This recipe is from Ultimate Bread by Treuille & Ferrigno. I’ve found this book useful both for its breadth of recipes as well as detailed instructions concerning all the steps of the process. It was also already in the house, and thus won on convenience. I’d still like a copy of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice (and Crust & Crumb) but this will have to do until there is more discretionary income.

Pide is a Turkish seeded bread. I did not have the seeds the recipe called for (nigella), so I used white sesame seeds on one and zaatar on other. This is a delicious, simple, and versatile bread, which worked great not only for eating alone, but also in strips alongside soup or dip or spread with Spiked avocado or even split the long way as a base for toaster oven pizza using assorted leftovers. It was just like French bread pizza.

Pide

Ingredients

• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• nigella seeds (or sesame seeds, zaatar, etc)

1. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into 1/2 cup of the water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve.

2. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl. Make a well

in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast and the olive oil.

3. Mix in the flour. Stir in the remaining water, as needed, to form a firm, soft dough

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth, supple, and elastic, about 15 minutes. (Initially, the dough will be quite stiff. It will soften and stretch gradually as you continue kneading.)

5. Put the dough in a clean, oiled bowl, turning it to coat evenly with the oil. Cover with a dish towel, then let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then let it rest for 10 minutes.

6. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. On a lightly floured baking sheet, roll out each piece of dough to form a ~10″ round, ~1/4″ thick. Cover with a dish towel and proof for 20 minutes.

7. Use the blunt edge of a knife draw four parallel lines across the top of each dough round, then four more perpendicular to those to make a criss-cross pattern. They, uh, should be deeper than mine were.

8. Brush the rounds with a soymilk or water glaze and sprinkle with your topping of choice.

9. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 10-15 minutes, until puffy and lightly colored.

Optionally (but I always like to), add steam. When the bread is put in to bake, use a mister to spray the sides of the oven with water. Do it again after two minutes, then after another two minutes for a third time. This improves the texture of the crust.

Pictures from my first try, when I scored too gently:

Before baking:

Mini Corn Muffins (Sunny or Spicy)

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar (if you like your muffins very sweet, use more)
• 1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
• 3/4 cup soymilk
• 2 Tbsp soy yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp finely grated lemon zest (I’ve subbed ~1 tsp lemon juice in a pinch)
• (Optional) 1-2 chipotle chilis with 1-2 tsp adobo sauce
• (Optional) 1 cup frozen (or fresh) corn

Preheat oven to 400.

Sift all the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and sugar) into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, except lemon. (If using chilis, first put them in a mini food processor or chopper with the soymilk or chop finely by hand and then mix in.)

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, add the lemon and distribute well. Gently fold in the corn.

Oil muffin pans (sprays work great for this) and fill each 2/3 full. If you like things pretty, top each muffin with a single kernel of corn or a light dusting of large-crystal sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes for min-muffins or 20-25 minute for regular-sized, until a toothpick comes out clean or the tops are beautifully golden, or you simply run out of patience.

These are great warm with a shmear of Earth Balance.

One of the flavors I made after the crowds were gone was this maple praline pecan. I found the praline recipe as part of another ice cream recipe and just winged it for the base. Don’t be fooled by how embarrassingly easy it is! Even cow’s milk folks loved this stuff and many assumed it was dairy even knowing I’d made it.

In addition to the recipe, I’ve also included a (very) brief run-down of various ways to freeze ice cream.

Maple Praline Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

Base

• One can coconut milk (unsweetened — just the regular kind)
• One pint plain soy creamer (I used Silk)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (plus or minus)

Blend or mix until smooth. Taste and adjust maple syrup as needed: you should be able to taste it and the blend should be a just a little sweeter than you’d prefer, since it will feel less sweet when frozen. Different maples will have different levels of flavor and sweetness. I always use Grade B.

Pralines

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp. oil
• pinch salt
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Boil everything except the pecans together for 2-3 minutes in a small saucepan until the mixture visibly thickens. Add the pecans and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is almost all gone and just coats the pecans in gooey goodness. Spread out in a thin layer on parchment or wax paper to cool completely. Break up with your hands.

Using your preferred method*, freeze the base. When it is almost done, but still soft enough to mix, mix in the pralines and finish freezing. I also added a ribbon of maple syrup with final stirs.

Scoop and eat. So yummy.
*Freezing Methods (in brief)

1. Liquid nitrogen is, in my opinion, the most fun way to freeze. Put the mix in a large metal bowl or plastic bucket and, wearing work or winter gloves to protect your hands, pour in some LN2 and mix using a large, sturdy metal spoon. Keep adding more LN2 as needed.
2. Use an ice cream maker if you have one. I shouldn’t need to explain this one — follow the directions it came with.
3. The ice & rock salt method can be done even without special equipment beyond plastic bags. Put the ice cream mix in a double later of quart-sized zip-top bags, then put that inside a gallon bag. Add a mix of ice and salt to the outer bag, seal, and shake around until frozen. Google around for more details.
4. As a las resort, just pour your mix into a 9×13 baking pan and put that in the freezer. Every 20-30 minutes, take it out and mix the mix well to reduce ice crystals.

I also tested two cooking methods: frying and baking. Fried was somewhat tastier (no surprise there), but baking was also quite yummy and had the advantages of using less oil and not needing to tend to a pan in front of a hot stove in the summer. These were so full of yummy that I’m ashamed to admit how many I ate in the name of testing.

Rootkes

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded beets
• 1 cup shredded potatoes (or sweet potatoes)
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fennel seed powder
• A few turns fresh ground black pepper
• Olive oil for frying

Mix together all the veggies, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Add water a tablespoon at a time until the mix is moist. Hands work great for this — it’s quite tactile! Form the mixture into small (~1″) balls (or larger ones if you prefer).

