My mom's birthday landed on Super Bowl Sunday. Happy Birthday again, Mom. So we had a shindig over at my place. Vegan lasagne (which passed with flying colors with the omnivores) a big salad with lots of topping choices, garlic roasted cauliflower, a lemon cake made by my 94 year old grandma and a raspberry lime concoction of a cake made by &.
And bread. Brought by my brother and his girlfriend. Delicious, yummy, really good bread. It wasn't quite at the point where it was ready. Well, let's just say they brought the dough and their toppings and put it together and baked it in my oven. And since it was SO good, and since they left the photocopy of the recipe they used behind. Here is a summation of my thought process. "Recycle recipe in the paper bin? Or.... delicious bread recipe that is Vegan but needs a little tweak or two to make it work with what I have on hand. The recipe is in my hand, and they made it in my oven so I know it's going to work and be exactly the texture I've been looking for in garlic bread, rolls, pizza crust. Oh my."
No contest. I have claimed this sucker as my own. And last night, I made the final tweak, wrote down the exact measurements, and even made half the batch a pizza crust. (More on that later...) (as well as the recipe for the requested "cactus bread" -- an addictive cinnamon sugar bread that could possibly call this recipe "mother".)
Here is my version that is every bit as good as my bro's bread. (And Matt, if you want that recipe back, it has seen better days, just sayin.)
Bread:
3 teaspoons yeast
1 cup warm water (110-115 f)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 TBSP canola or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour + additional (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) to knead into dough as needed. (I used mix of unbleached white and whole wheat pastry flour)
Italian Garlic Deliciousness aka Topping:
1 TBSP Earth Balance at room temperature
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP Italian seasonings
3/4 TBSP red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of salt
Vegan Mozzarella if you wish (Or Vegan Parmesan) or both.
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water in a medium mixing bowl. Add sugar (you need the sugar to feed the yeast, don't leave it out). Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. (it will bubble and foam like a freaky science experiment.) Add the oil, salt, water and 2 cups of flour. Stir into a soft dough. Dump onto a floured surface, sprinkle more flour on top and knead until smooth and elastic (6 minutes or so). You will need to sprinkle more flour as you knead. Don't over do...a TBSP here and there. Place the dough into a bowl (either greased or floured). Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled. 30-40 minutes.
Grease a pan a 9x9, a pizza stone, or a jelly roll pan. (I used a baking stone and totally recommend the texture, a little spray of cooking oil will help, too. Just a bit.) Preheat oven to 450. Put dough into the middle of the pan. Press dough evenly flat about 1/3-1/2 thick, you don't want it real thin. Will make a round circle that won't stretch all the way to the edge of the pizza stone, or a rectangle about 3/4 the size of a jelly roll pan. Let dough sit for 5 minutes. While it's sitting combine the topping ingredients. Spread on dough. Add cheeses if you are. Bake at 450 18-21 minutes til it's golden brown and gives off a heavenly smell. If you are using cheese and want it bubbly, you could broil it to finish it off. Slice with a pizza cutter into wedges or squares. Serves 4-8 people.
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