Banana-Coconut Oat Bread

Whenever I look back at my first few months blogging my jaw drops at the poor quality of my pictures and horribly written recipes. It's amazing to me that people actually read the stuff or even started following me for that matter.

I never would have thought that I'd get as far as I have or establish a relationship with my readers that keeps them coming back for more.

And it always puts a huge smile on my face when I hear from old friends or even old acquaintances that they read my blog.. "you know, I have to admit, I totally read your blog," like it's a little secret they're scared to admit, but they're sharing it with me. I absolutely love it and that's why I keep doing what I do.

I also never would have imagined that companies would contact me to do reviews for them.. one of the coolest perks of blogging. It's not like people are knocking down my door to give me their product, but I get something every once and a while and it puts that same smile on my face. Now don't get me wrong, I'd love to get to the point where people are asking me to give away mixers or review things every week, but at this point I'm perfectly content with that unexpected email waiting in my inbox followed by that product filled package waiting on my doorstep.

This bread is a product of one of those products. The wonderful folks at Kelapo contacted me a few weeks back and asked if I'd be interested in trying out some coconut oil. I have to admit, I'm not a huge coconut fan, but Mountain Man sure is so I thought what the heck.. why not!

Truth be told, I actually really enjoyed this bread. I substituted the coconut oil in place of the normal stick of butter I add to my bread and it really did something to the flavor, not to mention added a few health benefits.

For more coconut oil recipes and to learn a little more about the benefits of using coconut oil check out their website: We're Coconuts.

Banana-Coconut Oat Bread
Oven: 350 Bake time: 45 minutes
1 large loaf or 3 mini loaves

1 cup AP flour
1 cup quick oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Kelapo coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 bananas, smashed
1/2 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, whisk flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a smaller bowl, mix brown sugar and coconut oil until well combined.
Add egg and smashed bananas, mixing until smooth-ish (it's always nice to have a few chunks).
Add wet to dry ingredients and mix.
Stir in buttermilk and mix until combined.
Pour into prepared baking pans.
Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool on cooling rack before serving.

Our house is all packed up... nothing left but me, my kitchen aid and a crate full of cake tools. That's right, even in my last week I'll be making a wedding cake for a friend. Once Mountain Man leaves I'll be heading over to some friends to stay out my last week of work and then its road trip time. A little 24-hour QT with the first man in my life, my dad.

These next few weeks may be a little rough for the blog, I'll try to get to things when I can, but I can't make any promises! I'll be back soon though so stick with me!!

Happy Baking!

Garlic & Herb Knots

It's not very often that I feature something savory on here..

But what better to break that streak with some garlicky herb knots perfect for a summer pasta?

I have to be honest, Mountain Man does a majority of the cooking in our household mostly because he is a phenomenal cook.

Watching him in the kitchen is like watching an athlete in the zone.. he just gets in there and goes at it. You never know what he's going to come up with and sometimes he doesn't either. That's why he does the cooking and I do the baking.

He doesn't do recipes..no measuring cups...it's all by feel he says- everything is a new creation, a new set of flavors, going where the ingredients take him.

Baking is a whole different story: you need consistency, exact measurements, the perfect weights, precise cooking times.. it's all a science and I love that. I can make a cake over and over again and know its going to be wonderful every time; not to mention I can share my recipes with people and know they'll work.

When it is my turn to cook dinner I tend to stick with the same kind of dishes- pastas are my forte.

So after deciding to whip up some spaghetti with a fresh garden tomato sauce I thought what better to go with it than some garlic bread..

But not just any garlic bread, garlic & herb knots.


