Introducing 'The Real Food Source'

For those of you who've been following me for a while now, you will have heard me talk about this company before.

My involvement has been growing over the past few months and so today I wanted to bring you up to speed and formally introduce you...feel free to pop over and say 'Hi' to the guys to show a little bit of love!

The 'Real Food Source' is a company I am pretty passionate about. REAL. FOOD. SOURCE. Speaks for itself really!

I first came cross them back in late 2010 before this blog had even been conceived, back at a time when the plant based wholefoods lifestyle had only just begun to intrigue me. They were a small company who had started out selling chia seeds at the very best prices I had come across anywhere in the UK (and believe me when I say I had done a lot of reseach!), so from that first moment my custom was on board. As the months passed and their stock list of allergy friendly, gluten free ingredients grew along with my interest in wholefoods and the advent of my blog, we began to correspond a relationship developed.

I began writing recipe blog posts for them to demonstrate the ways in which their ingredients could be used. Now in more recent months things have kicked off on a whole new level, a newly redeveloped and re-branded website, complete with photography of all the ingredients (courtesy of moi!), more and more product lines added to an ever growing list based on our own discoveries and customer feedback.  Plus now....the for the even more exciting part, they have launched their very first product... a 'Free From' coconut sugar chocolate!

Check out this link for more information about the product but below I extracted some key info from their website:

"Our very own organic coconut sugar chocolate! Wonderful 72% cocoa solids certified chocolate couverture bars made with the very same ingredients we sell online here at the RealFoodSource.  It’s wonderful chocolate taste comes from the single origin cocoa liquor and butter made produced from Dominican Republic cocoa beans.
We have this chocolate produced with our organic coconut sugar, organic cocoa liquor, organic cocoa butter, and absolutely nothing else. Not even a trace of lecithin! Produced in a free from facility, there is no egg, no gluten, no nuts, no dairy, no soya or any other vegetable oils. While many leading brands of chocolate state they may contain traces of one or more of the above allergens our chocolate does not. Also suitable for vegans!" 

I also have pleasure in being able to offer my readers a 15% discount on their first order of this chocolate all you need to do is type 'INCCAKECHOCS' for the discount code When you add the chocolate to your shopping basket. Unfortunately this offer is only available for UK residents.  I genuinely believe in this company, and can honestly say that their prices are some of the best (if not the best) you will find in the UK and their ethos on wholefoods is also very similar to my own which is so important.

Please note, this is not a sponsored post in any way... this is simply and honestly a company I have developed a close working relationship with and I wanted to take this opportunity to reveal all to my readers and give you the opprotunity to get involved too! You will hear their name pop up from time to time and, if you are anything like me, it's nice to get a feel for who 'these people are'. Or maybe you are not like me and couldn't care either way...! :-)

Have a little browse around and whilst your are there fee free to check out the recipe tab with the back catalogue to see all the recipes I have compiled for them over the last year or so! (you'll probably notice that there are quite a few spin offs from this blog!)  Here's a little photomontage below to get you going.... plus the most recent Easter themed recipe i've posted there today. Chocolate coconut nests, with date and coconut vanilla eggs!

I will be sure to keep you posted on any more exciting up coming developments. It's an exciting time for me and building links with other companies to spread the world of whole food goodness can never be a bad thing, right?

Cinnamon challah

Hello, hello…. A second post on a Sunday? Ah, but it’s the Daring Bakers reveal date and this month’s challenge was Challah bread. A new experience for me!

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

Right, let me tell you one thing. Nothing went smoothly for me in this challenge. First settling on which recipe to use caused me much deliberation (ok, well that’s not exactly unusual). I had the usual task of veganizing the recipe, which it itself was not too tricky as suggestions had been given and I found quite a lot of additional inspiration from other recipes already out there (I looked at too many to name specific resources!)

