for the vegan butter question i can say that it should work the same as regular butter! yeast has an expiry date, idk when exactl it is but if in doubt i'd buy a new batch. It's gotta still be alive adn its better to be safe than sorry. I'd grease the pan with the same thing you put in the dough for convenience so in your case vegan butter. The 'doubled in size' is a rough estimate but generally takes between half an hour and an hour depending on the rising environment. Since you are mixing it with warm water immediately just 'clean' the honeyspoon in the water when you put the honey in. Works best if you have a squeezey bottle of honey. I'd use a tea towel but idk tbh? a clean hand towel might be okay. increasing the recipe should generally not mess with things if you do your maths right. but i can't say i have any idea how much that's gonna end up being. If you ahve the time make a test batch potentially at half the recipe's measurements to see how much ONE loaf is?
1) Vegan butter--I haven't used it myself but presuming it to be vegetable-based fats it should be just fine. The important part of the butter is the fat it adds to recipe. 2) candied orange peel--I've seen it more mainstream-ish places than whole foods but really idk. Anyway shouldn't hurt to check, and since it's basically just orange peel and sugar anyway if you can't find it, it's might not be to terribly hard to make yourself. 3) YES YEAST EXPIRES. This is pretty important bc I don't want you to wind up working hard for a dough that doesn't rise--check your yeast, the expiration date should be printed on the packaging. If it's a bulk container it needs to have been in the fridge after it was opened. 4) Not really since they're handformed loaves, but considering that it just says 'loaf' (as opposed to 'small loaf") and they aren't buns 2 loaves should be completely fine for 8-9 loaves. I've never met a loaf that couldn't handle 4 people :) 5) Greasing the pan with butter (or substitute) usually works best for me, PAM should also be fine. 6) Usually I assume between half an hour and an hour for doubling in size: It varies with temperature/humidity/elevation though, so you may find it variable. You definitely don't need to measure it. A rough eyeball is completely fine. Also, it will rise faster if in a warmish, relatively sealed environment--so if you're not using the oven, don't turn it on or anything, but placing the dough in it and shutting the door creates a good environment for the yeast to get busy. 7) The key to measuring out honey is to grease your measuring spoon first--I've found that if I pour a little olive oil in and then pour it out again that works really well, but if you aren't willing to waste oil (totally understandable), the smidgen of butter-substance left on the wrapper should work just as well. Also, I promise the vast majority of it will come out of the measure-er with only gentle coaxing even if you don't oil/butter beforehand. 8) Any clean towel should work just fine :) Protips: Kneading time/consistency is surprisingly important for bread, so don't skimp on the 8 minutes/texture suggestion they've given you. The kneading is what creates gluten--too little and the bread will fall apart, too much and it'll be tougher than desirable.
okay here comes an info dump (much of which is corroborated by @Coriander and @IvyLB). vegan butter - well, Crisco is technically vegan. I would imagine vegan butter would be a vegetable oil product. Bread is very forgiving, you can usually substitute different oils no problem (I switch back and forth between butter and canola oil with zero issue in my day-to-day bread recipe). you might be able to find small portions of candied orange peel in the baking section, the bulk section, or the dried fruits. but you will DEFINITELY find it at something like Whole Foods (or Bulk Barn but I think that's Canadian...) yes, yeast can die. take a bit and add it to some warm water (hot enough you can still touch it but almost not) with some sugar. stick it somewhere warm. if it goes poofy, your yeast is fine. that recipe looks like the size of one typical sandwich loaf. the amounts are almost exactly the same as my regular recipe. i usually put some butter on a paper towel and smear it all over my loaf pan. vegetable oil would work too if you're sticking with vegan. any oil will be fine. if you use oil don't pour it in: you don't want any pooling in the bottom, you just want the pan greasy. usually that's thirty minutes ish. also it's usually pretty obvious whether it's gotten bigger. if it is considerably larger than it was when you put it in, it's good. if i'm using honey, i usually use the same spoon i did the oil with. slides right out. clean hand towel is fine. pro tips time. like i said before, bread is very forgiving. you can sub out pretty much any sugar and pretty much any oil. (note that subbing in brown sugar will yield a darker loaf and a slightly molasses-y taste.) i would probably up the yeast to a tablespoon and a half, especially with oats AND whole wheat flour. the salt is essential, don't skip it. cover your yeast while it proofs or it's gonna take fucking forever. try proofing your yeast in the oven with ONLY THE LIGHT ON. i like to knead dough by folding it in half and squishing it, turning it 90 degrees, and repeating. switch between the parts of your hands to knead or it will hurt a lot. splitting this in half will yield small loaves, better for tearing than slicing. don't worry about 'lightly' scoring: take a sharp knife and just cut an x in the top. i'd probably bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, especially if you're splitting it in half. if you do it in one loaf i'd still do it at 350. you know bread is done by turning it over and knocking on the bottom. if it sounds hollow, it's done. cool bread on a rack or upside down otherwise the steam will make it soggy. EDIT: also if you don't have kosher salt no one's gonna die. table salt is fine.
