So Good & Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread

When I sent pictures of this bread to my husband, he asked which I liked best, the Honey Oatmeal Wheat, or the Harvest Squash Bread I made a couple of months back. Without hesitation, I answered: "They're both so good, there's just no choosing."
The Honey Wheat for its soft, chewy, ever so slightly sweet, perfect for sandwiches and toasting ability. And the Harvest Squash Bread for its rustic, overnight developed, hearty, earthy, perfect alongside or dipped into soups quality. I haven't been working with yeast very long, but I can tell you if you haven't yet, it's addictive. There's something primitively satisfying about pulling a loaf or two of bread you nurtured, developed and worked with your own two hands out of the oven, and confirming with each bite thereafter. If I haven't convinced you already, don't deprive yourself of that magic any longer.

Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread
Recipe courtesy and adapted from The Fresh Loaf And AllRecipes.com



















Ingredients:

2 Cup boiled water
1 Cup rolled oats
2 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 Cup honey or molasses
1/3 Cup warm water
2 packets active dry yeast
3 Cups white bread flour
2 Cups whole wheat flour
Plus Additional bread flour for kneading, up to 1 cup. If using all white flour, you may need more. If using whole wheat flour, you should need less.
2 tablespoons honey, warmed slightly. 2 tablespoons oats. (Optional)


















Directions:

1. In medium saucepan boil 2 cups water. Remove from heat (turn stove off), add oats, honey and butter. Allow to soak for 20 minutes. After the oats have soaked for 10 minutes, begin preparing remaining ingredients.

2. In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1/3 cup warm water. Let stand 5-10 minutes. While yeast is soaking, in separate bowl, measure out flour and stir salt into flour with fork. Once the oats have soaked 20 minutes and have cooled some, add soaked oats into bowl with yeast. Stir and let stand 5 minutes or until foamy.

3. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, into bowl with foamy yeast. With wooden spoon, stir ingredients to incorporate. (A lot of the flour will remain after mixing, this will be fully incorporated after kneading.) Turn ingredients out from bowl onto clean surface or countertop. Form into mound with hands. Incorporate ingredients and begin to knead. If dough is too sticky, add in additional flour 1 teaspoon at a time. (I needed an additional 2 teaspoons). Continue kneading dough for approximately 15 minutes, or until dough becomes smooth, soft and feels lighter.

4. Clean and thoroughly dry large bowl. Use canola or vegetable oil to lightly oil bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat with oil. Use plastic wrap to cover bowl and allow dough to rise in warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

5. Once dough has risen, punch dough down to remove air and turn out onto clean surface. Cut dough in half and form into 2 loaves, big enough to fit bread pans. Lightly oil two bread pans and add 1 formed loaf of dough to each pan. Cover and let double in size in warm place, for approximately 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once loaves have risen, use serrated knife to make slits if desired and baste each loaf of dough with melted butter or beaten egg.

6. Turn oven up to 375. Bake bread for 30 minutes or until tops have turned golden brown and, when tapped with fingertip, bottom of bread sounds hollow. Remove loaves from pans and transfer to cooling rack. Brush top of each loaf with slightly warmed honey and sprinkle with oats, if desired.




















































Just out of the oven, still warm and covered in honey, this bread glistens and begs to be eaten.
































Toasted or plain, spread with Homemade Raspberry Jam, this bread really shone.

The Y-Word & Harvest Squash Bread

Since making Soft Pretzels for the first time several months back, which required the use of yeast, I've been having fun finding and making as much use of it as possible. Though I don't blog about it nearly as much as I use it. I figure 'tis the season to change that.

I, like a lot of people, was tentative to start, having heard the lore about how difficult yeast is to work with. I now stand convinced, the bread makers, along with the pie crust and the cheese makers have been working in collusion for years to create and propagate fear in the minds of would-be at-home cooks to keep us buying their products. If they knew that we figured out how relatively easy to make, and delicious their homemade counterparts were, those companies would be in BIG trouble.

Okay, so maybe we wouldn't spend our days and nights in the kitchen kneading dough and bringing milk to temperature in lieu of a store-run, but we would think twice about where our food comes from; What's in it, how it gets to our home and eventually our plate.

I'm all for a revolution on the matter! Now, I'm not going to start it, or plan for it. I'm not that organized. But I will attend and bring snacks. I might not even attend if it's before noon. Or if this is going to require a lot of walking. Or shouting. I don't like loud noises. Or sticks and throwing things. Hey, hey, Let's not get crazy here.

Okay, so maybe a revolt was a bad idea. How about we all just commit to try making something with yeast at least once if you haven't already, as a fun weekend project, some time after noon, in the quiet and peace of your own home.

This dense, chewy, nutty, earthy bread is my 6th and favorite hitherto. I've had it with butter, and then peanut butter, and toasted for breakfast this morning.
*Update: This bread makes the BEST peanut butter & jelly sandwich I've EVER had.

