Hermann
I rarely ‘veganise’ food. Whenever I crave anything, there’s usually a plant-based alternative hidden in the culinary treasures of this world. You want to veganise pasta? Why not just try the many eggless pasta dishes of the South of Italy, for instance Lolli con Fave?
Every now and then, I shamelessly make three times this recipe and freeze the dough in smaller batches. Most Sundays are occasion enough to thaw a batch in the morning and bake it after lunch. Come afternoon, I am tucking into warm chocolate chip cookies, a mug of tea and a book by my side. Is there anything more satisfactory to be looking forward to each week?
This is a vegan babka. But let’s address the elephant in the room. Why not use vegan butter? Most vegan substitutes are made primarily with a focus on replicating textures and flavours and rarely with a respect for a natural process. Butter is usually made with one ingredient. Cream. But look at the ingredient list of a vegan butter and you find a host of emulsifiers, flavourings and colours, most of which have the purpose to artificially coax an inflammatory oil into the ability to melt and spread just like dairy butter would.
When I decided to make Indian Vada Pav, the most difficult ingredient to find was not seedless tamarind, besan flour, or pure hing. It was the natural vegan bread buns that proved non-existent. So ultimately, I decided to bake them myself. And as so often, a decision made out of necessity led to a revelation for which I am now eternally grateful.
Pão de Queijo are small, gluten-free cheese breads from Brazil. Traditionally, they get their cheesy flavour not only from the addition of cheese, but also from the fermented starch, Polvilho Azedo, that is used to make them. Once we understand these ingredients, it becomes much easier to look around us and find alternatives that grow within our reach.
Pão de Queijo is a traditional cheese bread from Brazil. The discovery of these breads dates back to the Portuguese colonisation of Brazil, when African slaves peeled, grated, soaked and dried local cassava roots to turn them into an edible flour. The flour, known as tapioca starch, is still used today in traditional Pão de Queijo recipes.
Ukrainian Pampushka are yeasted bread rolls that are traditionally served with borscht or turned into a sweet dessert. The savoury buns are often topped with a dill & garlic oil.
Just like the Sourdough Rye Bread, the focaccia is one of the easier sourdough breads to make. As the rye, it is also baked in a dish, meaning that you skip the more challenging stages of shaping it by hand, letting it proof in a basket and then placing it into your casserole.
Learning to bake your own Sourdough Bread is a journey towards food mindfulness. Take away the water and salt and suddenly sourdough is made with just one ingredient. Flour. The rest is a fine balance of time, knowledge and skill.