RSS - PostsFiled under: BBA Challenge, BREAKFAST, DESSERT, SNACK | Tags: bread, cranberries, currants, raisins, walnuts
FINALLY! I got back in the kitchen and made some bread! It feels like ages. I have been away the last two (three?) weekends and just couldn’t wait till this weekend to get back into it. I have been doing more cooking than the blog suggests, but it takes more than i have these days to post every good thing i eat. Maybe this weekend i will get around to retro-posting some highlights.
This was not a good recipe to choose to make during the week after work. Especially not while making dinner, trying to bike on the trainer for an hour, and getting up at 6 to run before work the next morning. I think the bread came out pretty well, but I sacrificed the run.
My experience of this bread was ruined from the start by the perfectly delicious Panettone that I ate last Christmas. It was my first ever panettone experience. One of our consultants shelled out hundreds of dollars to ship us (us = the architecture firm i was working in) – a REAL Milanese Panettone. Despite it’s massive size, the crumb was as airy like a croissant with a perfect distribution of candied fruits and nuts.
My first panettone probably weighed 20 lbs. and I can only imagine that it had baked for hours. My petit panettone on the other hand, took roughly 40 minutes. I checked at 20, 25, and 30 waiting for the tops to be golden brown, and i think 40 minutes was a bit too long and dried them out too much. The big one (below) took about 1:20 and seems just right (texture-wise, i know it isn’t pretty). I don’t have a thermometer for it yet, but I know my oven is on the cool side. I was VERY glad i chose to use my mixer for the whole kneading process on this one. It was sticky, tacky dough (I may have been heavy handed with the rum) and i would have added too much flour had i kneaded by hand.
This bread in particular has made me appreciate the amount of quality control that goes into professional baking. To make this bread come out consistently good WHILE making a profit on the effort must be a real challenge.
These were sooo good! I was worried that they would come out too carrot-y, but they were GREAT! Next time i would consider adding whole or ground flax seeds, and more carrots and oats.
- 1 1/4 C all purpose flour
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 2 C oats
- 2 C grated carrots
- 3/4 C raisins
- 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce (no oil!)
- 1 egg
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1/4 t nutmeg
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 1/2 t salt
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix together egg, applesauce, and sugar in a large bowl. Combine flour, baking soda, and spices in another bowl.
- Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients then add carrots, raisins, and oats. (add more oats as needed)
- Bake for 12-14 minutes in preheated oven, or until cooked through. Eat immediately!
So, here I stray from my typical (at least somewhat) healthy recipes.
My uncle’s mother is one of the sweetest women i know and she comes to the beach with us nearly every year. This year she brought some interesting looking cookies with her. I admit that i was apprehensive at first, but these cookies taste better than they look. They are super simple to make and serve as a satisfying, crowd pleasing dessert.
- 2 C mini marshmallows
- 4 C rice crispies
- 1 C peanut butter
- 1 C raisins
- 1 C crasins (or other dried fruit)
- 2 lb bar or blocks of white chocolate
- 2 C dry roasted peanuts (unsalted)
- heat white chocolate in a large bowl in the microwave for approx. 2 minutes, stir, then repeat to melt completely
- add peanut butter till mixed
- add peanuts, fruit and rice crispies and drop 1/4 cup portions onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate to harden for at least 2 hours.
We (my family) have been coming back to the same beach house on the Outer Banks for 10 years now. The owners have done something new to the house just about every year and this year they have remodeled the kitchen. The new kitchen has lots of gadgets, but lacking a few basics – no wooden spoon, only one loaf pan, no half cup measure.
I have an aversion to shortening, so i I used regular butter instead. The recipe makes two loafs, so since i had only one loaf pan, i put one half in the fridge for the a while. I will make the second loaf later this evening, and probably end up taking it home with me. by making one a time, i also have the chance to learn a little from mistakes. To make a cinnamon swirl in the middle of the bread, i pressed the dough out into the 8″x5″ rectangle (roughly 1/2″ – 3/4″ thick) that the book calls for, and rolled it up into loaf form. It came out with a barely recognizable ’swirl’. next time i will make a much thinner rectangle, maybe half or 1/3 as thick to get a real swirl effect.
All in all, the bread is very tasty. Even though the dough seemed extremely thick while kneading, the resultant bread is surprisingly light and fluffy. I think it will make great toast, and maybe even french toast.
Check out more photos on FLICKR and the full recipe is on Google Books!
update:
the second loaf with more of a swirl was a success! more cinnamon sugar and spreading the dough thinner and rolling it up tighter was an improvement . Here is a shot from Tuesday’s breakfast:
Filed under: BREAKFAST, SNACK | Tags: apricots, nuts, oats, peanuts, raisins, vegetarian
This is a simple, two step thing. First, to make the granola, then form the bars. I have made granola a few (three) of different ways in the past and have my favorite recipe prettymuch down. To make the bars, i just added a bit of maple syrup to my usual granola recipe, to make it more sticky. Next time i might add some chocolate chips…
Homemade Granola Recipe:
- 2 C rolled oats
- 1 C peanuts or toasted almonds
- 1/4 C sesame seeds
- 1/4 C flax seeds
- 1/2 C toasted sunflower seeds
- 1/2 C coconut (this time i used the fresh coconut i had hand cut at the beach)
- 1/4 C fiber one (crushed in a coffee grinder)
- 1 t sea salt
- 1/2 C raisins (i like to mix golden and regular)
- 1/2 C dried fruit (dried apricots + craisins)
- scant 1/4 C canola oil
- 1/2 C honey
- 1/4 C maple syrup
- Mix the oat, nuts and grains in a large bowl.
- Measure oil into the measuring cup and swirl it around before pouring into bowl.
- Then measure out the honey in the same, unwashed cup. The oil will help the honey exit the cup.
- Toss everything together until evenly coated and then pour out into a baking pan. I use a large roasting pan, as it keeps everything contained. A cookie sheet with a lip also works, but you have to stir it slightly more carefully if you use that.
- Bake at 300° F for 30 minutes, turning it with a spatula every ten minutes or so. You want everything to be an even golden brown.
- When it is finished cooking, returned the baked granola to the mixing bowl, add the raisins and fruit and stir to combine.
- To form bars, line a rectangular baking dish with wax paper. Immediately pour the warm granola into the dish, cover with another piece of paper, and press down HARD, packing the granola as tightly as possible.
- Let the pressed granola harden cool for at least 3 hours (i let mine sit overnight) before cutting. My pan yielded 14 thick granola bars. For lack of more sustainable packaging ideas, I wrapped them up in some saran-wrap.
After being spoiled by the three day weekend, these bagels helped ease the pain of getting up early for work. I ‘tested’ out the ugly batch, and they taste pretty good, too.
Check out more photos on my FLICKR page!
I am becoming wary that a batch of bread a week is going to be too much for two skinny jenkins….
luckily, thanks to some friends in the BBA Challenge, this week i found a way to use a little extra Anadama bread and complete one of the recipes on my 100 dish list. Thank you Rebeca! This was easy and delicious!
- 5 slices day-old bread (approx 4 C when torn into pieces)
- 1 1/2 T butter, melted
- 1/2 C raisins
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 C SKIM milk
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t orange juice (or zest if available)
- 1/3 C brown sugar
- 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 1 t vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Place bread pieces into an 8 inch (sq or round) baking pan, drizzle with melted butter, and sprinkle with raisins.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped, and a knife comes out clean.
