Bread & Butter
Page 5
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake the bread for 20 minutes, and then rotate the pan 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 1 hour before slicing.
sweet potato and sage pull-apart rolls
Although these rolls make a nice year-round addition to dinnertime, they were actually created for your Thanksgiving table. You can use fresh sweet potatoes and mash them up for this recipe to give it even more depth of flavor, and if sage is not your thing, both rosemary and thyme are excellent substitutes.
makes 12
¼ cup (33 GRAMS) cornmeal, for the baking sheet
1½ cups (339 GRAMS) warm rice milk (about 100°F)
3 tablespoons (66 GRAMS) agave nectar
2½ teaspoons active dry yeast
⅓ cup (70 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil
½ cup (165 GRAMS) canned sweet potato puree (at room temperature)
3 cups (300 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour
½ cup (96 GRAMS) potato starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons salt
⅓ cup (9 GRAMS) sage leaves, chopped
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, dust with cornmeal, and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the warm rice milk, agave nectar, and yeast. Stir once and set aside to proof until it bubbles, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the oil and sweet potato.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir until it is the consistency of a sticky dough. Fold in the sage.
Using a ½-cup measuring cup, scoop heaping portions of batter onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into squares. Leave no more than ½ inch between each roll on the pan. Cover the baking sheet with a dish towel and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake the rolls for 10 minutes, and then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 6 minutes. Let the rolls cool on the pan for 10 minutes before serving.
seeded rolls
I clumped three seeds together because they all cook at more or less the same rate and together they make each bite of this bread a multilayered experience. The beauty of these rolls is (a) that you use whatever you have in the pantry, and (b) seeds lend such a fun aftertaste. Also (c) these things can keep my daughter occupied for at least twenty minutes as she chases the escaped seedlings around the kitchen table with her tiny fingertips. I’ll take a twenty-minute break wherever and however it is available.
makes 8
4 teaspoons (18 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil, plus more for brushing the baking sheet
1¼ cups (282 GRAMS) warm water (about 100°F)
2 tablespoons (44 GRAMS) agave nectar
2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
1½ cups minus 2 tablespoons (138 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons (105 GRAMS) teff flour
¼ cup (48 GRAMS) potato starch
¼ cup (18 GRAMS) poppy seeds
¼ cup (40 GRAMS) sesame seeds
2 tablespoons (22 GRAMS) chia seeds
2 tablespoons (14 GRAMS) ground flaxseed (flax meal)
2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) vegan sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons (80 GRAMS) apple cider vinegar
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, brush parchment with oil, and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the warm water, agave nectar, and yeast. Stir once and set aside to proof until it bubbles, about 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, potato starch, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Pour in the oil, vinegar, and the yeast mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir until it is the consistency of cake batter. If the dough is too thick, add additional warm water one splash at a time.
Using a ½-cup measuring cup, scoop heaping portions of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet without fussing with them. Cover the baking sheet with a dish towel and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake the rolls for 10 minutes, and then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees. Bake until they are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 4 minutes. Let the rolls cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before serving.
sandwiches
It will come as no surprise to you that the ability to prepare a sandwich was a motivating factor in the development of this book of mostly savory bread recipes. All you working allergy-restricted adults understand, I’m sure, that sometimes it just isn’t possible to run down the lunch of your dreams, and there are days when you’ll make do with anything to get to the end of the day. But frankly, I’m bored with the expensive and humiliating experience of ordering a sandwich at a restaurant simply to eat its insides, which until recently has happened far too often.
The sandwiches that follow are some of my favorites, though there is no ceiling to what we can do here. I added a simple Cucumber Tea Sandwich to illustrate something delicious that you can muster with next to nothing in the fridge. There are also a few recipes—Roasted Fennel Sandwich with White Bean Spread, for example—that are a bit more detailed but that I’ve come to love as a deep-space exploration of what is possible now that we have bread.
vegetable club sandwich THE SMASHED GRILLED CHEESE avocado and arugula sandwich with walnut spread
ROASTED FENNEL SANDWICH WITH WHITE BEAN SPREAD cucumber tea sandwich
vegetable club sandwich
I set out to make my version of the classic club and here’s where I landed: kale, eggplant, avocado, and tomatoes. Trust me, this is one of those recipes that works even if it sounds like it shouldn’t. Best I can tell, it is the kale chips that push this thing over the top into glory-land. Don’t scrimp on them during assembly.
serves 6
2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil or olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ eggplant, peeled and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
6 Seeded Rolls
6 tablespoons (84 GRAMS) Mayonnaise
1 medium tomato, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
Kale Chips
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Line a large plate with paper towels and set aside.
Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a wide skillet set over low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring gently, until lightly browned, 1 to 1½ minutes. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl.
Add the remaining oil to the skillet, then add the eggplant slices and cook until they are browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the slices over and cook until the second side is browned and the eggplant is soft, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the eggplant to the paper towel–lined plate.
Cut the seeded rolls in half and spread each side with mayonnaise. Put 2 slices of eggplant on each of the bottom halves of the rolls. Top each with garlic, 2 slices of tomato, 4 slices of avocado, and 3 pieces of kale; season with salt and pepper. Top with the roll tops. Serve immediately.
the smashed grilled cheese
The art of the grilled cheese sandwich is passed down from generation to generation, each person building her own style and methodology on the shoulders of her forebearers and bringing it to the stovetop. I won’t pretend that I am your rule-toting chaperone on this voyage. I’ll just offer two quick notes: 1. BabyCakes bread, probably because of its heavy reliance on coconut oil, has a delightful way of melding with the cheese, so your go- to cheese selection may require some rethinking. 2. The Butter crisps sandwiches into something a
bit lighter than the occasionally chewy ones I remember from my youth (both a warning and a celebration!).
serves 6
1 loaf Sandwich Bread, cut into 12 (½-inch-thick) slices
¼ cup (56 GRAMS) Butter, softened
3 cups (339 GRAMS) grated vegan gluten-free cheese (I prefer Daiya or Teese)
Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter.
Heat a cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Put one piece of buttered bread, butter side down, in the skillet. Pile ½ cup of cheese on the bread, put a second slice of buttered bread on top, with the buttered side up, and cook until golden brown, about 1½ minutes. Flip the sandwich over and put a heavy pan on top of the sandwich to squish it. Cook until the second slice of bread is golden brown, another 1½ minutes. Transfer the sandwich to a cutting board and, using a pizza cutter, cut the sandwich in half diagonally. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.
avocado and arugula sandwich with walnut spread
The grocery store is my sanctuary. I often wander in knowing full well that there is nothing I need, simply to stroll the aisles. One recent aimless visit I stumbled onto walnut oil, something I’d never heard of before that moment. So I forked over my $19,143.08 (more or less) and I brought home the tiny, beautiful can. Whoa! It was a revelation. This recipe does not call for walnut oil, because it is too pricey for me to list it in good conscience (at home I divvy it up to myself in tiny weekly rations to make it last). Instead, this is my mock version of walnut oil, built as a spread, but capturing all the nutty richness I love most about it.
serves 6
WALNUT SPREAD
1 cup (100 GRAMS) walnuts
½ (15-ounce) can (212 GRAMS) navy beans, drained
2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tablespoon (15 GRAMS) fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon (3 GRAMS) salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Carrot Bread
2 cups (40 GRAMS) fresh arugula
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 tablespoons (30 GRAMS) fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a small skillet set over medium heat, toast the walnuts, shaking occasionally, until browned and fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove the nuts from the heat, let cool, and chop.
In a food processor, combine the navy beans, ¾ cup of the toasted walnuts, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, and the garlic and puree until smooth. Transfer the spread to a small bowl, add the salt, season with pepper, and fold in the remaining walnuts.
Slice two pieces of carrot bread. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the walnut spread on each slice. Top one side with arugula, avocado, a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Close and serve.
the sandwich bar
For the second time in my life, I am new to making sandwiches (the first time was circa 1983). But in writing this book I cast a very wide net to find which sandwiches were my favorites. Those that I like best got their own page, but there are a few that I just couldn’t shake. And, so, here are a few more ideas for using all that bread you’ve made.
Monte Cristo: Follow the French Toast recipe, adding a handful of vegan cheese (of them all, I prefer those made by Daiya) and a few slices of either a roasted vegetable or a fake meat (whatever you’re into). Cook as instructed and serve.
The Anything Parm: Whip up some bread crumbs using a day-old bread, lightly bread your favorite hearty vegetable (eggplant and portobello mushrooms are obviously perfect), and fry in oil on the stovetop until crisp. On a baking sheet, place 2 thick slices of bread and top each with the vegetables, a liberal dose of Pizza Sauce, and a small handful of vegan cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Close the sandwich and enjoy!