Since @EulersBidentity asked, here's a recipe I use to make pumpkin coffee creamer! Modified from here: http://flouronmyface.com/pumpkin-spice-coffee-creamer/ Also, apologies on the (lack of) proportions, I eyeballed a lot of these. Equipment: Containers (for keeping your delicious concoction in) Saucepan Stove Stirring object (fork, spoon, whisk, I personally like using a whisk) Fine mesh strainer (bigger is better) Bowl Funnel Ingredients: Half and half (I think regular milk would also be fine? It'll taste a little different but it should still be good) Pumpkin purée (you probably won't use the whole can, I'm open to suggestions on what to do with the rest?) Ground Cinnamon Ground Ginger Ground Nutmeg Ground Cloves Sugar to taste The first thing is that you need a container to keep it in. I got a glass bottle with a lid from a store, and then got home and realized I could have repurposed an old stir fry sauce bottle. So now I have two containers. XD Just make sure you can seal whatever container you have, and can fit it in your fridge. Fill your containers with your dairy liquid, then empty them into a saucepan. Add about a quarter cup of pumpkin purée per cup of liquid. Add spices as you think is appropriate, I made a small batch at first and didn't measure, sorry. >: Add some sugar, maybe like a rounded tablespoon per cup of liquid? Or more of you want it really sweet. Mix all that up. Heat it on medium/medium high heat while stirring until it steams. Don't boils it and make sure it doesn't do that thing where it makes a skin or else you'll have milk skin in your creamer. Once it steams, it should be good, so take it off the heat. Pour it through the strainer into the bowl. Be careful because not all of the purée will be... used? That's why we're straining it. Anyway it'll make it strain slowly, because there will be "pumpkin sludge" in the strainer. I reccomend doing this into a bowl because it can become unweildy if you try to do it straight into the container. If you don't strain it then the pumpkin sludge will be in your coffee later. Let it cool in the bowl and then use the funnel to pour it into your containers. Seal containers and refrigerate.
Thank you! That sounds delicious :D I have hazelnut syrup to put in my coffee, but I've been wanting something with a bit less sugar.
You're welcome! Some days I want All The Sugar in my coffee, and some days I want none, so I usually only add enough sugar to my creamers to counteract the occasional bitterness of pumpkin purée.
oh man i made some very labor intensive food today for my mom's birthday, and i am tired af but very happy with the results. first, i did a low and slow roast of a pork shoulder; recipe here: Spoiler: what a ham okay first your gonna need a big hunk of pork. doesn't have to be shoulder, that's just what i had. full list of ingredients: 1 shoulder, skin on 1 onion adobo* mojo** 4 cloves garlic, minced get yourself a baking dish, your gonna want room on the sides of the meat for juice to pool so bigger is better. put your meat in it and give it a good rub down with the adobo on all sides, including the bottom. don't worry about overdoing it, just go for it. take a sharp knife and cut 1 inch deep cuts all over the meat, about an inch to 1 1/2 inches apart. soak it with the mojo, make sure some gets in the cuts you made (use about 2 cups). don't worry about spillover into the pan. roughly chop your onion into chunks. throw the chunks around the pork, do the same with the minced garlic. heat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit (about 245 Celsius) and bake uncovered for 1 hour. after, turn it down to 275 degrees Fahrenheit ( 135 Celsius), scoop some of the juice on the sides onto your meat, cause it'll have dried a lot from earlier. if the liquid on the sides looks low (below about a 1/2 inch), add a little water. tent your meat in aluminum foil, and bake it an hour for every pound (if you don't know how many pounds it is, 7-8 hours should do it. at so low a temperature, the only thing that'll happen from overcooking is it'll be more tender). it is imperative that you check the meat regularly and make sure the top is not dried out, and that there's enough fluids on the sides of the pan. i recommend checking it and scooping juice onto the tops and sides every 30-45 minutes. about an hour before it's done, whip up a pot of rice to go on the side and maybe a veggie, and you're done! you got some tasty as hell pork. *i use premade goya brand adobo, but it's essentially garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano if you wanna make your own. **again, premade goya brand mojo, but a good recipe is here then i made tres leches cake, recipe here: Spoiler: some cake cake ingredients: 5 eggs 2 cups sugar 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract separate egg whites from yolks. beat whites until peaks form. gradually add sugar one tablespoon at a time, mixing well each time. add egg yolks one at a time, mixing well for each one. separately, mix baking powder and flour. alternate adding flour and milk to egg mixture. add vanilla. grease and flour a glass baking pan. bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit ( about 175 Celsius) with rack in middle of the oven for 45 minutes. when cake is done and still hot, stab top with a fork (basically destroy the top of the cake with how much you stab it. don't hold back.) and gradually add three milks mixture, giving time between pouring for it to soak in. three milks mixture: 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 can evaporated milk 2 cups heavy cream 2 egg yolks mix all ingredients well and pour over cake. topping: whipped cream fruit (peaches, pineapple, and strawberries are popular choices) after cake has cooled some, spread whipped cream over cake and put fruit on top. eat and enjoy!
