bread

Easter chicks

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

I know that Easter is past. Life gets very busy so I don’t always have the time to write and post things as often as I had. But I wanted to share this fun roll recipe.

easter weekend 055

Don’t these look fun? And they don’t take all day to make either. I saved this recipe from a woman’s magazine ad for Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise yeast and PET evaporated milk. I am not sure the year of the magazine that I got this from. I have made these for my stepdaughters maybe 10 years ago but I think I had saved the magazine page before that.

easter weekend 002These pretty much can be ready for the oven in one hour. Pretty good for a yeast roll.

  • 5-5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 2 eggs,slightly beaten
  • glaze, optional

The best part about baking these rolls again was baking them with my granddaughter. She has “helped” me bake before so I thought she would want to “help” again. And she did! I even made her her own apron for the occasion.

The recipe: combine 2 cups flour, the sugar, yeast, lemon peel,and salt. Heat milk, water and oil until very warm (125-130 F); stir in dry ingredients. Stir in eggs and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4-5 minutes. Cover, let rest 10 minutes.

I have not kneaded yeast dough by hand for many years. That’s what my Kitchen-Aid mixer’s bread hook is for! But I am at my daughter’s house and needs must! While I am kneading the dough granddaughter is watching and starts kneading the flour on her small board. Daughter tells me that she is trying to do what I am doing, so I give granddaughter a bit of dough and she follows my lead and does a great job. Look at the concentration on her face.

Now it is easier to work with half the dough at a time to shape the rolls. These make a good size roll and will make 18. Cut each half of dough into 9 equal pieces. I did not get mine very equal but it’s home made, so who cares? Roll each piece into a 10 inch rope. Tie into a knot with one end shorter. This will be the head. Pinch this end into a beak and put tiny pieces of craisins (dates in the original recipe) for eyes. Flatten the other end into the tail and make a few cuts. Place on lightly oiled baking sheet. (If I were at home I would have lined the baking pans with parchment paper.) Brush oil over all (or spray with cooking spray), cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes. Or cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge from 2-24 hours. We placed these in the fridge for overnight so they could be baked fresh for Easter dinner. I took them out of the fridge about an hour before putting them in the oven. Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes.

I had packed the recipe card away and did not remember the amount of baking time. I guessed at 20 minutes but just before 15 minutes into the baking they smelled done. And they looked done. The bottoms were a bit browner than I like and I think that was because we oiled the baking pan. I think (but don’t quote me on this) that parchment paper would have been the better choice.  Optionally one can make a glaze with powdered sugar, milk or water, and food color to brush over the rolls to make them Easter colorful. I did not choose to do this.

easter weekend 061

And they were served with our Easter dinner of  Prime Rib Roast (cooked by son-in-law), along with cucumber salad and mashed potatoes.  Pies, Easter brownie bites, and cookies for dessert.

He is risen. He is risen, indeed! New life for all!

“Anna, damn her” bread

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

anadama bread 028

I will be able to go back to work soon. So now I feel all this pressure to get everything done that I can’t get done when I spend my days at work! This pressure comes from myself, I know this! So I have a list of sewing projects that need starting and finishing; I have a bunch of recipes I still want to try; there are books still to be read, solitaire games to play (oops!), and I have enjoyed the luxury of having mornings at my kitchen table writing and planning my days. But I am very much looking forward to going back to work, having a schedule, a broader purpose to the day, and seeing all my co-workers.anadama bread 018

This was my lunch. I saved this three ingredient pancake recipe on one of the many Facebook feeds I get from food and cooking sites. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/3-ingredient-gluten-free-banana-pancakes.html They are more like crepes and very light and tasty with a light banana flavor. Eggs and banana: protein and fruit!

That said, I was looking for an easy bread recipe and have always wanted to make Anadama bread. Basically this is a yeasted cornbread. The recipes in my many cookbooks vary using molasses or honey, using cornmeal or creamed corn, sometimes eggs sometimes none. The origin of the bread is in New England so I thought it appropriate to get out my cookbook The New England Table by Lora Brody and see if I could make that version. This recipe is  a “throw everything together in a bowl, mix, and knead”. What could be simpler?

The story, true or not, behind the bread is that a man was sent to work with cornmeal mush in his lunch box and kept asking his wife to put in bread instead. So he cursed her and added yeast, molasses, and flour himself to make the bread. I found this link to a food historian while googling the name of the bread: http://atasteofhistorywithjoycewhite.blogspot.com/2015/02/anadama-bread-new-england-tradition.html

  • 1 1/4 cup warm water
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 2 scant teaspoons salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons regular molasses

Handy hint: it does really work when you use oil in the measuring spoon before measuring the molasses. Slides right out!

