Saint Lucia Bread

brilliant saffron yellow and just a little less rich than brioche

Scandinavians mark the beginning of the Christmas season on December 13th, with a Saint Lucia day. The eldest daughter dress like in white pajamas topped off with a wreath of candles on their head. Candles burning its traditional for the girls to serve brilliant yellow saffron rolls and coffee to their family. My sister in law (now technically the eldest daughter) of Northern Minnesotan origins brought the tradition to my familys house minus the candles. Even after the buns were past their soft and fresh stage Sabrina pointed out that 6 seconds in the microwave roused the St. Lucia in the rolls.

Saint Lucia Saffron Rolls

5 packages yeast or 1.5 oz
2 cups warm whole milk
1/8 oz saffron
1 cup butter or 2 sticks, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
7 cups flour

1 egg, beaten
raisins for decorating

Mix milk and yeast together and allow to sit for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy. If the yeast does not become foamy within 10 minutes, throw it out and buy some fresh yeast. This process is called proofing to prevent you from hours of labor for bread that wont rise. Add the saffron to the milk and allow sit for another 5 minutes. Stir in the melted butter, sugar, salt, and first beaten egg.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour in a large bowl mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides. I like to do this step in a food processor because it mixes the dough uniformly. The dough will be sticky but manageable. Turn the dough out onto a floury surface and knead for 10 minutes. Be careful not to add too much flour, which will make the buns tough. The dough will be smooth and soft.

Put kneaded dough in a clean lightly greased bowl. Cover with a towel and keep in a draft-free, warm place for 2 hours or until dough doubles. After 2 hours punch the dough. Shape the dough into buns on baking trays. We tried pretty hard to stay traditional at my home, but its too much fun to get creative. In Sweden they would typically form fat swirls of dough, S-shapes, cats, or the initials of loved ones. One plump cat broke when its skinny tail tore free. The key is to use fairly similar amount of dough for each shape, so they cook evenly. Cover with towels and let sit 25 minutes to allow the yeast a final chance to rise.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush beaten egg over the tops of the buns, and decorate sparingly with raisins. Think one to two raisins per bun. Interesting note, my family only has golden raisins around so my sister in law, Sabrina, dug out a handful of dark raisins from the bran cereal. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffy and begin to darken. Cool and serve. Sing some holiday songs, its nearly Christmas.

Ditmas Park CSA Week 7

Week 6 was had a little less to offer than week 5, but plenty of basil and heirloom tomatoes. Today was almost double what weve been getting and oh buddy did we ever get some tomatoes! Carrots have made a very early appearance in the season. I welcome them to my kitchen where they will last approximately 15 minutes before I eat them up.

Please note my foolishness in biking to the CSA site to get my share. We have been getting 8-12 pounds of food recently. This week with 2 melons, chicken, and eggs the share was totaled about 30 plus pounds, which I strapped to my back in my daypack. It hurt every part of me to bike the mile home. Even now my spine is sending my brain distress signals. Im lucky I didnt wobble over starting and stopping at lights. Am I a wuss or what?

I think Ill eat watermelon and carrots for dinner. Here is the big list of what we received in the week 7 share:

1 sugar baby watermelon
1 cantaloupe
2 zucchini
1 eggplant
8 tomatoes
(See that cherry tomato in the picture? Its what I picked from my farm, just an ironic comparison at how bad a job Im doing growing food to feed myself)
10 small and medium carrots
2 cukes
2 peppers
4 ears of corn
9 yellow potatoes
1 large bunch of basil
1/2 chicken
1 dozen eggs

Cardamom Spice Vegan Pumpkin Bread

Ace Pumpkin Bread

The goal was to have this recipe up by Thanksgiving. Lets just say this recipe is good enough to make 365 days a year even though I missed my opportunity to get it up during prime gourd time. Ive been baking this recipe for 3 years. A wink and a nod to my vegan friends, who are always thankful for spiced baked bread.

I promise NO ONE will guess its vegan. Coconut milk, moist pumpkin, and flax are seamless replacement for the binding and flavor of butter and eggs. Cardamom and ginger give it unforgettable flavor. The recipes only rival is my lemon zucchini bread. I used my homemade pumpkin puree, which isnt any better then store bought. You can also use pureed butternut squash or yams, or a mixture. My favorite results were with half parsnip half yam puree. Pumpkin seeds are pretty on top, but fanned apple slices are a nice touch too. The recipe is based on the Post Punk Kitchens version.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tblsp molasses
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup coconut milk
(do not buy sweetened coconut milk often advertised for pina coladas)
1/4 cup ground flax meal
2 cups pumpkin puree
*16-20 cardamom pods
2 tsp ginger powdered
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups unbleached white flour)

*Note: Cardamom pods can be found at Indian grocery stores or ordered online from spice stores. I dont suggest substituting less flavorful powdered cardamom. Instead increase ginger by 1/2 tsp.

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly coat 2 bread pans with oil. Drop in 1-2 tablespoons of flour into a bread pan. Shake and knock around until all surfaces are coated. Shake excess flour into the second bread pan, and repeat.

Grandmas pans have turned out hundred of great loaves of bread

Smash open cardamom pods by crushing with the bottom of a heavy skillet. Separate shells from seeds. Carefully chop up cardamom seeds until medium-fine. They kind of pop and roll when you chop the hard seeds.

