Baking with Elliott

Baking The World a Sweeter Place!

Vegan

Vegan Brown Bread

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Well… I’m back!

I’ve taken a short break but I’m back and better than ever. I will be partaking in the remaining weeks of Veganuary – this is where you consume a plant based diet for the entire month.

Keeping things super simple to start, with this vegan friendly brown bread. I know that brown bread can be known for being heavy and stodgy but not anymore. When you keep a recipe super simple and straightforward, you will have the best end result. No more heavy and stodgy bread, just light and fluffy bread with a far superior taste and texture over the store bought version.

Like with most baking, once you master the basics – you’re pretty set to go and work your way up to more advance stuff. The best thing about this loaf is the fact its 100% vegan – a majority of breads can be made vegan pretty easily, which is ideal.

Anyway, let’s get stated, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Brown bread flour.

40g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

10g White shortening.

310ml Water, warmed.

 

Method:

 

Start by doing some prep work. Weigh up all the ingredients, prepare your loaf tin (if needed) and get any equipment you may need ready. When the time comes, preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f

Into your mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) place the brown bread flour and salt and mix the two together using a whisk.

Now you can add the white shortening, granulated sugar, fresh yeast and water. Mix on a low speed to start with for 2 minutes and then a low-medium speed for 6 minutes, so it will be mixing for 8 minutes in total.

Once it’s fully mixed, the dough should be clear (you see no traces of any other ingredients), it shouldn’t be sticky and should be well formed and hold its shape.

Give the dough a brief knead on a floured surface Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and then cover with cling film and leave to complete its first proof (roughly about an hour or) until its doubled in size. Ideally, you’ll leave this somewhere warm, it will help the yeast work.

Now that the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a floured surface and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up during the proof.

Bring the dough back into a ball shape, then bring it back into a ball and roll it out into a fat sausage shape (just big enough to fit into your loaf tin, no bigger). You can then place the sausage shape into a prepared loaf tin and cover loosely with cling film and leave somewhere warm to proof for a second time, roughly 30-45 (or until roughly doubled in size).

Now is the ideal time to preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the second proof is done, remove the cling film from the top and place the loaf into the preheated oven and baked for 30-35 minutes or until baked and well coloured.

A good tip for testing if a loaf of bread is baked, is to turn up upside down and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow, its fully baked!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

 

Vegan Flapjacks

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I’m baaaack!

We are starting the New Year with a whole month of vegan baking. January has become known as ‘Veganuary’, where you take on a vegan diet and lifestyle for the month of January. If you’re interested in more information on Veganuary, check out the Veganuary website.

When it comes to vegan baking, things can get a little complicated. You will notice that you’ll have to check a product before you consider it, this is just to rule out any products that may not be suitable. Most supermarkets here in the UK stock a pretty decent selection of suitable ingredients, which are priced decently.

I have chosen to start with something easy and that’s a batch of plain flapjacks. A sweet and sticky confection, which is super easy and has minimal ingredients – cheap, quick and easy to make, what more do you want?

Anyway, let’s get into the first bake of the year, shall we?

Ingredients:

 

175g Vegan spread (I use Free, found in Heron frozen foods. It’s also gluten free).

175g Light brown sugar (I recommend Tate & Lyle).

175g Golden syrup (I recommend Tate & Lyle).

350g Oats.

 

Methods:

Start by doing some prep work. I recommend taking your 8×8 inch square cake tin and lining it with greaseproof/parchment paper, weighing up the ingredients, preheating your oven to 160˚c/320˚f and getting any other equipment you may need, such as a medium saucepan and a heat proof silicon spatula.

Take a medium saucepan and into it, place the vegan spread, light brown sugar and golden syrup. Place the saucepan on the hob over a medium heat, stirring constantly once it starts to melt.

While the ingredients are melting on the hob, get yourself a large mixing bowl and pour in all the oats. Set aside until they’re needed later.

 

Once the ingredients in the saucepan are melted and combined, take it off the heat and pour it straight over the oats. Then give it all a very good mix until all the oats have been coated in the liquid mixture. Take your time and do it properly.

Transfer the mixture into your lined 8×8 inch cake tin, spreading out the mixture and getting it as level as possible. Then place it in the oven and back for 30-35 minutes (or until the edges have turned golden brown).

After they have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you cut them up. Once they have cooled down fully, you can place them in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Depending how big of a portion you want to offer will decide how you cut them up. I went with 8 generous rectangles but you could cut these in half and get 16 bite size portions.

These are a really quick and easy recipe to make, so if you get the chance to make a batch, go ahead and do it!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.