Whole Wheat Pita

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita 
or how i learned to stop worrying and love the poof.

insert "leaning tower" joke here.

Not to oversell or anything, but learning to bake bread will change your life. And, as a tidy little bonus, it will forever impress your loved ones
and save you a ton of money. Downside? Not a one.

I've been rocking this particular pita recipe for a few years now and can wholeheartedly attest to its life-change-y goodness. The mechanics of it may still confuse the hell out of me (WHY DOES IT POOF??), but the finished product is so damn good the worries and confusion just melt away.

Don't ask questions.
Just learn to love the poof.

Vegan PBR Beer Bread

stop pulling your hair out!
Too Easy: Vegan PBR Beer Bread

Beer bread, out of the oven, drenched in butter and ready to impress. 

Party season is upon us. We all like the holidays but let's be honest, sometimes they can be a giant pain in the ass. Between work and life, scrambling to come up with something to bring to holiday dinner parties can be enough to make you pull your hair out. Never fear, beer bread is here! This recipe is perfect for just such ocassions, its a no-knead to the nth degree and almost embarrassingly easy. Its also pretty perfect for an I'm-just-gonna-sit-on-my-couch-and-eat-bread-all-day kind of day. It can be thrown together almost literally at the last minute and pairs well with a variety of things. I've eaten it for breakfast with Earth Balance and jam and for lunch/dinner/appetizers with butter, hummus, or whatever else is around. If you're looking for a SUPER easy food gift for Christmas, this is it. Just combing all of the dry ingredients in a mason jar, write out a pretty recipe card with instructions, include a bottle of beer (or not), tie a bow around the whole thing and voila! 

(Almost) instant Christmas gift! 

Beer bread batter, fully mixed. 

You will need: 

1 standard sized loaf pan, thoroughly buttered. 

2 1/2c all purpose flour + 1/2c whole wheat flour

1 1/2tsp baking soda

1/2tsp baking powder

1tbsp vegan sugar

1 1/2tsp ground sea salt

5tbsp Earth Balance

1 12oz beer of your choosing, 

I used a PBR for the bread in the photos.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Thoroughly grease your loaf pan with 1tbsp of the Earth Balance.

In a medium mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients, stir. 

Pour in beer slowly, dry ingredients will fizz up quite a bit.

Stir slowly until well combined.

Dough will be very wet and sticky.

Pour your dough into greased loaf pan and shake to distribute evenly.

Beer bread batter in prepared loaf pan, ready to bake. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Lower temp to 375 and bake for 30 more minutes or until top is golden brown.

Place loaf pan on a cooling rack.

Melt remaining Earth Balance and pour over top of your finished loaf. 

Let sit for 5-10 minutes then turn out onto a work surface. 

You can eat it right away (it'll be hard not to) or allow to cool, wrap tightly in foil, 

and re-heat when you're ready to party.

Freshly baked beer bread waiting for its butter bath.

No-Fail Vegan Cornbread

we all have our vices...
No-Fail Vegan Cornbread

I dare you to not eat it all. 

 I'm not going to lie. I ate an entire pan of this yesterday, and another is in the oven as I type this. It appears I may have a problem. I recognize that as far as vices go vegan cornbread is a pretty innocuous one, though complaints have begun to surface from other members of the household for my lack of "sharing skills". Hence batch number two. This is a pretty bad-ass recipe; you should make it. Its the perfect blend of sweet and savory and is a wonderful side for that vegan chili I posted yesterday.
The decision was made to stock up on local corn at the end of the season this year and freeze it up for winter use. Brilliant, right? Not so much. Only once this was done did I realize I'm not a super big fan of frozen corn. What to do? Cornbread! A 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels really makes this recipe sing.

Homemade hempmilk turning into vegan buttermilk.

No-Fail Vegan Cornbread Recipe
1/2c whole wheat flour
1/2c all purpose flour
1c cornmeal
1/4c vegan sugar
1tbsp ground flax seed
3tbsp hot water
1tbsp baking powder
1c non dairy milk
1tsp white vinegar
1/2tsp salt
1/4c olive oil
1/2c corn kernels, fresh
or frozen

Preheat oven to 400 degrees then grease a 9" square baking dish.

Prepare your vegan buttermilk:
Measure out 1 cup of non dairy milk, add 1tsp white vinegar.
Stir gently and set aside for 10 minutes and allow to curdle.

Prepare your flax egg:
Combine ground flax seed with the 3tbsp of nearly boiling water.
Whisk mixture well and set aside.
Allow to sit until cooled and thickened, about 10 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl combine flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together.

Frozen corn kernels, being incorporated into batter.

Add olive oil, vegan buttermilk, flax egg mixture, and corn kernels.
Stir well until all ingredients are combined.

Spread mix evenly into greased baking dish.
Bake on center oven rack for 20-25 minutes,
or until top is lightly browned and cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool then EAT!

Vegan cornbread, fresh out of the oven.