Pinning it down {2)...7up Biscuits

Joining Sarah and friends today for my second edition of Pinning it Down

I think I saw these biscuits on my first day of using Pinterest and I knew they would make it to the table in the near future. It only took a few days. They were the hit of the meal, I must say, and my husband declared them the best biscuits he had ever eaten. I wasn't sure whether to be insulted or flattered, as I have been making biscuits from scratch for 25 years.

This recipe, since is starts with Biscuit, is not what I consider to be scratch, but the end result is pretty dang good. And if you are accustomed to canned biscuits (or no biscuits) you will be delighted with the end result. Yum. They would be a delicious addition to any breakfast or dinner (or a meal in an of themselves for lunch!).You might think that they will be sweet, with the 7up in them, but they were no sweeter than standard baking powder biscuits.

7up Biscuits

 nine biscuits

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2 cups Bisquick*

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup 7up or other lemon lime soda like Sprite or Sierra Mist

1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a square nine-inch pan place 1/4 stick butter. Melt in microwave (or pour melted butter into pan).

In a bowl, combine baking mix, sour cream and soda pop. Stir with a spoon until liquid is incorporated. sprinkle surface with flour or additional baking mix. Pat dough into a 1/2 inch flat. Cut with a biscuit round (I got exactly nine biscuits). Place biscuits in pan in melted butter. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

*or similar baking mix like Jiffy -- which is much less expensive, or even homemade -- fyi, that link is untested by me

 Before baking

 After

Source: Pinterest

 

New favorite five-minute bread

I have blogged before about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I love it, and I resolved to try more recipes this year. So far I have tried three new ones -- just in January! The problem is, I found one I really love and I may never make another.

My new favorite is the Portuguese Corn Bread, called Broa. Mine is a little higher than the one pictured at the Artisan Bread website, but the taste and texture were perfect for me, so I'll not change anything. It was rather crunchy, but still soft on the inside, and made the best toast! Yum!

To make it, follow the same directions for the Master Bread, subbing 1-1/2 cups cornmeal for 1-1/2 cups of flour (as stated at the Artisan bread website). I did not use a cast iron skillet, just my same-old, same-old method for the other five-minute Artisan breads.

Gingerbread Scones

I have not been a very good food blogger in the last month. My only defense is that I successfully gifted an awful lot of homemade items this Christmas, and so, you know what I've been doing instead -- knitting, wiring, sewing. I'm afraid I wasn't doing a whole lot of exciting cooking either (I guess you didn't miss anything great). I did, however, make these yummy Gingerbread scones a few Sundays ago, with some sausage patties, for breakfast before Mass. They were delish, and would be a nice, annual, holiday treat.

The recipe came from Joy of Baking.com, though I omitted the dried fruit and lemon zest, and used a simple vanilla glaze (powdered sugar, milk and vanilla) instead of the maple glaze they used.

Gingerbread Scones

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 t. ground ginger

1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/8 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Zest of 1 lemon (optional)

1/3 cup (35 grams) dried cranberries or cherries (optional)

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 T. unsulphured molasses

1 t. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest and dried cranberries, if using. In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, molasses and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix the dough (you may have to knead it a few times to get it to come together).

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 8 or 9 inches round and about one or so inches thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet so that they are near each other but not touching.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Strawberry Freezer Jam (and, of course, some biscuits to go with)

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I have been making strawberry freezer jam every year for about 10 years. It's so simple -- really not much more complicated than mixing strawberries with sugar. And though I have been tempted to try to make "real" jam (cooked and processed instead of frozen) I really prefer the flavor and texture of fresh strawberries. That's the difference between this jam and "real" jam -- the strawberries are not cooked in this recipe, so you get that yummy fresh fruit flavor every time you open a jar. It's the best thing on toast -- nothing else compares. Yum!

This is just the recipe from the package of Sure-Jell. I noticed the last time I bought it that they now sell a Freezer Jam package. I don't know if the product was any different -- I think just the packaging. It tasted just like the jam I make every year.

I have just a few notes in the recipe in italics -- those are just my thoughts, learned from experience. You can double this recipe, and I did, though I wouldn't do that with just any jam recipe.