Garlic & Herb Knots
Bake time: 15-20 minute Oven: 400
Makes 16 rolls

1 cup milk
3 TBS butter
2 3/4- 3 1/2 cup AP flour (or whole wheat - I did half and half)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 package active dry yeast
1 egg
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS fresh basil, chopped (or dried)
1/2 TBS fresh oregano, chopped (or dried)

In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter until very warm (about 120 degrees).
Pour warm milk into a large bowl and add 2 TBS of sugar and yeast. Allow yeast to activate (about 5 min) or until milk starts to get foamy.
Add 1 cup flour, 2 TBS sugar, salt, garlic salt and egg and mix at low speed until moistened.
Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
Stir in remaining flour, using just enough to form a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and continue to knead dough until smooth and elastic.
Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap and let rise in a warm place (I turn my oven on, once it gets to 100 degrees I turn it off and then place my dough in the warm oven).
Let dough rise for about 45-60 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Punch dough down and on a well floured surface, toss dough until it is no longer sticky.

Now its time to make the knots.
Preheat oven to 400 and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix oil, garlic, basil and oregano and set aside.
Divid dough into 16 equal parts.
Shape each piece into a long strip by rolling in between hands.

Tie in loose knots, being careful not to stretch the dough too much and place on cookie sheet.

Using a pastry brush, lightly coat each knot with garlic and herb mixture.

Cover lightly with saran wrap and return to warm place, allowing to rise again for about 30 minutes.
Place in oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until knots are golden brown.
Serve with your favorite pasta dish.

Happy Baking!!

Slattery Strawberry Bread

I know what you're thinking...I only posted once last week, but trust me, I had a very good reason for my absence...

I went home last week for 5 days of wedding/bridal/bachelorette festivities complete with menu tasting, invitation finalization, decoration planning and a wonderful "showerette"(a bridal shower followed by a bachelorette party coined by Fefe) that my amazing bridesmaids put together.

I'm lucky enough to still be ridiculously close with both my high school girlfriends and sorority sisters so orchestrating 14 girls was no easy task.

I not only received some fantastic gifts (plenty to be used to bring you all sweets!), but had a blast with all my girlfriends later that night too. I still can't believe I'm getting married in less than 100 days!

In honor of my beautiful best friend and MOH I wanted to showcase her mother's famous Strawberry Bread- this stuff is absolutely delicious and flies off the plate as soon as its served.

Strawberry Bread

2 10oz packages of frozen (or fresh) strawberries, defrosted 

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 cups AP flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease loaf pan.

In a small bowl, combine strawberries, eggs and oil until blended.

In another bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. 

Add strawberries mixture to flour mixture and stir until blended.

Transfer batter to loaf pan and bake for about an hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing and cooling completely.

 

Happy Baking!

Hot & Buttery Popcorn Bread

For a weekend that began so well, the ending turned out very different.

When Friday arrived we eagerly got our things ready before making the trip to Atlanta for one of MM's rugby buddies wedding and the rest of the weekend was spent catching up, laughing and dancing the night away with good friends in celebration of a wonderful occasion and a beautiful wedding.

As the night rounded to a close, MM and I ducked out knowing that we had a flight much earlier than everyone else the next morning. We groggily packed our bags and slouched our way through the airport early that Sunday morning, all the while discussing everything that needed to get done later that day.

We boarded the plane, got comfortable and plugged in our ipods for what we thought would be the duration of the flight only to be interrupted about an hour in.. "We're sorry folks, but it looks like we're going to have to turn around..pressure issue."

I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say this was just the beginning.

3 planes, 3 mechanical issues, 2 terminals, 4 gates and 8 hours later, we were told there was no hope and new arrangements were being made.. oh, and the next flight out wasn't until 8pm the Monday.

Now I know what you're thinking... this should be the point in the story where I tell you how frustrated we got, yelled at the ladies behind the desk and got put on an earlier flight... but sadly that's not how it happened.

Don't get me wrong, we were extremely frustrated, but instead of raising a fuss like some of the other passengers did, we quietly gathered our things and very calmly discussed our situation with the lady behind the desk- She even offered to write me an excuse for having to miss work.

So instead of getting upset about everything we decided to make the most out of it. We collected our vouchers, checked into our hotel, snuggled up in bed and slept in the next morning.

And with 8 hours left in the city what better to do than check out the amazing Georgia Aquarium?

