a bread I can be proud of . . . . finally!

Ihave been tinkering with bread for weeks! I want to make a crusty, chewy, beautiful, french loaf of bread. I have tried recipes that were literally a 2 week process. I have measured flour, I have weighed flour, I have used starters, I have risen and risen and risen lots of dough. I've done the whole "steam oven" by spraying the stove down with water, putting a pan of water in the stove. This time, I tried something I have never read on any cooking websites or blog. I got this from my Aunt who brought an amazing loaf of bread to my grandma's 87th birthday party. Drum roll please . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . .

She cooked her bread in a lidded dutch oven! It is genius! No creating steam, the dutch oven does it all for you! Now the recipe I used wasn't my Aunts because I didn't have her phone number and I was too lazy to call my Grandma to get the number, so Leslie, if you are reading this, post your recipe in the comment section!

I however used an incredibly simple recipe that was just prefect.

dough:

1 1/2 T yeast

1 T salt

1 T sugar

3 C warm water

6 C bread flour

Now here is the easy part. Start with the yeast, salt and warm water. Add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon till combined, cover with plastic wrap and let raise until double. That's right, no kneading! Now the original recipe I read said 6 1/2 c flour but I always seem to be a heavy measurer for whatever reason, so I went with 6 cups. The dough is fairly sticky, so when it comes time to shape, uses lots of flour on your hands, dust some on the dough and on the counter. Give the dough a couple rounds of kneading before you shape it into a ball. Recipe will make two balls. Put one in the fridge and let the other loaf get a head start on the raising. pull it out after about 30 minutes.

Let it raise on a big piece of parchment paper. Now, every cooking recipe I have read says you slash the top of the raised loaf with a knife before putting it in the oven. I have never once been able to do this without completely deflating it. So I always slash the dough in whatever pattern you want before it begins to rise.

Before your dough is risen enough to bake, begin preheating your dutch oven. You can use a camping dutch oven, or if you have a fancy pant Le Creueset you can use that, but make sure . Preheat the oven with the dutch oven inside to 450 degrees and let it heat for about 15 minutes before you add the loaf.

Carefully remove the lid (it should be stinkin' hot) and pick up the loaf by the parchment and drop it into the dutch oven very carefully. Replace the lid.

Bake for 25 minutes, remove the lid and bake for 15 more minutes till it us golden brown. You will feel like a real artisan baker after trying this method. I do!

nan's extra note: I have a new pot I cook my bread in, jealous?

Another from the Worldwide Cookbook

Sunday's are so lame without Fairb. I can handle the weekdays, but the weekends stink. So last Sunday, I spent experimented with recipes. I made another cinnamon roll recipe from the Worldwide Ward Cookbook, "Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls" on page 28. What is cool about this recipe is that it is very simple, and can be made into a "mix" to be given away, the woman who wrote the recipe would use the mix as a young woman fundraiser.  Luck for everyone involved, my brother and sister and their respective families showed up on my door step to enjoy the warm cinnamon rolls. Making Sunday not so lame anymore.

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

1 white or yellow cake mix

2 pkg yeast (or 2 tablespoons, I would use instant yeast if you are going the "mix" route. Yeast you know is good)

1 t salt

2 c flour

2 1/4 c warm water

3 c flour

butter (about a stick)

brown sugar 

cinnamon

Combine the first 4 ingredients. Add  water and mix. Add 3 c flour (switch to dough hook) and knead till well mixed and smooth.  Put into a greased bowl and let raise till double.  Push down and shape into a rectangle. Spread with butter then brown sugar, then cinnamon.  Roll into a long loaf and cut into 1 1/2 inch slices.

Let rise until double and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes about 18 rolls.
Now I topped the rolls with my sour cream glaze:

1/2 stick butter melted

big spoonful of sour cream

about a 1/2 bag powdered sugar

splash of vanilla

milk to thin accordingly

If you don't know how to turn the above into frosting, find a movie on youtube.

world wide ward cook book

I love to read cookbooks. I especially love to read ward cookbooks, because I like to know what people are cooking, and what they feel the best thing they cook is. So if you ever have a ward or family cook book you are getting rid of, give it to me! I love them! So when I saw the "Worldwide Ward Cook Book"  at Costco, I had to get it. Of course I loved reading it, but like most ward cookbooks, there weren't many "winning recipes" I counted 15 recipes that called for a can of soup. Find me another recipe book that has that many recipes that call for a can of soup besides the "Cambells" cookbook. If the recipe didn't call for a can of soup it called for a packet of dried onion soup of a pack of Italian dressing mix. Needless to say, it was terribly cliche with recipes like funeral potatoes, tater tot casserole and hot dog casserole.  I don't think there was an entree that even inspired me to make something new. I can say that dessert and bread recipes got me a little excited. In fact, I made some cinnamon rolls.  I kind of went off a recipe in the book, but it called for margarine, I don't do margarine. I kind of used the recipe on page 33, it wasn't anything special, I am sure there are better sweet roll recipes out there. (send them to me please!) what was good was the icing I invented to put on top!

