Vegan With a Vengence recipe review & help request
Today I made the White Bean & Tempeh Sausage Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance. It is really good! Very sausage like. First you make the Tempeh Sausage Crumbles -- which are good alone & like she said, would be good with lots of other things.
Next you make the 'gravy' & add it to the crumbles & heat through. The fennel in the crumbles really helps give it a sausage flavor & the crumbled tempeh is pretty similar to crumbled sausage.
Howe'ver, I did use quite a bit more veggie broth in my gravy recipe than she calls for. While processing the white beans in the food processor I used 1/2 cup broth (instead of 1/4 cup) & when heating the gravy with the crumbles I added another 1/2 cup of broth. Overall, a very satisfactory recipe & way less processed food than the GimmeLean sausage gravy that I've made in the past. Different, but still very good!
Now for the help request. I cannot get a decent fluffy biscuit! I used VWAV recipe, but it is very similar to the one linked below, which I have also made & had the same flat biscuit result. I roll the dough out to about 1/2" thick. Should I roll it out thicker? My biscuits taste good but they are very flat. Any suggestions?
Hmmm, maybe put more baking soda in, Might work ya never know.
When i make biscuits this is the recipe i use:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon double-acting backing powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening (or margerine)
3/4 cup soya milk
Preheat oven to 450*f. In large bowl, with fork, mix flour, baking powder and salt. With 2 knives cut in shortening untill mixture resembles coarse crumbs; add milk. with fork, quickly mix just untill mixture forms soft dough that leaves sides of the bowl clean.
Put dough onto lightly floured surface; knead 6 to 8 strokes to mix throughly. with floured rolling pin, lightly roll out dough, lifting rolling pin as you near the edges to keep dough evenly thick. Roll dough 1/2 inch thick for high fluffy biscits, 1/4 inch for thin crusty ones. flour a round cookie cutter and cut out the shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, do this untill no dough remaines. place 1 inch apart for crusty biscutes or nearly touching for soft-sided ones. Bake about 12- 15 mins untill golden. Makes about 18 biscuits.
okay well hope that help some what.
-Melissa ;D
Lezly, I almost made that for breakfast yesterday! But I made the lemon corn waffles instead. I think I'll try the biscuits today and see what happens. I'm definitely not an expert biscuit maker. Mine usually end up like hockey pucks.
I finally made the Fauxstess Cupcakes....MAN OH MAN are those good. Here's a little picture of the finishe'd product.
Oh Nancy! What lovely cupcakes! You have the perfect plate to display them, too! I can almost taste them just looking at it!! :D :D :D
I'm still waiting for my black cocoa. :-\
BTW, regarding the biscuits, someone on Krista's board said that baking powder reacts best with some acid & suggested turning my soy milk into buttermilk. I have Robin's buttermilk substitution recipe, so I'm going to try that next time & will let you know.
BTW, are you getting a lemon corn waffle jones going? ;)
Lezly--
I make the "Biscuits Like Mom Never Made" (the recipe from this site you linked) quite a bit, but I've never tried rolling them out. I just plop biscuit-sized portions onto the sheet and bake it like that. No, they aren't very uniform and probably don't look pretty compared to rolled out biscuits, but I think they have a good texture and are fairly fluffy. But I really don't care how my food looks as long as it tastes good--you may be different.
BTW, I have also tried the same recipe with "buttermilk" and I thought they came out even better, so I hope you have luck with that :-)
Elizabeth
I never even considered just plopping them onto the pan unrolled. Probably cuz my mom always rolled them out! Funny, huh?
Years ago I read a funny story -- although it does have to do with meat. A woman cut off the end of her pot roast & placed both pieces in the pan. Her little girl asked why she did that. She thought for a moment & answered that her mother always did it.
Later she asked her mother why she did it & her mother said cuz her mother always did it. Her mother asked her mother who said she had no idea why, but that her mother always did it. The woman's great grandmother was still alive so they asked her why she did it & she laughed & said cuz it wouldn't fit in her pan.
I hate rolling things out--makes too much of a mess!!! I usually add about 1/4 cup extra liquid and just drop 'em. Still delicious.
Definately add a bit of acid to kick the soda into gear! What can also make a difference is 1) the way you are cutting them and 2) oven temp when you pop them in.
1) use a sharp cutter, dip in a bit of flour each time to prevent drag or sticking, cut straight down and then up without twisting. Otherwise, the sides can get slightly "sealed" and not release to rise as high.
2) baked goods like a bit of "oven spring" when they go in, so your oven needs to be well up to temp before the biscuits go in.
Also, if your baking powder is old, it may lose some oomph. You can blend your own aluminum-free with 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda for each teaspoon of baking powder.
Me - I'm a drop-n-plop kinda biscuit gal! We have a tiny kitchen with no counter space for rolling!
Well, I'm sure that Nancy is pretty dish... but really I meant to also compliment you on the lovely milk glass plate you have. Westmoreland? I collect milk glass and think your piece is just wonderful!
I make drop biscuts simply because that is how I recall my Great Aunt making them. They turn out lumpy and bumpy and crusty. Its fabulous to slice them open and smear them with jam.
HeyRed, Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, my baking powder is VERY old. I bought some new this week. And I will flour my cutter prior to cutting.
Will report back.
Well, I'm sure that Nancy is pretty dish... but really I meant to also compliment you on the lovely milk glass plate you have. Westmoreland? I collect milk glass and think your piece is just wonderful!
;D
I'm not sure what the plate is...I bought it at the flea market for 50 cents last summer! I don't remember seeing a mark on it anywhere. I just loved the curly parts.
Lezly,
I made this recipe last night and also had flat biscuits. I had new baking powder and my oven was well heated. I think it's just the recipe.
I did like the flavor of the dish though. I asked my meat eating husband to rate it, and he said that if I made it 3-4 times per week he would be happy.
My sister makes some kind of sausage appetizer called hanky-panky. You put it on those little square pieces of bread and heat it in the oven. I think this recipe would be good for that (with a little less broth so it's not runny).
I did like the flavor of the dish though. I asked my meat eating husband to rate it, and he said that if I made it 3-4 times per week he would be happy.
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Vegan1, it took me 3 days to eat all of this & I liked it better each time I had it! It got pretty thick, in spite of the additional broth I used at cooking, so I just added some soy milk to it at each serving. I find it to be a very satisfactory GimmeLean sausage gravy replacement! And so much less processed!
I'm glad you tried it & that hubby liked it!