Perfect (well, in my opinion anyway) Whole Wheat Bread

Okay, brace yourselves, this is a really long bread post but it's been a longggggg time coming.

I've been working hard to perfect whole wheat bread from scratch. I've tried several recipes and then landed on one from my friend, Katey, who really should be co-authoring this blog by now! Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, bread. So, I took her bread recipe which is fabulous by the way just the way it is but I've been picky lately about bread. I want it to be moist and string together like store bought bread. When it's 5 days old, I don't want to make a sandwich and have the bread falling apart in crumbs. So began my experiments with bread science. Basically this was my method:

Katey's bread recipe + Tammy's husband's bread science = amazing whole wheat bread
See, simple math!

Okay, so here's my concoction that I simply adore!

2 1/2 cups warm water (not hot!)
6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup honey
1 tsp lecithin
6 tbsp gluten
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tbsp yeast

Mix the water, 2 1/2 cups of the flour, salt, oil, honey, lecithin, gluten, and ginger and mix together. Then mix in the yeast. Add remaining flour (plus more or less as needed) until you have a nice bread dough. Knead and let rise for 40 min. in a warm place (I spray a glass/metal bowl with olive oil and cover with a light kitchen towel). Punch down and form into 2 loaves. Place loaves in loaf pans that have been greased with butter. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and DO NOT CUT IT no matter how tempting it is, and believe me, I KNOW how tempting it is. The bread actually continues to cook while cooking in the hot loaf pan. Let it cool until it's completely cool. Then remove it from the loaf pan.

(In the picture, my loaves are poked with fork holes but I've done them without those and instead put a slice down the center right before they go in the oven and that works well too. Either way is fine.)

Okay, let's go back to the three strange ingredients listed... lecithin, gluten, and ginger. This is where Tammy's husband's bread science comes in. These three ingredients are dough conditioners that create the softness and stringiness in bread. How do I describe it? Instead of crumbly dry homemade bread, you get extra soft bread like the store. Now, let me pause and say that Katey's recipe is incredibly soft to start with and wonderful so this is no slight on her recipe! Trust me, it's great the way it is...but I've just been extra picky about my bread lately. You can make the recipe WITHOUT these three ingredients just fine and you can see below for Katey's original recipe. BUT, if you do add these three ingredients it makes the bread amazingly soft.Some more doughy thoughts:
-this bread makes excellent dinner rolls as well.
-to make fluffy rolls substitute some of the whole wheat flour for white flour.
-this bread makes wonderful french toast!
-I use very fine flour so the texture may differ depending on the flour used. Do NOT use pastry flour, remember, that's only for non-yeast recipes. Depending on your flour you may need to add less or more flour to the dough recipe.
-you can make this recipe in your bread machine, which I've done but you have to half it and it doesn't come out as well.

Here is the bread machine measurements for one loaf. (keep in mind that this doesn't come out as moist in the bread machine but if you are a bit busy it might be nice to at least run this through the dough cycle.

BREAD MACHINE for 1 loaf:
1 1/4 c warm water
1/2 c honey
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lecithin
3 tbsp gluten
1/8 tsp ginger
3 c flour
1/2 tbsp yeast

Place all ingredients into bread machine in the order listed. Make a small dent in the flour to put the yeast in. Turn on bread machine on whole wheat bread setting for a light loaf, and the smallest loaf it will make (either 1 lb. or 1 1/2 lb.)

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Here is Katey's original recipe....which is awesomely easy if you are in a hurry. I love her recipe! Thanks Katey! (note* my recipe has more honey cause I'm a sucker for sweet tasting bread but not everyone likes their bread that sweet so try Katey's amount if you'd like to have less honey.)

Standard Bread Dough
. 2 1/2 cups of Warm Water
. 2 cups of whole Wheat Flour
. 1 teaspoons of Salt
. 1/2 cup of Oil
. 1/2 cup of Honey
. 1 tablespoon of Yeast

Add the Water, Flour, Salt, Oil and Honey and mix together. Then mix in the
yeast. Add flour until you have a nice dough (4 or 5 more cups). Knead and
let rise for 30 to 40 minutes in a warm place. Punch down and form into
loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and use a fork to poke several holes into
dough. Let rise again for about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30
minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Corn Tortillas

My sister taught me how to make corn tortillas and now we are hooked. They taste incredible compared to store bought tortillas. It's pretty shocking. I don't even make them fully from scratch and yet the taste is so much better. So, come on into my kitchen and I'll teach you how to make them today.