Cinnamon buns

4 c bread flour

1 T instant yeast (the kind you can mix in with flour without proofing it, its the bomb!)

1/2 c sugar

1 t salt

combine then add .  . .

1/3 c melted butter

2 eggs

1 c warm milk

Combine with dough hook (or by hand) and knead till dough is smooth. Put in a greased bowl and let raise till double. Punch down and roll out into a rectangle about 21 inches wide and 16 inches tall.  Liberally spread melted butter over it, then liberally sprinkle it with brown sugar(I would say double what you do if you were making cinnamon toast) , then sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll it up tight like a sleeping bag and slice into about 12 rolls. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment (you will be glad you did when it comes clean up time) and let rise till double. Bake for about 15 minutes at 375 till nice and browned.

Sour cream glaze

Meanwhile, melt a 1/4 c butter and a big spoonful (1/4 to 1/3 c ish) sour cream. When the butter is melted (sour cream will be softened) add about a 1/2 a bag of powdered sugar. Combine, then thin out with enough milk to make it a little more runny than you would make regular frosting. Frost the rolls while they are still hot!

Don't go buy the cookbook, just come borrow mine, unless you are a BIG cream of chicken soup fan!

what do ripe bananas mean its time for?

BANANA BREAD!

I sometimes buy extra bananas just to have an excuse to make banana bread. But my banana bread is more than banana bread. It is super bread bread! I adapted this recipe from my mother-in-law to hide some healthy stuff in it in order to make it a more healthy snack for the kidos. It's made with half whole wheat, has flax seed, carrots and zucchini.

Ingredients:

1 c melted butter

1 c sugar

4 eggs

1 c shredded carrots

1 c shredded zucchini

6 ripe bananas mashed

1 cup milk

1 container of yogurt (any kind, just not something chunky

or you can use sour cream(about a cup)

2 c whole wheat flour

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c flax seeds (you can do whole, but the kids won't like it, I grind them up into meal)

1 t salt

2 t baking soda

I chop up the carrots and zucchini in the food processor, you want it fine. First cream the butter and sugar, next add the eggs, zucchini, carrots, bananas, yogurt and milk. Blend together well. Meanwhile combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixture, until combined. Do not over mix. Now this will make two long bread pans (what I do) or three regular bread pans. Make sure you spray with pam first. Bake at 350 degrees convection, if you oven doesn't do convection, do 375. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Test it with a toothpick.  

You absolutely must have a piece when it comes out of the oven, put some butter on it. Yum! Store it in tin foil and enjoy for the next few days. Take the extra loaf to your neighbor, or freeze it!

scones for sledding

Yesterday we had the crew up for a sledding party. It was 18 degrees outside and the children stayed outside for hours, riding the hill just off our deck. My son's cheeks were so rosy for hours after he came inside, I checked his temperature just to see if it was because of a fever! However, we did lure the kids inside with hot chocolate, chili and scones.

This is a buttermilk scone taught to me by my dear friend Becky. It is easy and it is good!

Buttermilk scones (fry bread, sopapia whatever you want to call it!)

4 c buttermilk

8 c flour

3 T oil

7 T sugar

1/2 t baking soda

3 t baking powder

2 T yeast

3/4 c warm water

So my friend Becky is old school, she is all about the glass bowl and wooden spoon when she does dough. She has a kitchen aid that still sits in the box in her basement. So she would do all this by hand, but I however am a slave to the dough hook. So I will post how I did it in the kitchen aid.

Dissolve the yeast and 1 T of the sugar in the warm water. Combine the remaining sugar, baking soda, and baking powder with half of the flour. Mix together. Next add oil, yeast mixture and buttermilk and combine with the paddle attachment. Switch to the dough hook and begin adding the remaining flour, one cup at a time until all the flour is added and continue to knead until the dough is smooth. As always, I like to do the final kneading with my hands. Doing the final hand knead lets you get familiar with what good dough is supposed to be like, and will improve you bread making skills. Plus, it is so fun to put your hands in dough, I can't resist it! Spray your bowl with pam and return the to dough to it. Cover it and let it rise in a warm spot. Let it rise till almost triple if you can wait that long.It should get huge. Now Becky rolls hers out cuts them into perfect shapes, lets them rise a little and then fries them. I did that the first time, but last night, I just tore a piece off, stretched it out and fried it. Either way is good, the first producing a nicer scone, but not by much. It should also be noted that it is not a mistake that salt is not in the recipe, the buttermilk compensates for that.

