Vegan under lockdown facing a short term future of ingredient substitutions

[Annoying Twit]

It's too late for most of my yeast. It's frozen. But, I've been using the frozen fresh yeast for a while and it appears to be working.

I left one block of it in the fridge, not frozen, and will try to see how using it compares to the frozen yeast.

The bread that I cooked yesterday and forgot, so it rose much more than I intended has actually turned out better than other bread I have cooked. Particularly in terms of its day after baking texture. I'm going to try and make some bread which I rise outside the oven to see what happens. If it does nothing, then I can give up and use the artificial heat in the oven. (My combo microwave has dough and yogurt proof settings.)

I'm trying different things, so I also want to try the French/crusty bread thing where you put some water in the oven to create steam.

With the drinks I tried using some of my naturally brewed fizzy water to make some cream soda by adding some lemon juice and vanilla essence. I had no idea how much to use, but it tasted nice. Now I wish I had measured so I could have reproduced it.

I made some yogurt last night from frozen yogurt starter (commercial plain yogurt.) It appears to have turned out OK, but it is rather mild. The yogurt went yellow when I froze it, and the resulting fresh yogurt also has a yellowish hue.

 

[retired baker]

Yes my grocer used to tell me to use it within 3 weeks or toss it. I will have to keep checking back with this company to see if I can get some fresh yeast when they get a new shipment. The odd thing is fresh yeast is only available in the US a few months out of the year. I don’t know why that is. Thanks for the link!

The wholesalers all carry it, the retailers don't usually see much demand.
I can't find hi gluten flour or cake flour either. This situation existed before the virus came along.

 

[Annoying Twit]

The wholesalers all carry it, the retailers don't usually see much demand.
I can't find hi gluten flour or cake flour either. This situation existed before the virus came along.

I've read that mixing some cornstarch with all purpose flour is a substitute for cake flour. I'd like to buy some Waitrose sponge flour (attached). But, my nearest Waitrose is about 15km away and I don't drive. That's a nice bicycle ride though The Waitrose sponge flour is self-raising.

I'd say that the biggest problem with vegan cakes is to be able to produce a white cake with a nice texture. They tend to come out heavy and with a coarse texture. I'm going to make one tonight trying to use the cornstarch/all purpose flour mix as a replacement for cake flour.

One of my recipes is a white cake/chocolate cake pair. They're identical except that the chocolate one has 1/5 of the flour replaced by cocoa powder. The texture is so much better. I tried using 1/5 gram flour instead of cocoa, to try and get a white cake with the texture of the chocolate cake, but it didn't work.

I've been making entirely suitable bread with all-purpose flour by adding some wheat gluten. I bought the wheat gluten for another cooking project some time ago, and never used it. So, I started using it for bread making to use it up. But, I now like the idea of just having all-purpose flour and adding wheat gluten when I want stronger flour. Though, most of my flour in my pantry right now is bread flour - simply because that's what I've been able to buy recently.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

The wholesalers all carry it, the retailers don't usually see much demand.
I can't find hi gluten flour or cake flour either. This situation existed before the virus came along.

I don’t know why you can’t get hi gluten, that’s odd. But cake flour is not available in the UK (or all of the European Union actually) as they banned all bleached flours. Canada, Australia and a few other countries banned bleached flours as well. I think it’s a over reaction. Flour bleaches naturally on its own as it ages. But mills don’t want to wait since time is money as they say. So they speed up the process by exposing the flour to benzoyl peroxide or chlorine gas. The flour isn’t mixed with any actual chemicals. But some people believed it posed a health risk. But I don’t know, looking at human biology, and what chlorine and the chemical reactions, it does not seem to be the case.

I just sent a bundt pan to a friend in the UK (Lee_C, he’s on this forum). I tossed in a box of cake flour because I know he cannot buy it there.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

It's too late for most of my yeast. It's frozen. But, I've been using the frozen fresh yeast for a while and it appears to be working.

I left one block of it in the fridge, not frozen, and will try to see how using it compares to the frozen yeast.

The bread that I cooked yesterday and forgot, so it rose much more than I intended has actually turned out better than other bread I have cooked. Particularly in terms of its day after baking texture. I'm going to try and make some bread which I rise outside the oven to see what happens. If it does nothing, then I can give up and use the artificial heat in the oven. (My combo microwave has dough and yogurt proof settings.)

I'm trying different things, so I also want to try the French/crusty bread thing where you put some water in the oven to create steam.

With the drinks I tried using some of my naturally brewed fizzy water to make some cream soda by adding some lemon juice and vanilla essence. I had no idea how much to use, but it tasted nice. Now I wish I had measured so I could have reproduced it.

