Wednesday 24 April 2013

Elvis Presley (Protein) Bread

Everyone knows that Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich in the entire world was fried bananas with peanut butter.  It's a classic.  Well, in America, at least.

So, why not make it into a quick-bread and add some protein, for fun?!

Yes, that is my idea of fun.

Elvis Presley Bread
** = optional
Dry Ingredients:
  • 240g (~2 cups) all purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • **100g your favorite granola (I recommend nutty, rather than fruity)
  • **60g your favorite vanilla protein powder (trec is great); if you don't have this, add another tablespoon of flour, plus a teaspoon of vanilla extract
Wet Ingredients:
  • 4 small bananas, mashed
  • 300g (1/2 cup) chunky peanut butter
  • 135ml (1/3 cup) milk of choice
  • 15ml (1/4 cup) oil
  • 2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mash bananas with fork and add to mixture.  Add milk, oil and eggs.  Last, plop (I know, very sophisticated) your peanut butter into the mix.  Mix well.

Generously grease your loaf pan.  I think mine is the normal 9x5 pan?  This baby will stick if you let it, so either line your pan with parchment paper, or use oil to coat the sides.  I use some kind of spray oil that boasts only 1 calorie a spray... what are these miracles?!

Right.  Pour mix into the pan.  It should look something like this:


Place in the oven for roughly 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes, if the top is getting too brown, place a little foil "tent" over top and continue cooking.  It should take roughly 60-75 minutes, in total.  You'll know it's done when a fork, inserted into the middle of the bread, comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Promptly remove and let cool for 15 minutes.  Once it's semi-cool, turn it over and place on a wire rack, or somewhere where it can "breathe" (aka, not gather any condensation on the bottom) and continue to cool down.  Slice into 20 slices, or, if you're a monster of a human, eat the whole thing.  I'm looking at you, Chris.





Calorie Breakdown:
Per slice, if you cut it into 20 slices

Without optional ingredients: 176 calories, 9.3g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 20g carb, 1.6g fibre, 5.8g protein
With optional ingredients: 210 calories, 10g fat, 1.65g sat fat, 21.4g carb, 1.7g fibre, 8.3g protein

Enjoy!  And, bear in mind the sugars & fats coming from this buddy are from honey, banana and peanut butter - hardly equivalent to most banana breads, which boast tons of brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and margarine.  This one's a surefire winner.

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Lightweights do Italy

Now, everyone knows that I believe in a healthy diet of well-balanced nutrients.


Italia posed no threat to this mindset.  Undeniably, Keir and I managed to get in all of our daily nutrients.


  • Daily dose of vitamins from all of the fruit.. flavored gelato,







  • Another healthy dose of protein and calcium... strong bones for walking 9 hours a day,







  • Some starch to keep those energy levels surging,











  • Just in case those starch reserves were depleted by the strenuous museum visits and park lounging, we had a back-up plan... these are complex carbs, right?






  • Some greens,



  • Whoever said coffee isn't part of a wholesome diet hasn't been to Italy, or had an after-meal espresso.  No one needs sleep in their daily routine.






Disclaimer: I do not condone a perpetuation of this very well-balanced diet.  It is only for the truly dedicated.

Monday 8 April 2013

Let's get kneady, baby

First off:  THANKS FOR THE 1000+ PAGE VIEWS Y'ALL.  No idea who is reading this, and I hope you're not all stalkers... but thank you for boosting my ego.  I mean, boosting my confidence.  I'll stop now.  Bottom line: grazie!

I know I've left you guys hanging for a bit... my bad, my bad.  I figured that this blog would be taking a turn from concentrating on raw to focusing on baking in general, so today's entry might as well start the journey!

I've been dabbling in bread making for quite some time, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.  I used to HATE kneading the dough (add that to my list of awkward phobias), but I've gotten much better with it, and even kind of - gasp - enjoy it now.

So, be prepared to feast your eyes on the easiest of easy breads.  I make a lot of more complicated breads, where I measure and guestimate the specific ingredients, but I also make easy breads when I'm pressed for time.  Wright's Flours, here in the UK, make lovely "pre-made" bread flours that come in a variety of flavors (look here), and they're delightful to make into a huge loaf.  So, what better to start my tutorial on bread making than with an easy, no guessing recipe for y'all?

Sundried Tomato & Chilli Bread

  • 1 sachet of Wright's or any other pre-made bread flour mix (I obviously used the above named flavor)
  • 330ml water (or whatever the package specifies)
  • 1 tsp salt (bread mixes are always notoriously under-salted)
Pour dry ingredients into large bowl.  Add water to dry ingredients; mix with fork until you have this consistency:


I often find that I have to add a bit more or a bit less water to the mixture.  Rely on the texture to tell you if it's correct.