Although our trip didn't turn out exactly how we planned we ended up getting to spend a little extra quality time together and there's nothing wrong with that. Not to mention, we got to see the largest whale sharks in captivity.

So what does all this have to do with Popcorn Bread you ask? To be honest, nothing. Except now you know why this amazing recipe didn't get to you sooner :) I've been having to play catch up every since I got back and haven't had the time until now to catch my breath and write up this glorious bread recipe.

A little disclaimer: My work with yeast is an on-going adventure and this little guy didn't rise as much as I hoped.. hopefully when you give it a whirl it will rise as much as the picture in the cookbook showed!

Hot & Buttery Popcorn Bread
recipe from A Passion for Baking
Oven: 375 Prep time: 3 hours Bake time: 35-45 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf

5 cups of popcorn (about 1/3 cup unpopped kernels or about 1 bag of microwavable)
1 1/4 cup cup warm water (about 110degrees)
3 3/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast
2 TBS sugar
1/4 cup veggie oil
1 TBS butter extract (optional)
2 1/4 tsp salt
5-6 cups bread flour
Topping
1 large egg
2-4 TBS butter
pinch of sugar and salt

Pop you corn, whatever your fancy. Pulverize it in batches in a food processor or mini chopper until you have about 2 1/2 cups of very finely ground popcorn.
In a large bowl, whisk warm water and yeast together and let stand for about 2 or 3 minutes or until you start to see bubbles.
Briskly add sugar, oil, butter extract and salt, blending well.
Add popcorn flour and 3 cups of bread flour, mixing well.
Knead the dough with a dough hook attachment for about 6 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary to form a soft, elastic dough. (You could also do this by hand if you want)
Form dough into a large ball, spray with cooking spray, place in a large clean bowl and cover with saran wrap.
Place dough in a warm spot and allow to rise about 60 to 90 minutes or until almost doubled.
Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Once the dough has risen, turn out on a lightly floured surface and gently deflate.
Form into loaf and place into prepared loaf pan.
Whisk egg and pinch of salt and sugar in a small bowl.
Brush loaf with egg wash and loosely cover pan with saran wrap.
Return loaf to warm place and allow to rise again for about 45-60 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375 and brush you risen dough once more with the egg wash.
Place bread in oven and immediately reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 (this will allow the yeast to get that extra kick and give you a nice fluffy loaf I was later told by MM)
As soon as the bread comes out brush with melted butter.
Allow bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Happy Baking!

Christmas Stollen

When I told my Oma (Swiss grandmother) that I was going to be making Stollen this year she was so excited.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie's Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make Stollen. She adapted a friend's family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart's book and Martha Stewart's demonstration.

There are a few traditionally Swiss treats that my Oma makes every year during the holidays. If you're wondering what Swiss treats may be, think German but with a few twists; Swiss sweets are much like German sweets just don't say that in front of my Oma or any Swiss for that matter!

A few years ago, when the baking bug was just a mere sniffle, I asked my Oma for a couple of her Christmas recipes. She agreed to give me the recipes of course, but with a catch: I had to bake them with her first so I could see exactly how they were done.

So one chilly winter day in Northern Virginia, we spent a long afternoon making Viennese Crescents and Zopf (a post to come soon I hope). I think this might have been the afternoon that my love of baking started to grow into what it is today.

Now that I have a blog and have shared my love of everything baked to include the dream of opening a bakery one day, Oma is one of my biggest supporters. While home last weekend I overheard her tell my cousin (the gorgeous one below) that one day I would own a bakery with the biggest smile on her face.

So back to the Stollen.

I was lucky enough to get some of Oma's bread while I was home, even though she was hesitant to give me a loaf after I told her I was going to attempt my own. I assured her it would get eaten and also wanted to use it in comparison to my own.

For this bread I used the recipe Penny gave us, but I would eventually like to get Oma's recipe as well.

I can definitely see this bread becoming a Christmas tradition in our house now too.

