The August challenge, and my first, from Fresh From the Oven was to make a whole wheat walnut bread.   Like the Daring Bakers, Fresh From the Oven has a new challenge, hosted by one of its members, every month.    For July our host was Sarah from Simply Cooked who chose her recipe from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave.

After some sourdough mishaps, I feel I have lost confidence in my bread making abilities, and am delighted to have joined Fresh From the Oven, and to have the nudge to make bread once a month and am looking forward to building my skills.

I pretty much followed Sarah’s recipe to the letter, but, my sponge starter was made with 50% white / 50% whole wheat flour, and I was out of walnuts and so used pecans instead.  I really like the sponger starter method, and will be using it again as I think that it gives far more flavour and hit of sourdough character to the loaf.   

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread
adapted from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave
makes 2 loaves

1 t active dry yeast, divided
2 c (500 ml) lukewarm water (95 – 110F, 35 – 45C), divided
3 c (380 g) plain bread flour, divided
1 T honey
1 T olive or walnut oil
1 1/2 c (180 g) stone-ground whole wheat flour
1/4 c (40 g) semolina flour, oat flour, or more whole wheat flour
1 t sea salt
1 1/2 c (175 g) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

First prepare the sponge starter. Dissolve 1/2 t yeast in 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a medium bowl. Let proof until bubbly, about 5 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 c (190 g) bread flour and stir until a thick batter forms. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature to rise and bubble for 6 to 8 hours. The starter is ready to use now or can be put in the fridge overnight. (Bring it back to room temperature before using.)

Dissolve the remaining 1/2 t yeast with the 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let proof for about 5 minutes.
Add the sponge starter and mix well. Stir in the honey, oil, whole wheat flour, semolina flour or oat flour (if using), and salt.
Add 1 1/4 c (160 g) of the remaining bread flour gradually to form a stiff dough.
Add the walnuts.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for ten minutes, adding as much of the reserved flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Grease the bowl and return the dough, turning it to coat it in oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise until it is doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two pieces and form into loaves. Place on a baking pan and leave them to rise again, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 F/205 C for 30 to 40 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a wire rack.

Ready for the Oven

Delicious.   We had several slices warm with butter, the rest will be for breakfast tomorrow and the second loaf will be sliced and squeezed into the freezer.

Many thanks to Sarah for an excellent challenge and I am looking forward to seeing what August brings.

London is hot hot hot and humid to boot.    I am positively enjoying my supermarket trips at the moment as I linger  and closely examine every object in the frozen section.    And what better for these hot summer mornings than ice cream for breakfast?    This is totally healthy, unprocessed, raw and vegan and tastes fantastic.   What better way to start (or end) your hot summer days?

This is another contribution to my series of easy, economical and healthy recipes of what to do with the contents of the co-op “boxes” for the Food Co-ops and Buying Groups project run by Sustain – also part of the Making Local Food Work programme funded by the Big Lottery.

The secret behind this ice cream is blended frozen banana which has been written about all over the internet many times before.   When put into the food processor the frozen banana transforms into a fluffy creamy mousse like ice cream, add some milk and it makes the perfect smoothie base.    Try it and be amazed!  Peel and slice the bananas into 2″ pieces and freeze on a baking tray.  When frozen pack into boxes.   I now always have several boxed of bananas and soft fruit in the freezer for smoothies and ice cream.     I think that this would also be perfect for fruit hating children.

Banana & Strawberry Ice “Cream” (serves 2)

3 frozen bananas
handful frozen strawberries
handful fresh strawberries
Cacao nibs to sprinkle (optional)

Put the banana and strawberries into your food processor and leave for a few minutes to slightly soften and then process.   Depending how powerful your machine is you may need to add a little milk and scrape the sides of the bowl down to speed the process along.      The fruit will slowly transform into a fluffy whipped ice “cream” resembling Mr Whippy ice cream.    Serve immediately with some more fresh fruit and a sprinkling of cacao nibs.   Eat immediately.

At some stage I’ll put together a breakfast index on the blog to compile all the events.   Shamefully I have failed to make myself an Asian breakfast apart from my regular tofu scramble.  I have had a huge amount going on which I will write about soon.

Liz from Cooking the Vegan Books made a Chinese Tofu Scramble.  I am a huge fan of scrambled tofu and will be making this one soon.  Liz has an encyclopedic knowledge of vegan cookbooks, and has been a recipe tester for lots of them.     If you are looking to buy a new cookbook do pop over to her blog and read some of her recipe reviews.

Rachana from Sizzle and Spice sent 3 recipes for the event.    She says she is a realtively new blogger but has a huge amount of energy and posts far more than I ever have time for.     She is also a fellow knitter, crocheter and stitcher – all of which both Sarah and I are keen on.

First up are some Chawli Vada/ Black- Eyed Pea Fritters which are just the sort of thing I love for breakfast (or at any other time!)

