FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Chicka Chicka Yeah!

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I promise I recognize the irony of admitting that I don’t fancy meat substitutes and then immediately dedicating a two week period to faux meat meals.

But I wasn’t thinking far beyond tzatziki today.

Growing up within miles of Tarpon Springs will do that to a girl (give her random Greek food cravings).  Baklava, avgolemono soup, tzatziki, souvlaki – I think about them all the time.

I modified this recipe by replacing the yogurt/sour cream with Tofutti sour cream and doubling the dill.

I shredded the cucumber rather than dicing it.  In hindsight, I should have squeezed the cucumber with a paper towel to remove excess moisture prior to mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.  It was a tad too watery.

Then what to do with the sauce?  Leftover Gardein?  I microwaved a mini, room temperature pita for 15 seconds and a Gardein patty for 30 seconds.  After cubing the Gardein, I topped it with some iceberg and COVERED with the vegan tzatziki.

I will surely be making the thicker version of this sauce often.  I loved it.  As far as the whole souvlaki shebang?  I’m Gardein-ed out.  Fear not, the faux meat meals will be winding down, effective immediately.

Dough Hook Hooked

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Warning!  I’m addicted to baking bread.  It’s going to be a problem.

My initial thought after baking my first whole wheat loaf was to move on to the next level, to challenge myself with a more complicated recipe.  But after some extreme quality time with Google, I realized I needed to master some basics before proceeding.

As much as I wanted to healthify my bread, white bread flour is the best starter flour out there.  Without getting into too much detail, it has to do with bread flour having a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour.  More gluten means a stronger web of proteins in the dough which means it’s more difficult for the CO2 created by the fermented yeast to leave the bread.  The more CO2 left in the bread, the fluffier it will be.

The next step was choosing a recipe.  After more Google QT, I was dead set on making Emeril’s Basic Italian Loaf.  Simple steps, simple ingredient list, I was sold.

1-3/4 ounces of yeast??  What the!  I couldn’t even begin to figure out a way to split to recipe to utilize my 1/2 ounce yeast packet, and I’m a math girl!

I began my search again, more quickly this time, and found this recipe.  The ingredient list was perfect, but the 31 steps were a little out of control.  I decided to wing it.

I combined the ingredients and steps I liked the best from Emeril, food.com recipe 1, and food.com recipe 2, and came up with this:

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FoodFash’s Starter Bread

3 Cups of White Bread Flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar in the Raw
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Earth Balance
1/2 Ounce Active Dry Yeast (1 Packet)
1 Cup Very Warm Water (120 – 130 degrees F)
Olive Oil
Spray Bottle
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Dissolve the yeast in a small bowl of warm water.  The water should be just hot enough that you can’t leave your fingers under the faucet.  You want to be sure that the water isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast.
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Add flour, sugar, salt, and Earth Balance to mixer bowl, using your dough hook, and turn to Speed 2.
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Gradually add the water/yeast mixture to the bowl and mix at Speed 2 for 10 minutes.
Coat the ball of dough with olive oil, cover the bowl, and store in a warm place for an hour (I used my microwave).
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Punch the dough, use your rolling pin to create a rectangle, and then roll the dough into a loaf shape, pinching the ends, and making 4 diagonal slices in the dough with a sharp knife.
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Place seam side down on a greased cookie sheet, cover with a towel, and store in a warm place for another hour.
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Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  Use a spray bottle to cover the dough with water and bake for 3 minutes.  Repeat the water coating steps 2 more times and bake for a total of 15 minutes.
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Remove bread from oven and coat with olive oil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
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Tada!!!

It was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined!

The crust was crispy, but not too crispy.  The inside was fluffy and flavorful.  This loaf was simple and perfect, especially for beginners.

Summertime, I Can Almost Taste It

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As an early University of Florida Building Construction student, if you had asked me what I thought of BBQ…  You would have gotten a mouthful of nothing positive and a grossed out facial expression to match.  By senior year, on any given day, you could have spotted me at an XYZ BBQ table, eating lunch with five of my favorite boys of all time.  Total 180.  Who would have thought?

Last Tuesday, a subcontractor catered BBQ lunch at my office (mind you, I’m still a construction gal by day).  They delivered a heaping load of food that lingered until Friday, which induced extreme BBQ and summertime cravings.

Then it dawned on me, it’s not the meat I crave, it’s the sauce.

Simple fix – BBQ Tofu.

Two tips:

1.  Tofu found in the ethnic aisle is significantly cheaper (see brand above).

2.  If you buy pre-made sauce, pick some up at a local restaurant or the local section at Whole Foods.  Keeping it local is never a bad thing!

FoodFash’s BBQ Tofu

Cut extra firm tofu into french fry like slivers and cover with BBQ sauce in an appropriately sized container for 30-ish minutes.  Place tofu slivers on foil (or foil covered cookie sheet) sprayed with olive oil Pam.  Set foil on the top oven rack and broil for 5 minutes.  Flip tofu slivers over, cover with additional BBQ sauce, and broil for an additional 5 minutes.

I am not a tofu lover, so I’m convinced that this is a dish that tofu skeptics would enjoy as well.  The broiling process removed the excess moisture from the sauce giving the BBQ tofu a “chewy” exterior that was unexpected, but thoroughly enjoyed.  And I totally two-bird-one-stoned this meal by adding strawberries and satisfying my summertime craving too!

Ohhhh Crusty!

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I made bread!  Technically this isn’t my first encounter with home made bread.  Looking back, I’m fairly certain my mom planted Christmas present ideas in my head, presents we could both use.  That’s the only explanation I can think of for me asking for and Santa actually bringing a bread machine at age TEN!

I vaguely remember using the bread machine, but clearly remember thinking the machine bread was disgusting.  It’s because of the vague memories that I considered tonight to be my first bread making experience.

I googled “Best breads to make with a Kitchen Aid”, which led me to this recipe.

(I used Earth Balance in lieu of the butter and egg white.)

The Kitchen Aid Dough Hook worked like a dream.

The real reason I chose this recipe is that it only required two 1-hour dough rising sessions rather than days of waiting.  One day… one day I’ll have the patience for really super awesome bread.

But today, I’m sticking with two hour total wait time bread.

I imagined “punching the dough” to be a lot more fun.

My engineerness came out in full force as I rolled the dough to be exactly 12″x15″.

Ehhh…  Close enough?

The dough followed the steps the recipe called out quite nicely.

And then it was taste time!  When I cut the first slice, my first thought was that it seemed a little on the dense side.  This bread was most definitely not in the same league as the crusty, squishy, West coast sourdoughs that I dream of making some day.  But my bread, my two hour total wait time bread, had a nice hard crust, a decently squishy inside, and was perfect for sopping up the remaining scalloppini sauce on my dinner plate.

Now that I have a starter bread under my belt, I’m ready for the next loaf level!