I have a deep fat fryer, but you can heat about 4 inches of vegetable oil on the stove. It hot enough when you drop your dough in the oil it sinks to the bottom then floats to the top, if its really slow to float to the top, not hot enough, floats up really really fast, too hot.

Thank goodness winter is here, but scones and chili just aren't as good without snow and sledding.

note: my husband and children made it the whole night in the tent on the deck. I couldn't believe it, I woke up with no children next to me and I hod to go outside and make sure they weren't all frozen to death. They were all cozy warm curled around their dad like little puppies.

Whole wheat bread

Nothing makes you feel more like a pioneer woman than grinding your own wheat to make some bread. If you really want to feel like a self reliant woman of Zion, get yourself elbow deep in bread dough, it is a good feeling!

My mother made bread often, but this recipe was taught to me by my friend Lori (yes the pie goddess) my mother must hate her. To give my mother credit, I learned ALMOST everything I know from her.

Ingredients:
1 c warm water
2 T yeast
2 t sugar
Add sugar and yeast to warm water, and proof until dissolved and foamy.



4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c vital wheat gluten
3/4 c dry milk
2 1/2 t salt

Mix together dry ingredients in a stand mixer (kitchen aid). Next add. . . .

1/2 c oil
3 c warm water
1/2 c honey
yeast mixture

Mix this together with paddle attachment to make a "batter".

Let this sit for about 15 minutes till bubbles start to form on the surface. Switch to the dough hook.

Now it is time to start adding more flour. Add one cup whole wheat flour. Turn the kitchen aid to 4 speed. Once the flour in incorporated, ( it should be really sticky) scrape down the sides with a rubber scraper and add 1 more c of flour. One incorporated, scrape down the sides again. Keep the speed on 4 and keep adding flour 1/4 c at a time till the dough forms a ball and stops sticking to the sides. The goal is not add too much flour. Keep kneading, if the dough starts to stick to the sides again, add a little bit more flour. As soon as it has the right amount of flour, I like to take it out of the bowl and knead it by hand. I just love to put my fingers into dough! Although you can continue to knead it with the mixer. Knead till the dough is smooth and "pillow like"

Form the dough into a pretty ball. Spray the same mixing bowl with pam and place the dough inside.

Cover dough with a towel and let raise until double (about 30 minutes)

Punch down.

Let rise again for about 15 minutes

Divide into three parts and shape into loaves. Spray bread pans before putting the dough in.

Let raise till it grows an inch above the rime (about 1 hour) Heat oven to 400 degrees, put in loaves and turn it down to 350. Cook for 30 minutes. As soon as you pull it out of the oven rub a stick of butter over the tops.

Tips:

I used hard white wheat from Lehi Roller Mills (costco) and ground it myself. I have a Vitamix Blender with a grain grinding container, so that is how I grind wheat. Some prefer red wheat, (like my mom) I prefer white because kids like it better, it is more "white bread" looking.

Your oven is the prefect place to raise dough. Turn the oven on for like 1 minute to get some heat in it then turn it off and put your dough inside.

Measure the honey along with the water. Meaning measure a 1 1/2 water then add honey to the water to make 2 cups. That's the easiest way to measure the honey.

It's the big count down! 12 days till Thanksgiving!

I took over cooking Thanksgiving about 3 years ago. We take turns celebrating with my family or the in-laws ever other year, but I cook every year. The reason is, Thanksgiving must be done right, and I definitely have an opinion on how to do it right! So to get excited, I am doing a count down to Turkey Day. All the recipes you will ever need to do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner!

Today, out of this world rolls (that is their name, literally). These were brought warm to the Thanksgiving table ever since I can remember. We ate them on Thanksgiving, and only on Thanksgiving. I bust these out occasionally outside of turkey day, but next to the big bird, they define Thanksgiving to me. Luckily, if you are a baby to bread making, this recipe is for beginners and requires no kneading. Recipe makes about 3 dozen rolls, I always double it, but you need a big bowl and a big fridge to do that (or a cold back porch where to dogs can't reach!)

