I was in the mood to bake, and had a eensy bit of a sweet tooth.  While perusing Pinterest I came across this recipe at Just a Pinch.   It sounded delicious, and after reading the comments other people had made about its deliciousness, and realizing I had some oranges in there that needed using... I made it. 

*I should note, in case you didn't read through the comments on the recipe there, that people say you should definitely let this cool completely before cutting into it.  Otherwise, it crumbles apart very easily, and while still tasty, is not like eating a piece of bread. 

*Another note:  The original recipe at "Just a Pinch" states to use two pans for this recipe.  I used just one, as we like nice, large loaves.   That said, we then had to cook it for about 15-20 minutes longer, which caused the edges to brown significantly.  While this did not affect the taste really (it was still delicious), you could tell it was cooked longer, and the aesthetic value is not nearly as appealing.  Next time, I will follow directions and split it between two loaf pans.  

Ingredients:

1 8-oz box of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1&2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2&1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1/4 cup orange juice


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*F.  Grease and flour a bread pan. 

Mix together the cream cheese and shortening until creamy.  Add in the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, blending well between each addition. 

In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture a little at a time, alternating with the milk.  Batter will be thick and creamy.   Mix in grated orange peel.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Let cool for ten minutes, then sprinkle the orange juice over top.  Let cool completely before serving.

   Yep, another bread recipe.  But this one actually rises enough to be an actual sandwich type bread.  Many of them are too short to make a really decent sandwich.  This one fixes that.  It's good, and we ate it all up right away.  I'm actually considering making another batch today.  This recipe was found via Pinterest  at Annie's Eats.

I didn't get a picture of it cut, and for that I apologize.  Maybe if I do wind up making more today, I'll get an updated picture of that part.  I may even make myself a sandwich!







Ingredients

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. salt

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup warm water

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

3 tbsp. honey

2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

Directions:

Put the rack in your oven at the lowest position, and preheat your oven to 200*F.  Once it's reached 200*, let it stay there for ten minutes, then turn it off.  Don't open the door.

Meanwhile, mix 3&1/2 cups of the flour with the salt in a large bowl of a mixer.  In another bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients (minus the remaining flour).  Start your mixer and slowly add in the wet ingredients.  Increase the speed to medium and let mix for about 10 minutes, adding a tablespoon of flour at a time as needed after five minutes to keep the mixture doughy and not sticky. 

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth ball.  Place in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and put in the warmed oven.  Let double in size; about 40-50 minutes. 

On a floured surface, work the dough into a rectangle, about 1 inch thick and no longer than the size of your bread pan.  With long side facing you, roll into a cylinder, pressing the edges together. Turn seam up and pinch closed.  Place seam side down into a bread pan and press gently to touch all sides.   Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to double in size; about 30 minutes. 

Keep one rack in the lowest position, and another in the middle, and preheat to 350*F.   Place a pan of boiling water on the lowest rack (at least 2 cups worth).  Uncover bread and place on middle rack and bake for about 45-50 minutes.  Remove and let cool.  



  Since the Rosemary Olive Oil Bread turned out so well, I was inspired to take a shot at another type of bread.  My boyfriend requested a Honey Oat bread, so I found a recipe at Epicurious that looked promising and decided to make a go of it. 

 Once again, it came out superb.  I'm so glad I finally got over my fear of bread!  It's my new found toy.  This one came out light, and delicious.  It's another one that the kids really enjoyed, as did my boyfriend and myself.  It makes great sandwich bread.  Or, it's delicious warm with melted butter and jam.  Or honey!  

I will definitely be making this bread again. 

Ingredients:

1&3/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3/4 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoon vegetable oil
2&1/2 teaspoons salt
about 5 cups flour

1 large egg, beaten
additional oats


Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Let stand for 10 minutes.
2.  Mix in remaining water, oats, honey, oil and salt. 
3.  Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.  I used probably 4 cups, maybe a bit more. 
4.  Coat a large bowl with cooking spray.  Transfer dough to bowl, and turn to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap, then a towel, and let stand until doubled in size.  About 1 hour.
5.  Oil 2 bread pans.  Punch risen dough down, and, using remaining flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, form into 2 small loaves. 
6.  Place 1 loaf in each pan.  Cover again and let rise until doubled- about 20 minutes.
7.  Preheat oven to 350*F.   Brush the tops of risen loaves with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle additional oats over top. 
8.  Bake for about 40 minutes, or until tops are golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

I finally broke my bread-making cherry.   Not just fiddled around with it a little, but actually broke it.   We're talking yeast, kneading, punching, and everything!  

 If you've read my blog before, you probably know that I am a big fan of the Artisan Bread that I've worked with in the past.  It's a yeast bread, but requires no kneading or punching- the two aspects of bread making that have daunted me the most.   It is a very tasty bread, and makes a superb pizza crust.  However, I had made it enough times that I was starting to get bored, and all of these recipes for all of these super tasty breads kept popping up everywhere- making my mouth water and my hands itch to make them! 

 I found this recipe for Rosemary Olive Oil Bread and, being the huge rosemary fan that I am, I had to try it.  I had everything right there in my kitchen, just begging to be used.  I read through the recipe a few times and thought, "It really doesn't sound that difficult."

 I was so right.  *high five*

It was absolutely delicious.  Even my kids ate it up!  It seriously didn't last more than a couple of days.  It has a very strong flavor- I will warn you.  Of course, I probably put in a tad bit more rosemary than the recipe called for.  But, if you are a fan of rosemary, you will adore this bread. 
Make sure to wrap it when not in use though.  It did get a little tough when left out overnight (once cut open).  But, not enough to keep us from munching it right to the crumbs!  It would be absolutely divine with some soup.  I'm thinking some Zuppa Toscana.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

So, seriously-  If you've wanted to try your hand at baking bread, but have been put off by all the kneading and punching and stuff, (and you like rosemary) try this bread.  Super easy.  Super tasty!

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, or 2 teaspoons dried
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour, + more for kneading
1 egg, whisked
1 tablespoon water
extra rosemary


Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, combine the water, sugar, and yeast.  Let sit for 10 minutes.
2.  Stir in the salt, rosemary, seasonings, pepper, and olive oil.  Add the flour and stir until the dough forms a ball.  Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes.
3.  Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 
4.  Punch down the dough and form into a round loaf.  Cover and let rise until doubled; about 45 minutes.
5.  Preheat oven (and pizza stone) to 400*F.  When dough has risen, combine whisked egg with the water, and brush overtop the dough.  Sprinkle with extra rosemary.  
6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until top is golden and it sounds hollow when tapped. 

  I have always wanted to make fresh bread, but have always been highly daunted by it.  The thought of having to knead, punch and let it rise just right always scared me enough to keep me at bay.   It was one of those things I always told myself I would get to- one day. 
 
Then my boss brought in some fantastic homemade bread for Homemade Bread Day (which is November 17th, by the way).  I had expressed to her my desire and she shared with me this unbelievably easy recipe, which was the one she had used.  It uses just 4 ingredients that I always have on hand.  I cannot believe I have never made bread before!  We just pulled it out of the oven about 10 minutes ago, and it is already gone!  Granted, I started off making a small loaf, but it was devoured!   I cannot see myself NOT making this bread every day now!   

Now, the name is a bit misleading, as it does take more than 5 minutes.  Well, I guess it only takes a few minutes to mix everything together.  But, on baking day give yourself about an hour. 

To give credit where credit is due, this came from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.   There is a YouTube video here.

This recipe makes about 4 1-pound loaves.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm (room temperature) water
• 1&1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (1&1/2 packets)
• 1&1/2 tablespoons coarse kosher or sea salt
• 6&1/2 cups flour
• (cornmeal for the pizza peel)

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl mix water, salt and yeast.  Add flour. 
2. Stir until just mixed.  I used a KitchenAide mixer with the bread hook.  You can use just a wooden spoon.
3. Cover loosely and let sit for about 2 hours at room temperature.
4. You can use the dough at this point, or put in the fridge for up to two weeks. The longer you let it sit in the fridge, the more of a sourdough taste it takes on.

To Bake:

1. Prepare pizza peel (or the back of a cookie sheet, which is what I did, since I do not have a peel.  It has been added to my wish list, though!) by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal to prevent the loaf from sticking.
2. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour.  Cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit sized) piece.  Hold in your hands and sprinkle with more flour to keep from sticking to your hands.  Gently pull the sides down to the bottom.  You may want to view the video to see the way to do this, as it sounds much more complicated then it really is.
3. Place the ball on the pizza peel and let rest, uncovered, for about 40 minutes.
4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450*F with a baking stone on the middle rack.  Place an empty broiler tray underneath to hold water.
5. Dust the top of the loaf with flour and slash with a serrated knife.
6. Slide loaf off the peel onto the baking stone.  Quickly pour about a cup of water into the broiler pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch.
7. Refrigerate remaining dough in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next two weeks.  Dough can be frozen, just pull out the day before baking and defrost in the fridge.