I buy masa dough that is already prepared. You can buy it this way but if you can't find it, you can purchase the corn masa in a box but be sure it's the kind for making corn tortillas. It will either say so on the box or it will have recipe instructions on the back of it for making corn tortillas. You should only need to add water but some tell you to add lime. My dough comes already mixed and in a bag. I freeze it until I'm ready to use it and then I set it out on the counter all day to defrost for making tortillas right before dinner.

You'll need a tortilla press....mine is cast iron which is what I recommend. I got mine on Amazon and it's the largest size which I also recommend.

Roll the dough into golf ball sized balls numbering the amount of tortillas you want to make.



Cut two squares out of a Walmart bag and wash them with soap and water. Trust me the Walmart bag will work the best.





Place one piece of plastic on your press.

Put one dough ball on the plastic and cover it with the second piece of plastic.




Close the press, pull the arm over and press hard. You may need to turn the tortilla around to get it pressed really even.

Peel the top layer of plastic off.










Carefully peel the tortilla off of the bottom layer of plastic. You want to be sure not to tear the tortilla off of the plastic. Do this by laying the tortilla in your hand and pulling the plastic off of it.

Once in your hand you can then lay it on the griddle.

Don't flip the tortilla over onto the griddle because it will possibly stick to your hand and tear a hole. Instead, lay the edge on the griddle and slowly lay it while you sort of roll your hand out from under it.









You will know the tortilla is ready to flip when the edge of the tortilla gets a little dry. You don't want to let the whole top get dry though because it will turn white and be ruined. Flip it while the dough is still sticky. Don't worry about your tortillas being perfectly round, that's what makes them homemade, right!?

Once you have a whole stack made, make yourself some killer tacos. It will be difficult to go back to storebought after this.

You can freeze these easily!

These are super fun to make with kids. In fact, my kids make them themselves now. It takes some time to get the whole technique down but I assure you that with practice you'll get the hang of it.

Homemade Croutons

Homemade croutons are easy and yummy. Now that I've been making them my husband doesn't want me to buy store bought ones again. If you want organic croutons, this is the way to go.

A few slices of organic bread (I use cracked wheat sourdough)
Organic extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil
Organic seasonings:
I use at least garlic powder (or minced garlic)
but then you can add other spices as well like:
a sprinkling of Mrs. Dash original
a tsp of dried parsley
a tsp of dried basil
whatever you like!

Cut the bread in cubes (I use the ends of the loaf). Toss in a bowl while drizzling olive oil till well coated. Every piece of bread needs some olive oil on it so keep tossing till it's well coated. Sprinkle garlic while tossing and other optional seasonings.

Spread out on a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 min or until cubes are browned and crunchy.

These are very light croutons with a good crunch to them and are great for not only salads but soups as well. Store in an air tight container for up to five days in pantry.

Popovers

Okay, I know these are basic to some, but I truly had never made them till this week. My mom has talked so many times of how she made them as a little girl and I've always wanted to try them. They are simple and fun.

A few weeks back, a friend, Sugar Coma, introduced us to Yorkshire Pudding. Thinking that this must be the same thing mom was talking about, I started to research...what is the difference between Yorkshire Pudding and Popovers? Nothing really. They are the same thing except Yorkshire Pudding are the ones usually baked in the meat drippings. In fact you can pour the batter right into the drippings of a roast while it's cooking the last 30 min. and bake up the Yorkshire Pudding all around the roast. Who knew? Popovers are done without meat drippings, just with butter. That's what my research concluded but I'm far from an expert on this so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm totally wrong.

Regardless, these puff muffins are yummy! Mine in the picture didn't pop up as high as Sugar Coma's did and I think I know why. You're supposed to let the batter come to room temp. and well, I just didn't have time, I mean patience, to do that. So, let the batter come to room temp and here is a link to some great popover tips.

1 c whole milk (whole works best)
1 c flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
butter cut into little chunks

Whisk/beat eggs well. Combine flour, milk, and salt with the eggs. Let batter come to room temperature. Put a little chunk of butter into each muffin cup of a muffin tin. Place the muffin tin in oven while it is pre-heating to 435 degrees. This way the butter will melt. When the butter is melted, use a pastry brush to dip in each cup and brush the sides of the cup with the butter to prevent the muffins from sticking. Pour batter into muffin cups filling them about 1/2 full. This recipe should make about 12 regular popovers. Bake at 435 degrees for about 30 min. Popovers will bake up very puffy and will lightly brown on top. Remove from oven. Serve immediately with butter, jam, honey, etc. They are a bit hollow inside so you can also fill them.

