White/Wheat Bread

Put in the bread maker pan in this order:

1 cup hot tap water
9 grams yeast (3/4 Tablespoon)
30 grams brown sugar (1/2 of 1/3 of a cup)
42 grams neutral oil ( 1/2 of 1/3 of a cup)
150 grams white flour (1 cup, fluffed)
200 grams wheat flour (1 1/4 cup, fluffed)
18 grams vital wheat gluten (2 Tablespoons)
12 grams salt (1/2 Tablespoon)
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice

Let the bread machine run through the entire kneading process.  As soon as that is done (20 minutes) , with oiled hands, shape the dough and place in a parchment paper lined bread pan.  The dough should have a slight covering of oil.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough is an inch or two above the pan. (Place in a warm oven for 15 minutes, remove to counter, preheat the oven to 350 degrees).

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 28 minutes. Cover with a foil tent and bake 4 more minutes. Turn out the bread onto a wire rack and brush all sides with melted butter.

Adapted from a recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Orange Rolls

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/3 cup melted butter
1 dozen brown 'n serve rolls

Mix sugar and peel.  Blend in orange juice and butter. Separate rolls.  Generously dip top and sides of each roll in sugar mixture and set upright on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake according to package directions on rolls (usually 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown).

Orange Rolls is a heritage recipe from Ruth Johnson.

Biscuits (Foods 1)

Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt 

8 tablespoons butter, cubed (tiny)
3/4 cup milk

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter. Add milk and mix until combined.  Knead. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface, folding twice. Cut into 12 squares. Bake in 400 degree oven for 11-12 minutes.

Grandma's Easy Stuffing

For each 6 oz box of Stove Top Stuffing (Chicken or Turkey), saute 1/2 an onion and 1 rib of celery (both small dice) in 2 Tablespoons butter on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes.  While the onion and celery are cooking, boil 1 1/2 cups water.  When the onion and celery are done, pour the stuffing mix and boiling water into the onion/celery mixture.  Stir well.  Remove from heat.  Cover.  Let sit for five minutes.  Fluff with a fork and serve!

Hollilyn's Orange Cranberry Bread

Mix:

2 teaspoons salt

4 1/2 teaspoons yeast

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons oil

3 Tablespoons honey

2 1/2 cups flour

Warm following mixture to about 110 degrees:

Orange juice + water = 2 1/4 cups liquid

juice squeezed from 1 1/2 to 2 oranges)

Grated peel of 1 orange

Mix dry and wet mixtures. Add 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups flour until dough can be handled.

Add one cup Craisins. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled (30-60 minutes). Punch down dough and form into two loaves. Place in greased bread pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled (30-60 minutes).

Cook at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until loaf is light brown.

Pear Bran Muffins

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup wheat bran

1/2 cup milk

1 cup canned pears (in natural juices), drained, small dice

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup oil (I use extra light olive oil)

In a medium bowl, combine pears, bran and milk. Let stand 5 minutes. While waiting, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. To the pear mixture, mix in the egg and oil. Add all at once the flour mixture stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened. Fill greased or papered muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees 18-20 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

2 cups flour2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup chocolate chips (other options: walnuts, raisins)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

¼ cup milk

¾ cup chocolate chips (other options: walnuts, raisins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, baking soda, cloves and chocolate chips*; set aside. In a large mixer bowl beat together brown sugar and butter till well combined; beat in eggs. Add pumpkin and milk; mix well. Add flour mixture to sugar-pumpkin mixture, mixing until combined.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. For best flavor, wrap and store overnight before slicing.

*Many recipes mix these in after the batter is complete, but I heard somewhere that if the chips are coated in flour, they are less likely to sink to the bottom while cooking.

Pizza Dough

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons warm water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

corn meal (to sprinkle on the cookie sheet before laying down the dough)

tomato sauce

toppings of your choice (see our favorites below)

Parmesan cheese (and red pepper flakes if you like 'em)

Place all ingredients in the bread pan in the order listed.  Run it on the dough cycle.  When complete, move oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly sprinkle corn meal over two cookie sheets.  Divide dough in half and on a floured surface roll the dough to your desired thickness (or divide more to make individual pizzas).  Spread about 3 Tablespoons of tomato sauce all over the dough and cover with your favorite toppings.  Bake 12 minutes or until crust is light brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Preferred toppings: 

Dad:  Roll the crust really thin, add everything you can plus jalapeños!

Mom:  chicken, artichoke hearts, olives, cheese

Kathryn:  cheese, olives, pepperoni, sausage

Sarah:  cheese - and sometimes sausage

Mama Bahr's Egg Strata Casserole

8 slices of bread, crusts removed, buttered
1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 2/3 C. milk
1 tsp. salt, pepper to taste, dash cayenne
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 lb. sausage

Brown and drain sausage. Arrange buttered bread slices (my slices didn't fit very well, so I cubed them), grated cheese and sausage in 9 x 13 pan, alternating layers ending with cheese (b,s,c b,s,c)

Combine other ingredients and pour over. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Place casserole pan in a larger pan of warm water and cover whole thing with foil.

