A Vegan Obsession

New Grains Gluten Free Vegan Bread - Review & Giveaway

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new grains hamburger bun

Gluten Free Vegan Bread - Review and Giveaway

Being gluten free is so much easier today than it was even 5 years ago. Products are improving all the time and more and more you get to feel like you are really not missing out on anything. Many restaurants are offering gluten free breads and buns so you can still enjoy their sandwiches and burgers. Still not enough though. Just because we are gluten intolerant doesn’t mean we do not want to get a cheeky slice of vegan pizza or a hearty vegan burger of a night! But things are changing and progress is steady. Bread has been one thing I’ve missed over the years. I’ve made my own with varying degrees of success but I am always keeping an eye out for a good gluten free vegan bread I can buy.

I’ve been digging around on the internet to back up my constant scouting of super markets to find a bread that will list itself as vegan and gf. Few exist. One I tried recently was New Grains Bakery They are primarily an online operation but they do have a few stores in various states.

They are a family owned company. A passionate, late diagnosed celiac dad, Tim Lawson, discovered five of his seven (!) children were celiac and he wanted more for them than the grainy, tasteless products that were available to the gluten free population at that time. He and his wife Nicole set to work in their making all the family favourites, but making them gluten free. A company grew out of it as they began to sell their produce.

Gluten-Free-Variety-Bread-Pack-2-600x600

Like the majority of gluten free breads available in the USA it is not feather light. But it is lighter than most and vegan. When I was sampling it I found over a few days is in the fridge the less light it seems. At this point though it is great toasted. The hamburger buns were delicious teamed with beet and mushrooms burgers that I made. Also a winner with the 11 year old I tested them on. The cinnamon bread is spicy and perfectly sweet and I loved accompanying it with a spread of coconut oil and fruit-sweetened strawberry jam. Or honestly, just by itself. I imagine you could roll up slices and put them in a baking dish and cover with maple icing and they’d be like cinnamon rolls.The English muffins were all devoured by my gluten eating husband. He slathered with peanut butter and topped with ripe banana slices. I think that demonstrates his verdict.

New Grains are not a vegan company but perhaps they may think about using Hampton Creek’s Beyond Egg - egg substitute to make more of their products vegan in the future?!

Among their ever expanding (10 at present) vegan gluten free, 100% organic, non-gmo product range are;

Cinnamon Bread

Sandwich Bread

English Muffins

Hamburger Buns

Tortillas

Cookies

We’ve teamed up with New Grains to spread the word. They have a sample box to giveaway to one lucky winner.

Gluten Free Vegan Bread - Review and Giveaway. A sample box of muffins, burger buns and your choice of sandwich or cinnamon bread. Enter below for your chance to win.

new grains bread
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Give Us This Day. Gluten Free Bread.

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My obsession knows new bounds.  For the last couple of days I’ve been obsessing about bread making. Gluten free bread making.  The more I read, I think the less I knew! In the end, the only way to see what works was to get in the kitchen, and well, see what works.

So for Vegan MoFo 2013, Day 20.  I’m giving us this day our daily bread. Sans gluten.

Gluten Free Bread


3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup wholemeal teff flour
1/4 cup sorghum
3/4 cup cassava (tapioca) flour
1 tbs psyllium powder
2 tbs ground chia
1 1/2 cups warm vegan milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pink salt
1 tsp white sugar



Bake at 180 degrees for 55 minutes, then five minutes extra with aluminium foil over the top.  I took it out of the oven at 50 mins and tapped the bottom but it did not sound hollow enough so I popped it back in again.   When it is cooked, remove it from the loaf tin.  Leave it to completely cool before slicing.  I had to go for a once around the lake at the end of my street, to cut into it was too great.

I read on one website that it was better to introduce the quick acting yeast to warm liquid before adding to the flour. I have no idea what difference this made but I went along with it.