Let that mixed dough rest for about 5 minutes.  Flour your work space generously.  Seriously.  I think I ended up with flour down my shorts... but that's another story.


Plop that bad boy onto the floured surface.


It actually was this orange color in real life.  It's not just my crazy camera.  Very cool dough!  But, back to the process...

Now comes the best part.  The dough will be pretty darn sticky, which is a good thing, as it means the bread won't come out as a solid rock.  Flour your hands, and begin to roll the dough into itself, incorporating some of the flour on the work space.  In my famous words (and I'm sorry to those underage): knead the shit out of it.


I prefer the method of 1) form into ball, 2) smoosh ball in one direction, 3) turn smooshed ball, 4) smoosh in another direction.  Repeat.  But, whatever works for you.  The idea is to keep playing/kneading the dough until it is quite elastic and smooth.  It usually takes me about 8-10 minutes.

After you're satisfied with the texture of the dough, place it back in the bowl to "proof."  That yeast needs time to grow!  I like to put a bit of olive oil on the dough at this point, to keep the moisture in.  Just rub a tablespoon onto the surface.

Cover, and place in a warm area for at least an hour.  It needs to have at least doubled in size before you think about baking it!


I let this dough rise for 3.5 hours because I was in town, and it rose nicely!  Look at those yeasty bubbles:


Punch down the dough, but be gentle as not to totally destroy all of the work that yeast has been doing!  Flour your counter again, and gently shape the dough into your desired shape.  I went for a bloomer type:



The slashes in the dough dictate how the dough will rise.  These kind of slashes are to help it rise evenly upwards and outwards, rather than in all sorts of directions.  I'm sure there's some serious science to it somewhere.  It also just looks nice...

Right.  You've preheated your oven to 230C/450F.  This is the tricky part.  The baking really depends on the oven itself.  My oven in college isn't terribly hot, so I tend to have the bread at this temperature for roughly 30 minutes (to get that delicious, thick crust), and then I turn down the heat to 180C/350F for about 15 minutes.  You will really have to play it by look, here.  Try not to open the oven door too much, but take a peak every once in awhile to assure that it's browning.  Once it's brown, take it out of the oven, turn it over, and tap on the bottom.  If the bread sounds hollow, you're good to go.

Note: it took me a few bakes to figure out what the correct "hollow" sound was.  Fear not.  When in doubt, stick it in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.  You won't hurt anything, and it beats having nasty, unbaked dough at the bottom of your loaf.

The finished product:



Happy bread making!

Friday 5 April 2013

The Oatmeal Secret

After yesterday's stomach fail, I decided to switch up my usual 2/3 -- today, I went non-raw for breakfast, and plan to go raw for lunch and dinner!

KathEats (food blogger) has an ode to oatmeal on her page.. check it out
I did wake up rather late, so I didn't eat breakfast until about 10am, so the raw portions might turn into "early dinner" and "evening snack," but nonetheless!  I decided to go non-raw for breakfast because I had a huge craving for oatmeal.  I have an obsession with oatmeal.  I should probably write it a love song.  Maybe I'll commission my friend Lottie to get on that one, since I'm musically (and creatively)-challenged.  Not sure how many of you have made oatmeal the correct way (ie, on the stove top, not in the microwave, and with non-instant oats), but it's so worth it.  This English porridge crap?  No thanks.
Brie's Perfect Oatmeal
  • 40g (or 1/2 cup) rolled, or jumbo, oats
  • 1 or 2 egg whites (if you use the liquid carton kind, probably 1/4 cup)
  • dash milk
  • enough water to cover about an inch above the oats
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • dash cinnamon
Bring to low boil.  Keep an eye on it, because oats burn to the bottom of the pan notoriously quick.  Stir vigorously for about 30 seconds once it comes to the boil, then let it rest for about 30 seconds... repeat until desired consistency.  The egg whites are incredible because they 1) add a lot of protein and 2) make your oats insanely fluffy.  Plus, the taste is great.  You'll notice that the above recipe doesn't have any sweetener in it.  That's the way I prefer it, because I tend to add a lot of toppings, most of which are sweet (brown sugar, banana, honey, etc).  If you want to add a sweet ingredient into the cooking process, go ahead; it won't disrupt anything.  A fun twist is cutting super thin slices of banana into the cooking oats before you "whip" or stir them, causing the bananas to emulsify and thicken your oatmeal, as well as add yummy sweetness. 
I hope you can tell that I'm an oatmeal connoisseur.