Stollen Wreath
Making Dough: 1hour
Rise/rest: overnight
Shaping: 15 minutes
Proofing: 2 hours
Bake time: 30-45 minutes Oven: 350

1/4 cup warm water (115 degrees)
2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup milk
10 TBS butter
5 1/2 cups, AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten lightly
grated zest, 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon or orange extract
3/4 cup mixed peel* make your own
1 cup golden raisins
2 TBS rum
2 TBS orange juice
1 cup flaked almonds
powdered sugar for coating
melted butter for coating

Making the Dough
Soak raisins in 2 TBS rum and 2 TBS orange juice- set aside.
Pour warm water into small bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Mix lightly to break up yeast and let sit for 5 minutes or until mixture starts to foam. (If it doesn't foam discard and start over)
In a small saucepan, combine milk and butter over medium heat until butter has melted. Let stand until lukewarm- about 5 minutes.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add extracts.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and zests.
With a paddle attachment (or stirring by hand), add yeast/water mixture, eggs and lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. Your dough should be soft, but not too sticky. Once the dough starts to come together, cover the bowl and let rest for about 10 minutes.

Chop mixed candied peel into small pieces.
Drain raisins.
Add mixed peel, raisins and almonds. Mix with hands to incorporate.

Sprinkle flour on counter, transfer dough to counter and begin to knead dough (or use your dough hook to mix and distribute fruit evenly* I found the dough to be too heavy for the machine and it started making funny noises so I opted to do it the traditional way by hand), adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky.
You will know when the dough is done when a few of the raisins or peel start to fall off the dough and onto the counter- at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is sticky and the raisins are held in place, but once the dough becomes tacky the raisins will no long have anything to hold on to.
Knead for about 8 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to a bowl, rolling around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight (or up to 3 days). The dough will become very firm, but it will definitely still rise in the fridge.

Shaping the Dough
Take the dough out of the fridge and let rest for 2 hours in order to warm slightly.
Line a sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Transfer dough to kitchen surface and punch dough down.
Roll unto a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches and 1/4 inch thick.
Starting with the longer side, roll dough tightly forming a long thing cylinder.
Transfer cylinder to prepared sheet pan. Join ends together, trying to over laps layers to make seam strong and then pinch your fingers to make stick, forming a large circle* Use a small bowl and form wreath around it to keep its shape
Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, about 2 inches apart, cutting 2/3 the way through the dough.
Mist dough lightly with cooking spray and loosely cover with saran wrap.

Proofing/Baking Wreath
Proof your wreath for about 2 hours or until its about 1 1/2 times its original size.
*I placed my wreath in the oven so it was off the counter and in a warmer place.
Remove wreath after 2 hours and preheat oven to 350.
Bake stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue to bake another 20 to 30 minutes.
The bread will bake to a dark color and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Transfer to cooling rack and brush top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for a minute and tap another layer over the first.
The bread should be coated generously with powdered sugar.
Repeat this 1 or 2 more times.
Let bread cool at least an hour before serving.

Storage
Stollen freezes beautifully for about 4 months.
The baked stollen stores well for 2 weeks covered in foil and plastic wrap or about 1 month in the fridge.

*Stollen toasts wonderfully and tastes great with a little butter and some jam!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Happy Baking!

Anadama Bread and My First Give-Away!!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the kind folks at Tate's Bake Shop.

Not only was I lucky enough to receive a gift box containing their famous Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but I also got a copy of Kathleen King's new Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook.

While Mountain Man and I feasted on these deliciously crisp and buttery cookies, I got to looking through the cookbook for something fabulous to try. You know it's going to be a good book when Ina Garten is writing the foreword!


Although there are many recipes to get through, I couldn't help but stop at a recipe for Anadama Bread-  I was completely intrigued by the name!

After a quick read up on wikipedia, I learned that the bread got its name from an angry fisherman who was mad at his wife, Anna. She was a lazy wife and served him only cornmeal and molasses for dinner, until one day while she was out, the fisherman decided to add flour and yeast to the porridge and bake it, all the while cursing, "Anna, damn her!" The resultant bread turned out to be delicious and all the neighbors began baking it as well, coining it Anadama.


