Bread

Vegan Spiced Stollen
初めてシュトーレン作ったよ（食べたよ）、しっかりスパイスきかせてみたよ。ヴィーガン。

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread.

It doesn’t seem like a too popular thing here in the U.S., (at least in the region where I live, I don’t know many people who buy, make, or eat it or talk about it).

For some reason, it’s extremely popular in Japan, and I see it everywhere on social media this time of the year.

I’ve wanted to make one myself the past few years, but I didn’t have a chance to do so until this year.

My stollen is very well spiced and packed with black walnuts (from my brother-in-law’s yad) and rum soaked fruits.

This was so delicious!!

I told myself to eat one slice a day, but that plan did not work well.

Once I eat a slice, I can’t stop!

I loved enjoying this stollen with a cup of black tea (yes, it’s all gone now).

I used this recipe (in Japanese) as a base.

https://cookpad.com/recipe/2060005

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December 8, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Gluten Free

V/GF Banana Kinako Buns and One Plate Breakfast
バナナきなこパン、朝食ワンプレート

You can really taste the banana and kinako (roasted soy bean powder).

If you like them, these are for you!

We enjoyed the buns with scrambled tofu, salad leaves, and persimmon.

I loved the taste, but they turned out a bit dry.

(It’s not a huge problem because they taste just fine with vegan butter!)

Next time I will adjust the amount of rice flour though.

By the way I smoothed the surface of a half, and I just dropped the dough for the other half.

That’s why they look a bit different.

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December 4, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free, Japanese Food, Salad, Soup/Stew, Uncategorized

V/GF Curried Cabbage Bread, with Japanese Oden Stew and Shungiku Apple Salad
ちゃちゃっとできちゃうカレーキャベツパン、そして、おでん、春菊りんごサラダでワンプレート

This bread is so easy and quick to make.

But it’s also so tasty!

That means I make it a lot.

This is the same bread as this one (below), with different fillings.

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2022/11/14/v-gf-tomato-onion-corn-basil-bread

This time I added curried cabbage, peas, and curried mayo.

It turned out great!

I put together a one-plate meal with the bread for lunch.

This is Japanese style stew called Oden.

The main base is Kombu stock and soy-sauce.

It’s an ultimate comfort food for me this time of the year.

This Shungiku apple salad was super refreshing.

I was happy that this plate turned out to be a not only tasty but healthy meal with lots of veggies!

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November 27, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free, Main Dish

2022 Thanksgiving
２０２２年感謝祭（サンクスギビング）

This year my mother-in-law came to join us for the Thanksgiving meal.

Some of the dishes were typical Thanksgiving ones, and others were not.

I wanted our meal to be tasty but not too heavy.

I like to have enough veggies to fill about a half of my plate.

I could skip mashed potatoes, but it is my husband’s favorite, so it has to be on the table.

I made garlic mashed potatoes.

The garlic adds extra flavor, so it doesn’t need too much butter.

The past several years I’ve made vegan roast from scratch, but this year we decided to try the Fieldroast’s product called Celebration Roast.

My husband even cooked it for me in the oven, and it turned out great.

It came with gravy, so the whole meal prep was super easy for me this year.

(I did not do a good job with adjusting my November work schedule this year, so I had to work long hours the day before…)

Vegan/gluten-free oatmeal rolls with Italian herbs.

We enjoyed the meal very much.

My mother-in-law, who is not vegan, is really awesome, and as usual she tried everything we served and even told us that she liked everything.

For the dessert, well, we didn’t have a pie.

Come back to see my next post to find out what we had instead.

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November 25, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free

V/GF Boule
かっこいい！米粉カンパーニュ

Who knew you could make such handsome bread gluten-free?!

I recently bought this book from Japan.

This book teaches you how to bake vegan/gluten-free bread with the use of a Staub pot.

The book arrived a few weeks ago, and I wanted to try a recipe as soon as I got it, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, I had to wait until this weekend.

That reason why I had to wait was because I didn’t have a proofing basket, and I needed to order one.

I had never used one before.

Using a proofing basked was recommended in the book.

I thought I could make bread without a basket, but the main reason I wanted to use it was to add the ring design.

I did use the basket, but the design was so subtle on the final result.

I don’t know why, but the bread still looked amazing!

(Nex time I may push the dough down a bit.)

I liked the crust, but I liked the inside even better!

It was exactly how I wanted it to be.

It’s far from being dense, which I was afraid it was going to be.

I think the key was NOT to knead/mix the dough much.

The book specifies the brand of rice flour.