I made some yogurt last night from frozen yogurt starter (commercial plain yogurt.) It appears to have turned out OK, but it is rather mild. The yogurt went yellow when I froze it, and the resulting fresh yogurt also has a yellowish hue.

My SIL and a friend recently bought instant pots. They are going crazy with them. Both made yogurt. Last thing I need is another kitchen appliance, but the way they go about about this instant pot, I am really tempted to buy one.




Jack has a lot of great videos. If you scroll down to the bottom there is a video on knowing when to bake bread. Jack is based in the UK, so anything you bake based on his videos should work out well. His video on kneading is excellent for its NO FLOUR! I baked for years and was kneading all wrong. I was in a commercial kitchen and this baker stopped me. He said let me show you how to knead. First, stop with the flour, you are screwing up your baker’s percentages. Second, stop working yourself to death, it really is a simple. Fold, roll, turn, press, and repeat.

All that flour baker’s thrown on the counter makes the dough tough and increases the flour content in the dough, throwing the hydration and other ratios off.

Videos — Bake with Jack

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www.bakewithjack.co.uk

 

[retired baker]

I don’t know why you can’t get hi gluten, that’s odd. But cake flour is not available in the UK (or all of the European Union actually) as they banned all bleached flours. Canada, Australia and a few other countries banned bleached flours as well. I think it’s a over reaction. Flour bleaches naturally on its own as it ages. But mills don’t want to wait since time is money as they say. So they speed up the process by exposing the flour to benzoyl peroxide or chlorine gas. The flour isn’t mixed with any actual chemicals. But some people believed it posed a health risk. But I don’t know, looking at human biology, and what chlorine and the chemical reactions, it does not seem to be the case.

I just sent a bundt pan to a friend in the UK (Lee_C, he’s on this forum). I tossed in a box of cake flour because I know he cannot buy it there.

Its just bromide gas, yes flour produces its own gas and silos have to be chemically treated by law anyway.

They can always try pastry flour, its a weak grade, unbleached but pretty much should be the same as cake.
Natually up here in North Maine I can't get that either.
I'll have to amazon everything when life gets normal again.

 

[Annoying Twit]

Just a follow up to this.

Availability of baking ingredients is slowing returning to normal. I see a slowly expanding range of flours available, and dried yeast is becoming much more available. I never actually ran out of ingredients, so all is good.

I'm continuing to bake bread of various sorts, and it's becoming part of my daily routine. I'd always been disappointed with my inability to bake various types of bread, but by trial and error I'm getting there.

When flour was harder to come by, I was using all-purpose flour with added wheat gluten. After strong bread flour became available, I started using that. However, the results with the all-purpose flour + gluten were better. So, I've gone back to doing that. When I finally get through the bag of gluten I'm using now, I'm buying more.

I discovered that part of my difficulty in baking good bread was technique not recipe. I could never get soft buns with a soft crust before, but now I can. After baking when the bread is fresh out of the oven I brush it with melted margarine (instead of butter since I am vegan.) Also, it seems that wasn't covering the dough during the second raising proper, that t was drying out too much. I didn't like the idea of using oiled clingfilm as it seemed a bit wasteful. I've started using oiled thin silicone baking sheet instead. It's washable and reusable.And, just that change made a big difference to my buns and rolls. The tops stay moist and sticky before baking, while previously leaving them to rise in my combination oven (on a dough program) made them dry out too much. Also, leaving them to rise under the sheet means that sesame seeds stick to the buns an order of magnitude better than they did before. I really think I'm making progress.

I've still got my iced buns recipe as before which uses the pre-gelatinised starch.

My next step forward would be to be able to make some usable wrapping/flat bread and/or pita bread. Maybe a recipe like this: https://cafedelites.com/easy-garlic-flatbread-recipe/

Even when/if things are back to normal, I don't think I'm going back to eating store bought bread all the time.

 

[retired baker]

I'm looking forward to having another go at baking rough puff pastry. I've never been able to make decent puff pastry myself, and I see the recipes for rough puff pastry. But, when I try to make it it always comes out very greasy and doesn't puff. I try not to mix the fat into the flour too much and get the 'marbled effect' it's said that it's supposed to have. But, it doesn't work when baked.

It takes less than 25 minutes to make real puff dough, there is no upside to rough puff.
The cost is the same, the labor is the same, in fact if you grate the fat its more work.

 

[Annoying Twit]

I've tried to make puff pastry several times. It never works for me. I find that as I'm rolling the fat always breaks through the dough. And, the result is greasy and doesn't puff properly. I would really like to know how to make a good puff pastry, but I don't. I'd like to learn.