  I have a love affair with banana bread.  It may not seem that way, because I do not make it often, and when I do, most of it is usually thrown away, uneaten.  Despite this, I do love banana bread.  However, I've also been searching for ways to use up those old, rotting bananas that my family will also enjoy.  Enough so that I am not throwing the majority of my work down the trash can's gullet at the end of a couple weeks.  You'd think I'd have grown more acquainted with my freezer, and I very well should, but at this point I have not. 

 I found this recipe today when looking for ideas on using the bananas that sat blackening in my fruit basket.  It sounded interesting, and I thought maybe the cake-like appearance would appeal to my children more.  So I gave it a shot.  It turned out pretty tasty.  Time will tell whether or not it is eaten up or left for the garbage man.  I am thinking it very well might get eaten, though!

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup shortening
1&1/2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (I used 5 small ones)
1&1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:
In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Now, I have no idea what the heck this means, so I just beat the heck out of it for a couple minutes and called it good.  Set aside.
In a large bowl cream shortening and sugar.  Beat in egg yolks; mix well.   Mix in bananas.
Combine flour and baking soda.  Add to creamed mixture, alternating with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. 
Add vanilla and egg whites. 
Pour into a greased 13-in by 9-in baking dish.  Sprinkle with slivered almonds. 
Bake at 350*F for 45-50 minutes. 

Nutritional info: 
Cut cake into 12-16 servings.   1 piece equals 1 serving.  Nutritional info approximate.
Calories:  213
Fat: 8g (2g saturated)
Cholesterol: 27mg
Sodium:  89mg
Carbohydrates: 31g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 2g

   Hmm..  This sounded good, in theory.  However, I am not sure I am pleased with the final product.  It may be that one hour is a bit too long for my oven.  It may just be the consistency of the bread.  Either way, it is a bit tough... not soft and chewy like I would expect a bread like this to be.   Also, the pineapple is a bit overwhelming to the other ingredients.  I could not taste the blueberrry at all.  For having so much pineapple and blueberries in it, I expected it to be much sweeter than it turned out to be.  Might have to try cutting down the pineapple and adding a bit of sugar to it next time, if there is a next time. 


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup nuts (any kind)

Directions:

1. Combine sugr and egg; cream with butter.  Add pineapple juice.
2. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder and add to sugar mixture.
3. Stir in pineapple, blueberries and nuts. 
4. Pour into a greased 8"x4" loaf pan.  Bake at 350*F for 1 hour.

   A friend of mine's daughter had her birthday yesterday.  She requested a luau themed party.  Unfortunately, the 85 degree weather did not stick around, and the day was met with a 30 degree drop, along with wind and rain.  Regardless, we had a grand time, with fabulous food, good friends, and a nice warm fire to congregate around.

  The party was potluck style, and since the meat was all being provided, I was hard pressed to find something to bring that would fit in with a luau style.  Then I saw this recipe for Hawaiian sweet rolls.  These are my favorite type of roll.  I mean, who doesn't love these things?  Sweet, light and flaky...  what says luau better than these?

  Now, I had never attempted any kind of bread that required yeast.  Something about working with the yeast, the constant waiting and punching, is daunting to me.  However, I had been determined to try, and this seemed like a good reason and time!  This recipe does not require kneading or punching, but does require lots of time to let the dough rise. 

  I had to have my boyfriend do the rolling for me, because the dough is quite sticky, and I have some huge gross-out factor to that kind of stickiness.  His little trick of spraying his hands with cooking spray was a good idea, though, and that might help me for next time. 

  The smell of them baking was divine.  Many comments were made about "What smells so good?" as they were baking.  They came out delicious.  Everyone raved about them, and I was asked to pass the recipe along, so here it is!  They are a bit more subtle in the sweet department than the store bought kind, but I think that can be easily adapted to fit your specific tastes..  I forgot to brush the butter on before baking, and believe that if I had remembered to do that, they would have been even more fantastic.  Maybe mix a little honey into that butter for an even bigger sweet pop?