Next are some Potato Masala N Sesame Toasts  – French Toast Indian Style.  These look excellent too.

Her third entry was Kulith/ Horsegram Dosa.   I had not heard of Horsegram before, apparently it is a legume that is usually used as cattle feed, but is also full of iron, protein & calcium and was brought from India for Rachana when she had her daughter as it is meant to be excellent for new mums!     I am inspired to try some dosas for future breakfasts – but am unsure if I could find horsegram in London!

Akheela of Torview Toronto sent a recipe for sweet savoury semolina which is eaten in Sri Lanka for breakfast and has the bonus of being quick and easy to prepare.   It looks great!

Her second entry were some delicious looking milk rice kiribaths.   I think that these would be great for a packed lunch too!

Mary-Rose who usually writes about Maltese food at Did You Put Garlic made a Baby Clam Rolled Omelette with Ssamjang.   Apparently Ssamjang is dangerously addictive – I have actually never had ssamjang and am sure that it will appeal to my chilli loving taste buds.

Nayna at Simply Food sent a Betawa Pawa – a breakfast snack of beaten rice and vegetables.  I think that beaten rice is what I would call rice flakes and it can be eaten raw, making it a popular convience food.

Her second recipe are some delicious Bajra ni puri which are deep fried to puffy perfection!  These are made with millet flour which I have not used before.

Angela at the wonderfully named Velvet Kerfuffle made some Steamed Eggs (Chawanmushi or Steamed Eggs), which were her childhood equivalent of chicken noodle soup when she was sick.   They look delicious and I think that they would be great as light supper dish too.

Another blog that is new to me is Saranya’s which is full of wonderful Indian home cooking.    She sent me two recipes, Spicy Dill Leaves Idlies, which are spiced semolina and coconut patties, I can’t quite work out how coconut and dill will taste together, but Saranya says they were a big hit!

Her second recipe was for Semiya Upma a spicy vermicelli that looks very tasty.

Lastly was Sarah with some coconut pancakes another dish she enjoyed on her epic trip to Sri Lanka earlier this year, that inspired the egg hoppers that lead to the theme for Breakfast Club #1 being Asian.

Many thanks to everyone that has taken part – if I have missed anyone please mail me and I’ll add you in – all the recipes look lovely.

I am going to ask my contact at Clearspring to choose a winner!

Sarah is hosting Breakfast Club #2 for July and will be announcing the theme shortly!   We hope to get a prize for this one too so do keep an eye out for the announcement!

I have not seen my friend Sue for seemingly eons, so I texted her yesterday and asked her over for brunch.   She is having a work crisis but said she would love to pop by for an hour.   As she is a self confessed chocoholic I designed these muffins just for her.

These follow my usual muffin recipe;  but in these the orange zest reacts with the baking powder when you mix the wet and dry ingredients together giving the batter a fluffy almost moussy consistency.     We scoffed these when they were still warm, enjoying the still molten chocolate chips.   The photos are not going to win me any prizes, obviously we were keen to eat them as soon as possible.

Double Chocolate Cranberry and Orange Muffins (makes 4 medium muffins)

“Dry” Ingredients
4.5oz plain flour
1.5oz  sugar
0.5oz cocoa powder
Finely Grated zest of one small orange
1 Large tbs chocolate chips
1 tbs cranberries (I snipped the larger ones in half)
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
4.5oz  milk (I use soy)
1.5oz  sunflower oil

Whisk the oil and milk mixture with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

Madhuram of Egg Less Cooking is challenging us to “Bake anything egg less using one or more of the whole grain forms of quinoa (whole quinoa, whole grain quinoa flour, quinoa flakes, quinoa cereal, etc).“  As I have  a) not taken part in a foodblogging event for ages and b) bake almost everything without eggs  I was keen to take part.   The obvious thing for me to make was, of course, muffins!      Muffins are one of my favourite things to bake and are a weekend breakfast tradition.

I used whole quinoa which I soaked overnight in apple juice then followed my usual vegan muffin recipe.   When baked the quinoa retained a some texture and crunch, the muffins were OK – far better with some jam and I want to try them again with some modifications.

Quinoa and Banana Muffins (makes 6)

“Dry” Ingredients
1 oz / 25g quinoa – soaked overnight in 3fl oz / 75ml apple juice
4.5oz / 110g plain flour
1.5oz / 35g sugar
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
5oz / 125ml apple juice and milk*
1oz / 25ml sunflower oil
1 banana

Whizz the wet ingredients together using a stick blender.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen and dark golden.

These were far better with some fig jam.

* I used the remainder of the apple juice that the quinoa had been soaking in, made up to volume with soy milk.

Notes: I was not ecstatic with these.   I think that next time they need a little more oil, a different sugar to plain granulated and would benefit with some dried fruit or nuts.   I really liked the texture of the quinoa which I think would be lost if I used it pre cooked rather than soaked.

Many thanks to Madhuram for hosting and I am looking forward to seeing the round up!

