Rosemary-Olive Beer Bread (Vegan)

Yup, you read that title correctly.

For the weeks when you have midterms, late meetings or apartment-viewings (or all of the above). For when you don’t have enough time to make breakfast, lunch AND/OR dinner: This recipe’s for you. A loaf of this will last you a week, and serve as a great base for versatile meals, including open-faced sandwiches (more on those later) and pairings for soups or salads.

I first had beer bread at the Rabbit Hole Cafe in Montreal: a vegan pay-what-you-can cafe tucked in the basement of The Yellow Door. So beer bread brings back special memories of Friday lunches with friends, taking refuge from classes and the dead of winter, and sharing tea, piano songs and laughter.

Because I like my bread to have stuff in it, I amped up the classic recipe with rosemary and olives, and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and oats. And while most beer bread recipes call for lagers, I used an ale (Sam Adams Cold Snap) because I was intrigued by the “blend of exotic fruits & spices including orange peel, plum, hibiscus & fresh ground coriander” … and because it was the only beer I had lying around.

The result was a dense and fragrant bread. The top was firm, the middle a little crumble-y and cake-y and the flavours subtle enough to complement whatever you may put on top.

INGREDIENTS:

Bread:

• 2 ½  cups of all purpose flour
• 1 bottle of beer of your choice (I used Sam Adams Cold Snap*)
• ⅓  cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½  tablespoon of maple syrup
• 1 – 2 teaspoons sea salt

Mix-ins: 

• 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
• ½ cup of sliced olives (Both canned and fresh work)
• Roasted pumpkin seeds, to sprinkle
• Oats, to sprinkle

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a mixing bowl, sift and combine flour, salt and baking powder.
3. Add in the olive oil and mix coarsely.
4. Crack open a bottle of beer and pour it into the mixture (If you sneak in a sip or two, you’re forgiven!).
5. Wait a few seconds for the fizzing to stop, and mix the beer in thoroughly, until a batter-like consistency is reached.
6. Drizzle on the maple syrup and mix into the batter.
7. Chop up the rosemary** and the olives and add to mixing bowl.
8. Fold in the mix-ins with a spatula.
9. Transfer dough to baking pan**. Sprinkle on oats, pumpkin seeds or other toppings, pressing lightly onto the top of the dough.
10. Bake for 50 minutes until the top is browned and the insides are cooked.

*DISCLAIMER:

 We are not endorsed by Sam Adams or anyone else. We wish we were.

**NOTES:

• Before chopping the rosemary, try to break apart or crush the leaves with your hands. This will release the natural oils and lend to more fragrance. After doing so, run your knife over the leaves to coarsely chop into smaller pieces.
• Please use a bread pan  and/or avoid filling up the baking pan the whole way like I did. Otherwise you’ll get a weirdly shaped loaf like mine. And if the rising loaf is not contained by the baking pan, rogue pumpkin seeds may fall off in the hot oven and cause you to fret over the house burning down.

…Veganish: experimenting and (occasionally) making mistakes, so that you don’t have to.

Mama’s Deluxe Banana Bread (vegetarian/vegan)

We’re about a month and a half late for National Banana Bread Day in the U.S. (February 23^rd) but in Canada, we don’t need a reason to celebrate this all-time classic. Banana bread or loaf cakes are like chocolate chip cookies – a crowd-pleaser whether you’re dressin’ to impress the omnivores or just kicking back for afternoon tea. First potluck with the new gang? Can’t go wrong with banana bread. Everyone’s got their favourite recipe for banana bread. This one is straight from my mama’s recipe stash. After years of drooling over other kids’ Dunkaroos and Lunchables, I’m finally proud to say that my mom’s a bit of a health freak. She doesn’t by the whole diet-labeling ordeal (and neither do I anymore), but for the sake of ease this recipe is both dairy-free and made with whole wheat flour. You can veganize it by substituting eggs with flax seed, and gluten-free by subbing wheat flour with a gluten-free flour mix. The best part of baking is customizing. Got a sweet tooth? Mix in some chocolate or carob chips! I like to ease up on the sugar and load mine with berries and nuts – for that juicy burst of flavor and nutty crunch. INGREDIENTS: For an 8’ x 4’ pan (makes 8-10 servings) Wet ingredients:

• 1-3 eggs (or equivalent flax seed substitute)
• 3-4 super ripe bananas
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup brown sugar

Dry ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour (or gluten-free flour mix)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon flax seed for extra fibre (optional)

Fun add-ons (optional):

• ½ cup berries (frozen blueberries, blackberries)
• ½ cup nuts (sunflower seeds, walnuts, almond slivers)
• chocolate/carob chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a bowl, mash the bananas and add in all the wet ingredients, putting in the sugar last. Mix into a slushy consistency.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix, stirring until you get a smooth consistency with no lumps.
5. Stir in your fun add-ons: berries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
6. Line your baking pan with parchment paper (compostable) or vegetable oil, then pour in the mixture.
7. For decoration, sprinkle some nuts on the top, but not too many so that they burn.
8. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick/fork comes out clean.
9. Cool, slice, and enjoy!