Bread & Butter

by Erin McKenna

  1 cup (226 GRAMS) warm rice milk (about 100°F)

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) vegan sugar

  2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

  ¾ cup (144 GRAMS) potato starch

  ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons (112 GRAMS) brown rice flour

  ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (68 GRAMS) arrowroot

  2 teaspoons salt

  1 teaspoon xanthan gum

  ⅓ cup (70 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil

  In a small bowl, combine the warm rice milk, sugar, and yeast. Stir once and set aside until it bubbles, about 10 minutes.

  In a medium bowl, whisk together the potato starch, rice flour, arrowroot, salt, and xanthan gum. Add the coconut oil and yeast mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir until a thick dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2 hours.

  whole-grain pizza dough

  This here’s a hippie recipe for all my lovely hippie friends. I’ve swapped whole-grain oat flour for the rice flour I used in the recipe for Pizza Dough and added omega-3-rich flax meal to make it slightly more nutritious for your hippie babies. Because of these new ingredients, this dough is chewier than the basic recipe, but it’s really delicious because of that quality. To get a bit of extra crunch to your pizza, sprinkle the baking sheet with cornmeal, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds before baking.

  makes one 12-inch pizza crust

  1 cup (226 GRAMS) warm rice milk (about 100°F)

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) vegan sugar

  2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

  1 cup (100 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour

  ½ cup minus 1 tablespoon (84 GRAMS) potato starch

  ½ cup (60 GRAMS) arrowroot

  2½ tablespoons (18 GRAMS) ground flaxseed (flax meal)

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon xanthan gum

  ¼ cup (56 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil

  In a small bowl, combine the warm rice milk, sugar, and yeast. Stir once and set aside to proof until it bubbles, about 10 minutes.

  In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, potato starch, arrowroot, ground flaxseed, salt, and xanthan gum. Add the coconut oil and yeast mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir until a thick dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

  roasted vegetable pizza

  My bakery’s pantry reveals that I am mostly a straight shooter: chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, fruit, vegetables. We do have the occasional elaborate flavor combo indulgence, sure, but mostly it is a purist enterprise. But of course, many of you are out for knowledge, and I appreciate that. So to scratch that itch, I tested out a bunch of methods for putting some of my favorite vegetables on pizza dough. As always, if you can spare it, those extra few bucks you spend at the produce market are worth it.

  serves 10

  1 medium zucchini

  ½ medium eggplant

  2 tablespoons (30 GRAMS) fresh lemon juice

  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

  ¼ cup (56 GRAMS) olive oil, plus more for drizzling

  Pizza Dough or Whole-Grain Pizza Dough

  1½ cups (189 GRAMS) Pizza Sauce

  ¼ cup (50 GRAMS) black olives, chopped

  ⅓ cup (12 GRAMS) fresh basil leaves, torn

  Preheat the oven to 450°F.

  Trim the ends off the zucchini and eggplant and discard. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini lengthwise to create ribbons. Put the zucchini in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Using a knife, slice the eggplant into thin rings. Put the eggplant in a separate small bowl and coat with the olive oil. Let both sit for 30 minutes.

  Between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll out the pizza dough into a circle about ¼ inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Transfer the dough and bottom parchment to a baking sheet. Spread the pizza sauce over the dough, beginning in the center and working in circles outward, and layer it with the zucchini, eggplant (including the oil from the eggplant), and olives. Drizzle with additional oil, top with the basil, and season with salt and pepper.

  Bake for 15 minutes, and then rotate the sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the bottom is browned and crispy, 10 minutes. Let the pizza cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before serving.

  pizza sauce

  You probably have your own recipe for this. Or maybe there is a jarred version you love or that your kids love. This is mine—or at least the one I have subconsciously developed from similar recipes ingredient by ingredient over the years. It’s almost embarrassingly simple.

  makes 3½ cups

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) olive oil

  ¼ small yellow onion, chopped

  2 garlic cloves, minced

  1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

  ½ teaspoon dried basil

  ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Heat the oil in a wide skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, and red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. That’s it. That’s my recipe. Ta-da!

  pizza biscuits

  For most office-dwelling people I know, the cost of having good health benefits and bank holidays off is that “lunch” means having something delivered to your desk so as not to miss even one minute of the hot business action. I’m no exception, except my office happens to be in the basement of a bakery. To make missing lunch tolerable, I stuff small snacks into my bag until nothing else can fit. In order to make sure there is guaranteed space, a pizza biscuit is the first thing I add.

  makes 12

  1 recipe dough for Biscuits

  ¼ small yellow onion, chopped

  6 cherry tomatoes, halved

  1½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

  1 teaspoon dried oregano

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1½ cups (170 GRAMS) grated or shredded vegan gluten-free cheese (I prefer Daiya or Teese)

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil

  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

  Put the biscuit dough in a large bowl.