I placed all the ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer with the bread hook attached. I mixed it up and then set it on knead (speed 2) for 8 minutes. Sticky dough! To place in a greased bowl I pushed the batter to one side of the bowl, sprayed with cooking spray, pushed it back to the other side of the bowl, sprayed that side and made sure the batter was covered with the “oil”. Covered this with plastic wrap. This was to rise one-third. So I waited an hour and it looked nicely risen to me. The instructions are to gently deflate the dough and knead in some toasted sunflower seeds but I didn’t plan to add seeds so I left this step out. I then placed the dough in the prepared pan (9 x 5 loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray). Cover this with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled. Spray the plastic wrap so that the dough does not stick when you uncover it.

anadama bread 022

 

The loaf looks good at this point. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake for 35-40 minutes. I checked it at 35 and it looked done to me although a bit flat. When I was much younger and baking bread the loaves would rise up out of the loaf pan. What is different now? Looking up on the internet it may be that I needed to bake it for the additional 5 minutes.

Dinner that night included this fresh baked bread. It was pre-breaded fish from frozen, leftover mashed potatoes, small spinach salad with olives and feta, and a citrus salsa. The salsa recipe is from http://jovinacooksitalian.com/2016/03/02/when-you-are-in-the-mood-for-seafood/. She has some nice recipes.

(If you look closely you can see the white paws of Felix the Cat in the background. He’s eating his dinner too.)

 

 

A good day for baking: what to make?

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

I slept in a bit in the morning. This allowed little cat to continue to curl up on the covers with me. It is a cold day but not quite as cold and windy as the day before. While sitting at my kitchen table having my morning coffee it occurs to me that this would be a good day to warm up the kitchen by baking something. But what? I do not want to bake something too sweet or something that there is a lot of. Chocolate always comes to mind but that may be too sweet.

raisin bread 003While perusing two of my cookbooks that were published in the UK, I come across a sultana and walnut bread recipe with photo. That looks good. It is yeast bread. Do I want to take that much trouble this morning? I have all the necessary ingredients. However, if I want to make raisin bread, this would make a nice toast for breakfast with my coffee; why not use the tried and true Soulard Market cookbook? I get this book out and I have all those necessary ingredients as well, including the chopped pecans. Decisions, decisions!

The perusing of the UK cookbooks was to find recipes for quinoa, bulgur, and barley. I bought packages of each of these interesting grains at my local Aldi store, and wanted to make something other than tabbouleh since I do not have fresh cucumber or cherry tomatoes. I find an interesting chick pea recipe and one for sweet potatoes. I will make the sweet potato recipe with ginger for supper. So the perusal was still productive in that since.raisin bread 002

I decide to make the Soulard Raisin Bread. My kitchen is cold and a yeast bread will take twice as long to rise and I am getting a late start to the day as it is. Not that I have anything to do except what I choose to do these days, at least for a few more weeks.

Quick-Stirred Raisin Bread:

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour ( in my experience baking with only whole wheat flour makes a product heavier than I like; I use 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon each of baking powder, baking soda, and salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ½ cups buttermilk
  • ¼ cup honey or maple syrup (I use honey; maple syrup is too dear and I want it for my waffles and pancakes when I get around to making some)
  • 1 cup raisins (see brilliant idea later in the narrative)
  • ½ cup chopped pecans

Like quick breads and muffins the dry ingredients are combined and then the wet put in all at once and stirred only until blended. I use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients.raisin bread 004 This is much handier than using a sifter. I had read a handy hint somewhere that spraying the measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring honey helps to ease all of the honey out of the cup and into your recipe. I did this and it really worked!

After the dry and wet ingredients are mixed it is time to add the “extras”. So I am pouring the golden raisins into the measuring cup when I have a brilliant idea! I have in my pantry a package of dried Berries and Cherries!raisin bread 005

These will go in this bread nicely. So I use ½ cup of the raisins and fill the rest of the cup with Berries and Cherries. These get stirred into the batter and put into the prepared pan (greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Now it is ready to go into the oven. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

The recipe directions then say to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Now comes the hard part: waiting for the bread to cool so that it slices nicely.

I spread this piece with cream cheese and enjoy. If hubby and I don’t eat all this evening for a dessert, I will toast a slice or two for breakfast in the morning. Yum!

Kitchen Gadgets

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

I like kitchen gadgets. Most of them are not multi-purpose so I try not to get things that are so specific. It is like having that one exotic ingredient in the pantry that gets used once and then is forgotten about. That reminds me, I should go through my spice cabinet and inventory what I have so I can use the ones I have forgotten about.

gadgets2 003My newest gadget is a bread keeper. I have a wonderful old-fashioned bread box with a cutting board in the door similar to the one my mother had and the green one she gave me when I moved away from home. The green one did not have the cutting board in it. My aluminum bread box is supposed to work like this plastic one. There are vents in the sides so crusts stay crisp. The problem is in keeping the cut side from drying out.  I saw this bread keeper in a magazine and have seen it in catalogs over the years. I wondered if it would be good for keeping home made bread fresh.

