The Wooden Spoon

Pastry

2010-02-08T20:53:47Z

Treat it firmly, not timidly.
-The Fannie Farmer Cookbook on pastry dough

I am into pastry lately. That's what I told Chris last night after coercing him into spreading olive oil onto phyllo dough, when he told me spanakopita was sort of an ambitious project for a Sunday night.

The spanakopita, the recipe of which I got out of Vegan with a Vengeance, is delicious. It has ground walnuts in it, and the filling is surprisingly cheese-like. And thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that vegan spanakopita is traditionally eaten during Lent. Lent starts on the seventeenth of this month, the perfect excuse for you guys to try vegan spanakopita.

Earlier this week I made quiche, and before that samosas with puff pastry, and before that another quiche. I've been playing with this vegan quiche recipe; it uses tahini and soy sauce, which I think is pretty brilliant. I've been using balsamic vinegar instead of miso.

Chipotle Squash Pasta

2009-12-21T03:23:48Z

Is anyone else's house still full of gourds from autumn?

Here's one more squash recipe I was too busy with finals to post. It's a pasta sauce I made up when I was trying to find creative ways to use all our squashes. It turned out quite amazing. (For a full tour of our squashes, see this video Katie and I made for our friend Jamie.)

What you do:

1. Bake a squash. Or get some from the freezer section of your friendly local grocery.
2. Puree the squash with chipotle in adobo sauce and soy creamer.
3. Heat and pour over pasta. Pine nuts and goat cheddar are good accoutrement. Paprika and sage are good garnishes.

Pumpkins and Squashes and Gourds, Oh My!

2009-11-12T05:24:02Z

In October Katie and I went to a u-pick pumpkin farm in Mt. Vernon. We had planned to get a couple pumpkins to carve for Halloween, but once there we realized this was not going to work. They had so many pumpkins and squashes in all sorts of colors and sizes and shapes. Pale green squashes, pinky-orange squashes, pumpkins that weighed 400 pounds, bottle gourds you could dry and paint and turn into bird houses. Needless to say, Katie and I came away with the boot of my car full of gourds.

Now we have to figure out what to do with all these gourds. A couple of pumpkins we carved and roasted the seeds (swish the seeds in soy sauce and garlic, pop in the oven). One little squash I baked and stuffed and baked again. Here's one stuffing recipe, and here's another.

I baked a green squash shaped like a pumpkin. I just stuck the whole thing in the oven, and after a while it was soft enough to chop in half without difficulty, and the skin peeled off pretty easily.

This one I mushed and tried in random things. I put it in tacos (corn tortillas, pico de gallo, guacamole, refried beans). I put it in enchiladas (wheat tortillas, zucchini, mushrooms, vegan mozzarella, enchilada sauce). But my favorite was on pizza. I took a corn and spelt crust from the Food Co-op, smeared it with the mushed squash, then pizza sauce, then Vegan Gourmet mozzarella. I added my usual favorite toppings (zucchini, pineapple, mushrooms, etc.). It was surprisingly delicious.

Peach Crisp

2009-10-13T23:38:33Z

When looking through my Wooden Spoon drafts, I found this entry from September unpublished. Unlikely you can find fresh peaches now, but that's what frozen produce is for. You can substitute any fruit for the peaches, as well.

Last week my friend Alyssa loaded me up with peaches, nectarines, and other fresh produce. As I was cutting up the peaches and nibbling on them, I thought that it's a travesty to turn luscious peaches in season into a baked good, but I didn't think I'd be able to eat all that fruit before it went bad, and thus I made peach crisp. Eating the peach crisp, I took back what I said about travesty. At risk of sounding cliche, this crisp brings to mind words like "heaven."

Ingredients

1 Tbs. ground flax seed
3 Tbs. water
4 c. peaches, sliced (or other fruit or berry)
1 c. flour
1 c. Sucanat
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. margarine, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Combine the flax and water in a small bowl.
3. Put the peaches in the bottom of a dish.
4. In a bowl, mix together flour, Sucanat, and baking powder. Add the flax mixture and mix with a fork or your fingers until everything is dampened and in small clumps.
5. Scatter the flour mixture over the peaches. Drizzle the margarine over everything, and use a spoon to spread it about if necessary.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.

Soup Season

2009-10-13T23:10:58Z

There is nothing better in Autumn than a big bowl of warm soup, and Katie got a cookbook devoted entirely to it. We've cooked at least seven kinds of soup in the last three weeks. The first day we had the cookbook we made two kinds of soup as well as apple butter. It was wonderful to just go from pot to pot on the stove top and smell the various delicious scents.

That first night I cooked tomato bisque. It is a perfect comfort food. I made it once and now I crave it all the time.

Katie and I made biscuits to go with our second batch of soups. I had only made baking powder biscuits before; I was surprised how easy it was. And using cookie cutters made them adorable. We got the recipe here. Note: We used more flour than the recipe called for.

Veganified Tomato Bisque

Ingredients

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained*
2 veggie bouillon cubes
1 Tbs sugar
salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 c. margarine
1/3 c. flour
4 c. oat milk**

1. Combine the first eight ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Press the mixture through a sieve and set aside.
2. Melt the margarine in a large saucepan. Blend in the flour until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in the milk. Boil over medium heat; cook for two minutes stirring constantly.
3. Reduce the heat and gradually stir in the tomato mixture until smooth.

*The reason I made tomato bisque in the first place was because I had a lot of fresh tomatoes hanging about. So I diced tomatoes to fill two cups, and then covered them with water.
**Any milk will do, but my preference is oat milk. It is naturally sweet, and has the most calcium of any milk but isn't fortified. It even has more calcium than cow's milk.

From My Family's Garden

2009-09-20T18:57:40Z

I was driving home to visit my family in Snohomish last week. My brother Andrew called me and said, "Are you hungry? I'm making you something vegan! Come home soon!" Ten minutes later I walked into the house to discover my mom and brother leaning over stuffed squash in the open oven. They had used round zucchinis, young carrots, tomatoes and basil all from my dad's garden.
It was delicious. I am thoroughly impressed with Andrew's budding culinary skills. You may remember me discussing his eating habits in a previous post.
So this recipe is my mom and brother's. Enjoy.

How to make: Cut squash in half length wise, and scoop out the innards [and reserve]. Put the halves face down in about an inch of water, and boil for 20 minutes, until tender.

Stuffing:

Cut cubes of favorite bread, add to the innards with assorted veggies, onions, carrots, mushrooms. Mix with spices (basil, cardamon, sage, garlic, white pepper, salt) and about a tablespoon of olive oil.

When done boiling the squash, brush inside with olive oil or butter. Fill with the stuffing. Bake with the stuffing side up (no water in pan) for another 40 minutes (or until stuffing has sufficiently browned).

Garnish with tomato and basil.

Grilled Tofu with Chimichurri

2009-09-15T18:54:03Z

Chimichurri is a sauce or marinade originating from Argentina and featuring flat-leaf parsley. This recipe for tofu marinated in chimichurri on grilled bread is way delicious. Red pepper flakes in the chimichurri don't make it spicy but give it a pleasant heat.

Flat-leaf parsley has a more robust flavor than curly parsley, which is also called Italian parsley. Fresh herbs tend to come in large bunches that I can't use before they go bad, but I have found a way to deal. Putting them in jars of water helps them last and doubles as a bouquet. Purple-flowered savory, white-flowered basil, flat-leaf parsley: even if I can't use them before they wilt, they have added a lovely fresh green to the dining table and are cheaper than bouquets of flowers.

Ingredients

15 oz firm tofu
4 slices whole grain bread

Chimichurri Ingredients

1/2 c. minced red onion
1/2 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c. sherry vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped oregano
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red-pepper flakes
Black pepper

1. Press tofu dry with a paper towel. Cut into four pieces and press again.
2. Combine all the chimichurri ingredients in a bowl; reserve half cup. Marinate the tofu in the remaining chimichurri for an hour. Baste occasionally.
3. Brush sides of bread with chimichurri. Grill on medium heat until crisp. Grill tofu until lightly charred. Serve the tofu on the bread with a dollop of the reserved chimichurri.

West-African Peanut Soup

2009-09-07T23:01:01Z

Katie, our friends, and I first made this recipe when we lived in the Fairhaven dorms. We used the communal kitchenette and didn't even have a blender so we ate it with grated chunks. We paired it with whatever we'd happened to pick up at the grocery store, garlic bread and chips and salsa, apple cider too.

The peanut butter makes this soup creamy and the cayenne gives it a kick. This recipe comes from my trusty Holden Village cookbook Cook Boldly, and remains a favorite for potlucks and get-togethers. I like best when I have a friend around to do the grating for me, like last night when I just stood by and directed while my friends cooked. Serve with a good crusty bread.

Ingredients

1 1/3 c. onions, minced
1/2 tsp. oil
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
1 1/3 c. carrots, grated
2 2/3 c. sweet potatoes, grated
2 2/3 c. water
10 oz. tomato juice
2/3 c. natural peanut butter
Salt and pepper
Chopped peanuts for garnish

1. Sauté the onions in oil until soft. Add cayenne, ginger, and carrots; continue sautéing.
2. Add sweet potatoes, salt, and water; bring to a boil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
3. Purée with tomato juice and peanut butter.
4. Heat and serve, garnished with chopped peanuts.

Bread and Butter, Toast and Tea

2009-08-31T04:18:13Z

Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.
-Anonymous

I love to bake bread, but my loaves have a tendency to come out crumbly and hard-crusted, albeit delicious. The desire to remedy this, as well as to learn to make baguettes, lead me on a pilgrimage to the cooking section of Henderson's Books. It was among the towering shelves of hallowed tomes that I discovered The Bread Book by Linda Collister & Anthony Blake. This book promised not only to teach how to bake a basic loaf and the more difficult baguette, but also naan, pitas, doughnuts (things I've been wanting to make), and myriad other scrumptious edibles.

I tried The Grant Loaf out of my new cookbook. It's a great loaf for beginners: no kneading and only a half an hour of rising. This first attempt came out about like all my other loaves of bread: crumbly and hard-crusted. The "Common Problems in Bread-Making" chapter suggested I use too much flour. So I tried the Grant Loaf again, this time not adding a teaspoon more flour than the recipe said. I ended up with a sticky wet mess, which I plopped into two small bread pans. When they came out of the oven I had two delicious, somewhat crumbly, loaves. The adorable little slices demand to be eaten with honey and margarine. They scream to be used as sandwiches at Afternoon Tea. Preferably with cucumbers. And all homemade bread deserves a great herb butter.

Thus I now share with you the recipes for The Grant Loaf and for one of my favorite herb butters.

Honey and margarine for breakfast, PB and J for lunch. Side note: the jar of honey shown here is from Busy Bees, which is neighbors with Egress Studio where I intern.

The Grant Loaf (of Doris Grant, 1944)

Ingredients

2 1/2 c. lukewarm water (95 F to 105 F)
.6 oz compressed fresh yeast or 2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. packed brown sugar or honey
4 to 4 3/4 cups whole-wheat bread flour (the cookbook advises me that stone-ground flour is the way to go)
2 tsp. kosher salt or flaked sea salt

1. Put three tablespoons of the lukewarm water into a small bowl. Add the yeast and mix until smooth. Stir in the sugar or honey. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes, until the mixture thoroughly foamy.
2. Mix four cups of the flour with the salt in a large bowl. The bowl should not be cold. Make a well in the center of the flour.
3. Pour the yeast and remaining water into the well. Mix with your hands for a couple minutes, adding flour from the sides. Add as much of the remaining flour in as necessary, a 1/4 cupful at a time. The dough should be elasticy and slippery, or in my case, sticky and wet.
4. Put the dough into a warm greased loaf pan and cover with a damp dish towel. Let it stand in a warm place for 20 to 35 minutes. The dough should rise to within a half inch of the top of the pan.
5. Heat oven to 400 F.
6. Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool.

Herb Butters: Olive, Walnut, and Rosemary

Choose your favorite herb (chives are an excellent choice) and combine one part herbs to four parts butter or margarine. Or, step it up with this recipe:

Ingredients
1 c. pitted kalamata olives, drained
1/2 c. chopped toasted walnuts
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. rosemary, chopped
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 c. salted butter or margarine, softened

1. Add all but the butter to a food processor and finely chop. Add butter. Pulse until combined.
2. Place mixture on a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a log. Roll in the plastic wrap and twist the ends. Chill until firm.

Is there anything more delightful to sit down to of a morning than scones, apple butter, and coffee?

2009-08-22T17:16:13Z

I'm something like a creative writing major, and lately I feel like I've been neglecting my writing in favor of cooking. So earlier this week I sat down to write a story about a baker. Mostly it's just descriptions of foods. The first thing my baker makes is almond oat scones and apple butter. It will not surprise you to discover writing about this made me hungry, so I had to bake it myself. We're all out of the apple butter we made last summer so I bought some from the store, but Kozlowski Farms makes a damn good fruit butter, and their apple is sweetened only with fruit. I sat down to a brunch of scones and coffee and finished writing my story while eating it. The scones are a little crumbly, but very delicious.

Cranberry Almond Oat Scones

Ingredients

2 c. flour, such as white whole wheat
3/4 c. oat flour
1/4 c. oats
2 Tbs. baking powder
1/4 c. Sucanat
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. soy cream (or soy milk.)
3/4 c. oat milk plus 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 c. sliced almonds
3/4 c. dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease cookie sheet.
2. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in almonds and cranberries.
3. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto the cookie sheet. Pat them a bit to round them out.
4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until firm on top.

If Julia Child were vegan...

2009-08-21T05:07:12Z

Reasons to Love Tempeh Bourgignon:

1. Loads of shiitaki mushrooms.
2. Marinated tempeh is delicious.
3. You get to drink red wine while you make it.
4. You can pretend to be Julia Child.

I recently saw Julie and Julia and not long after read the book. It's got me all gung ho to get in the kitchen and delve into Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I wanted to try boeuf bourgignon, one of the recipes Julia is famous for. I even wanted to try making aspics, which is like beef jello. The problem: French cooking wasn't made for vegans. Which is why I was super excited when I discovered that next to the sugar cookie page in my November/December 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times was a recipe for tempeh bourgignon.

A main ingredient in tempeh bourgignon is red wine. Being new to the ranks of those who can legally drink, I get a little lost in the wine section of the store. I tend to buy wine based on how pretty the label on the bottle is, since I don't know how else to decide. Once I bought a wine in the brightest shade of pink I could find. Luckily for me, the Vegetarian Times article specifies that Pinot Noir is a good choice for tempeh bourgignon, and $8 is a good amount to spend on a bottle of cooking wine.

The article also informs me that there are five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami. Umami is a savory flavor, and tempeh bourgignon is full of it. Shiitake mushrooms, tempeh, tomato paste, and carrots all contain glutamate, which gives the umami flavor.

Tempeh Bourgignon

Ingredients

2 c. medium-bodied red wine such as Pinot Noir
8 oz. tempeh cut into 1-inch cubes
1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 large carrot, diced into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 Tbs.)
3 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. herbes de Provence
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. tomato paste
7 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced (about 4 cups)
3/4 c. water
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley or savory for garnish

Herbes de Provence, wine, sprig of savory. Herbes de Provence consist of winter savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, and lavender. Katie likes it on crackers with Brie.

1. Combine wine, tempeh, onion, carrot, garlic, 1 Tbs. olive oil, herbs and bay leaf in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.
2. Strain vegetables and tempeh, saving the wine marinade.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a Dutch oven (or large pot, if you don't have a Dutch oven like me) over medium-high heat. Add tempeh and vegetables and cook 5 to 7 minutes. The goal is to brown the tempeh cubes on all sides. Add vinegar and stir quickly to coat the ingredients evenly. Add tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Stir in wine marinade, scraping the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Stir occasionally, and add water if it seems too dry.
4. Add mushrooms and 3/4 cup water. Simmer 10 minutes.
5. Remover bay leaf. Add salt and pepper. Garnish. Serve over rice. Bon apetit!

Tempeh and vegetables in red wine marinade.

Sugary Friends Part Two

2009-08-18T05:13:12Z

Why ducks and hearts, you ask? Because those are the only cookie cutters we have. The pink frosting has maraschino cherry flavoring and the yellow has yellow food coloring.

On Friday I had a sudden impending visit from my brother Andrew. I thought, "Oh no, what am I going to feed a 17-year-old boy?" Especially since my brother has always been suspicious of my cooking. (Once I made sugarless jam-filled muffins, and Andrew told me they were gross. Meanwhile he was consuming several of them.) I need not have worried, however. Andrew recently spent nine months as a boarding student at Holden Village, where a kitchen staff provides the village with delicious often-vegetarian/vegan meals and fresh-baked bread. My brother came home with a broader appreciation of foods. For dinner he suggested we have pasta with feta and pesto, and he liked the tempeh I added in.

But enough of my brother's eating habits. I'd already planned to make cookies that day, and Andrew arrived at the apartment just in time for freshly-baked sugar cookies. I enjoyed turning our dining table into a cookie-decorating station for Katie and Andrew: plates of cookies, bowls of frosting, containers of sprinkles. And these sugar cookies will please even a finicky 17-year-old.

Vegan Sugar Cookies

Dough Ingredients

2 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3 Tbs. water
1 Tbs. ground flax seed
1 1/2 c. plus 1 Tbs. sugar or Sucanat*
1 c. vegan margarine, softened
*I always prefer to use Sucanat over white sugar, but it makes the cookies darker.

1. Preheat oven to 325 D. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Mix water and flax seed in a small bowl.
3. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
4. Cream sugar and margarine in a bowl with an electric beater. Beat in vanilla, then flax seed. Beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat until a soft dough forms.
5. Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll out one ball to a 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters for desired shape and put on baking sheet. Repeat with second ball of dough.
6. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool ten minutes on the sheets and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting Ingredients
3 c. powdered sugar
3 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. vanilla vegan milk (right now I prefer oat milk, lots of calcium)
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract, or 1 tsp. maraschino cherry flavor, or food coloring, or lemon zest and juice, or anything else you think sounds delicious

1. Beat ingredients together. Add more "milk" if it's too thick.
2. Frost cookies! Add sprinkles!

Lavender Cookies

2009-08-13T17:24:19Z

While in Holden Village in July I went to a garden party. We wandered through Holden's flower and culinary gardens listening to the music provided by a harpist, sipping lemonade and lavender mint lemon-balm iced tea, nibbling crackers with herb cream cheese and lavender cookies. All the herbs came from the gardens.
People said the cookies were delicious. Not vegan though, loaded with butter. But they gave out the recipe a few days later and I snagged one. Brought it back to Bellingham and veganified it.

These cookies are delicious. Crumbly, buttery, and tasting of lavender (of course). Perfect for afternoon tea or your own garden party. We tried dipping them in macadamia creme (great) and Katie suggests dipping them in white chocolate. I was out of Sucanat the day I made them, but next time I'll try them with whole wheat pastry flour and Sucanat.

Ingredients

1 c. vegan margarine, softened
1/4 c. white sugar
2 tbsp. lavender, chopped (or mint, edible flower petals, or citrus zest)
5 tbsp. powdered sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, beat margarine until fluffy. Cream the sugars with the margarine.
2. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add to the creamed mixture and beat until combined.
3. Roll the dough into two logs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (it will crumble easily). Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap dough and slice into 1/4-inch-thick cookies*. Place an inch apart on baking sheets.
5. Bake until lightly golden brown around edges, ten to twelve minutes. Watch carefully; they turn brown and crispy all of a sudden. Cool completely.

*Optional egg wash:
Before you slice the logs, brush with an egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of cold water. Roll logs in 1/4 cup of sugar.

Beauty and Flavor: Heirloom Tomatoes

2009-08-09T18:21:17Z

Left to right: Brandywine, Black Krim, Azoychka

At the Bellingham Farmer's Market yesterday my goal was to get produce in beautiful colors and intriguing shapes. The trip was rather successful (purple beans, a delicately-green pepper called a flamingo, a zucchini shaped like a tart), and the loot I brought home included three heirloom tomatoes. I was really excited to finally try the tomatoes I'd once written about in a creative-nonfiction piece.
The brandywine tomato is delicious and sweet, perfect for eating all by itself. The black krim is sort of salty and has lovely purple tones all through it. The azoychka has a bit of a citrus flavor; I used it in guacamole. The inside is a lovely pink color. All three tomatoes make an outstanding pico de gallo.

This summer don't forget to take advantage of the abundance of delicious local produce. And since I just saw Julie & Julia yesterday (a delightful feel-good movie for those who love to cook and those who love to eat), I have to say: bon appetit!

Brunch of Champions: Vegan French Toast and Sweet Potato Hash

2009-07-31T17:17:31Z

I maintain that brunch is the best meal, even if you have it at two in the afternoon like Katie and Chris and I did one Sunday. We made sweet potato hash with five-spice and watercress, and vegan french toast.

Sweet Potato Hash with Five-Spice and Watercress
If you love sauteed onions and garlic as much as I do, it wouldn't hurt to put more of those two ingredients in than this recipe calls for.
When we made this I had a yam that needed used, so I substituted it for one of the sweet potatoes. It added a nice bit of color to contrast the green of the watercress. Watercress is a peppery-tasting leaf, high in iron and calcium (which I'm always trying to eat a lot of) as well as other vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients

3 tbs. olive oil
1 medium-size onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
3 medium-size sweet potatoes, diced
1 bunch watercress, stems discarded, torn into big pieces

1. In a large skillet, cook the onion in one tablespoon of the olive oil for two minutes over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the salt and spices and cook for another minute.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and the rest of the oil. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender and a bit caramelized.

4. Add the watercress and cook for two minutes while stirring constantly.

Vegan French Toast

Vegan french toast, you ask? Can it be done? Yes indeed! It's absolutely delicious. The key ingredient is garbanzo bean flour. I started using garbanzo bean flour in my baking because it is high in protein and iron, and has calcium too. It can also be useful in gluten-free baking. Or you can make hummus with it (so I hear), and Katie puts it in sweet potato falafel. Really, it's proving to be an all-around useful flour.

Ingredients

Loaf of Italian or French bread, baguette shaped, preferably stale
1/2 c. soy creamer, although rice or soy milk can be used
1/2 c. rice milk or plain soy milk
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 c. garbanzo bean flour
Several tablespoons oil

1. Slice the bread into 1-inch rounds. If the bread isn't stale you can leave the slices out overnight or put in a 350 F oven for 3 to 4 minutes, just to dry them a bit.
2. Put the creamer and milk into a bowl suitable for dunking bread in. Mix the cornstarch in until dissolved. Add flour and mix; a bit of lumpiness is okay.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add enough oil to create a thin layer at the bottom.
4. Get the bread slices really good and soaked, then fry them in the skillet, about 2 minutes per side. They should be golden brown.
5. Top with fresh local berries and powdered sugar, or the old standby maple syrup.