the Arrowhead Mills, but I haven't noticed a big difference otherwise.

Out of the handful of bread recipes I've made lately, this has been my favorite. This is a perfect bread to serve with pasta or risotto.

Update 5/14/2010: I originally left the salt out of this when I wrote it up. The recipe has been corrected.

Rosemary-Walnut Bread

Since this bread uses a combination of white and whole wheat flours, the vital wheat gluten isn't absolutely necessary. If you omit it, add a couple of extra tablespoons of whole-wheat flour.

1 cup warm water, about 105 F

1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup all-purpose or bread flour

1/2 cup walnut pieces

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour

Add water, yeast and all-purpose flour to a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with dough hooks. Combine well with a fork, cover, and let stand for 45 minutes to an hour. The mixture will bubble up and expand.

Add walnut pieces, rosemary, vital wheat gluten if using, sugar and olive oil. Whisk ingredients in with a fork. Begin adding the whole-wheat flour. If you plan to knead by hand, use a large wooden spoon to work the flour into the dough. Then, turn the dough out into a large cutting board and knead for 10 minutes. If you are kneading with a stand mixer, start the mixer now, and let it run while you add the flour. You may need to stop the machine once or twice and work some of the flour into the dough with a spoon. Once the flour is incorporated, let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Place the dough into an oiled, medium bowl. Cover and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for an hour, until doubled in size.

Divide dough into two pieces. Shape into ovals and place on an oiled baking sheet. Allow to rise until doubled once more.

Heat oven to 375 F. Bake for 15-20 minutes golden. Rap on the loaf with your knuckles; you'll know that the bread is done when it makes a hollow sound.

Agave-Dijonaise Salad Dressing

This is similar to honey-mustard dressing, but so much tastier. We had this tonight with a salad of curly-leaf lettuce, apple and walnuts. In spring, I'll make it again for spinach-strawberry salad. It also makes a wonderful sandwich spread.

Agave-Dijonaise Salad Dressing

1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise (such as Vegenaise)

2 tablespoons agave nectar

2 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons orange, lemon or lime juice

Whisk everything together until there are no lumps.

Serves 6

Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup and what to do with an opened box of silken tofu

Silken tofu, the kind that comes in a cardboard box, is a great ingredient to have around. Pureed, it can stand in for eggs and milk in a pumpkin pie, or high-fat ingredients in a savory dip. Sometimes, though, you might end up needing just a spoonful of it and then have most of a box left over. Water-pack tofu can go into the freezer on its own, but silken tofu gets stringy and gross when it's been frozen. However, if you puree it with a couple of cups of water, broth, or canned tomatoes, you can save it. When frozen and thawed, it will separate a bit, but can be whisked or blended back together. Then, it's perfect in a soup. It will turn a broth-based soup into a creamy one, and make a creamy soup heartier.

I had just such a container of tofu and broth in the freezer when I set out to make this soup. This is from Vegetarian Times Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook.

Roasted Red Pepper and sweet Potato Soup

2 large red bell peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large sweet potato (about 1 pound), peeled and diced

4 cups vegetable broth or water (with or without pureed silken tofu)

2 sprigs fresh thyme or about 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste

fresh thyme sprigs for garnish (optional)

Broil peppers. Turn with tongs to broil on all sides, until skin just starts to blacken. Remove from oven, wrap loosely with a clean dishcloth or waxed paper, and set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Saute onion and garlic until onion is tender. Add sweet potato and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover pot and cook until sweet potato is tender, about 15 minutes.

Peel peppers, and remove stems and seeds. Coarsely chop. Add to soup, along with thyme, lemon juice, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Puree soup with an immersion blender, a blender, or a food processor. Reheat gently and serve.

Makes 4 main dish servings or 6 side dish servings.

Paninis without a panini press

I have had this eggplant panini recipe in my bookmarks forever (okay, I exaggerate, a year and a half.) The problem with making it was that I don't have a panini press, and I have no desire to buy one. I thought about just trying to cook a sandwich in a skillet and then flipping it over, but I was afraid I'd send vegetables flying all over the kitchen. Then I remembered reading somewhere that you could use an extra, heated cast iron skillet to press the sandwiches, so I gave it a try. It works great!