They don't look like much but let me tell ya, the taste is so good!

Corn Cake

This is a recipe that my kids and I made from a book as we were studying the foods of Brazil. They celebrate corn on St. John's day so we made this recipe for our homeschool co-op. It actually didn't turn out from the book recipe so I re-made it my way and fixed it. It turned out so well, we were asked if we would post it on here and I think we will be making this every fall now as a tradition. It's really good.

1 can of canned corn, drained
7 tbsp butter, softened
1 2/3 c whole wheat flour
3 eggs
1 can of coconut milk
1 tbsp baking powder
1 c granulated sugar
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Grind corn coarsely in food processor leaving it still chunky. Mix all of the ingredients together including the corn. Beat till it is well mixed. Pour into two greased and floured bread loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 50 min. or until center comes out clean with cake tester. Let cool out of oven for about 10 min. and then remove to a cooling rack. Serve plain or with butter/honey.

Pineapple Corn Muffins

These are so good!

I bought a corn bread mix from a store here that sells products in bulk bins. You could easily adapt this recipe to any mix or recipe that makes about 12 very large muffins or about 18 medium sized muffins as seen in the pictures. I did not decrees the amount of water in the recipe. Adding the pineapple made them so moist. My family loved them!

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3 c corn bread mix

2/3 c water

2 eggs

10 oz of crushed pineapple in juice (half of a 20 oz can)

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Mix together and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min. (If using the pan only be sure to butter it well before pouring mix into it.)

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

With a few cooler days around here I'm getting that Fall feeling even though I haven't done nearly as much summer cooking as I had hoped. So the other day I decided to try out another version of the this eggless chocolate cake recipe. Instead of Devil's Food Cake mix, you use Spice Cake mix. Once again, I'm totally impressed.

1 box spice cake mix (I use Better Crocker)

(do not add any of the ingredients on the box.)

1 14 oz can of pumpkin or 1/2 of a 28 oz can (can NOT be pumpkin pie filling...just pure pumpkin)

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 min. or until centers come out clean with a cake tester.

Notes: These were SO yummy that they could easily stand up to any complex pumpkin spice cake recipe. They were super moist too.

Try sprinkling with a bit of powdered sugar for presentation.

WW points (2 points per muffin) for all those keeping track.

BBQ French Bread

Have you ever BBQed your french bread loaf? Well, why not? Especially if it's frozen...it's a quick way to warm it just in time for dinner.

Wrap it in foil and place on the BBQ. It needs about 15- 20 min. turning once. When you dinner is ready so is your piping hot bread!

Healthy Apple Brown Betty

Oh my this is good! Makes a wonderful breakfast or dessert. My husband really liked this!

4 apples, preferably Granny Smith
6-7 slices whole wheat bread
1 stick butter

1 cup packed organic brown sugar

Peel apples and slice them. Slice bread into a small dice, or tear into very small pieces. Coat baking dish with butter, then add 1/3 of the brown sugar, 1/3 of the apple slices, and 1/3 of the breadcrumbs. Repeat twice more. Slice butter and lay slices all over the top of the bread crumbs. Bake in a 375-degree oven, covered in foil, until done—about 45 minutes. Remove foil in last few minutes of baking to brown

the top.

However you've had apple brown betty in the past you've got to try this version. Don't be afraid to serve it to guests for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Old Fashioned Irish Cream Scones

Found this recipe when I was first married and loved it. It would work well for a fruit bakeover as well.

2 c flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c butter
2 eggs beaten
1/3 c heavy whipping cream
2 tsp sugar

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in eggs and cream to make dough. Knead on floured counter. Divide in 2 if making baked scones. (Or keep as one whole for a bakeover crust.) Roll out in a circle 1 in. thick. Cut into pie wedges for individual scones. Place on cookie sheet. For individual scones brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min. and golden.

Optionals~

-You can mix pretty much anything you like into these scones. They work really well with chocolate chips, fresh berries, nuts, etc.
-If serving as scones for tea, serve with whipping cream, lemon curd, jams, honey...etc.