I don't totally buy the story... mostly because wives are never lazy and maybe the fisherman should have been a better at his job and brought home some fish for dinner if he was going to complain!


Story or not, the bread is quite delicious.

Anadama Bread

from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook

Rise time: 2 hours total

Bake time: 50 minutes

Oven: 350

Yields 2 loaves

2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup corn meal

1/2 cup molasses

2 TBS salted butter

1 TBS salt

1/2 cup warm water, about 110-115 degrees

Two 1/4 oz. packets of active yeast (or 1/2 oz. yeast)

7-8 cups of flour (I ended up using just about 7)

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to boil. Transfer to large mixing bowl and add corn meal.

Add molasses, butter and salt. Mix until blended. Allow to cool slightly.

While mixture is cooling, bring 1/2 cup water to 110-115 degrees. Sprinkle yeast over top and lightly whisk to break up yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes or until mixture starts to bubble.

If the yeast mixture doesn't bubble, discard and try again- if your yeast doesn't bubble your bread won't rise.

Add yeast mixture to molasses mixture and stir until combined.

Slowly add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix until stiff dough is reached.

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and continue to knead with hands until dough becomes smooth and elastic.*

Transfer dough to lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with saran wrap and store in a warm place until dough has doubled in size.*

Once dough has doubled in size, lightly beat down and cut in half.

Shape each piece into a loaf, transfer to pans, cover with saran wrap and return to warm place to double in size again.

Once risen, preheat oven to 350 and bake loaves for 40-50 minutes.

*Some Mountain Man dough tips:

When kneading dough- fold and press firmly with hand over and over until smooth, elastic consistency is reached.

When dough is rising- Turn oven on briefly, when temp is about 100 degrees turn oven off and place dough inside closed oven to rise OR place in a warm room, like the garage in direct sunlight if possible OR place inside your car if it's in the sunlight!

According to Kathleen, "All the recipes in the book should take less time to make than it would to go to a store to buy a commercially prepared baked good."  

Maybe this bread took a little longer to bake then it would have for me to run out to the store, but where's the accomplishment in that?! For those of you that have been following my adventures, you know that yeast is something I'm still a little new too.. but even for a yeast amateur, this bread was simple and worth the wait.


But here's the best part... One of YOU can win all these goodies too! Just think about it... three boxes of delicious cookies that you can add to your Christmas cookie selection and a cookbook full of even more cookies you can bake as you please...

All you have to do is leave a comment (or two or three)!

One winner (U.S. only please) will receive a gift box that includes Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, along with Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook.


To enter:

- Leave a comment telling me about your favorite holiday treat


For extra entries: (leave a separate comment for each entry)


- Become a fan of  Tate's Bake Shop on Facebook
- Become a follower of swEEts by e (if you're not already)
- Tweet about the giveaway


The give-away ends this Friday, December 10th so enter now :)


Oh and if you don't win? That's okay, because they're still offering a 15% discount for anything you by online at Tate's Bake Shop. Just use the code "cookies" and just make your purchases before December 31st.

One more plug and then I'm done I promise!

I recently stumbled upon this awesome website, Namely Marly, and participated in Marly's name project. Whereas my passion lies in baking, Marly's passion lies in names.. (but she has some delicious looking recipes to share as well!) Her website is full of all sorts of goodies and name interviews so I highly recommend you go check her out.. oh and there's a little story all about me and my name over there too :) 

Don't forget, the give-away ends Friday!!

 

Happy Baking!!

Quick&Easy Cinnamon Bread

While Mountain Man was busy whipping up scrambled eggs, bacon and fried mashed potato fritters, I quickly threw together a Cinnamon Bread that I found in the Allrecipes Tried and True Favorites: top 300 recipes. It was somewhat on a whim, but proved a nice addition to the hearty breakfast we would be having.

I'll be keeping this post short and sweet because MM and I have a lot to do this afternoon.. We recently found a house to rent (that just happens to be on the lake!) and although we're not moving in until October, we have a lot of furniture shopping to do. Plus it's the weekend so I don't want to hold you up reading a post when you should be enjoying your time off.