But what is the definition of “fresh”? no mold? soft and fluffy? not hard as a rock?

 

Here I have several bread types in the gadget: home made bread (6 days old), biscuits (5 days old; from Popeye’s; I still have not mastered the fabulous biscuit!), and home made rolls (3 days old). I have examined them and there is no mold. They are not rock hard, but do not appear soft and fluffy. The exterior is beginning to feel stale. This means that they are edible and will need toasting to perk them up. So…what to do with them?

I planned on making chili for supper and cornbread, but why make more bread when there is this perfectly useful bread here? My son suggested that we put these on top of the chili to steam them. I used to make a Hungry Boy Casserole for him when he was growing up. This consisted of browned ground beef, onions, peppers, and a can of tomatoes baked with biscuits on top. Since these biscuits and rolls are already baked they may get a bit soggy but they will soften. Perhaps they will be like dumplings in the chili. Let’s see what happens!

Do you like kitchen gadgets? I have a number or them. I like the old-fashioned types: ricers, butter cutters, juicers. I even have a shredder. This is like a mechanical food processor. I picked this up for $3 at a tag sale. I used it a couple of times but it is a bit awkward.

I think there are basic kitchen gadgets/appliances one needs. I went years without a food processor or a blender. I absolutely love my KitchenAid stand mixer, especially the bread hook! The meat grinder attachment came with my hubby and we have used that to make breakfast sausage. Before the stand mixer I had a portable mixer, hand held. We have an immersion blender which is nice for making whipped cream and blending protein shakes. You can also make your own tomato juice by sticking it in a can of tomatoes! My Mom had one of those “old-fashioned” hand cranked mixers. It could blend eggs but not dough of any kind. I could ramble on and on about kitchen gadgets but I’ll stop now.

Go forth and cook!

 

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

I found this interesting bread recipe while browsing through my Mom’s recipe notebooks. I had a carton of buttermilk in the fridge that needed to be used and I had exactly three cups of whole wheat flour, the white whole wheat variety from King Arthur Flour.

 

I gather up my ingredients and get to work. Reading through the recipe finds that there are three rising times for this bread and that it makes three loaves.

  • 2 packages active dry yeast (I use instant yeast at 1 3/4 teaspoons per active yeast packet for a total of 3 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 1/2 cup warm water (right from the tap)
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup butter (one stick, unsalted)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar or 1/2 cup honey (I use the honey)
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour or cracked wheat flour, or combination (I use KAF White Whole Wheat Flour)
  • all-purpose flour to make a soft workable dough, about 5 cups
  • melted butter (optional, as I forgot to brush the tops with this as the loaves came out of the oven!)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. I do this even though instant yeast does not need to be activated. Pour the buttermilk in a saucepot, add the butter and heat until butter melts. Don’t mind if this curdles, it will not affect the final product.

 

wholewheatbuttermilk bread 007Meanwhile in large bowl mix the honey, baking soda, salt and eggs. The yeast mixture and the buttermilk mixture are to be added to this and stirred well. I find that this mixture gets quite hot and I need to let it cool down before proceeding.

 

Slowly add the whole wheat flour. The recipe clipping says to mix with a fork but I always use my Kitchenaid with the bread hook. After the wheatflour is added, add enough all-purpose flour to until you must use your hands to mix it in to make it soft and satiny. Here again I guesstimate this because I add  5 cups of the white flour and it is shiny and sticky. I knead this for 10 minutes with the bread hook and add one or two more handfuls of flour but it is still sticky. Supposedly one is supposed to have been able to turn this out on a floured board and knead it for about ten minutes. I did not want to keep adding flour and have a dry bread.

After this first kneading place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, let rise for an hour to double in bulk. This rose nicely. Then punch dough down, knead lightly (it is still a bit sticky!) and then let rise again. This second rise time is not specified. I assume it is for another hour and that is what I allow. I had to flour the board quite a bit for the light kneading because the dough was sticky.

After second rising, turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Let rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile grease three loaf pans. I chose two loaf pans and one round pan to make rolls out of the third portion.Divide dough into three equal parts. Roll each part into a rectangle and roll up pinching edges and place in prepared pans. Let rise another 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 F and bake loaves for 35-40 minutes.  And then there is bread!

wholewheatbuttermilk bread 021

The clipping notes “the bread smells fantastic while baking” and “this whole wheat bread melts in your mouth.” We concur!

 

Fruit Cake anyone?