Irish Brown Bread

In honor of my Irish heritage, I wanted to post something on here to go with that theme. I found this recipe in the current Family Fun Magazine (March 2008 issue). It's a homemade bread loaf that the kids can get their hands into! =0) I tell ya what, this version of Irish Soda Bread is so good! I'm so impressed that I already know I'll be making this a lot in the future! No rising time and it's SO simple. This is a great crusty bread to go along with soup! It would also be a great bread for your kids to help make for Easter or St. Patrick's Days.


4 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 c buttermilk


Combine everything in a large bowl except the buttermilk. Mix the ingredients together well with your hands. Make a well in the mix and pour in 1 1/2 c of the buttermilk. Continue mixing with your hands, adding the remaining cup of buttermilk as you combine the ingredients. The dough will be wet and very sticky. If the dough is still a little dry, add more buttermilk until it's sticky and wet through and through.


Dusting your hands first with flour, shape the dough into a ball and place it on a floured cookie sheet with a piece of parchment. With a knife, score a deep X in the top of the ball, widening it with the sides of the blade as you cut.


Bake the bread at 400 degrees until it's golden brown, about 50 min. Transfer it to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 10 min before slicing. Makes a crusty dense loaf about 7 inches in diameter.



Variation:
the original recipe called for 2 1/4 c whole wheat flour and 2 1/4 c white flour.

Sour Dough Starter

My sister asked me how to make sourdough bread so I'm going to post how to get a "mother" started. The starter is called a mother. It's the soured reserve that you use to take from and mix into your bread recipes to make them sourdough.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tbsp yeast (optional)

you can make a starter using only flour and water or you can cheat and speed things up by adding some yeast to it. Mix the above together in small container set in a place where the temperature is somewhere around 70-80 degrees. You need to either leave the lid propped open or cover it with a cheese cloth so that natural yeast can get into your mother.

You know that your sourdough starter is ready when it forms a bubbly froth on top of it...you can now use it, refrigerate it or freeze it.

Once you use some you need to replenish the mother by adding 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. You won't need to add yeast again because it's already growing more of it's own yeast. If you haven't used any for two weeks, go ahead and throw out half of it and add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. This will "feed" it as the weeks roll on without you using it to make bread.

While in the fridge, it will get a liquid on top of it that is dark brown or gray in color. This is normal, just stir it back in.

Instead of typing out full instructions here, I found this very well written page that explains how to make a starter and how to use it. I will post my sourdough recipes once my starter is ready to use next week.

No Rise Pizza Dough or Focaccia Bread

I've posted this pizza dough recipe before here and here (I've called it Amish Quick Dough before) but I'm going to post it again. It doesn't have to rise which is wonderful because it's FAST! By adding some herbs and baking it flat you can use it to make your own focaccia bread which would work great as a bakeover crust.

1 tbsp yeast
1 c warm water
Dissolve the above together.

Add while mixing in your mixer:
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp veg. oil
2 1/2 c flour
(optional herbs, cheeses, pesto, garlic, etc.)

Knead till smooth. Shape into a circle for pizza (makes about a 16 in. or two 8 in.) or as a focaccia (about 12 in. but thicker) bread on a pizza stone. If making focaccia bread, make sure you leave it about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick at least. You may also want to let it rise for about 15-20 min. before baking to make it a little thicker.

You can use white flour or whole wheat. (do NOT use whole wheat pastry flour, it comes out like corn meal for some reason.)

Biscuits

2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c softened butter
3/4 c milk (or buttermilk)

mix together by hand till blended (do not over mix). Roll out to desired thickness (they will only bake up a little so make them close to as thick as you'll want them). If making individual biscuits, use a floured biscuit cutter to cut them. If you don't have a biscuit cutter you can use a mason jar lid ring. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for about 10-12 min or golden brown on top. If using for a bakeover crust, roll it out into a circle shape the size of your pan and place on your pan.

Variations:
-use whole wheat flour (add a little more butter if using all whole wheat)
-add seasonings like basil, oregano, Italian seasoning mix, garlic
-add fillings like some grated sharp cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, or 2 tbsp pesto

Bakeover Breads

I want to post a few breads that you can use for your bakeovers so I'll be posting a few of those next. =0)

Bakeover Ingredients

Some things to try in your bakeovers....