Oh and for those of you on Twitter you can now stay up to date with recipes and little tweets by me :) follow me @sweetebakes. Shoot me a hello, give me a shout out, whatever you do...I'd love to hear from you!

And HAPPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! 

Can't wait to see you next weekend :)

Cinnamon Bread
Oven: 350 Bake time: 50 minutes
Yields 1 loaf

2 cups AP flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 oil
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS butter

Preheat oven to 350. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, eggs, buttermilk, extract and oil. Beat/whisk together for about 2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon and cut in butter using knife and fork until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle cinnamon mixture on top of batter. Use a knife and cut in a swirling motion, giving in a marble effect.
Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes- Test with toothpick.
Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing loaf from pan.

Have a great weekend

and

Happy Baking!!

Marble Rye Bread and The Lunch Box Project

Before I get started I wanted/need to share something I think is super cool...A few days ago I became Foodbuzz friends with Lisa Orgler.. Lisa is the designer and illustrator of The Lunch Box Project, an awesome site that started as a means to document her goal to paint an image of food every day for one year (she calls it snacking on food art- love it). She began painting her images on playing cards and coasters and after reaching her goal of a year she decided to continue her journey with different monthly themes. This month, she scoured the foodie blog world for inspiration from peer blogs and one of my posts was lucky enough to get chosen!

How cute!?

All of her paintings are up for grabs on her etsy site too! For a very reasonable price you can browse through her food art and find a print perfect for that little spot right above the kitchen sink. I'm not only going to purchase the art inspired by my food, but I have my eye on a few other paintings as well that are going to make their way into my kitchen! 

So what are you waiting for?? go check out Lisa at The Lunch Box Project! but first.. check out this Marble Rye Bread :)

For a few months now Mountain Man has been on a mission to make the perfect Marble Rye Bread (the first one he made was as hard as a rock). When one of our friends here, who is originally from Connecticut, told us that she can't find the bread anywhere in Central Texas, MM made it his personal mission to recreate her favorite bread.

Mountain Man's bread is usually pretty tasty, but this one (at least in my book) is the best one he's done yet.    I hope that when MM finds a full time job I won't have to stop coming home to fresh baked goodness.

For this edition of 'In the Kitchen with Mountain Man'...

Marble Rye Bread
Yields 2 loaves

Light Rye:
1 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1 TBS honey
2 TBS molasses
2 tsp yeast
3 TBS shortening
1 tsp salt
1 cup Rye flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup oat flour
3 cups bread flour

Grease a large bowl with butter or crisco and set aside.

Mix water, yeast and sugars together and let stand for 8 minutes. 

Drop in shortening, salt, rye, oat, flax seed meal and stir with a wooden spoon.

Begin adding bread flour one cup at a time until dough begins to form into a ball.

Turn out on a floured surface and knead in remaining flour.

Knead for 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Put into greased bowl and let rest of 1 hour.

Dark Rye:
1 1/2 cup warm water
3 TBS honey
2 tsp yeast
3 TBS shortening
1 tsp salt
3 TBS cocoa powder
3 TBS water
1 cup Rye flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup oat flour
3 cups bread flour

Grease a large bowl with butter or crisco and set aside.
Mix water, yeast and sugars together and let stand for 8 minutes.
Drop in shortening, salt, rye, oat, flax seed meal and stir with a wooden spoon.
In a small bowl, mix cocoa powder and water- add to dough mixture and mix until combined.

Begin adding bread flour one cup at a time until dough begins to form into a ball.

Turn out on a floured surface and knead in remaining flour.

Knead for 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Put into greased bowl and let rest of 1 hour.

On a floured surface cut each dough into quarters. Two of each color will be used in each loaf. Roll each quarter out to roughly 9x7  (bigger if you want tighter swirls, smaller if you want thicker swirls but always 9 inches (just roughly over the length of the bread pan).