i didn't realize tres leche cake was made with whipped egg whites. of course, until yesterday i thought it was made with magic, so uhh.. good cake. had it three birthdays in a row.
i actually didn't either until i got the recipe from a family friend. the actual cake comes out of the oven looking bone dry and generally unappetizing, which is good because then you add all that milk stuff and it is magical.
I am awake at oh-my-god-o'-clock, so let me tell you about the mug cake I made last night. It was actually really good (in that slightly disappointing way that mug cake always is. It was less disappointing than most mug cakes I've had.) Also, American measurements! I have a dry measures cone which includes them. V useful. I couldn't find a tablespoon so I used a dessert spoon and added a little bit. Peanut butter chocolate mug cake: Ingredients 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons cocoa 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons oil 1/4 cup milk 1/4 tsp baking powder Dash vanilla essence Tablespoon peanut butter Mix together the dry ingredients, followed by the wet ingredients (not the PB) in a mug. Put a spoonful of peanut butter in the top centre of the batter and push it down until it's level with the batter and you have an aesthetically pleasing yellow circle in a brown circle. I put a square of dark chocolate in the middle of the PB which looked pretty but didn't change the flavour much. Cook in the microwave on high for one minute. Let cool for one minute. Nom. This makes a pretty big cake for one person, btw. I couldn't finish it, but I probably could if I'd been hungrier.
Today in "I Don't Know How to Make a Complete Breakfast Unless It's Blended and Eaten with a Straw" we're experimenting with Warm Smoothies. So far I have the stuff for: Cranberry Apple "Apple Pie" "Pumpkin Pie" Ginger Pear "Banana Bread" Basically you take all the stuff you'd put in a smoothie Fruit (or pumpkin) Granola w/ nuts Protein powder Cinnamon or whatever Juice/water/milk/milk substitute Halve your juice/etc measurement. Put half in the blender with the other stuff and blend. Boil the other half and pour it into your food sludge, mix thoroughly. Or, y'know, do all the cold liquid at once and nuke the results for 30sec intervals until it's warm, whatever your spoons allow. EDIT: Cranberry Apple is a tentative success. Seems really thin and watery without ice/frozen fruit in the mix. Added extra granola because I like my smoothies sludgy.
Friends. I would like to tell you about the best soup I have ever made - potato soup with the bone and leftover meat from last week's smoked ham. I almost filled my stockpot, and between five people, there are two to three servings left now. I made this less than twenty hours ago. And since the Season of Giant Ham Dinners is coming soon, I'll share the recipe, so you have a good reason to get that way-cheaper bone-in ham. (My grocery store has them for less than a dollar fifty per pound right now.) This makes a truly enormous amount of soup, and you're using a ham bone, so you'll need a stockpot. If you want a smaller amount, size it down and just use leftover meat instead of the bone. But it freezes well and the bone adds a certain je ne sais quois. This is easy to modify, too, and it's gluten free! It takes some prep time and supervision, though. Ingredients: Five large potatoes (I like red) Half a sleeve of celery One medium onion or two thirds of a large one Carrot (either two whole or five or six baby) One can evaporated milk Corn starch Ham bone and leftover ham Water Salt and pepper to taste Optional: two teaspoons chicken bullion If not using bullion, one teaspoon garlic powder (After chopping, I ended up with ten cups of potatoes, two cups of celery, a cup and a half of onion, and about two thirds of a cup of carrot, if that helps you get an idea of proportion.) Wash all veggies. Peel potatoes if not using reds and dice. Peel carrots, if needed, and chop. Finely chop onions and celery. Add ham bone to pot. (if you're not using a bone, chop and add all meat at this point.) Add the vegetables. Add enough water to cover the bone and vegetables. Give everything a good stir. Bring the pot up to a boil, then cover and simmer for twenty to twenty-five minutes. After simmering, remove bone. Stir with a metal or wooden spoon, and mash some potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken. Add evaporated milk. Add chopped leftover ham. Salt and pepper to taste. Add hot broth to a small bowl. Gradually add cornstarch, a pinch at a time, whipping vigorously with a fork or whisk. (You'll need about a tablespoon.)When mixture begins to thicken, return to pot and stir continuously for one minute. Serve. Top with cheese or green onions, if desired. Picture forthcoming if I can keep the last of this long enough. ETA: Also, BFF and I made a truly delicious mulled wine punch last night as well. It made about five glasses, so size up if you have more than a couple people. One bottle sweet red muscadine wine (or other sweet red) One glass dry red wine (we used a shiraz-cabernet blend since that's what I had around) 3 cinnamon sticks 1 tablespoon whole cloves Peel of one orange or two lemons Two bottles ginger beer (if you're in an area where you can find Blenheim's, seriously do it, it's much better and more gingery than anything else I have ever had, but any ginger beer will do) Pour the wine and spices into a pot and heat on low for about twenty minutes - when it starts to smell really good it's ready. Strain out the spices. Mix the wine and ginger beer in a pitcher, or add about 2 oz ginger beer and 4 oz wine to each cup. Stir and enjoy.
