Vegan Gluten Free Carrot and Walnut Bread

I haven't done much baking for a while, I tend to go in phases with it I think mainly because due to working with the gluten free flours there are more fails than there used to be when I could just use the regular flour.  It can be a bit disheartening at times,  I enjoy cooking new vegan recipes but the baking minus egg and regular flour proves challenging.

Yesterday I had a go at these cookies here  Naturally Sassy cookies  they were supposed to be made using pecans but as I didn't have any I used walnuts they came out ok, quite chewy, not a soft cookie  once cooled but I am eating them so they work.

You don't roll them out you just shape them with your hands which was quite therapeutic.

This morning while I was up early with the dogs I made a carrot and walnut loaf.  This recipe was adapted from the book Keep it Vegan, I had to adapt it because the recipe is not gluten free and also I didn't have a courgette! 

Here is my recipe...

Carrot and Walnut loaf

200g gf plain flour

100g brown rice flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp oregano

1 carrot grated

4 pieces of chopped sun dried tomato (optional)

175ml soya milk

50g walnuts crushed (rolling pin)

1tbsp chia seeds soaked in a little water

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 200c, mix dry ingredients in a bowl, add carrot and tomato pieces, make a well in the centre and pour in soya milk, stir through nuts and seeds.  This should all come together in a piece as you stir, flour your hands and turn it onto a baking sheet then shape into an oval loaf, score top.  Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes until it sounds hollow when tapped.

You only need a slice as it is filling, unlike regular bread which is just generally full of air.  It also has a lot of goodies in it again unlike regular bread which is often full of preservatives.

Caravan Seats and Odd Jobs

I was asked to make over the caravan interior upholstery for my husbands colleague last week. The curtains were complete last week but she didn't buy enough fabric for the seating so we have been waiting on that.

It was not an easy sew!  The fabric was woven so one side of the piece when you cut it kept unravelling in massive strips, it also got tangled around the needle a few times, oh awful stuff.  Anyway they are finished now, well I just have two scatter cushions to do tomorrow and they won't take long.

I also had some panels to sew inside some motorbike jeans this week, they are to hold the protective pads, that job was a first and also quite tricky to stitch through the padded denim. 

My job for tomorrow is to make some Mr Tumnus trousers to look like his furry legs.  I need to dress up at school next week, I will try and share  a picture but not sure if I'll do so while I'm wearing them.

So there hasn't been much in the way of garment making recently but lots of repairs for others and household style sewing.  Perhaps the brighter days will inspire me, I tend to stick to my same sets of layered clothes when it is cold.

It has been quite tricky to find something to get interested in on the TV recently, all the Scandinavian dramas I like appear to have finished and have not been replaced with anything to grab my attention.  Broad church is quite enjoyable and also The Replacement but really there is an awful lot of rubbish across the channels.  I came into the living room the other evening after doing some alterations and turned on the TV, across three channels these were the options; Britain on Benefits, Britain on the Fiddle and Britain After Brexit, I turned it straight off again!

Schar Gluten Free Pizza Base

Being gluten free I have to admit that I miss pizza, these days also being vegan that would be a
cheese free pizza but still I do miss it.   I have tried various things to satisfy this including many gluten free bread products, it is never the same. We visited Zizis the restaurant because I read they did an amazing GF vegan pizza, it wasn't, but it was wafer thin, overpriced with practically zero topping on it.  Did I mention how I hate to be ripped off and we don't even go out that often.

So when I saw these Schar pizza bases I was excited, I love the Schar bread and although it is expensive I will pay the extra for this as I am so limited in what I can have and their bread has quinoa, linseed goodness and tastes super.  We brought the bases home today and I piled on all my lovely toppings, fried red onions, cherry tomatoes, sauce, garlic mushrooms, Italian herbs and vegan cheese. 

Now these bases were two for three pounds so again not cheap for a bit of bread but I had high hopes.

When it came out of the oven I cut it up and sat down to tuck in.  Well, dry powdery bread just like every other  gluten free product I tend to try, I was disappointed to say the least.  The loaf I buy by this make is so good I expected too much I think.  You see I had resigned myself a while ago to the fact that bread based meals are a thing of the past.  On the occasion I have some it is beans or tomatoes on the Schar toast so this moistens the bread.  I would not recommend buying this product but their loaves are good if pricey.

The best and closest I have come to enjoying something resembling a pizza is when I used a wrap as a base and just topped that with lots of veg.   The reason that may have worked better is that a wrap is so thin so you don't experience the dry floury texture of a thicker dough.

If anyone has tried anything better I would love to hear about it.  I am usually pretty good at improvising with the GF, vegan foods but sometimes on a Saturday you just want to come home and have a pizza like everyone else!