The biscuit recipe is easy as pie (easier, actually) and is the most wonderful recipient for that delicious, mouth-watering jam.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 cups crushed strawberries (buy 1 qt. fully ripe strawberries)

4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl

3/4 cup water

1 box Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin

 

Rinse 5 (1-cup) plastic containers and lids with boiling water (or use any combination of glass jars and plastic containers -- I like the small jars because I am the only one who eats it -- yes my kids are picky about chunks of fruit in their jam). Dry thoroughly. 

 These are just grocery store berries, bought when they were super cheap. If you have a glut of garden berries, please do use those. I don't get more from the garden than we eat fresh, so I use grocery store berries, which are just wonderful for this purpose -- plenty of sugar to make up for any mediocre flavor.

Cut, but not yet crushed

Stem and crush strawberries thoroughly, 1 cup at a time (I cut the berries into smaller parts and crush about 2 cups at a time). Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl (do not use more than 2 cups or your jam will not set up -- if you have leftover crushed berries, sugar them, and eat them over ice cream). 

Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 Crushed with sugar

In the meantime, mix water and pectin in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring 1 minute. Add to fruit mixture; stir 3 minutes or until sugar is almost dissolved. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

 

Fill all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. (this last time I froze them right away and it turned out just the same)

Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using (because jam has no preservatives, use it withing a month of removing it from the freezer).

Buttermilk Biscuits
makes about a baker's dozen

3 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. sugar
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
⅔ c. shortening
1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening. Add buttermilk and stir into a soft dough. Knead dough on floured surface and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. 

Place on a baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.


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Irish Soda Scones

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Yummy, yum. You know I love scones (just click on "scones" in my sidebar), and I really love Soda Bread. So, I knew when I saw this recipe for Irish Soda Scones I would love them, it just took me a while to get around to making them. But this morning I did, bright and early before it got too hot. The oven doesn't have to be on all that long, so it did not warm things up much at all. And these little yummies were more than worth any heat they generated. Little Irish Soda Bread loaves is what they are -- soft and slightly sweet, with raisins and caraway, just the way I think soda bread should be.

One note to make: I used shortening because I was low on butter, but I did brush the tops with melted butter after they came out of the oven. Serve them with jam or butter or on the side of a plate of eggs -- anyway is good, just serve them!

Recipe modified just a tad from the Brown-eyed Baker.

Irish Soda Bread Scones

makes 12

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3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1½ t. baking soda
1½ t. cream of tartar
1 t. salt
4 T. unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup currants or raisins
1 T. caraway seeds (optional)
2 T. butter, melted (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and position rack in upper-middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (or lightly grease).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Work the softened butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender or a fork or your hands until the flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the buttermilk, egg, raisins and caraway seeds and stir with a fork just until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead gently just until the dough is cohesive. It should be bumpy – overworking it will cause the resulting scones to be tough instead of tender and flaky.

Divide the dough evenly into two pieces and pat each into a round shape. Using a sharp knife, each round into six triangular scones. Place on baking sheet in the rounds, but separating scones so they are not touching. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The scones should be golden brown and a thin knife or skewer should come out clean. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with the melted butter. Allow to cool to room temperature.

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Yummy, Soft White Bread

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I have had a lifelong search for white bread (just a slight exaggeration) -- the perfect, homemade, soft-as-bakery-bread, white bread. Occasionally I find a recipe that I think is the best, and then I try a few more recipes and find another. None have been perfect, but this one today is really almost there.

This recipe was sort of an accident, an experiment you might say. I took a recipe that I had used many times and I subbed bread flour for all-purpose. Oh. my. goodness. What I ended up with was the softest, yummiest white bread I had ever made. The substitution of the bread flour for all-purpose took a loaf that was originally dense and chewy (very tasty and perfect for its purpose) and made it squishably soft.

The first day I baked it I used bread flour because I ran out of all-purpose. It performed exactly the same as the all-purpose dough when I kneaded it and formed the loaves, and when it came out of the oven, it looked and felt identical to the all-purpose loaf. I set it on the rack to cool with no expectations at all, but when I grabbed it later to slice it for dinner -- oh my -- it squished! What I sliced into was so soft it was just like a cloud of white bread.

Maybe you think I am going a little over the top here for a loaf of bread, but homemade bread is so magical anyway that creating a soft delicious bread by accident was just incredible to me.

