EXPERIMENT WITH FOLLOW YOUR HEART (EARTH ISLAND IN CANADA) VEGAN EGG, AND A CRUSTY LOAF OF SOURDOUGH BREAD

My dinner tonight:

Steamed green beans, the sourdough bread I baked this morning (with a bit of my homemade vegan Butter-y Spread) and a vegan Italian omelette, or frittata, with mushrooms, red peppers and onions, made with Earth Island (or Follow Your Heart in the USA) "Vegan Egg" and their Vegan Parmesan Grated, plus a few of my own additions-- I'll recount what I did with my experiment after I brag about my crusty bread. DH Brian is visiting family in Montreal and Quebec City, so I'm on my own for a few days. Yesterday, I decided to refresh my two jars of yogurt-based vegan sourdough starter (my starter recipe and instructions here) languishing in my refrigerator. I discovered that one can ferment 2 one-quart jars of starter in the Instant Pot on the Yogurt function. It takes only 4-6 hours-- faster than my usual method of placing it in the oven with the oven light on. I ended up making four jars of fresh starter with some of the old starter fresh warm soymilk and flour (two jars went home with my friend Holly), and using the remaining old starter in a flatbread dough and dough for a crusty sourdough loaf. Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to throw any of it out.

                               Bubbly fresh sourdough starter.

The flatbread came out pretty well, but not very nice looking, so no photos. But I my crusty no-knead 1/2 whole wheat sourdough bread was a success!

 

I used the crusty bread recipe from my blog here: http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.ca/2016/01/crusty-sourdough-half-whole-wheat-no.html

I made a few changes--I used a whole cup of sourdough starter (I figured that it would be a bit weak, since it was old, so perhaps more would be better) and I added 1/4 tsp. instant yeast to the water, just in case. Otherwise I followed the recipe as given.

I baked it in a preheated stoneware "cloche" made from a Pampered Chef 11" deep dish pizza baker covered with an upside-down 12" Pampered Chef baking bowl (got the two of them for about $13 at a thrift store-- see picture of a similar set-up above). There are other ideas for pans in the blog sourdough bread blog post linked to above. The crust was really improved in this stoneware-- dark and crackly.

 

Okay, now about that omelette, or fritatta...

I and two of my vegan friends were excited to finally aquire some of those cute little egg boxes with the "Vegan Egg" powder in them (it took a while for this product to be available in Canada, under the brand Earth Island:

Our first impression of a "Vegan Egg" omelette, following the directions given by the company, was positive, though it seemed a bit too firm.  It set up so fast-- pretty amazing!  So, for a couple of weeks I have been meaning to play around with this to have a more tender and slightly more tasty version.

What I did, to make one large omelette for two (I'll have the leftovers for beakfast) and my plan was to blend the Vegan Egg with the ice-cold water called for, and some medium firm tofu to tenderize it.  I also added some egg-y smelling black salt (Kala namak-- it's actually pink, BTW) and a little nutritional yeast.

The results were very good-- tender, but easy to remove from the pan.  As you will see in the recipe below, I baked it as a frittata rather than cooking it on the stovetop, but I plan to try the stovetop method for a regular omelette next time.

Here's what I did:

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BRYANNA'S "VEGAN EGG" OVEN-BAKED ITALIAN OMELETTE (OR FRITATTA) WITH VEGETABLES

Serves 2

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

While the oven heats up, place a  lightly oiled 10" cast iron skillet or pie pan in the oven.

Slice and saute the vegetables you want to use-- I used a small onion, a medium-sized red bell pepper, and 3 medium sized cremini mushrooms, all thinly-sliced and lightly salted. I actually cooked them on a cookie sheet under the broiler of my oven until they wilted and browned bit.

While they were cooking, I blended the omelette ingredients, using:

3/4 cup ice-cold water
1/2 cup medium-firm tofu, crumbled

2 level T. "Vegan Egg" powder

1 T. nutritional yeast flakes

1/2 T. dry sherry (optional)

1/4 tsp. black salt

I spread the broiled veggies in the hot skillet and quickly poured and spread the eggy mixture from the blender  over the vegetables and out to the edges of the pan. 

I topped the mixture with about 1/4 cup of vegan parmesan.

I baked the omelette for 20 minutes, removed it from the oven and cut it into four quarters, and sprinkled a bit of salt and freshly-ground black pepper on top.  

Delicious and tender!

Enjoy!