French Bread

Finally a bread success! My husband really enjoyed this bread and even commented that we need to have it often. Next time, I think I will even try baking it in a bread pan so that there is a better crust to inside ratio. The recipe below makes two loaves. I halved it and made one loaf since it was just the two of us eating. We barely even ate half of the loaf with supper.

French Bread
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Ingredients:
5 1/2 to 6c all purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1c warm water
cornmeal
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1tbs water

Directions:I am large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer) stir together 2c flour, the yeast, and salt. Add the warm water. Beat on low to medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the flour mixture as you can.

Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes... I did this with my dough hook). Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat. Cover and let stand in a warm place until double in size.

Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half and cover to let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Roll each portion into a 15x10in rectangle. Roll up, seal well, and pinch ends. Place seam side down on baking sheet.

In a small bowl mix together egg white and water. Brush some on top of loaves. Retain the remaining mixture. Let loaves rise until nearly double in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Using a sharp knife, make 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4in deep across the top of each loaf. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Continue baking 15 to 20 minutes until bread sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove bread from baking sheet to wire rack.

Blueberry Banana Oat Bread

I made this bread for my friend's visit this weekend. We polished it off in two days it was so good. I thought it tasted just like a good blueberry muffin with a hint of banana taste. This recipe is definitely a keeper since it was very easy to throw together.

Blueberry Banana Oat Bread
Source: Betty Crocker
Ingredients:
2 3/4c Bisquick mix
2/3c sugar
1/3c quick-cooking oats (I used old fashioned because it was all I had and they worked great)
1c mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium) (I never mash them before adding, I just do it while mixing)
1/4c milk
2 eggs
1c fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries

Directions:
Heat oven to 375. Grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir Bisquick mix, sugar, oats, bananas, milk and eggs until moistened; beat vigorously 30 seconds. Gently stir in blueberries. Pour into pan.

Bake 45 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen loaf from sides of pan; remove from pan and place top side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.

Sweet Dinner "Rolls"

While these didn't look very good, they tasted great! I made the mistake of putting them in a pan that way WAY too small for them. Next time I will use a bigger pan and I imagine they will look more like a normal dinner roll. I got this recipe from Carrie's blog.

Sweet Dinner Rolls

Source: Carrie's Sweet Life originally from Amber's Delectable Delights

Ingredients:

1/2 c water
1/2 c warm milk
1 egg
1/3 c butter, softened
1/3 c white sugar
1 tsp salt
3 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1/4 c butter, softened (for topping rolls)

Directions:

Place water and milk in microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute or until liquids reach (110 degrees F/45 degrees C). Pour liquids into mixer bowl; add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add in yeast and let set for 10-20 minutes to proof (the mixture will be foamy).

Attach the bowl to the mixer and mix on low speed adding the salt, 1/3 cup butter and egg. Once well mixed add in the flour 1/4 cup at a time. Remove the paddle attachment and attach the dough hook. With the mixer; knead the dough for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into desired shape. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for an hour. (You can place a bowl of very hot tap water in the bottom of your stove and place the rolls on the rack above it). Gently brush the tops of the rolls with half of the remaining softened butter.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and bake the rolls for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Upon removing the rolls from the oven brush them with remaining softened butter once again.

Cheddar Biscuits

These biscuits are a copycat of the fabulous ones from Red Lobster. Matt and I really enjoyed these. They were also super east so I will be making them often.

Yields 8 biscuits

Ingredients:

2 c. biscuit baking mix (I used Bisquick)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 c. milk

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbs. margarine, melted

2 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 400*. Grease a cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, combine baking mix, cheese, and garlic powder. Stir in milk. Drop batter by heaping tablespoon fulls onto prepared cookie sheet.

Bake in heated oven for 10 minutes. Brush biscuits with melted margarine, and sprinkle with parsley and garlic salt. Bake for 5 more minutes, on until lightly browned on the bottom.

Source: allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Chocolate Quick Bread

YUM is all I have to say! I love this. I enjoyed a big chunk for breakfast this morning. When I was baking it last night, our apartment smelled SOOOO good. Go make it now for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 can 100% pure pumpkin

1/2 cup canola oil

4 large egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Coat two loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. (do this, trust me :])

Melt morsels in medium, microwave-safe bowl on high power for 1 minute. Stir. If not melted continue, microwaving at 10 to 15 second intervals. Stirring just until melted.

Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder in large bowl. Stir well.

Whisk together sugar, pumpkin, oil, and egg whites in large bowl. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Add 1 1/2 cups pumpkin mixture to melted chocolate, stir to combine. Spoon half of pumpkin mixture into bottom of each prepared pan. Spoon pumpkin-chocolate mixture between pans. Top with remaining pumpkin mixture. Smooth down top.

Bake for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in bread comes out clean. (my oven took only 50 minutes so check early!) Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Source: Very Best Baking

Traditional White Bread

Yum! This is a great sandwich bread and was very simple to make since I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix and knead the dough.

Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients:
2 (.25ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 tbs. white sugar
2 1/2 cups warm water
3 tbs. lard, softened (I used shortening)
1 tbs. salt
6 1/2 cups bread flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Stir in lard, salt, and two cups flour. Stir in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Whent he dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and eleastic, about 8 mintues.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. (I set my oven to warm, turned it off and placed the dough in the oven).

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves wiht a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Cool in pan.

Recipe: Banana Bread

We had two very ripe bananas sitting around. They were much too ripe for me to eat so I decided to make some banana bread. Problem. We don't have eggs and I really don't want to run to the store so I search allrecipes.com for a banana bread recipe sans eggs. I found a good one.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 - 3/4 cups milk
2 or 3 ripe bananas (more bananas equals more banana flavor)

Preheat oven to 325*
Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan
In an large bowl, cream and butter and sugar
Mix in milk
Sift in flour, baking soda, and salt
Blend in the bananas until smooth
Pour batter into prepared pan
Bake for 60 minutes or until knife inserted into center of loaf comes out clean
Cool in pan for 10 minutes then on wire rack until cooled