I now make this bread every week -- using a loaf pan for the traditional shape and for fitting slices into the toaster -- and so far I have not even thought to look for another recipe. We are happy right now, me and my bread.

If you like wheat bread, I'm afraid I can't help you today -- this loaf is all about being soft and white.

Soft White Bread

makes three round loaves or two traditional bread pan loaves

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1 1/2 T. yeast

3 c. warm water

7 c. bread flour (plus more for kneading)

2 t. salt

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Mix the yeast in the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. After the yeast sits, add several cups of flour and the salt. Stir in the oil. Add flour until you can no longer stir with a spoon.

Place the dough on a flat surface with some flour sprinkled on it. Knead the dough until it becomes firm and elastic (or use Kitchen Aid mixer with dough hook). Grease the bowl and place the dough in it. Turn the dough so it is greased all over.

Cover the bowl and set in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume.

Remove the dough and knead it again over a floured tabletop, to remove air pockets and until the dough feels smooth. Return the dough to a covered bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes. Cut the dough as desired to form bars, loafs or balls and place on greased pans. Cut slits in top of bread as desired.

Let bread rise on pans 30 more minutes. Place in a very hot oven (450 degrees F) for 30 to 50 minutes (30 minutes is plenty for three balls, but 40 will be necessary for large loaves, longer if you make one large loaf), or until the tops of the bars become toasted and they sound hollow when knocked on the bottom. Remove the bread from the pans and let cool.

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Jam Filled Muffins

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This recipe is a just a slight modification to my recipe for Nancy's Sweet Muffins. A couple weeks ago I had planned breakfast for dinner (one of my favorite dinners) and we needed a little something to round out the meal.

I know most folks today are trying to pack as many nutrients into every bite of food as they can, but, frankly, sometimes we just need some inexpensive belly filler. I think our diets are pretty healthy all around and I refuse to worry about feeding my kids a little white flour and sugar. When I was little, no one ate whole wheat anything and we were perfectly healthy. It seems today people are either worrying themselves sick (pun intended) about feeding kids the perfect diet, or they don't care at all and they feed them all crap. I'm looking for a happy medium. Tasty enough to be fun, cheap enough to keep us in the black, and healthy enough to, well, keep us healthy.

These little muffins definitely fall in the tasty and cheap department, but rounded out with some eggs, peppers, potatoes, and some orange wedges, they are just lovely. Use your favorite flavor of jam, or give everyone their favorite flavor. I used seedless strawberry myself.

 

Jam Filled Muffins

makes 6

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1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup jam

sugar to sprinkle

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the cups of a jumbo muffin tin (six cups). Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs; add oil and milk. Make a well in dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Stir only until moist. 

Divide about half the batter among each muffin tin. Top with about 2 teaspoons of jam, right in the center. Top with remaining batter, pushing the batter down around the edges to seal the jam in. Sprinkle with a little bit of table sugar.

Bake in greased muffin tins for 15-20 minutes, until golden on top and toothpick comes out clean.

CAUTION: If you enjoy these muffins straight from the oven, the jam will be very hot.

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Easter Bread

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I come from a family of all Germans, but we have very few German traditions and even fewer recipes. You would think a German family from Cincinnati would be rich in ethnic recipes, but, nope. I mentioned a lack of an Easter bread recipe to my mother-in-law, who is also of German ancestry and she said, "Germans only make noodles." She was teasing, but maybe it's true. At least when it comes to Easter bread. I couldn't find a recipe any where. So, I made up my own. It was yummy, though I really don't have anything to compare it to, having come from a Easter Bread-less family. It was just a tad bit cinnamony, and I think that next year I'll add some orange zest, which I've noted as optional in the recipe. It was soft, and fluffy and the perfect Easter morning breakfast.

Easter Bread

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1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. warm milk (baby bottle warm)

1 T. active yeast

3 T. soft butter

1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs at room temp.

1 t. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

pinch nutmeg (or more if you like nutmeg)

1 t. orange zest (optional)

1 t. salt

> 4 cups bread flour, depending on the humidity

Four eggs, colored with Easter egg color, but not hard boiled (color them after the kids are finished coloring the hard boiled eggs so you don't risk contaminating your hard-boiled eggs)

2 cups powdered sugar

a tablespoon or more of orange juice

Pour warm milk and water into a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with a small amount of sugar (from the 1/2 cup measure), and then sprinkle with yeast. Let sit for about five minutes.

