Sunday, May 19, 2013

Blog Tour! Whole Grain Vegan Baking Book


Blog tour time! Today, I'm gonna talk about my huge love for Whole Grain Vegan Baking. Yesterday you heard from Mihl and tomorrow you will here from Jess! Check out the full schedule for Celine and Tami's blog tour here

So, it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Celine and Tami's recipes. I've been recipe testing for them for awhile now, years even, and their latest book to come out, Whole Grain Vegan Baking, is up there on my all-time-favorites list of cookbooks, like ever. I've made a lot of the recipes from this book, during the testing stage, and still after. There was a lot to learn from this book and it definitely gave me some major love for whole grains that I did NOT have before.  I learned that Spelt flour is the best ever AND I WANNA PUT IT IN EVERYTHING. I have a newfound love affair with Barley flour, and I never ever would have known that. I learned that I do not like Amaranth flour (to each their own!) Most importantly, I learned that whole grains taste waaaay better than plain white flour once you have a good, balanced recipe to work from (we've all tried to make "healthy" cookies or something that turned out tasteless and bleh before yeah?) There is a certain depth in the flavor of whole grain baked goods that I have come to appreciate and even prefer over the standard white flour varieties. Win!

I have lots of favorites from this book, including the pizza crust, the pitas, the kale quiche, the wild mushroom & arugula pie, Speculoos DOUGHNUTS, sweet potato waffles, coconut-spice granola, the english muffin bread, Pull-apart Cinnamon Bread, and so so many more. Seriously, there is something for everyone in here.

Anyways, for this stop on their blog tour, I wanted to devote this post to your sweet tooth. Because, mmm sweet tooth. I was on kind of a no-sugar kick for the last few months leading up to my wedding, and what better way to break that restriction on myself with some tasty (healthy-ish) sweets!

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CONTEST TIME!

Also, CONTEST! Weee! Celine, Tami, and their publisher have graciously offered up one copy of Whole Grain Vegan Baking to a lucky reader here.

*EDIT: Winner has been chosen, thank you! Congrats to Becca!

To enter: Leave me a comment, by Monday at Midnight EST, telling me a bad experience you have had with whole grain baking. Let's let it all out, therapy-style, and then never think about it again, because you are going to make so many delicious whole grain recipes when you get this book!
*Don't forget to leave your email address!
*Unfortunately, this contest is only open to those in the U.S. and Canada (I'm sorry...) The publisher will ship it straight to the winner

I will pick a winner on Tuesday, via Random.org. Good luck!


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Speculoos Doughnuts!

Sweet Potato Waffles!

Whole and Oats Cookies. (hehehe)

18 comments:

  1. I made some waffles with soaked buckwheat and it sticked so much to my waffle iron I ended up making crepes with the batter.

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  2. The first time I tried to make a 100% whole wheat yeast raised loaf of bread, it was a BRICK! Completely inedible. I've learned a lot since then.

    Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this book, it looks wonderful!

    gaia (at) cinci (dot) rr (dot) com

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  3. I gave up on these so called bars after a couple of tries that were supposed to be a healthy version of fig newtons. They didn't hold together and needed to be eaten with a spoon. Some thought they might be okay as an oatmeal topping on occasion but didn't care for them as a dessert or snack.

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  4. Spelt scones. They weren't bad but they were not that great. I believe this book has a whole grain scone recipe inside to redeem!

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  5. I was recently traumatized in an attempt to make whole grain pancakes for my mother this past Mother's Day. They were dense and blah and embarrassing to say the least. Thanks for the great blog and giveaway! dreamloudDOTrhATgmailDOTcom.

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  6. Your blog is incredible! So glad the book tour lead me to it :o)

    I used to hate baking with whole wheat flour. I was always disappointed with the taste, but especially the texture of the baked goods it yielded. However, since I started using whole wheat pastry flour, I haven't had any trouble with it! I'm now ready to tackle other whole grains, and I can't wait to flip through the pages of Whole Grain Vegan Baking.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

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  7. I tried making a whole grain vegan cornbread years ago when I was just learning how to use egg replacers and other vegan substitutes. Let's just say my bread was a horrible dense yucky failure. I was determined to eat them and find the positive in them, but my mom just took them from me, said "You're not going to eat this", and threw it away :P

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  8. Ohhhh...the first time I tried to make a 100% whole wheat loaf of bread, it was a BRICK! Just like a rock...hi hi!!!

    Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of this book :) It is really appreciated.

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  9. I tried subbing guar gum for xanthan gum in a birthday cake...it was not good for someone with a sensitive tummy!

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  10. ha ha, I love your Whole and Oats worm!!!

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  11. Whole grain baking has come such a long way since I first tried it back in the 1970s. Worst experience was buying whole wheat flour, only to get it home, open it to find weevils (bugs) in the flour. Double bagged it for return (the store did not want to take it back of course), and still some of those little buggers had managed to escape and were found trying to set up shop in our home.
    Love how there are so many more options for purchase, even bulk bins and mail order!
    Great site, by the way.

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  12. I love baking with whole grains but am really only comfortable with the common wheat ones and rye flour (it's my favorite!). More recently I'm trying to branch out with spelt, buckwheat, etc. and would love to try even more! This cookbook sounds so awesome! Oh, and once I tried to make a whole grain pumpernickel loaf in my bread machine and it came out lopsided and ridiculously dense.

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  13. Whole grain baking can be tough at times.. I once tried baking a whole grain loaf of bread using egg replacer instead of eggs in the recipe.. turned out terribly dense :(

    BeccaMFerguson@aim.com

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  14. I notice with whole grain baking things sometimes come out dry. I want moist yummy baked goods - not dust!

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  15. Um, pretty much every thing I ever make that involves yeast is a disaster. I can't even pick just one. Maybe the whole wheat bread machine bread that I made that came out, like, four inches high, like a little hard blob. :(

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  16. If I remember well, the first gluten-free (and vegan, of course) bread recipe I've tried had no starch in it, so it was all whole grain (and beans) flours. It didn't rise much, if at all, and was really dense. Some would have said it tasted weird, too, and they might not have been entirely wrong - but I happened to think it had the most interestingly complex flavors, sharp and cheesy. I haven't made it again yet, but I might revisit the recipe one of these days, trying to tweak it so that I'd get a better texture while retaining the amazing flavors!

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  17. I'm always concerned with the taste being weird when I use whole grains with baking. Crusts, breads, you name it! I just need a good starting point, it seems!

    Email: veganyackattack(at)gmail.com

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  18. Sometimes the whole wheat flour can make such heavy breads and cookies. They end up more like hocky pucks.
    tofucat@aol.com

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