 

[Annoying Twit]

I've learned my lesson on freezing yeast. I read some people saying that they froze yeast and it works fine. And then I've read people saying that freezing yeast kills it. I bought quite a lot of fresh yeast after reading the first and froze it, and then read the second.

I'm mostly through the frozen yeast now, but it is taking longer and longer to start working. It used to be if I put it in my microwave on dough proof setting, after one hour it would be risen nicely. Now after one hour it's hardly risen at all, and I leave it out for another hour or two to let it rise further - which it does. The second rise is fairly quick however, so I presume the yeast has been multiplying and returning to effectiveness. I'll soon be finished with my frozen yeast and will not freeze any more.

I tried making pita bread, using a large frying pan instead of the large flat plate thing that was used in the Youtube video I was following. However, it didn't puff up properly. For two of the six pita breads that I made, about half the pita bread puffed up, and there were nice pockets inside those parts of the bread. But, I have to work out how to make it puff properly. I think the two things to try are: more moisture in the dough, and a hotter pan to cook it on. In the YouTube video it just puffs up like magic. Mine didn't. The resulting flatbread was still edible, however.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I've learned my lesson on freezing yeast. I read some people saying that they froze yeast and it works fine. And then I've read people saying that freezing yeast kills it. I bought quite a lot of fresh yeast after reading the first and froze it, and then read the second.

I'm mostly through the frozen yeast now, but it is taking longer and longer to start working. It used to be if I put it in my microwave on dough proof setting, after one hour it would be risen nicely. Now after one hour it's hardly risen at all, and I leave it out for another hour or two to let it rise further - which it does. The second rise is fairly quick however, so I presume the yeast has been multiplying and returning to effectiveness. I'll soon be finished with my frozen yeast and will not freeze any more.

I tried making pita bread, using a large frying pan instead of the large flat plate thing that was used in the Youtube video I was following. However, it didn't puff up properly. For two of the six pita breads that I made, about half the pita bread puffed up, and there were nice pockets inside those parts of the bread. But, I have to work out how to make it puff properly. I think the two things to try are: more moisture in the dough, and a hotter pan to cook it on. In the YouTube video it just puffs up like magic. Mine didn't. The resulting flatbread was still edible, however.

Interesting...I’ve always wondered why we could not get fresh yeast on the west coast in the US. The manufacturer is on the east coast, so only makes it available on the east coast and to select mid-west and southern states. Now I see why, it does not freeze well at all. So boo hoo for us. I miss not having fresh yeast. Even though I know there is no difference in performance, there is just something about baking with fresh yeast.

I’ve never made pita bread, or any flat bread for that matter. They used to be a favorite of mine. And they are wildly popular here. There are a number of classes where I frequently train on flatbreads too. It is amazing how they puff up like a puffer fish. Let us know if you have any luck with them in the future. Now I am curious about pita. I should give it a go. My niece might enjoy it too. She loves baking with me, and that would be very entertaining for her.

 

[Annoying Twit]

You'd think there would be an opportunity for someone to start making and selling yeast on the West Coast. The fresh yeast I'm buying appears to be from Poland as I'm buying it from Polish shops. I don't know if it is made locally or bought in from Poland, which is some distance away. I can't read the packaging so don't know if it says that it is made anywhere in particular.

The video for making pita bread that I followed is this one:

I will be trying to make pita bread again. I won't be freezing yeast.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

You'd think there would be an opportunity for someone to start making and selling yeast on the West Coast. The fresh yeast I'm buying appears to be from Poland as I'm buying it from Polish shops. I don't know if it is made locally or bought in from Poland, which is some distance away. I can't read the packaging so don't know if it says that it is made anywhere in particular.

The video for making pita bread that I followed is this one:

I will be trying to make pita bread again. I won't be freezing yeast.

Wow those amazingly simple. I just wish she use weight measurements. All of her measurements were very sloppy, nothing looked filled properly, so it’s impossible to
estimate the weights of flour she actually used.

but I’m definitely going to give pita a try.

 

[Annoying Twit]

I've just made chapati for the first time in my life (that I remember), and 5/5 of them puffed up. I didn't expect it to be that easy. I used the recipe here: https://rasamalaysia.com/chapati-recipe/ and also checked out the technique here:

I think the key was not to cook too long on the first side before turning, and then turning over again before pressing them to make them puff up.

In general for bread, it's now been nine months since I ate any bread I didn't make myself, except for two visits to a specialist Kurdish bakery for flatbread.

I've reduced the amount of sugar I use in my recipe. Because I could taste a bit too much sweetness in the finished product. I thought it might make the bread not rise so well - but it seems to be fine. I'm almost always eating my bread as savoury not sweet, so this works a bit better.

I've bought one bit of equipment which has been vital in my bread making: a manual (clockwork) timer.