Bake 1 hour @ 350 degrees. Remove foil last 20 minutes. Cut in squares and serve immediately.

Optional:
Substitute bacon or ham for sausage.

Honey Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water

3 tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan and run on dough cycle.  When the cycle is finished, turn on the machine long enough to knead the risen bread back into a ball and butter your loaf pan.  Remove and shape into a loaf.  Place in buttered loaf pan.  Turn oven on to "Warm", place loaf in oven.  After 25 minutes, turn the oven to 350 degrees.  Remove finished loaf after 25 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Banana Nut Muffins

Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book, 1981 Edition (with a little tweaking)

1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4  teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
1 cup mashed very ripe banana
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (the kids beg us to leave these out so sometimes we only add these to half the batch)

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Make a well in the center.  Combine egg, milk, and oil.  Add egg mixture, mashed banana, and walnuts all at once to flour mixture.  Stir just till moistened; batter should be lumpy.  Grease muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; fill (using an ice cream scoop if you've got one) 2/3 full (Mat fills them all the way up).  Bake in a 400 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 18 minutes or until golden.  Remove from pans; serve warm.  Makes 10 to 12 muffins.

Grandma Carlene's Cranberry Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons melted shortening (I use extra light olive oil)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup cranberries (halved)

Mix all ingredients together (I whisk together the first 5 ingredients, then add the next 4, mix until just combined, then fold in the last two).  Grease and flour loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes at 300 degrees.  Loaf should be golden and spring back.  Remove from pan while hot.  Butter all sides immediately.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Can be frozen after seasoned in the fridge.


Double to make 3 smaller loaves (8 1/4 x 4 1/2).
(One batch will make 2 7" x 3" loaves.)

Dinner Rolls

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 egg

3 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons yeast

more butter, melted, for brushing the tops before and after baking

Place all the ingredients in your bread maker and run the dough cycle.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper (or just butter the cookie sheet).  Divide the dough into 16 pieces (I like using this), and place on cookie sheet.  Brush with melted butter.  Cover and let rise 30-40 minutes or until double in size.  Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake 12 minutes, or until golden brown on top.  Brush tops with more butter.  Serve warm!

If you don't have a bread maker:

Basic cycle: 

• At 3:00 – First Knead (10 minutes)
• At 2:50 – First Rise (20 minutes)
• At 2:30 – Second Knead (15 minutes)
• At 2:15 – Dough continues to rise (20 minutes)
• At 1:55 – Punch Down (30 seconds)
• At 1:55 – Final Rise (55 minutes)
• At 0:00 – Bread finished baking

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Just mix it all together and enjoy! And it will still be good, even if you don't have the lemon.

A lot of people asked how I zest the lemon. I use this and love it!

Potato Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup potato flakes
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 teaspoons regular active dry yeast

I make this in my breadmachine the same way I make My Daily Bread.
Same time and temp and everything (Warm, 25 min.;350 degrees, 23 min.).
Nobody wants me to type that all over again, do they? 


Note:  Cooking while distracted leads to happy accidents.  The other day I was making Potato Bread, happily dumping ingredients into my bread machine pan.  As I was pouring in the yeast (the final ingredient), I noticed oatmeal in the pan.  Wha...?!  How did oatmeal get into the pan?!  Well, both my potato flakes and my oatmeal are in similar cannery cans in my pantry and I just grabbed the one where potato flakes usually is found and merrily measured out the oatmeal instead of potato flakes.  Well, I just went with the flow and made the bread like I usually do--and it turned out just fine!  Not incredibly good, not incredibly bad, just fine.  So I'm just letting you know, if you ever accidentally replace the potato flakes with oatmeal, it's all good!  :P

My Daily Bread

If I wanted to be successful at making the bread my family ate every day, I had to find a way to make it as predictable as possible, and I had to make sure there was a timer that would go off to remind me that my attention was required. Thank goodness I already had a breadmaker. It comes with a dough cycle, so if you have one too, all you do is:

1. Dump in the ingredients*, press start, and in an 1 1/2 hours it has been mixed, kneaded, and has risen twice--and best of all, it beeps!**

2. Turn the breadmaker on for a minute or two. This "punches down" the dough and kneads it into a ball. While that is happening, butter your loaf pan and turn the oven on "Warm".

3. Turn off the breadmachine and dump the dough right into your hand.*** Roll it back and forth between your hands**** until the dough is the length of your pan. Drop the dough into the pan and put it in the oven. Set the timer for 25 minutes.