Harvest Squash Bread

Recipe courtesy and adapted from Cookingbread.com


Ingredients:

Squash Ingredients:

1 acorn squash
2 teaspoon butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons maple syrup

Day before Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

Day of Ingredients

2 3/4 to 3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup mashed squash ( above )
2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 Teaspoon Maple Syryp
1/4 cup flax meal (Ground Flax)
2 tablespoon flax seeds

*Total yeast will be one packet if using packet.

















Method:

Cut acorn squash into half, lengthwise. Remove seeds with spoon. Using a fork, make holes around interior of the squash.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place squash onto parchment-lined cookie sheet (one with sides), or baking dish. Add piece of butter to each half of squash. Divide between two halves of squash, brown sugar and maple syrup. If using baking dish, add an inch or two of water to pan.

Add pan with squash to preheated oven and bake 1 hour or until squash feels soft when inserted with fork. If there are any juices remaining in squash, carefully pour into small bowl and reserve. Scoop inside of squash into separate bowl, reserving 1 cup, and mash with fork. (This can be done day before along with "day before" mix).






















Using wooden spoon, add "day before" ingredients and mix together. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on counter or stove-top for 12-16 hours, or overnight.

















12-16 hours later, or the next day, add mashed squash, water, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, reserved juices from baked squash (if any remain) and remaining yeast to "day before" mixture with wooden spoon, mix until smooth. To this, add flax meal and flax seeds. Mix until combined well.






















Add salt to 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour and combine with fork. Add half of whole wheat flour to mixture and stir until smooth. Slowly add in remaining flour 1 heaping tablespoon at a time. When mixture becomes too difficult to mix, scrape out onto flat surface. Mixture will appear very dry. You may add a little water if needed, but remember that as you knead and squash is incorporated, mixture will become sticky. (Which is what you want.)

Knead dough for 8 minutes. Add in remaining 1/4 cup flour if needed.


















After kneading, place kneaded dough into lightly oiled bowl. Turn to coat dough. With plastic wrap, cover bowl and leave to sit on counter or stove top for 1 & 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. Keep bowl in place with no drafts.


Press to release gas from dough and remove from bowl. Divide into 2 equal parts. Form each half into round dome-shaped balls. Line large cookie sheet (or two small) with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal (if using cornmeal, optional). Place each ball of dough, several inches apart, onto lined cookie sheet. With plastic wrap, cover and allow to double in size, approximately 1 hour.





















Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap. Using sharp/serrated knife, score bread by making an X-shape into dough. Using egg white that's been beaten until foamy or melted butter, brush tops of dough. (Bread will have a sheen and flax seeds will stay on better after baked if brushed with egg white, but I prefer the flavor of butter.) Sprinkle tops of dough with flax seeds.



















Place bread into oven on cookie sheet or baking stone.

On bottom rack inside oven, add cast iron skillet or small baking dish. To skillet or dish add 1 cup of water and close oven door. This will create steam.

Bake 30 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped, and tops have lightly browned.

Breathing Again & Hummus

After six days of what felt like interminably suffocating heat, the sky relented, took pity on the Northeast and released a happily welcomed, albeit brief, torrential downpour this past Saturday. Finally, Sweet Zeus! I can breathe. There was so much rain I could have gone for a swim if I wanted. I resisted the urge to pull out my tankini. Instead I celebrated my newfound full lung capacity by doing two things I couldn't bare in the heat, attended a Personal Training session with Jackie, Warner...in my bedroom. Her Power Circuit Training DVD is one of my favorites. Just the restoration my body needed. And I read most of Markus Zusak's 'I am the Messenger'. This is my second of his, first being 'The Book Thief'. He's a great writer! I also caught up on seasons 1 & 2 of, what I believe to be, the. best. show. ever. on television,'Breaking Bad'. The show and both of the lead actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul were just nominated for Emmy's. *Fingers crossed*

I summed up a productive weekend by eating something rewarding. Is there a better way?!

In my Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach and Garbanzos) Post
I talked about recently discovering Hummus. To start with, I only tried the prepackaged variety and have to say, I wasn't impressed. While looking for garbanzo bean (chickpeas) recipes I came across several for Hummus. I was surprised at how easy it was to make and encouraged by many reviews which said homemade Hummus is delicious and tastes 'nothing like store bought.' They were right, I'm hooked. I make it often to snack on, and in many cases, to have as a meal.