Begin with the light rye on the bottom and alternated with dark, then light then dark. Roll all layers up together making sure the light rye covers the entire loaf. Pinch the joint together and turn the ends under and drop into greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise until it fills the loaf pan. Repeat with other 4 quarters for second loaf.

Brush with egg wash (1 egg, 1 TBS water) and sprinkle with caraway seeds just before baking in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool briefly before enjoying!

Happy Baking!

Pralinutta Swirl Banana Bread

You're probably wondering what Pralinutta is.. well ladies and gentleman, it is pretty much a cheaper version of Nutella or at least is was at my grocery store. As I browsed the peanut butter isle during my last trip I got a craving for Nutella, but as I went to pick up a jar I noticed the Pralinutta (about $2 cheaper) I felt inclined to give it a try.

In one word? delicious.

Once it made it into the cupboard it was time to brainstorm.. what kind of baked good did this delicious little jar want be a part of? It came to me at the gym (surprisingly that is where I do a lot of my recipe thinking).... banana bread. Especially perfect due to the 3 bananas waiting patiently in my freezer.

Pralinutta Swirl Banana Bread
Oven: 350 Bake Time: 50-60 min
1 loaf

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3)
5 TBS milk (whole or butter)
1/2 cup Pralinutta or Nutella

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in egg, add bananas and mix until incorporated.
Stir flour mixture into wet mixture. Slowly mix in milk.
Place Pralinutta in a small bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds (making it easier to pour).

Pour 1/3 of batter into loaf pan. Drizzle portion of Pralinutta over batter and drag knife through to get the swirl effect. Cover with another layer of batter and Pralinutta and repeat. (You'll do the layering a total of 3 times). Optional: If you have extra bananas laying around place slices on top before going to the oven.

Transfer to oven and bake for 50-60 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes on cooling rack before diggin' in.

Happy Baking!

Healthier Whole Wheat Bread & Honey Apple Butter

I don't think I ask much of Mountain Man.. well, ok.. I don't think ask too much of Mountain Man. But one thing I will ask of him is bread- sandwich bread to be specific.

Bread making scares me. I feel like there is so much involved: the yeast, the rising, the waiting, the kneading, the waiting...I get overwhelmed just thinking about it! I'll make up a mean quick bread any day, but throwing yeast in the mix totally intimidates me. I guess I should try it out some time though...

In the mean time, I think MM does a pretty good job in the bread department and I'm going to let him keep doing a good job. :)

For this edition of "In the Kitchen with Mountain Man" the recipes are completely his, but the narration is completely mine- with a lot of help.

Healthier Whole Wheat Bread
1st rise: 1 hour
2nd rise: 40 minutes
Oven: 425-350
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf

2 cups warm water
3 TBS active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar

1 cup bread flour
1 cup oat flour
1/4 cup quick oats (coarsely ground)
1/4 cup flax seeds
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/8 cup flax seeds

In a large bowl, whisk together water, yeast, honey and sugar. Let proof/stand about 5 minutes. (For those of you as unfamiliar with bread terms as I am, "proofing" basically means letting the yeast become active and the mixture begins to foam)
Mix bread, oat, and 1 cup of whole wheat flour, flax seeds and oats.

Add flour mixture to wet mixture, adding the rest of whole wheat flour, one cup at a time, as you go until dough needs to be turned out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead dough for about 8-10 minutes, dough should be elastic-y.

Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with saran wrap (spray with Pam first).
Let the dough rest for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

Prepare lightly floured surface with a sprinkling of sesame and flax seeds.
After the dough has napped an hour, turn dough back out on lightly floured surface and lightly deflate. Roll the dough in the seeds until covered.
Transfer seed covered dough into loaf pan and cover again with saran wrap, this time letting it rest for about 40 minutes.

While resting, preheat oven to 425.
After the dough is well rested, remove saran wrap and immediately turn oven temperature down to 350.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Transfer loaf to cooling rack until ready to eat.

Honey Apple Butter
1 whole apple
2 cups water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves
1 cup butter, 2 sticks
1/4 cup honey

Quarter apple- removing seeds and stem (but not the core-it will dissolve).
Bring water and vinegar to a boil. Add apple pieces and sprinkle about 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, dash of nutmeg and dash of cloves into pot.
Boil for 20-30 minutes or until apples are extremely soft.