Add butter and eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and orange zest (if desired). With a dough hook on medium high speed add two cups flour. Slowly add in remaining measure of flour a few tablespoons at a time until dough is soft but not sticky, adding a little bit more than 4 cups of flour if necessary to get a dough that is not sticky.

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Let bowl sit in a warmish place for an hour or until dough has doubled in size.

Punch dough down and divide into three equal parts.



Roll each piece into a 20 inch rope.



Pinch ropes together at one end and braid them together. Pinch together at the other end. 

Place braid in a ring shape on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.




Press eggs into braid gently (they are still raw!).





Cover and let rise for 45 minutes until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (Gently push eggs down again but be careful not to deflate the dough.)


 

Whisk together an egg and a few teaspoons of water. Brush over bread. Bake for 40 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow and is deep golden brown on top. (You can use an instant-read thermometer if you like and bake until temp is 190 degrees F.)

When bread is completely cool, mix together powdered sugar with enough orange juice to make a thick glaze. Drizzle over bread.

After glaze hardens, wrap with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

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Soft Potato Rolls

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I just came up with the recipe for these rolls the other day and at dinner that evening my husband said they have to be on the Easter menu. I agreed. They are really very easy -- they won't eat up a big chunk of your meal prep time (just makes sure you start far enough ahead) -- but they are soft and sweet and the perfect dinner roll.

The recipe makes two round cake pans -- 8 rolls each -- which is perfect for Easter dinner with company. For a regular week night I would freeze half the dough for another dinner. A few notes: You could use all-purpose flour for this recipe, but the bread flour is what gives you the really tender roll. The milk and water should be baby bottle warm -- just slightly warmer than body temperature. And just add flour as directed. You may need the whole measure on a humid day, or less on a dry day. You'll want a really soft, but not sticky dough. For very soft rolls, brush the baked rolls with melted butter when they come out of the oven. Or for that homemade look, dust the tops with flour before baking.

Soft Potato Dinner Rolls

makes 16

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 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one package)

1/2 cup warm water (more if needed)

 1/2 cup warm milk
3 cups bread flour 

1 t. salt

3 T. sugar

6 T. unsalted butter, soft

1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

Dissolve yeast with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the warm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, until the yeast begins to bubble.

Add to the yeast the remaining ingredients, adding only two cups of the flour. Mix and knead everything —by hand or bread hook — until you have a smooth dough, adding more flour as needed a little at a time. The dough will be soft, but should not stick to the bowl or your hands. Add just enough flour to get this consistency.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow dough to rise, at room temperature, until it's nearly doubled in size, about 1 hour. It should be very puffy when it's ready.

Lightly grease two 9" round cake pans, or one 9" x 13" pan.

Gently push down the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased or floured work surface. Divide it into quarters and divide the quarters into quarters for 16 pieces. (If freezing half the dough, divide dough in half and place one half -- dusted in flour -- in a freezer bag and freeze promptly.** Continue with other half, dividing into eight portions.)

Shape each piece into a ball (pull the dough into a very small ball with the edges underneath, smoothing the top).

Place eight balls in each of the round cake pans (or all in the 9" x 13" pan), spacing them evenly; they shouldn't touch each other.

Cover the pan(s) with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the rolls to rise until they're very puffy, and are touching one another, about 1 hour. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the rolls until they're a deep golden brown on top, about 25 minutes. Remove from pan. Serve warm or cool. ** To use frozen dough, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator, dust with flour, form into rolls and place in pan as directed. Let rise and bake as directed.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Frosting

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Wow, is this a food blog? I have been a little preoccupied with life the last two weeks and neglected this place. Not that I haven't been cooking, just don't have time to talk about cooking. One of the kids had my photo files open yesterday and I saw this backlog of photos that have never been posted here. Gotta get on that.

These yummy cinnamon rolls are where I left off last, I think. I made them a few weekends ago for Sunday breakfast and they were a huge hit. Huge. They are yummy like regular cinnamon rolls, but with the added flavor and moistness of pumpkin in the dough.