  In a medium bowl, toss together the onion, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and oregano, and season with salt. Add the vegetable mixture and the cheese to the biscuit dough and stir until well incorporated.

  Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper. Using your hands, push the dough out into a circle or rectangle about 2 inches thick. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out the biscuits and put them on the prepared sheet about 1 inch apart. Brush the biscuits with coconut oil and sprinkle the tops with salt and pepper.

  Bake for 12 minutes, and then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the biscuits are cooked through and the outsides are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

  pizza with a salad on top

  This one is straight out of 1996. I woke up one morning, perhaps a tiny bit hungover in the college sense of the word, and suddenly all the pizzas in the world were covered with salads. They all had Hidden Valley Ranch as their dressing, and I didn’t mind! They sold for $5.99, which was always $4.99 more than I had, but eventually I scrimped and saved up enough to get one. It was at Blondie’s Pizza in San Francisco. I ate it and loved it. And then I went home and suffered, like I always did back then, well before I knew that gluten was secretly making my life painful. As soon as I managed to get the pizza dough recipe all worked out, I put a salad together, plopped it on top, and ate it. I love you, 1996.

  serves 10

  4 cups (596 GRAMS) sliced cherry tomatoes

  3 tablespoons (42 GRAMS) olive oil

  2 garlic cloves, minced

  3 tablespoons (2 GRAMS) fresh oregano leaves, torn

  Coarse salt and freshly
ground black pepper

  Pizza Dough or Whole-Grain Pizza Dough

  2 cups (40 GRAMS) arugula

  ¼ cup (40 GRAMS) thinly sliced red onion

  3 tablespoons (45 GRAMS) red wine vinegar

  Preheat the oven to 450°F.

  Put all but ½ cup of the tomatoes into a medium bowl. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the garlic, toss in the oregano, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix gently and set aside.

  Between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll out the pizza dough into a circle about ¼ inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Transfer the dough and bottom parchment to a baking sheet. Top the pizza dough with the tomato mixture in an even layer.

  Bake for 20 minutes, and then rotate the sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is browned and crisp, 15 minutes.

  In a small bowl, combine the arugula, red onion, and remaining ½ cup tomatoes. Drizzle in the vinegar and remaining 1 tablespoon oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss gently. Arrange the salad on top of the pizza and serve immediately.

  focaccia in the style of italy

  Before I opened BabyCakes I was, among other things, a waitress. The highlight of that career was working at Lupa, a Mario Batali restaurant in Manhattan then helmed by chef Mark Ladner, the genius now at New York City’s four-star Del Posto. Every day his staff pumped out sheet after sheet of the most beautiful focaccia known to man, as the waitstaff ogled it like sad hungry puppies. But nobody gawked more than I did: By then my gluten sensitivity was in full bloom and focaccia was completely forbidden. This recipe is for all those sheets that passed me by, and have passed you by as well.

  serves 10

  ¼ cup (33 GRAMS) cornmeal

  ½ cup (112 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil, plus more for brushing the baking sheet

  1⅓ cups (256 GRAMS) potato starch

  1 cup (140 GRAMS) brown rice flour

  ¾ cup (75 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour

  1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (112 GRAMS) arrowroot, or more if needed

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) vegan sugar

  1 tablespoon (15 GRAMS) baking powder

  2 teaspoons salt

  2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

  2 teaspoons xanthan gum

  1 cup (240 GRAMS) lukewarm coconut milk

  ½ cup (113 GRAMS) lukewarm rice milk

  Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle one with the cornmeal and set it aside.

  Pour the coconut oil onto the other parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The oil will harden into a thin, solid sheet that will be broken into pieces later.

  In a large bowl, whisk together the potato starch, flours, arrowroot, sugar, baking powder, salt, yeast, and xanthan gum. Add the lukewarm coconut milk and rice milk and, using a rubber spatula, stir until the dough pulls away easily from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too thin, add 1 tablespoon arrowroot at a time. If the dough is too dry, add a splash of lukewarm water.

  Transfer the dough to the cornmeal-lined baking sheet and gently spread it out with your fingertips until the dough is about 1 inch thick and has distinct fingerprint dimples throughout. Brush the dough with oil, cover with a dish towel, and let it rise for 1 hour.

  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

  Remove the hardened coconut oil from the refrigerator and break it into pieces approximately ½ inch in width. Put the coconut oil shards in each dimple in the dough. If there are pieces left over, push them randomly into the dough.

