In case you're wondering...

Here's what happened to the Santa Claus bread. It snowed a lot on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning it was so cold with about 6 inches of snow on the ground. The little birds in the backyard looked very cold and hungry, so I put Santa on the ground under my mom and dad's bird feeder. Within minutes he was being feasted upon by multitudes of birds and a couple of squirrels. It was a merry Christmas feast, indeed.

 

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 11

I literally laughed out loud when I opened the oven and saw the final results of today's recipe. I almost didn't post it, because, well you can see for yourself.

But, I'm really tired and have a million things to do before tomorrow, and making an extra recipe isn't one of them.

I saw this on a website somewhere - it's a head of Santa, made out of bread dough. I've done a little with bread sculpture in the past, but clearly I forgot some important steps.

Here is Santa before he went in the oven.

 

Kind of cute. 

 

I had a feeling, though, that making his nose so big would come back to haunt me. It did.

 

This is what I saw when I opened the oven door.

  

 



 

Poor Santa! See what I mean about the nose? And the brim of his hat? What is that? It turned into some sort of angry unibrow.

 

Luckily, Santa is just like the rest of us and has one angle that is better than the others.

 

 

 

Still not great, but you can at least tell who he is, right?

 

If you want to make your own Santa head, the instructions I followed are here.

 

 

 

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 7

 

I made this goofy-looking loaf of bread this morning for today's holiday recipe.

It's a Christmas bread with a tradition. To begin with, it is made of 12 strips of dough which represent the 12 months of the year. Then the strips are braided into 4 layers to represent the 4 seasons. There are nuts and raisins in the dough which indicate the type of year to come - mostly nuts represents a good year for farmers, while mostly raisins represents a poor year. Then, before it is served, the youngest boy in the house takes a saved crust from the year before to feed the birds, and a crust from  the new loaf is saved for the next year to show there will always be bread in the home.

 

 

Christmas Bread

1/2 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

1 1/3 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

5 1/4 - 5 3-4 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup raisins

 

Mix warm water and yeast. Let stand 5 minutes. Heat and stir milk, sugar, and salt just until warm. Add to yeast mixture; stir in egg. Stir in 2 cups flour, the nuts and raisins. stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Shape into a ball, cover, and let rise until double in size. Punch down, cover, and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough and roll into 12 strips. Weave 5 of the strips together, pinching together the ends and tucking them under the strips. Twist and weave 4 more strips together and place on top of the first layer. Twist 2 strips together to place on top of the second layer, then twist the last strip and place it on top of the third layer. Brush the loaf lightly with oil. Secure the layers with wooden skewers. Cover and let rise until double. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until bread sound s hollow when lightly tapped.

 

Notes: I wasn't paying close attention to the directions and didn't divide my dough strips correctly. When I realized what I had done, it was too late to fix it, which is why my loaf is not shaped the way it should be. I'll do better next time. Promise.

It's Fall!

Today is my favorite day of the year: the first day of fall. In honor of the day, I baked some pumpkin-banana bread.

I never knew the two could be combined, but they can, and together they make a beautiful loaf of bread.

 

Pumpkin-Banana Bread

 

1/2 cup sugar

1 large banana, mashed

3/4 cup oil

1 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

 

Mix sugar, banana, oil, pumpkin, and eggs. Stir in remaining ingredients until just mixed. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool before slicing.

 

Note: I thought this recipe might need a little more flavor, so I added a couple of teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to the batter. It's a nice addition.

Biscotti and Bread

Well, it has finally cooled off in my neck of the woods. This morning it's a cool 46 degrees. After a summer of scorching temperatures, I'm loving the change.

The cooler weather means that I've finally been able to turn my oven on again and do some baking, and I've got two recipes to share.

The first is for biscotti. I got this recipe from my grandma, who got it from an Italian lady she met somewhere. I think it is pretty authentic. It's flavored with almond and anise, which I love. If you don't like anise flavor I'm sure you can leave it out and just use the almond.

Be warned that the recipe makes a lot. I usually only make half.

Biscotti
6 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup melted butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp anise extract
1/4 cup anise seed
1 cup chopped almonds

Beat the eggs. Add the melted butter, almond extract, anise extract, and sugar. Mix well. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, anise seed and almonds. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until a dough forms. Divide the dough into six equal parts. Roll each part into a rope about 15 inches long. Place the ropes on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before slicing. Return the cookies to the pan and bake for 8-10 minutes more, turning once.

 

 

My second recipe is for Savory Wild Rice Bread. I've been making this bread for at least ten years. It's one of my favorites. Very savory and hearty. It goes really well with soup on a cold day, but I usually just toast mine and eat it with butter and honey. 

Savory Wild Rice Bread 1/2 cup wild rice 2 cups water 5 1/2-6 cups flour 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley 2 tablespoons snipped fresh sage or thyme or 2 teaspoons dried sage or thyme, crushed 1 package yeast  1 cup sour cream                                                 1 cup water 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon butter  1 teaspoon salt  1 slightly beaten egg                                                1 tablespoon water                                                 4 sprigs sage Rinse wild rice in a fine-mesh sieve under cold water for 1 minute. In a medium saucepan combine wild rice and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, until tender and most of water is absorbed. Drain well; cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, parsley, sage or thyme, and yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir sour cream, 1 cup water, the sugar, butter and salt until mixture is warm (120-130 degrees) and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture. beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the wild rice and as much of the remaining flour as you can. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double (45 minutes). Punch dough down. Turn out into a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 8x4x2 inch loaf pans. Shape each half of dough into a loaf. Place shaped dough in prepared loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (30-40 minutes). With a sharp knife, cut a grain like design by making a slice lengthwise down the center of the loaf with 3 small branches on each side. Or, brush loaves with a mixture of egg and 1 tablespoon water. If desired, place sage sprigs on top of loaves. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or till bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans immediately; cool on racks.       Now, here is my cheat for making this recipe. Instead of messing with the wild rice and herbs, I buy a box of Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice mix, cook it, and use a cup of it in place of the wild rice and herbs. It's practically the same thing, and much cheaper. The long grain rice kind of disappears into the bread, leaving the wild rice behind, and the flavor is delicious.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