Veggies for your Bakeovers:
artichoke hearts
asparagus
beans
beets
broccoli
brussel sprouts (slice them in half to release their bitterness)cabbage
carrots
cauliflower
celery
chard
fennel bulb
jicamakale
mushrooms
onions
parsnips
bell peppers
potatoes
rutabagas
hot peppers
spinach
squash
scallions
tomatoes
tomatillos
turnips
yams
zucchini


Fruits:
apples
apricots
bananas
blackberries
blueberries
huckleberries
boysenberries
cherries
figs
gooseberries
kumquats
mangos
peaches
papaya
pears
pineapple
raspberries
rhubarb
strawberries

Meats, Nuts, Packaged Products:
Cheeses - cheddar, Asiago, Parmesan, feta, cream cheese, jack, Havarti, mozzarella, etc.
chicken
sausage
bacon
ground turkey
beef
venison
fish (boneless precooked)
tuna
black beans
coconut
sauerkraut
tofu
almonds
Brazil nuts
cashews
peanuts
pecans
pine nuts
poppy seeds
pumpkin seeds
sesame seeds
sunflower seeds
walnuts
eggs

Seasonings:
garlic
chili powder
fresh herbs
pepper
salt
soy sauce
BBQ sauce
ranch dressing packet
Lawry's season salt
Montreal steak seasoning
Mrs. dash
Italian seasoning
dried herbs (basil, oregano, etc.)

Batter Mixes:
corn bread
biscuits
focaccia bread
fry bread
pizza dough
herb breads
our dough
beer batter bread
cookie dough
brownies
scones

Basic Beer Bread from Scratch

My sister was asking how to make white beer bread from scratch because in Mexico she can't get self rising flour like in the other recipe I posted. So, this one is for her....

Basic Beer Bread Mix:
3 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
12 oz beer

Mix together everything but the beer then slowly add the beer and stir. Place into a glass loaf pan that you have greased well with butter. Batter will be thick. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the top is lightly browned. Let cool for about 10 min. then remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

If you are interested in the whole wheat version...it's here.

Whole Grain Waffles

I love the Kodiak Cakes Flapjack and Waffle Mix which most of you already know from my pancake post so I just had to show you that they make wonderful waffles as well. You just mix ice cold water with the mix and I like to add an egg to it to make them fluffier. But, if you can't find this mix (which William Sonoma and Albertsons I know carry) then you can use your own pancake or waffle recipe and just use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour and you'll get the same thing.

I topped these waffles with butter, a dab of syrup and some cooked strawberries and blueberries.

I put frozen whole strawberries and blueberries into a pot and heated them till they started to break down a bit. Then I mashed them just a few times with my potato masher. I added a few tbsps of organic white sugar and they made a wonderful topping. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

We actually had these for dinner. =0) You can make them for dessert as well by serving with a scoop of ice cream, some whipped cream and some hot fudge.

Eggplant Au Gratin

I found this recipe in a french cookbook. Since I've been searching for more veggie dishes I thought this one sounded good. Now, I know not everyone is a fan of eggplant and honestly, I wasn't either for a long time. My mom made me an eggplant sandwich once though and I realized that I really do like it just not the skin. So, now I love it but it has to be peeled. =0) If you are vegetarian or on a diet, eggplant can come in handy! It's a great meat substitute because it's thick and filling. I'll post the eggplant sandwich on here as well but first, the Eggplant Au Gratin (minus the cheese). =0)

Cut off the ends and peel one egg plant.

Slice the eggplant in at least 3/4 of an inch sized slices (it shrinks down significantly)

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a shallow pan or glass 9x13 till the bottom is well coated.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of Italian seasonings

Layer the eggplant in the pan overlapping each other

Mix together Italian bread crumbs and olive oil and sprinkle on top (the recipe called for grated Parmesan mixed in as well but I omitted it)

You can drizzle a little more olive oil on top if you'd like to

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min or until tender, bubbly, and bread crumbs are crunchy.

Variations:

-you can use plain bread crumbs mixed with about 1/2 tsp Italian herb seasonings instead.

-you can add about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan to the bread crumb mixture.

-you can add other veggies and layer them overlapping each other in rows...such as sliced zucchini and sliced tomatoes. Tomatoes go really well with eggplant. So lay a piece of eggplant and then a row of zucchini and then a row of tomatoes and repeat.

-in the pictures I used half an eggplant and a pan that was half the size of a 9x13.