  Bake for 15 minutes, and then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 10 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

  focaccia in the style of the hippies

  To some, eating too much white food is scary, and I totally get that. When I’m feeling like I want to get some added nutrition credit I make this recipe, which includes a lot of fiber and whole grain but is still salty and chewy and doused with oil. It’s a personal favorite. Then I have an extra cookie for dessert.

  serves 10

  ½ cup (112 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil, plus more for brushing the baking sheet

  2 cups (200 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour

  1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (204 GRAMS) potato starch

  ¾ cup (90 GRAMS) arrowroot, or more if needed

  3 tablespoons (21 GRAMS) ground flaxseed (flax meal)

  1 tablespoon (15 GRAMS) baking powder

  2 teaspoons salt

  2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

  1 teaspoon xanthan gum

  2 tablespoons (44 GRAMS) agave nectar

  ½ cup (120 GRAMS) lukewarm coconut milk

  1 cup (226 GRAMS) lukewarm rice milk

  Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

  Pour the coconut oil onto one of the prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The oil will harden into a thin, solid sheet that will be broken into pieces later.

  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch, arrowroot, ground flaxseed, baking powder, salt, yeast, and xanthan gum. Add the agave nectar and lukewarm milks, and, using a rubber spatula, stir until the dough pulls away easily from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too thin, add 1 tablespoon arrowroot at a time. If the dough is too dry, add a splash of lukewarm water.

  Transfer the dough to the second prepared baking sheet and gently spread it out with your fingertips until the dough is about 1 inch thick and has deep fingerprint dimples throughout. Brush the dough with oil, cover with a dish towel, and let rise for 1 hour.

  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

  Remove the hardened coconut oil from the refrigerator and break it into pieces approximately ½ inch in width. Put the coconut oil shards in each dimple in the dough. If there are pieces left over, push them randomly into the dough.

  Bake for 15 minutes, and then rotate the sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 5 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

  focaccia with onion, rosemary, and thyme

  Your boss is coming over for dinner. Or maybe it’s that neighbor woman you dislike but who is still kind of a pal and whose husband is friendly with your husband and her husband is better than all your husband’s other lame friends and you want to foster their relationship. You decide that hosting is a better idea than going to her house. You need something cheap and easy but glitzy enough that you don’t look lazy or like a grouch. This is the recipe for you.

  serves 10

  ½ small yellow onion, sliced

  ¼ cup (52 GRAMS) melted unscented coconut oil

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 recipe dough for Focaccia in the Style of Italy

  2 garlic cloves, minced

  Leaves from 1 sprig rosemary (1 teaspoon)

  Leaves from 1 sprig thyme (1½ teaspoons)

  Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

  In a medium bowl, toss the onions with 2 tablespoons of the oil and a pinch of salt. Spread the onions on the prepared baking sheet and roast until they are golden, 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.

  Spread the onions evenly over the prepared focaccia dough, brush with the remaining oil, and sprinkle the garlic, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper over the top.

  Bake for 15 minutes, and then rotate the sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the crust is golden, 10 minutes. Let the focaccia cool in the pan for 15 minutes before cutting.

  this is for the kids

  I have a daughter now! She is two and a half, shares none of my dietary complications, and loves to stare deep inside the dishwasher for … something. The point is: I’m learning how to keep a child entertained in the kitchen.

  What I’m finding is that kids are really just adults who are not bound by all those irritating rules we’re encouraged to live by as actual adults. When they want to scream, they scream. If they don’t like something, they throw it
on the ground. The way to deal with people like this, young or old, is often with sweets and/or cheese. This chapter has plenty of both.

  Here you’ll find a fun method for sweetening up bananas and bundling them into doughy little sleep sacks. There are Potato and Cauliflower Tots, my Cheez-It knockoff, and the almighty quesadilla. There is also a Butter and Jelly Bread that, no joke, I’ve been making every week since developing the recipe. You are going to love it. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll bring your household blissful, if temporary, silence.

  cheese-its BUTTER CRACKERS crispy banana and almond butter roll-up

  QUESADILLAS butter and jelly bread POTATO AND CAULIFLOWER TOTS

  raging party mix

  cheese-its

  I’ll say right up front that I was unable to replicate the electric-orange hue found in this cracker’s namesake. I did manage to zero in on that sharp and salty taste, though! Mine is a bit nearer a cheese crisp—a little chewy at times, a bit crispy at others. Want it cheesier? Reduce the flour by half, but know that they will end up quite chewy (not a bad thing!).

  makes 46 crackers

  ½ cup (70 GRAMS) brown rice flour

  ½ cup (50 GRAMS) gluten-free oat flour

  ⅓ cup (64 GRAMS) potato starch

  ¼ cup (33 GRAMS) cornmeal

  2 tablespoons (28 GRAMS) vegan sugar

  2 teaspoons xanthan gum

  1 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling