Wherein we share photos, lament failed raises, and wax poetic about dat oven spring.
This week - vegan(-ish) banana bread! This was the recipe I started with and tweaked. Instead of butter I used vegetable shortening, and instead of an egg I used flax meal (1 tbsp meal, 2.5 tbsp water). I'd never used flax in anything before. I call it vegan-ish because of the white sugar, but I have no idea if the brand of sugar in our cabinet was refined with bone char or not. I also added in some sliced almonds (maybe 1/2 cup or so) and a couple of handfuls of sunflower seeds for a little extra texture. I was very happy with how this turned out. I thought for sure I would have missed the butter flavor, but not at all. The almonds and seeds give it a nice varying texture. The flax egg held the loaf together better than I expected, and I'm feeling very positive about future quick breads of this vein using that instead of eggs.
We're having Biscuits and Gravy tonight. These were skillet biscuits: heated up a cast iron skillet to medium on the stove , tossed in the biscuits, threw on the lid and then backed the burner down to low. Let 'em go 10-12 minutes a side, flipping once. Is it really baking? Nah. The lid approximates it but you still gotta flip. It was a standard biscuit recipe though, and a fine alternative to heating up the apartment.