Grilled Cheese Croissant: Slice the croissant open. Sprinkle with a good bit of vegan cheese, close the sandwich, and grill in a small sauté pan set over medium heat for 3 minutes on each side, or until the cheese inside melts.
roasted fennel sandwich with white bean spread
I can indulge once in a while, right? This recipe is about as fancy as I get, with as many un-sweet steps as I’m comfortable assigning you. It’s not even that much work, though, come on! If you’d like to mess around with other roasted vegetables in place of the fennel, I find that sturdy vegetables like squash and eggplant work very well.
serves 6
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, cored, and sliced
3 tablespoons (42 GRAMS) olive oil
1 tablespoon (15 GRAMS) lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
WHITE BEAN SPREAD
2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) olive oil
¼ small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (15-OUNCE; 425-GRAM) can white beans, drained
3 tablespoons (45 GRAMS) fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon (2 GRAMS) chopped fresh rosemary
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 slices of the bread of your choice
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Arrange the fennel slices on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until tender, 20 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for 15 minutes.
Make the white bean spread: Heat the oil in a wide skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and let the mixture cool in the skillet for 5 minutes.
In a food processor, combine the onion mixture, beans, lemon juice, rosemary, and cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture is smooth but still slightly coarse.
To serve, spread a heaping tablespoon of the white bean spread over each piece of sliced bread. Put the fennel on half of the bread slices, sprinkle with a small pinch of salt and black pepper, top with the remaining bread slices, and serve.
cucumber tea sandwich
This sandwich is an excellent example of how perfection is often found in simplicity. It is delicate and light, and it plays as much on texture as it does on flavor. Buttered, untoasted bread is one of humankind’s truly great accomplishments.
serves 4
1 English cucumber, peeled and shaved into ribbons
Salt
4 tablespoons (56 GRAMS) Butter, softened
8 slices Sandwich Bread
1½ teaspoons snipped fresh dill
Freshly ground black pepper
In a medium bowl, sprinkle the cucumber ribbons lightly with salt, toss gently, and set aside.
Spread a spoonful of butter on one side of each slice of bread and fold a quarter of the cucumber in layers on one slice. Place some of the dill on top of the cucumber and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the other slice of bread on top, remove the crusts with a knife, and quarter the sandwich into equal squares. Continue until all the sandwiches are assembled.
pizza and focaccia
To avoid disagreement let’s just assume that there is a single platonic ideal of pizza crust. It veers thin but is not a cracker. Its texture is chewy though not doughy, and it can tolerate up to a couple of standard-issue toppings without being ruined. It is simple and perfect.
Jim Lahey, of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, is among this pizza crust’s modern masters, as are the most venerable NYC pizza houses, old and new: Coney Island’s Totonno’s, John’s of Bleecker Street in Manhattan, and Roberta’s in Brooklyn, especially. The gluten-free among us have likely never tried crusts like these (maybe several of you vegans haven’t either).
The Pizza Dough came about—you guessed it—by accident, as I was testing the three hundredth version of the glut
en- free croissant. I recklessly threw my usual ingredients into the bowl, rolled it out, and put it in the oven. Minutes later I realized I had forgotten to add the butter I’d created. As a croissant it was a disaster, but the flavor and texture were unmistakably crust-like. I scribbled down a few changes to the recipe, ran a few tests, and here we are. Welcome to the pizza party.
pizza dough WHOLE-GRAIN PIZZA DOUGH roasted vegetable pizza
PIZZA SAUCE pizza biscuits PIZZA WITH A SALAD ON TOP
focaccia in the style of italy FOCACCIA IN THE STYLE OF THE HIPPIES focaccia with onion, rosemary, and thyme
pizza dough
Flour, water, salt, yeast: For most pizza dough, that’s it. Say you have hypothetically had twenty pieces of pizza in your life: How many were terrible? My guess is that eleven were terrible. It is so easy to do it wrong. But you ate those slices down aggressively all the same, paying no mind, because it’s pizza. We love pizza. Later, though, maybe you paid deeply for your indulgence, curled up tight in your bed with abdominal anxiety, because gluten has no reciprocal affection for you. I love simplicity as much as the next baker, but for me to get a respectable dough taking all dietary restrictions to heart, things necessarily got a bit more … involved. But we made it. Let’s do it.
makes one 12-inch pizza crust