Fragrant

Meanwhile blend oil, sugar, and molasses for 1-2 minutes until combined with a standing or handheld mixer. Open the can of coconut milk and measure out 2/3 cups of the thick white cream. Leave the clear coconut water for another purpose. Add coconut to sugar along with pumpkin puree, flax, spices, salt, and baking soda. Mix another minute or more until blended. Add half of the flour and mix until mostly combined. Add remaining flour, and mix by hand. Be careful to mix as little as possible to prevent bread from getting tough.

Sugar and oil

Divide into 2 prepared loaf pans. Bake until a knife comes out clean 70-90 minutes. The bread will be golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning on to racks. Cool for another 20-30 minutes before serving. This bread freezes well wrapped in foil and placed in a ziplock. Eat one now, and save one for unexpected craving for pumpkin bread! I have those.

Vanilla Extract

Letters courtesy of the dollar store

Full disclosure: I havent owned a bottle of vanilla extract in close to 2 years. I was annually buying a big bottle of Massey vanilla to last a year of baking. I fell out of that habit when I couldnt validate the extra expense during a tight year. So yes, I have been lying. Most of the recipes Ive tested/written with vanilla actually contained almond extract, vanilla powder (an odd xmas gift from way back) or vanilla beans. Vanilla beans are $0.99 each at the Flatbush co-op, about half or less what you would pay at the grocery store or online. Planning for Christmas baking I decided it was time to end my vanilla drought. Vanilla extract isnt a magical elixir squeezed from rare plants. Its just cheap alcohol infused with vanilla beans. I can do that, so can you. You need 4 things: a bottle of cheap booze, vanilla beans, a dark place, and time. Two of those things are free.

$12 worth of vanilla beans

Small mouth glass bottles for storing are nice too. I made mine directly in the store bought booze, but bottled it down to give out to friends, and for easier pouring. Bottles are atrociously expensive at brick and mortar stores in NYC. I considered buying little bottles of vanilla at the dollar store, dumping the contents and refilling. It would have been cheaper then buying them at Sur La Table, but wasteful. In the end I found Specialty Bottle online. The bottles are cheap, but shipping and handling is expensive. Still a deal in the end. The quality of the vanilla is a good price compared to store bought.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

10-12 Vanilla beans
.75 ml cheap brandy or vodka

The proportion I found trolling the internet is 3-5 beans per cup of alcohol. A .75 liter bottle of alcohol is almost a 3 1/4 cups, so 10-12 beans. Break it down anyway you want for more or less vanilla extract.

Split the beans in half with a the tip of a sharp knife. Place beans in the bottle of alcohol. Shake and let sit in a dark place. Shaking every week or so is supposed to help develop the flavor, but can you prove it? Vanilla will be ready after 2 months. Ive read that after 6 months the flavor will be at full force. My vanilla at 3 months seems a little better then after 2 months. Only experience and practice will tell. My last batch of cookies tasted great, so Im on to something.


If you plan to bottle your vanilla I suggest sterilizing first by boiling in water for 1-2 minutes. Its difficult for bacteria to grow in alcohol but not mold. Anyways, you never know, and if you do know (cough cough, Dad) then let me know in the comments. Ive stopped washing in soap in water to avoid the chance of leaving soap residue. Vanilla is a concentrated flavor, and I would hate to mess it up with dish detergent.

I bottled my vanilla with a 1/4 of a split bean. A little indicator of how the vanilla is made. Maybe by the time I remember to ship out all of the vanilla it will be at full strength.

Vegan Veggie Burgers

Big bite worthy

It should be easy to make a veggie burger, right? Beans, vegetables, bread crumbs, oil, whatevers clever spice-wise. But oh, oh that burger will crumble, or have no texture, or just be yuck. Eggs could easily come into play, but survey says that many vegetarians prefer not to eat unfertilized fetuses. Sorry to be frank. I have found the answer, vegan glue. Delicious, sticky, protein and fat-heavy combination of flax meal, tahini, and oil. Clean off the grill for a please anyone vegan burger. I served mine on toasted pita with pickles and avacado sauce, and they were a smash hit.

Vegan Veggie Burgers

1 lb lentils
1 tsp salt
1/4 bulgar wheat

1 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1 qt mushrooms, shredded
1 zuchini or yellow summer squash, shredded
1 tsp white wine
1/4 parsley, chopped
1 tblsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
or 2 tsp ground
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste

1 tblsp dijon mustard
2 tblsp flax meal
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1/4 cup or more olive oil


Cover lentils with 2 inches of water in a large pot. Add 1 tsp salt, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until lentils are almost tender. Add bulgar and finish cooking lentils, another 5-10 minutes. Drain well and return to pot.

Tastes remarkably like Thanksgiving

Meanwhile cook shredded onion over medium heat with 1 tblsp olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Cook until translucent. Add carrot and cook until the carrot is tender, 8-10 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook another 8-10 minutes until mushrooms have lost their moisture. Turn heat to high, add 1 tsp white wine and de-glaze the bottom of the pan by scraping with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and mix in cumin, red pepper, and chopped parsley. Add vegetables to lentils and stir. Taste and add salt.

Earthy cumin is the backbone flavor of the burger

In a small bowl mix mustard, tahini, olive oil, and flax. Let sit for 5 minutes. The flax will become gummy and help bind the burgers. Pour over lentil and veggie mixture. Add 1/2 cup bread crumb. Stir the whole pot with your (clean) hands, crushing the lentils to help mixture form a sticky dough that forms into a ball. Add oil if it feels dry. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Form patties using a 1/2 cup measuring on baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes. This ensures the middle wont be goo when they come off the grill, and helps prevent burger breakage too. Burgers are cooked and ready. Freeze and reheat on a grill, or return to an oven to warm through.