Sandwich Inside

Make sure your skillets, especially the one that will go on top, are well seasoned. Mine were a bit rusty, so I followed instructions from Chowhound, using coconut oil.

By the way, I also read somewhere that you could use a waffle iron instead of a panini press. It didn't work, as the sandwiches were too thick, and the top of the waffle iron only made contact with an edge. It might have worked if I used very soft bread, however.

Hummus replaces the original mozzarella cheese here.

Eggplant Panini

1 large eggplant, about 1-1/4 pounds
olive oil as needed
2 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
salt
pepper
1 cup hummus
6 pieces of flatbread, such as pocketless pita bread

Preheat oven to 375 F. Slice top and bottom off eggplant, and then slice into rounds 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil. Bake in well oiled cast iron skillets, plus an extra pan if needed, for 15-20 minutes, until fork-tender. Set aside.

Slice tomatoes in half. Scoop out seeds and surrounding goop with a small spoon and discard. Dice tomatoes and olives, and mince basil leaves. Stir together with a splash of olive oil and a generous grinding of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Lightly brush one side of three flatbreads with olive oil. Place oiled side down. Spread hummus on the bread, then top with tomato mixture and eggplant slices. Top with remaining flatbreads, and lightly oil the tops.

Heat two cast iron skillets to medium-hot. Crank up the heat to high under the skillet that will be going on top for 1 minute. Place a sandwich in the bottom skillet, top with the other skillet, and heat for 4 minutes. Remove sandwich, heat the top skillet on high for a minute, and repeat with the next sandwich. Repeat with the final sandwich.

Stack the sandwiches on top of one another. Cut into fourths, using a serrated knife and a sawing motion.

Serves 4, generously.

Hummus among us

I wish I had been lucky enough to have grown up eating hummus. All those years that went by when I didn't know what I was missing.

This is a fairly typical recipe, except that I add a little ground coriander and cumin seed.

Hummus makes a great component for a hearty veggie sandwich. It's not just for dipping vegetables and your fingers into.

Claire's Hummus

1 15-ounce can chickpeas
3 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice (1 large juicy lemon or 2 smaller ones)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon coriander seed, ground
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 or 2 tablespoons water, as needed.

Puree all ingredients except water in a food processor. Add water to thin to the consistency that you like.

Makes about 2 cups.

Whole Wheat Bread

At one time, I made bread fairly often, but I fell out of the habit the last couple of years. I got a stand mixer for Christmas and have been baking bread again.

I have a tendency to rush the dough-making process and end up with less than spectacular results. Lately, in an effort to slow myself down, I've been starting with a sponge, using all of the water and yeast, and about a third of the total flour. It's working spectacularly. Every loaf has risen well and the flavor has been awesome. I think the bread even keeps better now.

This was my simplest bread yet and so, so good.


Whole Wheat Bread

3-3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1-3/4 cups warm water (about 105 F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons molasses

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Measure flour and vital wheat gluten into a medium bowl and whisk together with a fork. Add water and yeast to a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with dough hooks. Scoop up about a cup and a half of the flour mixture and add it to the water and yeast. Combine well with a fork, cover the mixture, and let stand for 45 minutes to an hour. This sponge will bubble up and expand.

Add the olive oil, molasses and salt to the sponge and whisk in with a fork. Begin adding the remaining flour a cup at a time. If you plan to knead by hand, use a large wooden spoon to work the flour into the dough. Then, turn the dough out into a large cutting board and knead for 10 minutes. If you are kneading with a stand mixer, start the mixer now, and let it run while you add the flour. You may need to stop the machine once or twice and work some of the flour into the dough with a spoon. Once the flour is incorporated, let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes. You will probably need to knead the dough by hand in the bowl for a minute to form it into a smooth ball.

Place the dough into an oiled, medium bowl. (This can be the bowl that you measured the flour and wheat gluten into earlier.) Cover and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for an hour, until doubled in size.

Oil a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Shape dough to fit the pan. Cover and allow to rise again until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Heat oven to 350 F, and bake bread for about 30 minutes.

To test your bread for doneness, turn the loaf out of the pan and rap sharply on the bottom with your knuckes; your loaf should sound hollow. If it doesn't make a sound, bake a little longer.