Use a tsp of olive oil to make smoothing down the top easier and also improve the crust.  If you don’t want to use oil then wet hands will help to smooth.

I let it rise in an lightly oiled mixing bowl for 1.5 hours. The house was warm, this is important.  Yeast is a bit like me, performs better when warm.  The risen dough then sat in the loaf tin for a further ten minutes whilst I waited for the oven to heat up. 

I’ve read so much about gluten free bread in the last three days.  Some recipes have had such a long list of ingredients, all the ones that looked like they were triumphs used a high ratio of starch.  Some said 2:1 ratio of gf flours to starch, others said 60% starch 40% flours. Some said flours with high protein content best, some said rice flour best.  Some used vinegar to create a little chemical friction in the baking, thus resulting in a more tender loaf, others didn’t.  Some used baking soda…some, not.  

Am I happy with my first home baked loaf of bread?  It was denser than I’d hoped for.  I liked the flavour and the crust had a nice chew.  It was lovely toasted.  Overall, my first attempt was more like a German Brot.  Denser than sandwich bread.  The wholemeal teff defined it a brown instead of a white loaf.

I’m making another loaf in the next few days, I will be tweaking the recipe here and there to see what the effect is.

It’s not perfect.  No, let me rephrase that.  It is a perfect, dense and flavoursome, bread.  Perfect and lovely in it’s own way.  What it isn’t, is the hoped for, spongey, chewy crusted, flavoursome copy of the freshly baked sandwich loaf I used to slather with whatever took my fancy, atop an artery clogging layer of butter (pre-vegan days), type bread.  That will come in time.  For now, I’m loving what I have.  It’s kind of exciting.  The idea of a bread making journey, with failures and successes. I will learn as I go, make little adjustments, discover new ideas.  I sometimes can be rather uncomfortable with learning something new.  At times, want to skip to the finish line without all the stuff in the middle.  But, can a craft be truly learned without study and time to proof?

If you have any gluten free bread making tips or stories please do tell.


These sites were some of my inspiration and places of learning.
Gluten Free 4 Goofs
Book Of Yum
Gluten Free Girl



Today is Day 20 of Vegan MoFo.  I missed a day of posting so this is the 19th post.  I’ve a minimum of one more post to go.  It is going to be a good one.

See you tomorrow! x


Bruschetta with Raw Garlic Bread - VEGAN Recipe

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I threw a potluck at my place yesterday.  One of my efforts was a pungent, fresh and tasty bruschetta. 



Back in my ‘gluten’ days I used to make this simple dish A LOT.  The flavours are so vivid when the tomatoes are fresh from the vine.  Room temperature, to bring out their sweet, acid fruitiness.  When freshly minced garlic, peppery extra virgin olive oil and basil combine with the tomatoes, and a good pinch of rock salt is rubbed between thumb and fingers to freckle over the top..something magical happens. Inhale deeply whilst gently tumbling the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon or fork. It is a sensual, aromatic feast as the acid ‘cooks’ the garlic and the essential oils from the basil are released into the juices from the tomatoes. The ingredients act like a great boy band…individual, unique but together they ROCK!

I decided to try a recipe for Raw Garlic Bread - Russell James.  The recipe is complete genius with surprising ingredients like psyllium husk and almond pulp. The bread is raw, living (‘cooked’ via a dehydrator to keep its enzymes intact..an oven on it’s lowest setting could possibly work) spongy and light. It even has a chewy crust, much like a french baguette. I made two changes to the recipe.  Omitting the dates and using one clove of garlic, as the cloves I had were ginormous and the tomatoes were laden with garlic too.  It turned out quite perfect!  Gluten free, low carb.  All praise to Russell for a fabulous recipes.  It is one I will used again and again.

The topping is simple.  Ripe, succulent tomatoes roughly chopped.  Fresh, minced garlic and torn organic basil leaves.  Salt to taste.  The bread acts like a sponge to the salad and it transforms it.  It’s chewy, garlicky, fresh, aromatic and perfectly pert.