poking my head back in to say thanks for all the advice on my bread recipe x3 i think I'm gonna try it tomorrow Wednesday evening after I get back from physical therapy and then make a second recipe the next morning, before I go to my parents' for Thanksgiving! Finding the candied orange peel was easier than anticipated- I went to a PCC near my work first and got the dates and oats I needed, asked them if they had the orange peel and they said no, but that my normal Safeway should have it, so I went O: and duly went to see, and lo did an employee point me to the produce section, where a display had stacks and stacks and stacks of various candied fruits. apparently I picked the perfect time of year to do this recipe, since evidently people use these little tubs of various fruits for their christmas fruitcakes and whatnot! (took v. much willpower to not buy a tub of the candied lemon peel and another of the candied citron just to stick my face in them. i fucking love citrus scented stuff.) Also, a quick question- I found vegan butter for sale easily enough, but the trick is all of it that could be found is NOT unsalted, and my bread recipe calls for unsalted butter. is it gonna fuck up my recipe terribly or is there a workaround?
well it's gonna be way saltier obviously but idk i think they don't even sell salted butter in most regular grocery stores over here :O
i use salted butter and a bit of salt in my recipe and i've never noticed it being very salty. I wouldn't worry, but i would reduce the amount of salt in your recipe from 1 tbsp to about 1 tsp. you can always put salted butter on it if it's boring. :P also re @IvyLB that's interesting! salted and unsalted butter are sold side by side here. unsalted is a little more expensive i think...
My mother would always cook with (lightly) salted butter, mostly Lurpak from Denmark because they were picky about quality food. There are very few recipes that really require no salt; so long as you're aware how much saltiness the butter's adding, you should be fine.
Thanksgiving cooking is done! The bird is not my responsibility, I'm a sides-and-desserts guy. Thing One: dulce de leche cheesecake. The cheesecake is my standard no-baker: one package softened cream cheese, one regular-size tub Cool Whip, beat together, add powdered sugar to taste, dump into crumb crust of your choice, top as you like, put in fridge overnight. Also added a spoonful of dulce de leche (sweetened condensed milk that sat in a hot crockpot bath all day while I was at work) to the cheese goo. For the top, I took some more dulce de leche and mixed in a tablespoon of Gentleman Jack, then let it sit for a while to mellow out, then drizzled it on top. Thing Two: Bacon ranch cheese balls. One package softened cream cheese, one medium block of Velveeta at room temp, half a packet of ranch dressing mix, a handful of bacon bits, and a little splast of Tabasco. Put everything in gallon size Ziploc bag, knead in bag until all blended together, put in fridge for an hour or so. Divide into however many balls you want, roll in chopped nuts, wrap in plastic wrap, and back into the fridge they go. Serve with cheese ball vehicles of your choice.