Remove apples and puree in food processor.
In a medium sized bowl, melt butter, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 cup honey in microwave.
Mix in pureed apples.
Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or less depending on taste preferences).
Refrigerate until mixture becomes solid again.

Slather on some Healthier Whole Wheat Bread and you're ready to start your day!

Happy Baking!

Homemade Bagels

So I gave him a few weeks, but now that Mountain Man has gotten settled in he's going to be spending more time in the kitchen... and this is most definitely not a bad thing because he is a phenomenal cook and an awesome baker- especially when it comes to breads. Instead of writing about what I think he was doing in the kitchen this morning I decided to give him the honors and write up his own post :) Let me know how you think he did!

In the Kitchen with Mountain Man: Cinnamon-Raisin and Everything Bagels

Evan decided that she wanted a VERY tasty breakfast so she turned the reigns over to me because bagels were next up on the tick list.  She had been eyeing a bagel recipe found in Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day which had highlighted the Cinnamon-Raisin variety so I decided to tackle the project which started the night before.

The thing about Artisan Breads is that you can take a "master dough" recipe and make a large quantity which you can keep in the refrigerator, and from that master dough many different breads can be made.  So the night before I threw together the master dough which only took about 10 minutes.  

Master Recipe

Recipe found in Mother Earth News Magazine (Dec2009/Jan2010) featuring: Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg

5 1/2 Cups of Whole Wheat flour

2 Cups  AP flour

1 1/2 tbsp Granulated yeast

1 tbsp salt

1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten

4 cups water (100 degrees F)

All the dry ingredients go in together, get a little mix up, then add the water one cup at a time.  Once it is all evenly moist its time to rest....Set the dough aside and let it rest for 2 hours or until it begins to collapse. 

*I left it in the fridge overnight, which made the dough easier to work with in the morning.  The only thing I miss about this recipe is that there is no kneading involved, which is one of my favorite things about baking breads and other yeast based baked goods.

The entire bagel process was suprisingly really easy.  Since the dough was prepared the night before I simply pulled off about a grapefruit sized piece and rolled it out to about 1/4 inch thickness.  All of the sudden I had a flashback to last weekend when I was making cinnamon rolls as I sprinkled some cinnamon, sugar, and raisins onto the dough.  Main difference is that it was a lot less than what goes into cinnamon rolls.  So I sprinkled on the cinnamon, sugar, and raisins and the rolled it back up like a log.  Using my favorite kitchen tool, a dough knife, I cut the log into six equal pieces approximately 3oz each and reshaped it into a ball.  After all of these were cut and shaped they were set aside to rest again for 20 minutes.  While the dough was resting the boiling pot was prepped with: 

8 qts water

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp baking soda

After letting the dough rest it is time to shape the bagels and begin the boiling process.  Once the water has reached a boil, take each ball and poke a  hole into it and stretch it out.  As you stretch it, you have to keep working around the dough similar to stretching pizza dough so that one part is not thinner than another.  When you achieve the shape you want, drop them into the boiling water for two minutes then flip with a slotted spoon for another two minutes.  To avoid sticking to each other, I found it easy to stagger them into two separate boiling pots so that they would begin cooking before the next was put in next to it.  After boiling, I placed them onto a clean dish towel to pat them dry.

While the bagels were boiling, the oven was getting nice and hot with a baking stone already in there as well as a cast iron skillet in the bottom.  With a little corn meal sprinkled on the stone, on the bagels go for the last step of the process.  Right before closing the oven, pour a cup+ of hot water into the cast iron skillet to create some steam and shut the door.  20 Minutes later and a little cooling time, breakfast is ready!

All in all I think he did pretty good :) The bagels were delicious.. we have a few things we're going to try for round 2 -getting close to the perfect bagel, but for a Sunday morning after a great weekend they were pretty darn good.

Breakfast was served- Happy Baking!!