4. When that beeper goes off, turn the oven to 350 degrees***** and set the timer for 23 minutes.

5. When the final beeper goes off, take your beautiful, fragrant bread and dump it out of the pan onto a cooling rack, turn it right side up, and, viola, homemade bread!******

Have you been asking "Where are the ingredients?!" Relax, they're almost here. But I had to tell you one more thing I do to help me make breadmaking an everyday thing. The first five ingredients I measure out every time I make bread. But I measure out the last four ingredients into a bunch of snack-size ziplock bags and store them in the freezer. Why store them in the freezer? Because both the gluten and the wheat should be stored in the freezer after opening the packages. Since the snack-size bags aren't freezer proof, I keep all the bags (five of 'em, if you were wondering) in a quart-size freezer bag. That way, I can grab one of those bags out of the freezer, dump it on top of the flour and sugar, and I've cut my measuring time almost in half!

My Daily Bread
1 1/3 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons potato flakes
2 Tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten
2 teaspoons yeast

* I do dump them into the pan in the order listed. Really, you just have to make sure the yeast doesn't touch the water if you aren't starting the cycle right away.

** I could bake the bread right in the breadmaker, but I don't like the size of the loaf, and I especially don't like the big hole the paddle leaves in the loaf.

*** I confess, if I wanted to successfully make bread every day, I knew I wouldn't always be able to count on having counter space.

**** Like when you are rolling clay into the shape of a snake.

***** Thanks to Donna Hunter for teaching me that technique! Hey, Donna, is there some rule about how many asterisks in a row you can use? I'm sure I should be using some other symbol by now. :) (For those of you that don't know Donna, she's an English Teacher.)

****** And then I forget to turn off the oven--ask anyone in my family. Try to remember to do that--especially in the summer! :) Good luck!

Bruschetta with Fontina and Greens

Serve this with Chicken, Artichoke and Cannellini Bean Spezzatino, or even as really good snackage. This is one of the many great recipes from Giada at Home.




Bruschetta with Fontina and Greens

Toasts:
1 (1-pound) loaf ciabatta bread, trimmed and cut into 14 (1/2-inch thick) slices (I couldn't find ciabatta bread, just use any Italian loaf bread you like)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling (I could have used the extra-light olive oil that I always have on hand, and butter would be fine too)
1 garlic clove, halved (If you don't have whole garlic, hopefully you have minced garlic [in a jar] in your fridge. Just mix some of that with the oil or melted butter and let it sit for a minute so the garlic flavor permeates the oil. And, of course, that would be done prior to brushing the oil on the bread.)

Topping:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
12 ounces (12 cups) baby spinach
Kosher salt
2 cups (4 ounces) shredded fontina cheese (One reason to use fontina cheese is because it melts really well. But I just picked up an Italian blend of three cheeses that I liked.)

Directions:
For the toasts: Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange the bread slices in a single layer on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes. Rub the warm toasts with the cut side of the garlic. Set aside.

For the topping: In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 of the spinach and stir until it begins to wilt, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with salt, to taste. (This is simply a great way to serve spinach. Serve it as a side dish whenever you want to get some good, dark greens on the plate.) Using tongs, arrange the spinach on top of the toasts. (For people who won't eat the spinach--naughty people--just sprinkle on cheese--they'll be happy, happy.) Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 5 to 8 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Season with salt and cool for 2 minutes.

Transfer the bruschetta to a platter and serve.

See! The rolls are empty like Jesus' tomb! These are really fun to remind everyone what the true meaning of Easter is all about. That Jesus Christ was resurrected! He overcame death that we all might live!

Easter Breakfast Rolls

AnnaLou Robertson

Prepare these rolls the night before Easter for part of a delicious Easter-morning breakfast.

1 pkg. (12) frozen roll dough

6 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

12 large marshmallows

¼ c melted butter

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Let roll dough thaw, then press each one into a flat circle. Put a marshmallow in the center of each roll. Wrap the dough around it, squeezing the seams so they are closed and try to make it look like a ball. Brush the rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls. On Sunday morning , preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take rolls out of fridge and bake for 15 minutes.

Waaaaaaaay Better Irish Soda Bread!

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, grated
1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk, shaken
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup dried raisins, tossed in 1 Tablespoon flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

 Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is thoroughly mixed into the flour.

Lightly beat the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest together in a liquid measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Combine the currants with 1 tablespoon of flour and mix into the dough. It will be very wet.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and knead gently into a round loaf. Place the loaf on the prepared sheet pan and lightly cut an X into the top of the bread with a serrated knife. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it will have a hollow sound.

Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

To make half-loaf*:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, grated
7/8 cups cold buttermilk, shaken**
1 small egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup dried raisins, tossed in 1/2 Tablespoon flour

Follow the directions as stated above, but bake for 35-40 minutes.

*Why would you want a half-loaf? Well, other than maybe you don't need a giant loaf, you may want to make one loaf with raisins, and one loaf without.

**The easiest way I have found to measure this is to just eyeball half-way between 3/4 cup and 1 cup.

Based on this recipe.