Okay I'm making round one of my oatbread stuff :U gonna liveblog it under a spoiler cut so as not to be a mile long. Spoiler: mute has cooking adventures okay will honey and water even combine or is it an oil and water thing all right i guess that works :U in goes the yeast fuck it's turned into chunks is this normal ugh *covers it and hopes for the best* why did I think these dates were unpitted WHY ARE DATES SO STICKY fuckin hell dicing them takes forever and is turning it into more of a big 1/3 cup mass of squishy date note to self for round 2- do these ahead of time instead of assuming that you can do it while the yeast proofs aww the candied orange peels don't smell as good as I'd hoped. at least they're easy to measure. mmm granny smith apples :U looks like it only takes a few slices to make a third of a cup when they're diced. bluh I should probably make these smaller but fuckit, my yeast has been waiting oh jesus this doesn't look bubbly, it looks poofy. i know this is a thing yeast does but have i waited too long and ruined it fuck it *dumps next ingredients in* hope a wooden spoon is the correct utensil to combine this shit with ugh this is getting difficult *dumps fruits in* OH JESUS FUCK I WAS SUPPOSED TO PEEL THE APPLES FIRST *launches into a window* ugh hopefully it won't fuck up the recipe (it's gonna fuck it up, isn't it) at least I'll remember this for round 2 tomorrow. maybe okay I think this qualifies as a cohesive mass *dumps* I think I remember how to knead :V come on mute you haul boxes of books that weigh half what you do, you can do dis fuck I already forgot what time I started kneading at I definitely need to cut the apple bits smaller for round 2, fuckers are poking me like crazy while I knead hopefully this will do :U it does seem to bounce back when I poke it okay you fucker, into the bowl with you and you can sit in my room instead of the freezing god damn kitchen time to wash hands, take a break while it (hopefully) rises and I clean the dishes I used so I can use them again tomorrow ...crap, what do I store a loaf of bread in to keep it nice till it makes its way to the thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow? :c HOW DO I PUNCH BREAD DOWN i better find a youtube video before it rises i probably should have ate dinner *eats remainder of apple instead* hmm I think I have time to try and adjust the new floor sweep on my door because my roommate installed it unevenly and one end scrapes over my rug ugh it's been half an hour and idk if my bread is expanding :c also why the fuck doesn't the recipe give an estimated time for this step? especially worried since after it supposedly doubles in size, I'm supposed to do some thing and then let it double AGAIN. is it really gonna get that big? okay it does look bigger now but idk if it's doubled :U for the record it's been about an hour since I let it sit, and it's still supposed to double again after I punch it down/divide it/put oats and knife cuts on argh how long do I wait fuck it gonna do the thing thing did :U they look OK so far, the two loafs are about the diameter of one of my hand-spans, we'll see how big they get in another hour. ugh I'm so sleepy ;3; but I aint even put these things in the oven yet, let alone allowed them to cool and found something to pack them in @Kaylotta is a national treasure, it is fuckin known u_u hope those X's I cut into the loafs are okay time to wait another hour *flop* hrm should I go by what the recipe says for the oven temp and baking time or what the intelligent Kintsugijin say @__@ *frets that kitchen is too cold, moves entire baking sheet and loafs into marginally toastier bedroom* aww gecko I see you looking at the ceiling of your tank. that is not leo food, that is people food temporarily occupying the roof of your house to let it be warm, sorry. now go eat the goddamn crickets that keep waking me up at fuckyou o'clock. hmm, the loafs are plumping up nicely but they're not double the size they were when I most recently left them to rise (instructions said to wait an hour/till they double and it has been an hour). I'd say it's at least double the size of the dough I had when I left it alone for the FIRST time... arrrrgh, should I put it in the oven or keep waiting? bluh can't wait any longer, gonna shove em in the oven baking is a go! kinda worried that the bottom of the loafs is gonna weld itself to the baking sheet, though, I nudged one of the loafs to the side so it would not crowd its neighbor and the underside seems pretty damn sticky. I did grease the pan (despite the recipes not specifying a greased baking sheet), but I may have done so insufficiently. hrm. Not done yet, but smells good at least! still gotta figure out something to put it in once it cools so it can stay fresh till I take it to my parents' house. hell yes, they LOOK perfectly baked, at least? I rapped em with a spoon and I think they sound hollow but idk if I'd know from boo in that respect :P as per Kitsugijin recommendations, I set them both out on a (inadequately sized) cooling rack. They came off the baking sheet without a qualm, thank fuck. Still stumped on best method of storage. No paper bags around the house ;/ I have plastic ziploc bags that would fit the loafs, but I dunno if that'd make them soggy by dinnertime in ~15 hours. bah I hate not knowing how they turned out taste wise XD hrm roomie bailed me out and produced a paper bag from god knows where. why is he even up at fucking midnight anyways, not that I'm not grateful :U anyways hopefully the bag will keep the loafs well, and I should be able to throw them in the oven at my parents' house for a minute to warm them up. fingers crossed that they came out okay despite my minor fuckups! Gonna call the liveblog done here because as noted is are midnight and I need to pass out. Thank fuck the store I work at is closed Thanksgiving day.
