No-Rise Bread

Even a non-baker like me couldn't screw this up. (too bad; the bottom did burn a bit) This bread was deliciously crusty on the outside and luxuriously soft on the inside. It was great for sopping up all the sauce from the vegan baked ziti that was sadly gobbled up too fast for a picture.

This is the bread:

It's not actually orange, it just looks that way because the sun was beaming down on my kitchen table when I took the picture, and the alternative was looking blue. I find orange much more appetizing. The recipe is from The Kitchn which also has a very exciting looking slow rise bread, I was just too hungry to wait that long on this particular occasion.

The idea for the ziti came from VegTimes via LindyLoo at "Yeah that Vegan Shit" She made the ultimate lasagna and was less than impressed, but couldn't speak highly enough of the tofu ricotta filling, so I decided to give it a shot. I skipped the onion/garlic/spinach step, combining tofu, cream cheez, olive oil, basil, nooch, and salt and pepper in a blender. I mixed that with TONS of tomato sauce, and once the ziti had cooked to al dente added it to the mixture. The whole mess went into a casserole dish and I coated the top with panko. It spent 25 minutes, covered, in a 375F oven, and then another ten without the foil to brown the panko. Perfection. Seriously. I never want baked ziti with animal derived cheese again, this was WAY too good. The cream cheez is key to making it creamy and fulfilling.

Baked ziti and bread reminded me of Italian takeout in school...but so much better cause I made it...

Selah.