Caraway-Rye Bread

I just bought the Better Homes and Garden cookbook and this was the first recipe I decided to try. It came out so good. I think this may be my best loaf yet. I think I may have finally found a perfect sandwich bread. The texture was perfect and the crust was just right, not too hard. I added 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten.

Ingredients:

4 - 4 1/2 cups bread flour

1 package active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (120-130 degrees)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups rye flour

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Cornmeal

2 teaspoons milk

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 3/4 cup of the bread flour and yeast. Add the warm water, brown sugar, oil and salt. Mix well. Stir in the rye flour, caraway seeds and as much bread flour as you can.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining bread flour until the dough is smooth and elastic. About 6-8 minutes) Place dough in a lightly greased bowl. Turn once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough has doubled in size (about one hour.)

Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Shape each dough half into an slightly flattened 8 inch log and place on baking sheets. Score the tops of each load with a sharp knife. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until nearly doubled (about 30 -45 minutes.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush each loaf with the milk. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the bread sounds hollow with tapped. Cool completely on wire racks.

Honey Wheat Bread

I slightly modified the recipe on the back of the package of King Arthur whole wheat flour. I substituted 1 ½ cups of bread flour for whole wheat. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. This is the first time I actually kneaded the bread by hand. It was actually a lot of fun! I normally use my Kitchen Aid mixer, but I think I might start kneading by hand more often. This bread was good, but a bit too dense for sandwiches. It was great toasted with some jam. I will have to keep looking for a sandwich bread.

Ingredients:

2 ½ tsp. active dry yeast
1 ⅓ cup of water (105° - 115° F)
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cup bread flour
¼ cup nonfat dried milk
1 ¼ teaspoons salt

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in two teaspoons of the warmed water. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and supple. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise till dough is puffy (it does not need to double in size) about 60 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into an 8 inch log. Place the log into a slightly greased 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch load pan. Allow the bread to rise for an additional 30-60 minutes or until it has risen about one inch above the loaf pan.

Bake the bread in a oven preheated to 350° for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with foil after 20 minutes. The loaf is ready when it sounds hollow when you tap it. You can also test in internal temperature. It is done when the thermometer reads 190°. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com. This bread was amazing!!! I subsituted 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour with wheat flour and used white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. I also didn't have nutmeg so I used all-spice instead. My house smelled so amazing while they were baking. I made two 8x4 1/2 loaves and 24 mini muffins. This recipe is a definate keeper!!!

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Slow-Cooked Chili

I don't have a picture for this. I have been craving chili for a while now and finally made some. The house smelled so good all day and I couldn't wait for dinner! It tasted great and was so easy to make!

Ingredients:

20 oz ground turkey
1 15.5 oz can kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz jar tomato sauce
1 onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon oregano

Directions:

In a skillet, cook the ground turkey till it is no longer pink and drain. Add turkey and all other ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread

I was looking for a cinnamon-rasin bread to make and came across this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website. I didn't have bread flour so I used all purpose flour and it came out just fine. I also used 8x4 1/2 inch loaf pans to get a higher loaf. I just started making bread last weekend so I was very excited that these turned out so good! I ended up with two beautiful loafs. I did make one mistake though. I couldn't wait to see what they looked like inside so I cut one loaf 5 minutes out of the oven and the brown sugar started to leak out!! I guess that is why the recipes says to cool completely. Next time I will try to roll the dough out into a longer rectangle so I get more swirls.

** Update! I made this again using bread flour. I added 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon into the dough before kneading. I rolled it into a longer rectangle and got lots of swirls. These loafs were even better than the first! I think the bread dough made a huge difference. It was much more soft. Also the cinnamon in the dough was great! I love this recipe!!

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

3 Tbs. granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F)

1 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)

3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

1 Tbs. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

6 to 6 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed

3/4 cup golden raisins

3/4 cup dark raisins

For the filling:

2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely. Makes two 9-by-5-inch loaves.

Light Oat Bread

I got this recipe off Allrecipes.com. This bread was so good! Its very light and great for sandwiches. I typically don't like bread with oats in it, but you can't even tell they are there. It tastes great toasted. I used olive oil instead of margarine. I used the dough cycle on my bread machine then shaped the dough and put it in a loaf pan. I let it rise for about 40 mins then baked at 350 for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons margarine

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients to bread machine pan in order recommended by your manufacturer. Use regular light setting.