Savory baking

January 9, 2018 4:24 PM

I really like baking savoury things... But there's a limit to the number of biscuits and (herb-y) scones I can make. Do you have any recommendations for any (vegetarian) savoury baked goods that aren't biscuits or scones? (I just started trying bread...)
posted by flibbertigibbet to Food & Drink (26 answers total)

Best answer: I'm not sure if you are interested in bread recipes but I've made the "Workhorse Loaf" two or three times and really like it.
posted by exogenous at 4:28 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Are you willing to do pie crust? Savory pies and tarts are really good. It's the wrong time of year in the Northern hemisphere, but I've had good luck with this tomato tart.

What about pizza?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:40 PM on January 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: How about Chinese steamed buns?
posted by cowboy_sally at 4:41 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Savory galettes; my favorite, which is in regular winter rotation, is Deborah Madison's recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everybody.
posted by ugf at 4:53 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Popovers are an easy 5-ingredient classic that many of the Kids Today^tm have never encountered. There are recipes that use muffin tins because you're more likely to have a muffin tin than an official popover pan.
posted by drlith at 5:04 PM on January 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Soft pretzels are lots of fun.
posted by BrashTech at 5:10 PM on January 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: My mom frequently makes roasted vegetable filled things like tarts or puff pastries. There's also the British version of pies (traditionally meat filled, but there's no reason you can't fill one with vegetables only), Cornish pasties, Yorkshire puddings and... basically the British Isles are specialists in savory baking.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:20 PM on January 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Vegetarian Cornish pasties: Example; another.
posted by rtha at 5:25 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Empanadas! Here's a vegetarian version, but you can definitely try other fillings.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:28 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: There are all kinds of things to bake that are some sort of yeast dough with a savory filling. Calzones come to mind, as do the English pasties. In either case, fillings can be either vegetable or meat.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:32 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Seconding galettes! I can vouch for the butternut squash & caramelized onion galette and the burst tomato with corn and zucchini galette on Smitten Kitchen. Once you make a couple you'll see all kinds of possibilities for being creative and using your own ingredients.
posted by gatorae at 6:07 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Samosas!
posted by LonnieK at 6:33 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This Georgian bread with bean filling is awesome and there’s a vegetarian variation there. You can actually do a bunch of fillings if you are my recipe-busting family.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:44 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Bagels and then cut them in half and top with something savory. They are fun but a little fussy to make and impressive when you get them right; if you live in a decent-bagel desert you will make all kinds of new friends. I use this recipe with high-gluten flour ordered from Amazon, boiling for the longest amount noted and baking until they’re a deep golden brown.

Bialys are also kind of fun, simpler, and a little more of a novelty. The linked recipe works well; both it and the bagels pass my Brooklyn-born husband’s authenticity test.
posted by charmedimsure at 7:00 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I’ve had some wildly delicious savory strudels.
posted by telepanda at 8:13 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Savory bread pudding with asparagus and fresh herbs is wonderful.
posted by ananci at 8:18 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd bake a focaccia with whatever vegetables you want baked on top of it. Roasted tomatoes are popular, but you could do any vegetables you want. This NYT feature has a few different focaccias you could make. The one with peppers and eggplant sounds good.
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:18 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: To reinforce ananci's point, savory bread puddings in general are wonderful, especially tomato or mushroom ones.

You might want to branch out into Middle Eastern cookery - you can do amazing things with phyllo dough. Greek Spanakopita, or Armenian Bourek are just a few of things you can make, although these do include cheese. We also used to do a sauteed mushroom version when I was growing up.

Pesto bread, olive tapenade bread, or sun-dried tomato breads are delicious. Onion bread? Mushroom or onion tarts? Tomato pie?
posted by dancing_angel at 9:11 PM on January 9, 2018

Best answer: Focaccia is a nice savory bridge into bread-making that's super forgiving and versatile.
posted by stillmoving at 9:17 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Not strictly baking: Scallion pancakes or Parathas (which the comments on this youtube video tell me are the same process).

I also made this cheese bread, but it's basically 'challah with swirly inclusions', and I'm sure you could substitute a world of things beyond cheese cubes, e.g. cumin sesame paste, feta and spinach, caramelized onion, chopped scallions...
posted by batter_my_heart at 1:25 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: Though tomatoes are very out-of-season at the moment, I can't resist mentioning the corn and tomato pie at Smitten Kitchen. It's great right away but also reheats beautifully in the oven, and I find that the milk makes the crust more forgiving for novice bakers like me than other piecrust recipes. I can't recommend this one enough.
posted by dapati at 5:52 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: I picked up The Harvest Baker by Ken Haedrich from the library and have come to the conclusion that nearly anything can go in a crust and be delicious. Recommended: three cheese mustard green calzones. (The hand pies I made had meat, but he's got a lot of vegetarian recipes or meat inclusive ones that would work fine with mushrooms or beans instead.) He's also got recipes for various savory baked goods, not just pies/hand pies/calzones.
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:33 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: oh my goodness how has no one mentioned cheese straws
You can also make them with puff pastry, and if you really want to get Into It you can even make your own puff pastry!

Homemade crackers are also fun and infinitely customisable. i like sprinkling Everything Bagel topping on them (it's easy to make your own).
posted by halation at 8:00 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: Gougeres! I can't link from my device but I like smitten kitchens recipe. Homemade English muffins are 100 times better than store bought and really fun to make.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 10:15 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: I love Dan Lepard's cheddar and chive loaf (scroll down for variants in that link), it takes time but is very easy and forgiving. Great to take around to parties, people always seem very impressed!
posted by lettezilla at 10:59 AM on January 10, 2018

Best answer: Cheesejacks!
posted by quacks like a duck at 3:46 AM on January 11, 2018