Fresh Hummus

Recipe courtesy and Adapted From About.com


Ingredients:

2 Cups prepared dry garbanzo beans, reserve cooking liquid (or one 16 oz can of low sodium garbanzo beans, reserve can liquid)-Chickpeas

1/4 cup liquid from cooked beans or can of garbanzo beans (or 1/4 cup water)

3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)

1 -2 tablespoons tahini

2 cloves garlic, completely smashed

1/2-1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/8 teaspoon cumin


Dry bean method:

Soak beans for four hours submerged in lag re pot of cold water. After four hours, strain liquid from beans and cover with fresh cold water. As beans absorb A LOT of water, cover with several inches of water. Don't worry about adding too much, You won't. If you notice the beans absorbing too much water, just add more water. Place pot over medium-high heat, boil beans for 1 hour and fifteen minutes, or until tender.
Strain liquid into bowl and reserve for later. Allow beans to cool mostly through. It's fine if they're a little warm.

*I love warm hummus, it's creamy and delicious!

In food processor, add 2 cups garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt, olive oil and cumin. Pulse until fairly smooth, Add in 1/4 cup reserved liquid, process until completely blended and smooth.

Serve in bowl. Garnish with Paprika and Parsley (Optional). Serve immediately and cover and refrigerate. Lasts in refrigerator up to three days.

















Canned bean method:


Drain canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas) into bowl, reserving liquid. Combine beans and lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt, olive oil and cumin. Pulse until fairly smooth, Add in 1/4 cup reserved liquid, process until completely blended and smooth.



















Serve in bowl. Garnish with Paprika and Parsley (Optional). Serve immediately with sliced carrots, bell peppers, English cumcumber and/or toasted Pita bread, Or cover and refrigerate. Lasts in refrigerator up to three days.


















Feeling adventurous? Make Pita Bread!

My first attempt at making pita was the basic white variety. As I rolled the pita too thin and baked the bread too long it was a failure. Well, failure in that, the hard and crunchy disk-like results weren't technically "pita." But broken in half, and sauteed in olive oil they were delicious. My second attempt was Rosemary & Olive Oil whole wheat pita. With a few changes learned from my prior mistakes, it was a success!

I figured that, rather than post the recipe here, which would make this entry overwhelmingly loquacious, I would post a link to the recipe on one of my favorite sites, The Fresh Loaf, HERE,
with a few notes of my own below.












*Bloggers Notes:

1. To make the whole wheat variety, I used 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white bread flour.

2. I NEVER add salt in with the yeast and water. Instead, I mix the salt in with the flour. Salt kills yeast. Even when you're encouraged to add salt in with yeast and water, DON'T. Always mix it into your flour.

3. In almost everything I make with yeast, soft pretzels, bread, et alii, I up the sugar to two tablespoons, usually dark brown, sugar feeds the yeast and gives the dough more flavor. Anything less would be bland.

4. I added two tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary to the flour.

5. I threw a handful of water into the bottom of the oven before I baked each of the pitas to create steam. Steam helps the pita to puff.

6. I placed an inverted cookie sheet in the oven while pre-heating the oven so the pita would immediately be introduced to heat, giving it a better opportunity to rise.

The 'Lost' Sunday & "Perky" Cinnamon Rolls

This Sunday brought a close to the series 'Lost'. Not just a show, but an institution I've invested several years dedicated to watching: Wondering what the black smoke meant, If the castaways would get off the island, Are they even on an island, Will Kate end up with Jack or Sawyer. So many questions! After watching the finale, I now feel I have some of the answers. At the very least, I was left with enough suppositions to form some conclusions of my own.

If you were a fan, maybe you'll recall the first season, when Sawyer was reading the Richard Adams book 'Watership Down'? I had read the book about a year earlier and being so presently familiar with it, believed that all the answers for what was to come would be in that book. Turns out, as the show unfolded, that clue would become more and more meaningful.

My Take: Ultimately I think the show explored the potential good and evil that exists within all of us. I believe it served as a didactic, and sort of litmus test, albeit on a grander scale, for who in us would show up when faced with decisions that, though serve for the better of everyone: humanity, including ourselves, asks us to make sacrifices to our individual sense of comfort and what we think we believe. And how achieving more of one state than the other, conscious acts of good over evil, transcends even our sacrifices and determines the place we'll call home, and moreover, what "home" is for each of us. For Jack, that was being surrounded by the people he loves. Earth, Heaven, some alternate sideways world, the location of which notwithstanding.

In the end, my heart was broken when Jack and Kate exchanged "I love you's" and kissed, knowing they may not see each other again. This made the reunion of Sawyer and Juliet bittersweet, but it all worked out. Hugo, a character I hitherto didn't like, emerged as a hero. Ben learned he did matter. I cried two and 1/2 times, one of which was really ugly. And they all made it "home."

"So much good, so much evil. Just add water."
— Markus Zusak 'The Book Thief'

For me, home is everything in my life that represents healing: books, exercise, my fiancé, cooking, fresh air, and on ad infinitum.

What is home for you?


Cappuccino Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
3/4 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
1/2 cup homemade buttermilk (Add 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar to 1/2 cup whole milk, stir. Wait 10 minutes or until curdled and stir again before using)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons instant coffee granules (optional)
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

*Icing/Frosting recipes' follow directions.