Thanks to the awesome Sheri at Green and Crunchy I have a new favourite breakfast, it is quick to throw together and utterly delicious. This really is a non recipe as it is so easy, but an inspired idea and so quick as the tortillas defrost so fast you do not even need to remember to get them out of the freezer more than a few minutes before you need them.

I spread my tortilla with peanut butter, and added a good sprinkle of sunflower, pumpkin & hemp seeds then added a finely chopped apricot and topped with a ripe banana and rolled and ate.   Absolutely yummy and so easy.

Thanks Sheri!

Pin Head Oatmeal (Top), Rolled Oats (left), Oat Groats (Right)

I wanted the title of this post to be just Perfect Porridge, but porridge is one of those dishes that elicits a huge variety of opinions as to what is right; porridge afficinados will debate the type of oats, cooking pot, cooking liquid and stirring implement.  Every year the Golden Spurtle runs a porridge cookoff with contestents from all over the world, bringing their own oats, water and spoon / spurtle / spurkle / theevil or theedle.    One of the things that I love about the foodie world is how something as seemingly simple as porridge can become so complicated.

My primary breakfast need is something that will keep me full and satisfied until lunchtime, and porridge made entirely from rolled oats does not seem to work for me; Sophie gave an excellent explanation why porridge does not fill some people up which is well worth a read.    The benefits of oats (mainly soluble fibre which reduces chlorestrol) made me want to perserve with them for my breakfast so I started to experiment.   In the end I found that a mix of equal quantities of rolled, oat groats and steel cut oat meal produced the perfect porridge for me.

Oat groats are a whole grain and are mainly used for animal feed, happily Whole Foods sells both groats and pin head oatmeal (very cheaply) and I buy about 7lb of each every autumn to see me through the winter.   Because oat groats are such a large grain they need far more cooking; or soaking overnight.   Even after soaking and cooking they still retain a little bit of bite and give some texture to the porridge.    There is more about oat groats here.

Helen’s Perfect Porridge

Make a mix of 1/3 rolled oats, 1/3 steel cut oat meal and 1/3 oat groats by volume.

I find that an American half cup measure (3oz) with twice the volume of milk is just the right amount per person, so for 2 you need 6oz (1 cup) of mix and then 2 cups of milk* (this is just under a pint – leave enough for your coffee and there should be the right amount).    Put the oat mix in a saucepan, pour the milk over and soak overnight, in the morning cook over a gentle heat, stirring, until thickened.

Being diary milk adverse I use homemade soy & oat milk made in my Soyquick machine, using 2/3 soy beans, 1/3 oat groats.

We have a tradition of having muffins for breakfast on weekend mornings.   Based on my basic muffin recipe these are easy to whip up first thing in the morning.   Using a mixture of spelt and wheat flour makes the muffins more cake like (if you do not have spelt flour use all plain flour), the bran provides a good measure of fiber.   Using soft dark brown sugar and leaving it slightly lumpy will produce caramelised specks in the baked muffins.

Spiced Apple Bran Muffins (Makes 6 medium muffins)

Dry Ingredients
4 ½oz flour (I used half plain and half wholemeal spelt)
1 ½oz soft dark brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
½tsp  ground all spice
½tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1 grated apple

Wet Ingredients
4 ½oz milk (diary or non diary)
1 ½oz sunflower oil

Mix the dry ingredients well so each piece of apple is coated and not sticking ot the others, whisk the wet.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen and dark golden.

We have a tradition of having muffins for breakfast at weekends which has been neglected for some months and I was missing my muffins; so I resolved to make some this morning.    It is now November and a murky, wet, grey morning so a warming, spiced muffin was required and there was a lonely sweet potato in the bottom of the fridge that needed using up which made its way into the muffin.

These were perfect for this morning with coffee, warming and delicious.   My sugar had got slightly damp and I did not sieve all the lumps out which left partially caramalised little pockets of sugar throughout the muffins adding to the deliciousness!

I have my basic muffin formula down to a fine art  – equal weights of wet and dry ingredients with an optional* egg if you a) are in the mood, b) have any or c) eat them.     I find that I can generally add about up to half as much again of any other ingredient can be added to the batter without tweaking the amounts of wet and dry ingredients as long as your extra ingredient has approximately the same consistency and wetness as plain muffin batter.

*I am generally a huge fan of baking (and mainly eating) vegan as it suits me, is better for the environment and what can be better than being able to bake with no notice without needing any fresh ingredients?

Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins (makes 6 small muffins)

Dry Ingredients
4 ½oz flour (I used half plain and half wholemeal spelt)
1 ½oz soft dark brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
½tsp  ground all spice
½tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt

Wet Ingredients
4 ½oz milk (diary or non diary)
1 ½oz sunflower oil
3 oz mashed sweet potato

Fisrt make your mashed sweet potato – I peeled mine and put in a bowl with a little water and microwaved for 3 mins and then mashed with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet (I blitzed with a stick blender).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen and dark golden.