This recipe is spreading like wildfire on Pinterest. I was anxious to try it, so I stopped by Sunflower to get lemons on my way home from church and baked a loaf this afternoon.

I love the idea of mixing lemon with zucchini bread, and kind of wish I had thought of it first. With the specks of green on a yellow background, the bread is visually appealing. The problem came with the taste, or rather lack of taste.

If I ever make this recipe again, I will tweak it. Something needs to be added to enhance the flavor. Cardamom might be nice, I'm not sure how it pairs with lemon, but I think it would fit. I also was thinking of adding cranberries or a savory herb like rosemary or thyme. It just needs something.

Anyway, here is the recipe, but I don't recommend this one.

Lemon Zucchini Bread
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon
1 cup grated zucchini

Mix the dry ingredients. Beat eggs and add the oil and sugar. Blend well. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest. Fold in zucchini. Add to the dry ingredients. Blend, but do not over mix. Pour into a greased 9x5 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.

Morning English Muffin Bread

I wanted to make bread this morning, and decided on English Muffin Bread. It's so easy and quick to make due to the fact that there is no kneading, and it only rises once. This recipe is similar to what you can get in the store, but better, especially toasted with a little butter and jam spread on it.

Morning English Muffin Bread

2 pkgs yeast

5 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water

*cornmeal for sprinkling

Grease two bread pans well and sprinkle with cornmeal. Combine 3 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Heat the milk and water together until very warm (120-130 degrees). Add mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the remaining 2 3/4 cups flour to make a stiff batter. Spread the tops with corn meal. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

* I use flour instead of cornmeal because I don't really like cornmeal - I don't put any in the bottom of the pans, just on top to help spread out the dough. For a variation you can add 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins. Also, I always increase this recipe by half  to get larger loaves - it's better that way. 

Here's my breakfast: toasted English Muffin Bread with homemade cherry jam from my mom. Yum!  

It's Jewish!

I'm not Jewish, but I like some things that are.

One of those things is challa. Challa is a yeast bread, typically eaten on the Sabbath in Jewish homes. The dough is easy to make, and its braided shape makes a beautiful loaf.

I hadn't made challa in a long time, so I decided to make a loaf yesterday. The recipe I've always used seemed to be hiding, but several of my cookbooks have recipes for it. I ended up following one from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. It turned out ok, but I think there are better recipes out there (like the one I couldn't find).

Here are the ingredients for the loaf I made.

5 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp honey or sugar
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups water or milk, warmed

In his cookbook, Bittman makes all his breads in a food processor. I don't have a food processor large enough to make bread, and probably wouldn't do it that way even if I did, and I think his instructions for making it by hand are goofy, so I'll just tell you how I make it.

First, dissolve the yeast in the water with the sweetener. Add the salt and stir in the eggs. Stir in the flour and  knead until the dough is ready. I let my KitchenAid do the hard work and I think I let it knead for about 6-7 minutes. Then cover the dough and let it rise until doubled. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll the pieces into ropes about 20 inches long. Braid the ropes together to make a loaf shape. Let rise again. Before baking, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with some coarse salt. Bake at 375 degrees for around 45 minutes.

When it is finished you will have something that looks like this.

Even though it is a little more complicated than only using three strands, I like the way a loaf braided with four strands turns out. Six is even better, but I haven't quite mastered that technique yet.

Happy baking!

Man shall not live by bread alone...

Nothing beats a warm slice of homemade bread right out of the oven topped with a pat of butter and some jam or apple butter.

I've always been a bread lover. When I was just a little girl, my favorite part of holiday meals was the homemade rolls my mom would make. Forget the turkey and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Two or three rolls would fill me up just fine.

Now, I almost always make my own bread. It is much cheaper, and so much better than what a person can buy in the grocery store. Plus, it only requires a little time and effort.

I have several bread recipes that I tend to rotate through. One of them is my grandma's recipe for plain white bread. My mom talks about how my grandma made this once a week for the family when she was growing up. She always thought she was getting a treat when she went to friends' houses and got to have bread from the store.

This is a very simple and plain bread. No fancy grains, flours, seeds, or nuts here, but it is still delicious. I think it makes the most wonderful toast. (We made a bread similar to this in pastry school called "pan de mie," which translates to "toast bread.")





Here is the recipe, copied from my mom, who got it from her mom.

Grandma or Mom's White Bread

Mix 4 1/2 cups very warm water, 6 Tbsp water, 2 Tbsp salt
Add 2 packages yeast, mix well
Add 6 cups flour, beat well
Add4 Tbsp shortening
Mix in about 6-6 1/2-7 cups more flour
Knead well
Let rise till double
Repeat
Make 4 large loaves
Let rise again
Bake at 450 degrees for 30 min

I only make two loaves when I make this. I have two fairly large sized loaf pans and have found that making 3/4 of the recipe fills them well.