Directions:

To large bowl, add water, sprinkle yeast over-top and allow to dissolve. Next add warmed milk, buttermilk, sugar, butter and 4 cups flour. With a mixer on medium speed, or using a fork, beat or stir until smooth. You may not need all of the remaining flour, but using some, stir in a little at a time, enough to form a soft dough. You want the end result to be a little sticky.

Turn dough out of bowl onto a floured surface; Knead for about 6-8 minutes, or until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Wash, dry completely and grease the large bowl. Return kneaded dough to large greased bowl and turn once. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place until dough has doubled in size, approximately an hour.

After an hour, punch down risen dough and turn out onto a large floured surface (you'll need the room). Trying to get as close as you can to 18-in. x 12-in., roll out dough into rectangular shape. Using brush, completely cover dough in layer of butter. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, coffee granules and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough leaving 1/2 in. of the edges clear of the sugar mixture.

Select one of the 18 in. long sides and roll seam over, continue to roll dough in same direction until complete (think jelly-roll style), pinch seam to seal. Recipe yields about 12 cinnamon rolls; cut into 12 slices.
Grease 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan; place rolls, cut side facing down, in pan. Cover with plastic and allow to rise a 2nd time until doubled in size, 30 minutes approximately.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake rolls for 22-28 minutes or until lightly brown in color. Sit pan on wire rack and allow to cool some. Spread icing over rolls while still warm. Serve immediately and Enjoy.

This is just a matter of taste, but I thought I would give cream cheese icing a try since I've always had traditional powdered sugar glaze. I prefer the latter, but just in case you like cream cheese icing on yours, I'll give you the recipe for both, tradition sugar and cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, confectioners' sugar and milk. Beat until creamy.

Traditional Confectioners' Sugar Icing

Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk or cream (2 to 4 tablespoons), more if needed

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and, with hand mixer on medium, mix until creamy.

This is what your dough should look like before kneading.













After the dough has been kneaded.














After the dough has been allowed to rise.














After the dough has been rolled out, sprinkle with sugar mixture and begin rolling one of the long sides into jelly-roll.

















Cut your rolls into 12 slices and place, cut side down, in greased pan.













Voila! Eat while still warm.

The Red Sox & Big, Chewy, Soft Pretzels

It's that time of the year again! The buds are blooming. Windows that have spent an entire season closed to keep out the siege of winter frost are now opening to let in the much welcomed perennial return of beaming sun and warm air. And let us not forget... BASEBALL! Nothing says 'spring' in Boston like our beloved Red Sox back on the field, for better or worse.

I LOVE big, chewy, soft pretzels. When I was a little girl, my grandmother would bring me to Fenway Park a few times a year and I would always get a pretzel to eat while I watched the game.

Once you get the hang of it, they're super easy to make and really delicious. The fact is, game day or not, Pretzels are a good anytime food, especially if you're having friends over. But after one bite, you just might want to keep them all for yourself.

P.S. The picture above is my Dylan >^..^<~

Soft Pretzels

Recipe courtesy and adapted slightly from Alton Brown, Food Network
He knows his stuff!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
2 tablespoon dark brown or white sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water (I used butter instead)
Pretzel salt



Directions

In large bowl, or bowl of standing mixer, combine the water and sugar. Stir and then sprinkle yeast on top. Allow yeast to sit on top of wet ingredients for five minutes, until it begins to foam. In large separate bowl, mix flour and salt. Once the mixture has foamed, add flour and butter to yeast-water mixture and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Turn the speed up to medium and allow dough to knead until it appears smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, about 4-5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and set on clean surface. Clean and dry bowl completely, cover inside of bowl with canola or vegetable oil. Return dough to oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave bowl to sit in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, this will take about an hour.

*Note: If not using stand mixer, combine ingredients completely using wooden spoon or hands. Remove dough from bowl and place on clean surface, knead dough with hands until dough is incorporated, smooth and soft to the touch, about 4-6 minutes. Return dough to oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size in warm place.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper, brush paper lightly with canola or vegetable oil. Set pan aside.

In large pan, such as a dutch oven, bring 10 cups of water and baking soda to rapid boil.

While you're waiting for the water to boil, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a large U-shape with the rope. Holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U, forming the shape of the pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet pan.

Once all your pretzels are ready, place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds each. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Place boiled pretzels on cookie sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture or butter and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Once done, transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.




After the yeast has foamed (five minutes).














After the dough has been mixed and kneaded.














After the dough has risen (one hour).














After the dough has been cut into eight pieces, begin rolling out the ropes.














Forming ropes into the Pretzel shape.














They're ready for the bath.

























After the Pretzels have been bathed, basted with butter and salted.














The final product. Enjoy!