Hawaiian Sweet Rolls:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus more for brushing
• 1 tablespoonful dry yeast
• Salt (the recipe I found did not specify.  I just did a couple of shakes into the bowl)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla
• 6 tablespoonsful sugar
• 3 cups flour

Directions:

1.  Combine water, juice and butter in a large bowl.  Sprinkle in yeast.   Add salt, egg, vanilla and sugar.   Stir to mix.  Add flour one cup at a time, stirring between each addition.  Mix with your hands if the dough becomes too stiff.  Luckily for me, I was able to completely mix with just a wooden spoon.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

2.  If baking later, place covered dough in the refrigerator.

3.   Spray baking pan(s) with cooking spray (I used a cake pan).  Roll dough into balls and place in pan.   Cover and let rise  until doubled, about another 2 hours.

4.  Preheat oven to 350*F.   Brush rolls with melted butter and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

  While perusing stuff to bake on Taste of Home's website (I use the crap out of that site!), I came across this recipe for a basic bread mix.   It is a base for making different types of non-yeast breads.   This particular recipe mentions blueberry, zucchini, and cinnamon breads.  It has a great base batter, and shows you how to divide it so as to make a mini-loaf of each type.  In my household, I've found that muffins go over better than breads, so I used a standard 12-cup muffin pan instead of the mini loaf pans.  I also used all of the batter to make one type of muffin.  The base mix made a full 12 muffins of perfect size.

  Let me start off by telling you that the base batter is delicious!  I think it would make a nice muffin or bread all on it's own!  I think I ate 2 muffins worth of just batter on my first try...

   Since I had a bunch of blueberries that had been sitting in my fridge for awhile, and were starting to get saggy (but still edible), I decided to start with the blueberry recipe.   It whips up very easy, and the resulting muffins were superb!  They were gone within 24 hours, and that's really saying something in this house.  They were sweet, and had a hint of a cornbread texture.   I would change absolutely nothing about this recipe.

  Next off I tried the zucchini recipe.  I had a big zucchini out of my garden that was begging to be turned into something scrumptious, so I figured to try this base with the zucchini.   Again, a delicious muffin.  Even my kids went back for more.  Same light cornbread texture, with a sweet nutty taste.




Basic Mix:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoonful baking powder
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1/4 teaspoonful baking soda
1 egg
2/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons butter, melted


Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.  In another, whisk together the egg, juice and butter. Pour into the flour mixture.   Mix well.


For blueberry muffins:

Mix one cup fresh or frozen blueberries into entire mix.  If dividing batter for multiple loaves or types, divide accordingly.  Bake at 325*F for about 30 minutes.  While baking, whip together 6 teaspoons honey with 6 teaspoons of orange juice.  Pour over muffins upon removing from oven (I did not do this part, because I forgot.  However, they still came out perfectly tasty.. I can only imagine that this step would transform them to heavenly.)

For zucchini muffins:

Mix 1 cup shredded zucchini,  3 teaspoons grated orange peel and 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon into the batter. Again, if dividing, divide accordingly.    Bake for 325*F for about 30 minutes.




I am not a fan of cinnamon, so have not made that kind.  However, I just may with fall coming upon us.  I think it sounds like it might be yummy to add some chopped apple to it.  If I do, I will let you know how that turns out.  If you make them, let me know!   (The recipe is in the link.. remember to multiply the amounts by 3 for the full pan if you are using the entire base for one recipe.)

   It's that time of year when zucchini is aplenty in our gardens.  That happened to be the case with a friend of mine, who handed over two huge zucchinis to me.  I knew right away I'd be making zucchini bread.  Since I suddenly had so much of it, though, I decided to experiment a little.  I found a few different recipes, and will be making a few different types, so I have a bit of variety! 

  This recipe for Apple Zucchini Loaf comes from Taste of Home's website.  I made a few changes which I will show below. 

Ingredients:

Bread:

• 1&1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoonful cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoonful baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoonful baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoonful salt
• 1 jar (4&1/2 ounces) diced apple baby food (I used a 4-oz applesauce cup that we use for lunches)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoonful canola oil
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Topping:

• 1/4 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (I used a packet of instant cinnamon-apple)
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoonsful butter, melted
• dash of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  If using baby food, drain apples and reserve juice. 

2.  In another bowl whisk together egg, oil and applesauce or reserved juice.  Stir into dry ingredients until just blended.  Fold in zucchini and reserved apples.

3.  Pour into an 8x4in loaf pan coated with cooking spray. I used 4 small loaf pans, not sure of their size, but I filled them each about 2/3 full. 

4.  Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle overtop.

5.  Bake at 350*F for 50-55 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cooling rack.

These actually came out pretty darn good.   I still had to bake them for the same amount of time as called for with the regular sized loaf pan.  They are a little chewy, but that's alright with me.  They smell divine!  My house smells all yummy now.   =)