2 T yeast proofed in 1 c warm watter and 2 t sugar. set aside.

1 c butter melted

2 c warm water

4 t salt

6 eggs

4 1/2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

Mix together with a hand mixer in a huge bowl till smooth, add yeast mixture and blend till smooth. Add 4 more cups flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Dough will be very sticky! It will also be noted that my mothers original recipe called for a cup of sugar,  I reduced it to 1/2 cup. Cover with Pam sprayed wrap and put in the fridge overnight. The dough should almost double when its time to shape.

Begin to shape dough 3 hours before you want to serve them. You need to be working with cold dough, as warm dough will be too sticky! Take half the dough and turn it a couple times on a floured surface, then roll out into a circle about a 1/4 inch thick. Spread with melted butter. Cut into triangles and roll into crescent shapes.

Place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with second half of dough. Cover rolls with a tea towel (the kind of towel that doesn't have fuzzies) and let raise till nice a puffy.

Cook at 400 degrees for 10-14 minutes, until brown and yummy looking. Serve warm.

Pizza for Porter

Yesterday was my son's birthday. So for his birthday, I made pizza to take to his class for lunch (don't have a heart attack, he only has 8 kids in his class). But first I must tell the story of the pizza. So I have tried pizza before many times. Each time the pizza came out just ok. To me it was sub par and I was better off calling the pizza guy, and the only reason I ever did it was to do something fun with the kids. I had searched recipes and tried different varieties and techniques, but nothing was impressing me. Then I saw the light . . . .

I was down in Popeville (the neighborhood where all my siblings live) and my brother's family was making their usual weekend pizza. I decided to go see how my sister-in-law does her pizza. I tasted it . . . . best stinking pizza in the valley. Seriously.
Being the lover of all things created in the kitchen, I had to know exactly how it is done, and this is how . . .

First, you must know there are things you have to purchase, and its the only way. You have to get a thick baking stone (the pampered chef ones are just ok . . ), and you have to get high gluten flour (not just bread flour). I bought mine online here.

My sister-in-law told me you could get the flour at lehi roller mills, but I ordered my flour online here.

The flour needs to have at least 14 percent protein content.

You can also get pizza screens here. But the second time I did pizza I just used a wood peel which you can also get at the same site.

I am not saying this is going to be easy folks, but you will make the best pizza you have ever had and it is going to cheaper than going to Brick oven.

The dough (this is a doubled recipe 4 12 inch pizzas)

1 c warm water

1 t yeast

2 t sugar

1 1/2 c cold water

2 t olive oil

2 1/2 t salt

6 to 7 c high gluten flour

( in a stand mixer) dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Mix salt in 2 c of the flour. Add proofed yeast mixture, cold water and oil and mix (should be like pancake batter). Switch to dough hook and start adding more flour. Add enough flour till you have a stiff dough. Knead for about 5 min, till dough is elastic. When you roll in into a ball and pinch the middle between your fingers, it should only relax a little when you let go, if it goes right back to form, keep kneading. Now here is where you must have patience. Cut the dough into two pieces, roll them into a ball and put them into pam sprayed ziplock and put them into the fridge for TWO DAYS MINIMUM! They have to raise in the fridge for two days! The dough should get to about double is size.

So you have waited, your pizza day has come. Hopefully you have already gone to costco and got their perfect pizza cheese blend, is mozz, provolone, and cheddar. Sauce time:

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

3 t salt

2 t sugar

1-2 t pepper (your preference on spice)

1/4-1/2 t cayenne pepper

2 garlic cloves minced

2 t basil leaves

1/2 -1 t oregano

Mix that all together in a sauce pan and heat to mix all the flavors together, what you don't use you can save for next week.

Your pizza stone should be on the bottom rack of the oven. Turn you oven to its highest setting, mine is 500. You need to heat the oven for a least 30, so the stone is nice and hot.

Time to shape the pizzas, best to use you hands. Hard to describe really, but know that it isn't easy, and you pizzas probably won't be too pretty. If you use the pizza screens, they are helpful in stretching out the dough. My sister-in-law only uses the individual screens because the dough is difficult to stretch. The warmer the dough, the easier it is to shape, so pull the dough out of the fridge about an hour before shaping.

add sauce
add cheese

add toppings

If you are using a screen, set right on the stone and after about 7 minutes remove the screen and let the pizza sit on the stone. If you shaped you pizza on the pizza peel, (make sure you use corn meal) then shake the pizza right onto the stone. They take about 10-12 minutes to cook. Check them to see when the crust is browned.

It is good, I don't know if I will ever buy a pizza again. My sister makes dough every week and always has dough in her fridge ready to go for when her family craves pizza. I know this post was way to long, any questions, just post them on the comment board and I will answer them.