Fry: Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a pan and (once the oil is HOT!), flatten the rootke into it. Cook until crispy and browned on one side, then flip and do the same on the other.

Bake: Preheat oven to 375°. Coat a baking sheet (or foil-lined sheet) with olive oil and flatten the rootkes onto it. Spray (or drizzle if you don’t have a sprayer) the top with more oil. Bake until browned and crispy, flipping halfway through if desired for better effect.

I’d made a delicious (backyard) blackberry cobbler a couple of weeks prior with a recipe I found online, so I modified it a bit for the peaches. It turned out delicious. I’ve made many many pies in my time, but I’ve also become quite a fan of cobblers (and crisps) for their fruity yumminess with much less effort. Watching the batter rise up through the fruit is a lot of fun, too. The result is a very light cake-like concoction spread through with peachy yumminess.

Peach Cobbler (based on Tamara’s Grammie’s berry cobbler)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unrefined sugar
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp margarine (plus more for greasing)
• 3/4 cup soymilk
• 4-5 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches*
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9″x13″ baking dish.
For the batter, mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the margarine until the mixture is course and fairly uniform, then mix in soymilk. Plop the batter into the greased pan in a relatively even manner. Neatness is not particularly important.

Mix the peaches with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pinch of salt, then spread over the batter. You can do this very carefully and neatly, but I was feeling impatient at the time, so I just cobbled it together. (*giggle*)

Pour the cup of boiling water over the top and immediately place in the oven. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.

* Peaches can be peeled using the same trick that works for tomatoes: score an X on the bottom, then dunk them in boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Cool in cold/ice water. The peel should come off easily.

Seasoning can always be adjusted as desired, but Spike is always a good bet.

Oven-Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

• onions, peeled and quartered
• beets, scrubbed and sliced
• harukei turnips, scrubbed and sliced
• fennel, trimmed and halved (I also mixed in a bit of the tops)
• little white potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
• carrots, scrubbed and sliced
• garlic cloves, peeled
• Spike all-purpose seasoning

Preheat oven to 375° while the veggies are prepped.

In a roasted pan (or use a bowl, then transfer), mix everything but the garlic with olive oil and Spike (hands are the best tool for this) and put in the oven. After 15 minutes, add the garlic and mix gently. In another 15, mix again. In another 15 (45 minutes total), it’s all done.

Before roasting:

Serve with rice, in a wrap, eat cold the next day, or anything else you can think of. Other vegetables that work particularly well in the mix are pretty much any squash or pepper.

(Occasionally, I’ll throw it in a blender with some stock to make roasted vegetable soup, but this time it all got et as-is, so that will have to wait for another entry.)

Baba Ghanoush (based on RecipeZaar)

Ingredients

• 1 large (or two medium) eggplant
• 2-3 tbsp tahini
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (roasting the garlic first works, too)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I used lime because I’d just used up my lemon canning tomato sauce)
• A few shakes ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• olive oil, black olives, and parsley (from the garden!) for serving

Brush the eggplant with a little olive oil and salt, pierce several times with a work, and roast in a 375° oven for 45 minute, or until the skin blackens and the insides are very soft. The skin should come off easily.

Mash the eggplant innards in a bowl with the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and seasoning. Taste, and add more of each as desired.

Baba can be eaten immediately or refrigerate a few hours to overnight to allow the flavors to marry and deepen.

Serve with olives and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Beet Carrot Salad

Ingredients:

• shredded beets
• shredded carrots
• caramelized onions
• chopped green apple
• balsamic vinegar

Once the ingredients are prepped, assembly is just a matter of how you want to do it. I put a big bunch of beet on the bottom, topped with slightly less carrot, a bit of caramelized onion, garnished with some chopped apple, and finished off with a splash or two of balsamic vinegar.

Mix it all up and eat. It’s really a fabulous combination.

Focaccia (multiple sources)

I can’t remember exactly how I made this, so some of these numbers may be off.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2.5 cups flour
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• caramelized onions

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar and let sit for a few minutes to foam, then mix with the flour, salt, and half the olive oil. Knead the dough until it is smooth and slightly sticky, then cover and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).
When the dough has risen, punch it down and knead briefly, mixing in 2 tsp of the rosemary, then stretch or roll it on a parchment-line baking sheet. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Using your finger, poke holes all over the dough, then sprinkle with remaining olive oil and rosemary, some coarse salt, and as much of the caramelized onions as you can fit.

Bake in a 400° oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and as crispy as you like it.

Caramelized Onions (improvised)

Ingredients:

• onions (as many as you like)
• olive oil for the pan
• maple syrup to taste
• 2 splashes red wine, more or less
• pinch salt

Cut onions into thick slices and sauté in a little olive oil over medium heat with pinch of salt. When the onions have softened, add a drizzle of maple syrup and continue to cook. Once everything is nicely browned, use some red wine to deglaze and you’re done.

This particular batch, which I made with DD, used a mix of tomatoes from my farm share (red) and my garden (yellow) as well as basil from the garden. I have never measured anything for this dish, in part because a lot depends on the tomatoes. Go with what feels right.

Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• tomatoes (chopped)
• garlic (minced)
• olive oil
• red wine
• Spike all-purpose seasoning and/or salt
• basil (chiffonade)

Over medium-low heat, sauté the garlic in olive olive. Add a few splashes of red wine and a few shakes of Spike (or a bit og salt) and cook until garlic is soft. Turn down the heat and add the tomatoes, stirring gently until they just begin to sweat (this will happen very quickly!).  Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

It’s that simple. I love it warm or cold over toasted sliced of crusty bread.   You can also remove it from heat before adding the tomatoes, but I prefer them cooked just that teensy bit.   You can drain off the liquid if you like and use it in something else but I soak it into the bread. Yum!