Then came the debate as to how to actually make the challah. I have a Thermomix and in the Thermomix cookbook there is a specific Challah bread recipe. So, was I to go with the more traditional kneading/rising  methods and times suggested in the Daring Bakers Challenge and elsewhere  online, or was I to go with the Thermomix method (a swifter process).

So I went with the Thermomix method. In hindsight that was probably a mistake as I had no gauge against others results and it required more guess work in translating my ingredients to their (simple) method and that therefore meant more room for things going awry!

My first stumble: I killed the yeast (oops!) I added it to milk that I warmed just a little too much. Move onto second trial where I didn’t add the yeast to the liquid prior mixing.

My second stumble: On to my second attempt and it all went smoothly until the point at which I had to braid. I prepared a 4-strand braid and then realised I had no clue how to create a braid with 4 strands …ha ha! The stands got a bit stretched and mauled whilst I figured it out…I got there in the end*

My third stumble: Without having the option of using egg wash for the surface, I went for a soy milk with brown rice syrup combo. This was ok I principle I think, but I’m not sure whether it contributed to the over-browing of the top.

My fourth stumble: The cookbook I used stated bake for 20 minutes at 220C. I checked after 15 and it was very much done! I took it out at this point and it was saved…but had I left it longer….

My fifth (and final) stumble: I had added a ‘sweet cinnamon butter’ centre to the inside of each strand. I had high hopes for a lovely swirly effect when I cut into the loaf. Hmmm…not so much..it was barely noticeable.

Anyway, it was a good learning experience…and for the all the things that ‘challenged’ me there were plenty of good bits too…

The good bits: Using the banana as a binder (instead of an egg) worked really well and assisted with the light sweetness. The addition of cinnamon and coconut sugar was delicious. I learnt how to braid with 4 strands…and you know what…

Most importantly, the bread tasted YUMMY! Yes, I said it tasted yummy…perfect when lightly toasted with a mug of tea. Let me tell you I sure needed that mug of tea!

Please feel free to have a go yourself…here is a link to the original Daring Bakers Challenge, which may assist with the process and also give other ideas for ingredients and tips above and beyond my own.

Recipe: Cinnamon challah

Ingredients

400g mix of white and wholegrain spelt flour

½ tsp salt

1 sachet instant yeast

200g warm soy milk (or water)

1 banana

30g coconut oil

20g coconut sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp cinnamon

To glaze- approx. 3tbs soy milk plus ½ tsp brown rice syrup, extra coconut sugar for sprinkling

Filling- (optional) 3tbs melted coconut butter, 1tbs cinnamon 2 tbs agagve syrup

Method

Add all ingredients to the Thermomix and mix for 20 seconds/speed 3.

Knead for 2 mins of the dough setting. Remove the dough and place ina  large oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for approx. 1 hour.

On a flour surface, remove the dough and punch it down. Divide into 4 equal portions and roll each piece into a long sausage shape approx. 40cm long. For a filled bread- i.e cinnamon as I have done or an alternative sweet or savoury filling, flatten the strands and add a line of filling before pinching together to seal into a thick round strand.

Press the 4 ends together and loosely plait the length of the strands before pressing the ends together to complete the braid. Form into a circle if you wish

Allow the challah to rise for approx. 30 mins and pre-heat the oven to 220C (based on my experience I would now suggest 200C I would also suggest a longer rising time of 1 hour). Brush the bread generously with the soy milk/syrup glaze and bake for 15-20 minutes  or until the glaze is golden (keep a close eye to prevent burning).

*for a 4-strand braid, think of the 4 strands in two pairs. Cross the inner strands first (one from each pair) and then cross both of the outer stands individually (each pair), repeat the procedure with the inner strands (which will now be the other strand of each pair) then repeat with the pairs…..does that make sense. Basically you are just crossing the inners and then both outers in repetition. If you’re still confused…Google it like it did! 

 Flattened strand recieving its filling

barely there cinnamon butter swirls!

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.