My new favorite recipes that will surely be staples!

Vegweb.com posting of the "Outrageously Easy Big Bread"

Recipe submitted by Colleen on VegWeb

"Outrageously Easy BIG Bread" (adapted version)

Ingredients):

2 packs of yeast
warm water
2 cups hot water
sugar
salt
6 cups all-purpose flour total (split in half - 3 cups in seperate bowls)
1/3 cup vegetable/corn oil


Directions:

Pour warm water into a small bowl and add the yeast, but DO NOT STIR. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, pour hot water over the vegan sugar and salt, then stir with a wooden spoon to completely dissolve. Combine 3 cups flour with the water mixture. Pour the oil on top of the dough mixture then add the yeast mixture on top of that, but DO NOT STIR. Top with the remaining 3 cups of flour and mix well. At this point, the dough should be pliant and moist, but not gooey. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside to rise for at least 45 minutes.

On a lightly floured cutting board or countertop, divide the dough into half. Kneading is optional at this point. Make dough into desired shape. Some ideas: breadsticks, breadrolls, bread loaf, focaccia.

Cover the dough with a moist towel and set aside to rise again for another 45 minutes (or longer).

After the dough has risen the second time, preheat the oven to 375 and bake for exactly 23 minutes.

Glaze for hard crust by brushing every 10 minutes with water

Serves: 2 huge loaves

Preparation time: Two and a half hours


I deleted some extra directions, but this is the recipe at its simplest. This was the first time I made this bread and I was able to make 4 breadsticks, a loaf of bread, and dinner rolls in a round pie pan.

For the breadsticks, I brushed the dough after a couple minutes in the oven with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano and parmasen cheese. YUM!

The next morning, with the bread loaf, I made vegan french toast by soaking slices in a mixture of vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract, 2 egg equivalents/replacers and cooking them on coconut oil.

For lunch, I made Seitan Sandwiches:

I chiffonaded fresh basil from my new basil plant, added it to Veganaise, and chopped up my homemade seitan. I topped toasted slices of my bread loaf with this mixture and it was pretty good!

Basic Homemade Seitan (taken from a website that I forgot - sorry!!!):

2 cups vital gluten flour
garlic powder
ground ginger
1 1/4 cup water with rosemary & seasoning or vegetable stock
3 tbs soy sauce
(optional) 2-3 tbs sesame oil

Mix powder ingredients in bowl, mix liquids in a seperate bowl. Add powder mixture to liquid bowl and stir vigorously. Knead 10-15 minutes. Let rest for a couple minutes. Knead again for 10-15 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes. Cut into desired pieces. Simmer for 30-60 minutes in water/rosemary or stock. Test for texture, usually when they float they are done.

You can keep it in the stock in the fridge or freeze it for the future. YUM!