Vegan Challah Bread

I love bread.  I love bread. I love bread.  I know it's not the best thing in the world to eat but come on-sometimes you NEED bread ! At least I do.  I've had some of the best bread I've ever had since becoming vegan.  There are still a lot of recipes I want to try but I've been stuck on one in particular just because I love it so much.  I cannot tell you where the original came from- as I do not know.  And I've made some slight modifications to the recipe I was initially given.  I do thank whoever originated it, as do my family and friends.   I use this bread when we have pasta, when I make black bean and salsa soup, when I eat chili, when I really want bread.

This recipe makes a huge amount of bread (2 full loaves) and really should be eaten in a day or two so I usually plan accordingly or give a loaf away.

Ingredients

1 tbsp ground flax

2 cups plus 3 tbsp very warm water

5 tsp yeast

1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

1 tbsp salt

5-7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

1 tbsp dried herbs- basil, oregano, tomato mixture I think Mrs Dash makes a blend including them

1/8 tsp garlic powder

Directions

1) In a small bowl, mix together flax and 3 tbsp water and set aside.
2) In a large bowl combine 2 cups of water with yeast and 1tbsp sugar.  Set aside 5-7 minutes, mixture should get bubbly
3) In another small bow mix vegetable oil with dried herbs and garlic salt - set aside
4) In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining sugar, salt and 2 cups flour.  Add flour mixture to yeast and stir to combine
5) Add flax mixture, oil mixture and 3 cups of flour- mix until forms tacky ball- add more flour if wet or sticky (I do not kneed it by hand but I use my kitchen aid, if you do not have one you may want to kneed a few minutes)
6) Oil a large bowl and place dough into it, turning to coat.  Cover the bowl and set aside in warm place for 1 hour.
7) Punch down the bread and divide into half.  Take one half and divide again into 3 parts- roll into long strands and braid together.  Do the same for the other half.  Set both braided parts onto a parchment covered cookie sheet and cover and allow to rise for another hour.
8) Preheat oven to 375
9) Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

We normally just pull this bread apart and enjoy while it's still warm.  You can warm it a few seconds in the microwave if you're eating it the next day or pop it back into a warm oven for a few minutes.   This bread does not get a really thick crust, the insides are light, soft and full of flavor- dip away, butter it up or eat hot and plain- Either way so delicious!

Nutrition Facts Vegan Challah Bread
10 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		337.5
Total Fat		5.9 g
	Saturated Fat	4.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.2 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.1 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		672.9 mg
Potassium		34.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		22.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.8 g
	Sugars	7.4 g
Protein		7.6 g

Vitamin A	0.0 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	0.0 %
Vitamin C	0.0 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	4.0 %
Calcium	0.1 %
Copper	0.0 %
Folate	24.0 %
Iron	14.6 %
Magnesium	0.0 %
Manganese	0.0 %
Niacin	19.2 %
Pantothenic Acid	0.0 %
Phosphorus	0.0 %
Riboflavin	0.0 %
Selenium	0.0 %
Thiamin	24.0 %
Zinc	0.0 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

30 Minute Vegan (Taste of the East) Madras Curry

I was excited to try the Madras Curry recipe from 30 Minute Vegan because it was another recipe that my massage therapist raved about.

Just to be clear....

I am not a professional chef.  I am a stay at home mother who is comfortable following recipes, making certain things from scratch and editing/creating dishes but I am in no way a trained chef of any sort.  I sometimes need to look up information about new ingredients and how to prepare them- and I know when I try something new for the first time I'm not going to cook full speed.   I'm also making some dishes that I've not had before so my judgement of them is based upon simply if I'd want to eat it again- I'm not comparing any one dish to a restaurant version typically and I'll state it if I am.  But mostly it's just- was this good, would I make it again, will I crave it, how much did I have to fight my kids to get them to eat... 

What were we talking about again?

Ah yeah, Madras Curry.  Madras Curry is a dish I've not had anywhere before so I didn't quite know what to expect other then 1) I love curry and 2) the veggies in this dish were all ones I really enjoy 3) it's the favorite dish of my massage therapist.  Making this dish was an experience in itself.  I actually made a good portion of the dish twice- so I had to do all of the prep work twice therefore I stopped timing how long it took me to make it altogether.  

The error of my ways

I made a newbie error- reached for a wooden spoon and none were there so I grabbed a plastic cooking spoon- mixed my stuff together quick and went searching for the wooden spoons again, which my daughter had put in the wrong drawer.  I swear it was maybe 2 minutes but I had left the spoon in the pan (not sure where my head was at) and when I came back it was simmering away in liquid form along with my garlic and ginger etc.  Woops.  Redo.  Who knew those spoons melted so fast, I guess there is a reason I only use them to serve typically.  So chop chop I had to re-prep.

Take 2

This dish right away starts with tossing a bunch of seeds into a pan to toast for two minutes or until the mustard seeds start popping.  I'm going to tell you if you wait until the mustard seeds start popping you've waited too long, you're about to find out what happens when a dish fights back.  There is nothing quite like red hot mustard seeds flying at you with super speed and landing on bare skin and these seeds go very quickly from resting nicely in the pan to flying toward your face with no warning.  My husband thought it was hysterical when I started to shriek and duck and cover, I didn't find it too funny. I lowered the temperature, and threw in the next stage's ingredients and prayed it would stop.  The rest of the cooking experience was thankfully uneventful.

So how about that curry

It was okay.  Just about the only thing I can say about it is that the cooking of the dish was more memorable then the dish itself.  It was more greasy then I expected it to be, and I'm not big on grease. The veggies were good, but I didn't feel like the curry sauce added anything to them other then spice.  My husband liked it and thanked me for dinner but there were no big mmmmmmmm's  and the crave factor at least for me is non existent. With all of the recipes I know I love, and all of the recipes left to try it is unlikely that this dish will be made again.  I plan to ask my massage therapist about it and find out if she did something different- there are a few areas with options.  Did she use sesame oil instead of coconut oil?  Did she alter the cayenne and go with chili powder?  Did she use fresh lime juice or rice vinegar?  Or perhaps, our tastes are just different.  One person's favorite is another person's "meh." 

Nutrition Facts Madras Curry   6 Servings Amount Per Serving   Calories 118.2   Total Fat 6.8 g       Saturated Fat 4.3 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g       Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g   Cholesterol 0.0 mg   Sodium 442.3 mg   Potassium 409.9 mg   Total Carbohydrate 13.1 g       Dietary Fiber 3.4 g       Sugars 4.0 g   Protein 2.6 g   Vitamin A 117.2 %   Vitamin B-12 0.0 %   Vitamin B-6 9.7 %   Vitamin C 93.8 %   Vitamin D 8.3 %   Vitamin E 18.9 %   Calcium 22.1 %   Copper 4.6 %   Folate 5.9 %   Iron 9.1 %   Magnesium 8.2 %   Manganese 12.9 %   Niacin 4.3 %   Pantothenic Acid     1.8 %   Phosphorus     6.6 %   Riboflavin 4.6 %   Selenium 4.4 %   Thiamin 5.2 %   Zinc 2.7 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.