The raw bread takes 14 hours to dehydrate but it made 4 small loaves and it freezes.  The tomato bruschetta takes mere moments.

Nutritional info according to Science Daily

 ‘researchers found that tomatoes are the biggest source of dietary lycopene; a powerful antioxidant. Tomatoes also contain other protective mechanisms, such as antithrombotic and anti-inflammatory functions. Research has additionally found a relationship between eating tomatoes and a lower risk of certain cancers as well as other conditions, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, ultraviolet light-induced skin damage, and cognitive dysfunction’.

Enjoy

x

Thin Polenta Crust Pizza - Feta, sweet caramelized onion and wilted spinach - Gluten free and VEGAN!

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I don’t even remember how I came across it…it is a ssshhh..secret, anyway so..I guess it doesn’t matter how..BUT I’m IN.   A new member of The Secret Recipe Club..Woo hoo! I BELONG.

It all sounds very childhood ‘swallows and amazons’ doesn’t it?  Fun. That’s nice.

SRC assigns you to a fellow blogger.  Your mission - should you wish to accept it - is to pick 1 recipe from their blog (It took me days to decide!) and then recreate it in your own style: sinfull to sinless or visa versa; swap an ingredient; spice it up perhaps; or push up the 4 to 5 of your ‘a day’ quota;  doh! ruin it (oh dear God, hopefully not!)… anything..FREE REIGN.

For my FIRST assignment (oh the importance of it all!) I was given a link on a disk that self destructed upon reading (ok, that is a lie..I was emailed it).  It revealed COOKIN CHEMIST to be my focus of culinary capers (no pun intended but..hey great foodie connection!).   After much consideration I picked pizza to morph.  They seemed to LOVE pizza…I was walking a tightrope.. They could either LOVE or hate my recreation.  I’m a brave lass. 

Here is Tessa of Cookin Chemist’s original recipe for Feta, Onions & Spinach Pizza.  I decided to vegan..ize and gluten… free…ze free it.

But HOW?..I hear you cry.  Hush sweet cook, the answer is within; 

VEGAN FETA, CARAMELIZED ONION & SPINACH PIZZA ON GLUTEN FREE POLENTA CRUST

Serves 2- 4

For the polenta base
1 1/4 cup polenta
3 cups water
1 vegan stock cube
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp of each; basil, oregano, parsley
1/4 tsp black pepper

1.in a pan pour in polenta and add all but the flax ‘egg’ and stir gently until brought to a boil..turn down the heat to a simmer and continue stirring until polenta thickens.
2. remove from heat and mix in the ‘egg’.
3.pour into a cake pan, the type with a removeable base, and refrigerate for minimum of 30 minutes
4.place in a preheated oven - 375 degrees - and bake for 35mins.  Leave to cool.

I had seen a few recipes on the web that bemoaned their base being delicate but with the use of the flax ‘egg’ it holds up (literally) very well.  A great result.

For the topping
1 cup spinach (for some reason I prefer frozen as it is less ‘earthy’ and easier.  just thaw and squeeze out excess liquid..drink this/put it in a soup or smoothie)
1 large onion cut into rings
marinara sauce (see below)
3/4 cup vegan cheese (I used Cheezly’s Cheddar..it’s light and tastes ‘feta’ like)
1 tbs olive oil
black pepper to taste
a swirl of balsamic glaze (optional)
To make the marinara sauce
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
a few basil leaves
1 tbs nutritional yeast (you can also a splash of Braggs Aminos or Tamari
1 clove garlic - chopped
1/4 tsp salt
cracking of black pepper

1. make the marinara - lightly fry the garlic then add all the remaining ingredients.  Cook on a low heat for 10 mins.
2. put sliced onions into a pan on a low heat with oil.  Put on the lid and leave to cook for 15 mins until caramelized and sweet.
2.grab your base (loosen it from the cake tin base) and spoon and spread over the marinara sauce
3.next up is the onions
4. dot the spinach over the top
5. crumble/dice over the ‘feta’
6.a flourish of black pepper
7.swirl over balsamic glaze if using
8.cut and serve to the hungry

Job done.  Very yum.  What a great way to find inspiration - thanks to the Secret Recipe Club & Tessa of Cookin Chemist!

