Basic Sourdough

I'm not really sure what it is about having more time to get things done that makes you do less. I think the excitement of being busy keeps you going strong. I blame this for my recent lack in posting. I haven't been a total waste, though. I've been experimenting with a few things, like scales and sourdough. First things first, let's talk about scales.

There are a few websites that post their ingredients by weight, not volume. For a while I steered clear of these recipes. I was either too scared to try something that seemed so advanced, or I just really didn't want to go out and buy a scale. However, I wasted more & more time on the internet and found a few pages that convinced me that having a scale was necessary. One of them was a post by Susan at Wild Yeast Blog, The Right Weigh. Here she really explains why scales are important and how they can be used for things such as Baker's Percentages (another one of her great posts, or four, the first of which is found here). She really knows what she is doing, so listen up and go buy yourself a scale! I got myself the Salter MaxView scale from BB&B for about $50, and it was well worth the money.

The next topic is sourdough. While it seems very daunting, it really isn't that difficult. It just takes some time. The thing that makes sourdough different is the fact that it uses an aged, fermented starter, which is composed simply of flour, water, and yeast. You can make your own starter at home (Another Wild Yeast post, very in depth tutorial by Heavenly Homemakers, etc. I will post on that in the future), or buy some commercially (from King Arthur Flour, for example). After that's done you can make some sourdough bread!

So here we go. This recipe is adapted from one I found at King Arthur Flour. 

Ingredients
1 cup / 8 oz active sourdough starter
1 1/2 cup / 12 oz lukewarm water
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp / 1/2 oz sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups / 15 1/4 oz all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups / 6 oz whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Knead to form a smooth dough.
2. Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until doubled in size, about a 75-90 minutes. 
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into two 10" logs or two round boules.
4. Cover with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size again, about 60 minutes.
5. Near the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F.
6. Wet a sharp knife and make two to four cuts in each loaf in either an X, a cross hatch, or diagonal slashes. 
7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a deep golden brown. Let cool 1 hour before slicing.

Stuffed Peppers with Avocado Sauce

I was at the grocery store the other day and saw red peppers on sale for $0.89! Eighty nine cents!!! For those of you who don't pay attention to how much each item you buy at the grocery store costs (I have to - I'm a starving college kid), red bell peppers get expensive. The green one's aren't bad - they usually go for about $1 a piece or so. But the red ones can be as much as $3 for one! Which is usually enough incentive to just buy the green ones, even though the red taste sooo good. So anyway, I seized the opportunity and grabbed a few... and then had to think up ways to cook them. So here's one of them - Stuffed Peppers. These are very easy to make and the recipe is very flexible. No matter what you do, they're almost guaranteed to be good!

Enchajitas

When it comes to Mexican food, Southern California has just about the best you can find, second only to... well, Mexico. There are the super authentic hole-in-the-wall places where you almost need to speak Spanish to order, the Americanized places that still serve authentic-tasting food, but with more of the American style, and the giant chains that really just say they are Mexican because they serve burritos. Whatever your preference is, you can find what you're looking for. So I naturally grew up with the love for Mexican food ingrained in me. But when I decided to try the vegan lifestyle, some of my beloved Mexican dishes went out the window. So instead of just leaving them in the dust and forgetting about them, I decided to try to combine two of my old favorites, enchiladas and fajitas, into something I could eat - and the result was amazing.

The picture shows some I made with cheese on top (for the boyfriend), but they are just as good without!

Banana Nut Muffins

Let's start off with a simple, delicious recipe for low-fat and vegan banana bread muffins. I make these in the morning before class (they're actually in the oven right now!) and bring a few to work with me. Let's just say they don't last very long. They're very moist and chewy, and you honestly can't tell they're made with whole wheat!