I can’t get the specified Japanese brand product, so I used the Thai rice flour I usually use.

From my experience of using this particular flour I adjusted the amount of some ingredients, but it worked very well.

Delicious!!

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November 20, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free

V/GF Tomato Onion Corn Basil Bread
トマト玉ねぎコーンバジルパン

I baked this bread for breakfast this weekend.

It turned outgreat!

The recipe of the bread is from the new book I got from Japan.

The recipe used potatoes as a topping (the one on the front page), but I decided to go with tomatoes, corn, onion slices, and basil mayo.

Once it was baked, I sprinkled fresh basil.

Since it doesn’t take much time to make, it’s a perfect brad to prepare for breakfast.

Isn’t it great that you can enjoy freshly baked bread in the morning?

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November 14, 2022

by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free

V/GF Baguette, Again
米粉バゲット、再び。

Remember my recent attempt at making GF baguette?

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2022/10/29/v-gf-baguette

It turned out pretty good, but I wanted to have some holes inside.

So I tried agagin.

(Well, to tell you the truth, this is the third time. My second one turned out better on the outside, but it still did not have holes inside).

This time I baked it at a higher temperature and for a longer time, which helped creating the better look and flavor.

Now here is the test.

Well, this one created some small holes, which was much better than the first two.

This is not exactly what I hoped for, but this certainly gave me hope to continue this journey.

Here are two recipes I refer to (both in Japanese)…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=054ciyyEb7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFqBR4UiE_c

By the way, this (above) is the inside of my second baguette.

Notes for myself…

-More water

-Longer time for rising

-Bake at the lower rack

-Have steam inside oven

-Bake at a higher temp

-Use the broiler function at the end

This (above) was my second baguette.

And this (below) is my third baguette.

Which do you like better?

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November 13, 2022

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bread, Mushrooms, Potatoes/Squash, Soup/Stew

Grilled Matsutake
焼き松茸

Matsutake is considered a delicacy in Japan.

It’s something that is enjoyed only during the fall season, and yes people spend big bucks for it.

I was lucky because a friend gave them to me as a gift.

And she even gave me Sudachi as well.

Sudachi is a citrus fruit that typically accompanies Matsutake.

I simply grilled the Matsutake.

When the ingredient is tasty, you don’t want to do too much to it.

This one plate meal consisted of grilled matsutake, herb chickpea salad, cranberry-pecan Kabocha salad, mushroom soup, and toasted Boule.

Kabocha, homemade vegan mayo, salt, pepper, maple syrup, dry cranberries, pecan nuts.

Chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, yellow pepper, cumin, mint, basil, olive oil, white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper.

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November 6, 2022

by : Reiko Bread

Vegan Pan de Muerto
メキシコの死者のパン、パン・デ・ムエルト（ヴィーガン）

One of the things I love about living in the U.S. is that I am exposed to various cultures and I get learn new things.

Yes, with all the social media today, you can do so in any country today, but it is still different in the U.S. where there are actually people living here that are from other countries and bring their own culture and food!

I knew a bit about a Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead, but it was only a few days ago I found out that they enjoy a certain type of bread to celebrate it.

The shape definitely got my attention first.

It’s a unique one.

I did a little reading, and this is what I learned…

The round shape represents the circle of life and death, the crossed two pieces are bones and tears, and the ball on top is the skull of the deceased.

It’s so intriguing!

The Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 and 2, and you are supposed to enjoy this bread during the week leading up to it, so I was pressured to make it this weekend.

And I’m glad I did.

I looked at various recipes, and the main flavor used by almost all was orange.

I also saw anise being used in many recipes.

I did use orange, but I decided to go without anise because simply because I didn’t have it at hand.

Instead, I added the almond flavor.

They turned out amazing!!

They are so light and soft, and extremely flavorful, while not being oversweetened.

I absolutely loved it.

I saw some pan de muerto that had some kind of cream sandwiched, and I wanted to try it myself.

I sweetened my homemade vegan cream cheese with sugar, and then flavored with a little almond extract.

This was so good.

I used this recipe (English) as a base and veganized it.

https://theothersideofthetortilla.com/2020/10/pan-de-muerto-recipe/

Here are what I did differently….

-I used egg replacer for the egg

-I used coconut oil for the butter

-I used bread flour and all-purpose flour, half and half, simply because I didn’t have enough bread flour (I loved how it turned out, so I may do this again next time too.)

-I used orange zest and juice instead of orange blossom water

-I used soy milk for the whole milk

-I used almond extract for the vanilla extract