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

 

Ummm, no thank you!

This is a common response to the offer of fruitcake. In America we think of fruitcake at Christmas time. In Canada it is often called Christmas Cake. Wikipedia tells us some of this history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitcake. In the Bahamas all the nuts and candied fruits are soaked in rum even before added to the cake. ”. Fruitcake has been the butt of jokes for many years.

I confess I like fruit cake, the thick candied citron and nut laden confection. I like it in small amounts. It does not have the texture of what we Americans call “cake. The fruitcake my Mom made had no spirits in it, she being a tee-totaler. But supposedly a fruit cake containing alcohol can last forever!

I don’t make or buy fruitcake. No one would eat it and I do not want one that lasts a lifetime. Years ago a friend of mine gave me a recipe for fruit laden banana bread.magibreadandorangepeels 001

 

She asked me to make this for a party she was hosting at her home. It contains oranges, maraschino cherries and chocolate chips among others. I have never added the figs which are in the original recipe. I use sliced almonds instead of slivered because I like the texture better. This is more of a fruit bread instead of fruit cake.

This is my version:magibreadandorangepeels 002

½ cup butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teas vanilla, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, pinch salt, 1 cup mashed bananas (3 bananas), 1 can (11 oz.) mandarin orange segments, drained; 1 package (6 oz) chocolate pieces, 1 cup shredded coconut, ½ cup sliced almonds, ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries.

magibreadandorangepeels 003

Drain, dry a bit, and chop the cherries. Drain the mandarin orange segments. Mash the bananas. Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together. Then it goes together pretty much the regular way: cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, add bananas alternating with the flour mixture. Then stir in the fruit, nuts, chocolate chips and coconut.

Bake in two 8×4 inch loaf pans at 350 F for 1 to 1 ¼ hours.

I baked this batch in mini loaf pans and it made 4 nice sized mini loaves. These took 40 minutes to bake. If desired one could drizzle with a glaze or dust with powdered sugar.

magibreadandorangepeels 004

Nooks and Crannies

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

I decide to make sour dough “something”. This will be for breakfast so I ask if it should be pancakes, waffles, or English muffins. It is the latter than would be preferred by the other human resident of my house, the hubby. The cats don’t get a vote!

english muffins and frittata 002I open the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook and read the recipe and instructions (Page 538). With raised doughs it is necessary to read through the recipe to know the timing of the rises to determine the amount of time needed for the end product. English muffins will be fun as well since they are cooked on top of the stove and not baked in the oven.

The starter-sponge is prepared in the evening. This recipe does not use additional yeast. The current recipe at the King Arthur Flour website does. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-english-muffins-recipeenglish muffins and frittata 005

The sponge is made by mixing together the starter, milk, and about 3 cups of the flour. Mix well and cover with plastic wrap for 2-24 hours. I tell myself I must remember to get up at a reasonable hour on this weekend morning to prepare the dough. Made the sponge at 9:30 PM and will plan to get up 7 AM.

1 Cup sourdough starter; 1 ½ C milk; 5 ½ C Flour; 1 Tab sugar; 1 Tab salt; 1 teas baking soda; cornmeal to sprinkle on baking sheet.

english muffins and frittata 007

Mix the rest of the dry ingredients minus the cornmeal in a bowl and then mix this into the sponge. It takes some work to get all incorporated together. Then let rest for about an hour.

Now for the “fun” part: rolling the dough out thin. This is easier said than done but finally I get it to where it seems good enough to cut. I try a number of items but settle on a round drinking glass that is 3 ½ inches in diameter. My biscuit cutter seemed too small as the recipe said they shrink as they cook.english muffins and frittata 009

english muffins and frittata 010

These were a great success. I am glad I had a griddle so I could cook more than a few in a skillet at the time. After resting the cut outs on the cornmeal covered baking pans for 15-20 minutes and heating the griddle and spraying it with cooking spray, they cook ten minutes on each side.

english muffins and frittata 011 english muffins and frittata 012

This recipe made 24 so I now have two sets of six fork-split muffins in freezer bags in the freezer for future enjoyment.

english muffins and frittata 014

Now we can make our own “egg mcmuffins” with the baked eggs from the “Planning Breakfast” post. I had previously been putting the egg in the middle of a muffin (wheat-germ whole wheat, also from the KAF cookbook). I mentioned this to a colleague at a McDonalds the other day when I ordered just a coffee and she was ordering lunch. The cashier was in good spirits and showed good humor. He was a pleasure to order from. I rarely go to McDonalds and only for the coffee when there is the “medium for $1” special. I was disappointed with the pumpkin spice coffee as they use syrup for the flavoring. I suppose I will just have to go across the street and pay more for the DD coffee in the future. Live and learn.