Top Tips..

I made double the recipe  for the base and froze the extra base to save time when the next pizza craving strikes.
I made the pizza as part of a party spread so I had a slice leftover.  I put it in the freezer and it froze very well.

Tell all your yeast free, gluten free friends about the base…I am totally converted!

5 minute SPRING-TIME SOUP - nettle, pea & watercress soup with OLIVE BREAD -

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 I seem to be having the urge to eat lots of green things.  Like I don’t have enough green in my life right now, surrounded by fields and trees! 

Last summer I frequently made this soup, its very simple to make and it is light and has lots of layers of flavour.  The sun is making everything grow at a rapid rate and the nettles were calling.  I was happy to get reacquainted with this tasty soup.

This serves 4 ..

Pick the top, freshest part of wild nettle,(use gloves or hold the stem firmly to prevent the needle like hairs ‘stinging’ you) about 20 plants should do it.  Carefully remove the leaves and wash to add to other ingredients…

  • 500g frozen garden peas.
  • 250g watercress/spinach.
  • 1 med onion (or a bunch of scallion/salad onions).
  • 1 vegan, yeast-free stock cube.
  • 1 garlic clove.
  • 1 - 2 tsp whole grain mustard (I make my own..1:2 fresh ground mustard seeds/tbs apple cider vinegar.
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper.
  • pink salt to taste  - I use about 3 generous pinches.

The beauty of this soup is that it literally takes minutes and is such an eye popping vivid green, it impresses easily AND tastes fantastic.  It is also really light and exciting with fresh mint.

The quickest method is to boil a kettle full of water (about 2- 2 1/2  pints)  roughly cut up the scallions, pop in the whole garlic clove with the frozen peas, the nettles, watercress/spinach, mustard and stock/seasonings, pour on the boiling water, bring back to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  I use a hand blender to blend to a soup..add more water if needed (not too much as will dilute the flavour).  (If you want to use onions, instead of scallions then you will need to chop and fry them first in oil until golden, this will add 5-8mins to the time) That’s it your done…serve and slurp noisily from your spoon!

Do you want to make the olive bread too?…yey!  I made the BASIC RECIPE first and then, after poking around in the fridge, elected to add olives.
Basic Recipe
Equal amounts of any of the following;  brown rice flour, coconut flour (low carb), quinoa flour (high protein), kamut/ spelt flour (some find more easily digested than wheat..me for one).  Choose 2 plus 1/2 cup ground flax For this recipe I used
1 cup coconut /brown rice/quinoa flours
1/2 cup freshly milled flax
1 tbs mixed herbs
2 tsp ACV
1 tsp Himalayan salt
A little something extra…2 tbs chopped black olives.   *instead of the olives you could use sun dried tomatoes infused with garlic in oil. 
Sift flours into a bowl, add other ingredients then enough water to create a batter like consistency (you do not have to be too precise as the cooking process will absorb or evaporate the water…)  Mix well then pour into lightly oiled tins (aim for approx 3/4 inch deep…note, it doesn’t rise) and pop it into a hot over @ 175 degrees for approx 20 mins.  Poke the centre with a knife to see if it comes clean (it may stick a little if you use the brown rice flour due the starch).  Remove to a cooling rack…or if you are like me, don’t wait and rub a garlic clove on it and slather with vegan ‘butter’.   
I love this bread, it has no yeast, its vegan and low fat and has a good level of low GI.  If you use the coconut flour then it is low in carbs too.  What you put on top of it is up to you!

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