Courtesy Plantina Vegan Bakery
In March, we spoke with Santa Fe transplant and vegan baker Thomas Kamholz, whose Plantita Vegan Bakery serves up some of the finest sweet and savory vegan treats around without forgetting about flavor, texture or overall quality. It’s been a whirl of wind for Kamholz since then, and somewhere between an ongoing series of pop-up events, one of which pops off this week (10 am-noon Saturday Dec. 18. Free. Plantita Vegan Bakery, 1704 Lena Street, (505) 603-0897), and his now-available special holiday menu (from which folks can order until 5 pm on Tuesday, Dec. 21 through plantitaveganbakery.com), we decided it was time to check back in and see what’s what. (Alex De Vore)
When we spoke earlier this year, you’d mentioned possibly expanding the business to include a brick and mortar. Is that still the plan?
No brick and mortar. Mostly I’ve been focusing on trying to expand the made-to-order stuff, which is the main objective of the business. I have been doing a lot of pop-ups on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. That’s been really good for me, because I’ve had people ask me if they can just get a couple things, and I have a whole clientele base who comes to the pop-ups, but they don’t do the advanced order stuff. It’s been a huge cash influx, and I’ve been selling out pretty much every time I’ve done it. I don’t make an insane amount of stuff, but I set a goal for how much I want to make and I’ve hit that every time. I usually try to have a few staples that people want every time, and I usually switch up the muffin and the cookie; I usually try to offer one hand pie, one cookie, and lately I’ve been selling granola and an un-chicken Tempeh chicken salad kind of thing. I’ve been selling out of that, I think, because it’s really good on the bagels.
What can you tell us about the treats you’ve developed for the holiday season?
I’m super excited about the pot pie, because my background is Italian-German, and I’ve been trying to dive into doing more Italian stuff. I always do a veggie pot pie, but I switched this up for Christmas with Beyond Meat sausage with white bean and fresh herbs like thyme, oregano, rosemary. It’s like thick gravy. I had to make a couple test ones [to zero in on the recipe]. The first didn’t have enough rosemary, so I added some fennel seeds and rosemary, and I really try to get a sausage meat flavor in there. For someone who grew up in a hardcore Italian family eating a lot of sausages, the Beyond Meat is pretty tasty. I had to experiment as far as ratio, but I think I dialed it in.
The Yule log has been interesting because I don’t have a lot of experience rolling up Swiss rolls, but I’ve been practicing. It’s a mint cream with mint chocolate ganache and chocolate cake. It’s not technically a buche de noel, y’know, like, with the little mushrooms on top, but it’s a mint chocolate Yule log. And then I also have a flourless chocolate cake. I still don’t really do gluten-free stuff, but I get a lot of requests all the time, so I looked around for some different recipes and found one I was able to tweak. It’s ridiculously rich with chocolate and cocoa powder—you only need a little bit, and I’m excited to have it because I have a couple regulars with partners who can’t eat my stuff because they have Celiac. So that’s exciting.
At the popup I’m going to be selling—I had these as a kid, and it’s not the most appealing name—German rock cookies. They’re called that because they have nuts or dates in them, and they’re an old Depression-era cookie. Me and my brothers and sisters would have to eat them all in one day. So they’ll be available at the pop-up. I think they’re delicious—heavy on the brown sugar with a molasses-like taste. I’ve also been doing a recipe from my grandmother: Zucchini cookies. I’ve had them before, but I’ve decided to carry them again because people always ask.
What’s something you wish every vegan nay-sayer knew about vegan baked goods?
You don’t have to sacrifice flavor or texture just because you don’t use eggs and butter. If you’re vegan, overall, you just feel better, I think. It feels cleaner, and you’re still eating fat and sugar, but most of the fat is not saturated. I think there’s a myth you’re going to lose the crispy texture on the outside of the cookie, not have the chewy center—that’s totally acheivable with flax eggs, almond milk and vegan butter.