I have a confession of sorts to make. I don't make cinnamon rolls for my family. My mother-in-law makes cinnamon rolls and my husband goes so gaga over her rolls that I gave up a long time ago trying to make rolls that beat, or even match, hers. I make this Cinnamon Bun bread, which is really good but not quite close enough to real cinnamon rolls to make a comparison. But these, these rolls are good enough to keep them wanting, and it's not grandma's rolls they're wanting.

The dough is soft, but not gooey on the inside, and the frosting...much better than plain old butter frosting. I used the bread flour, as the recipe instructs, and I do think it makes them a little different than all-purpose flour. But if you don't purchase bread flour, go ahead and try them with all-purpose. I have a feeling the pumpkin contributes a lot to that texture, and certainly flavor. I doubled the recipe to get a big plan of thick rolls, because I knew my gang would devour them as written and there wouldn't even be enough. I also modified a few of the ingredients, including the spices because I don't buy pumpkin pie spice -- if you keep the basics in your spice cabinet, you don't need mixes. I also omitted the spice from the frosting because I didn't think it needed it, at all, but add it back if you like.

The recipe comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Frosting
makes 12 rolls

2/3 c. milk

1/4 c. butter

1 c. canned pumpkin

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. nutmeg, preferably freshly ground

2 t. cinnamon
1 t. ginger
1/4 t. cloves

1 t. salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 T. dry yeast

4 c. bread flour (you can use regular all purpose flour but bread flour makes them lighter)

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1 T. cinnamon

1/3 c. softened butter

Caramel Frosting

1/2 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1/4 c. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

1 dash salt

1 -1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

In small saucepan, or in the microwave, heat milk and 1/4 c. butter just until warm and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt. Add milk mixture and beat with electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg and yeast.

Add half of the flour to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft). A dough hook can be used for easier mixing. Turn into lightly greased bowl, then grease surface of dough lightly.

Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy enough to handle. Roll dough into 24 x 10 inch rectangle.

In a bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread softened butter over surface of dough surface of dough. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jellyroll style. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll in half. Cut each half in quarters, and then cut each quarter into thirds for 12 2-inch rolls. Place rolls, cut side up, in greased 13x9 inch square baking pan.



Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.

Bake rolls at 350 degrees about 30-35 minutes or until golden.



Remove from pan to waxed paper-lined wire rack.



Cool 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with Caramel frosting. Makes 12 rolls.

Caramel Frosting:

In small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar and milk.

Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook over medium low heat 1 minute.

Transfer to small mixer bowl and cool mixture. Stir in vanilla, salt, and confectioners' sugar. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add more confectioners' sugar for desired consistency.

Spread over rolls and serve.

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Pumpkin Quick Bread -- Plain and Simple

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Most of the time when I'm in the kitchen, plain and simple is not what I'm after. I like food a little bit jazzy, mildly complex. But some things just must be plain and simple, especially when children are involved. Most kids don't like mildly complex food, they like it straightforward, no chunks, no je ne sais quoi.

This pumpkin bread is just that. It's not my personal favorite, as my personal favorite is loaded with chunks, but my kids love it. I made it with some butternut squash that was left from dinner Sunday, so mine is a little less pumpkin in color, but the flavors are all there. Yum!

Pumpkin Quick Bread
1 loaf

2 cups flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. soda
1 t. ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cloves
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Preheat oven to 350. Grease 3 x 5 loaf pan.

Mix dry ingredients. Mix together pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Alternately beat in flour mixture and pumpkin mixture at low speed until blended. Stir in nuts (optional). Pour batter into pan. Bake for about 60 minutes (toothpick test). Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

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Winning Rye Bread

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I have been on a quest for quite a while for a winning recipe for Rye Bread. I've tried quite a few, and even thought I had the best I could make, but this loaf beats them all. I have been dying to make it again, and I think I'll do it today. I cut the recipe in half and it still makes two loaves, but I think Sister Margaret, my son's senior English teacher, might just like a loaf.

The recipe came from allrecipes.com, and I followed it pretty precisely, except for halving it.

Rye Bread
2 loaves

1 t. active dry yeast
2 cups warm water, divided
1 cup rye flour
3 T. sugar
2 T. caraway seeds (more or less to taste -- I used 2 T.)
1 t. salt
3 -1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

2 t. cornmeal
1 egg, lightly beaten
caraway seed

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water; whisk in rye flour until smooth. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Let stand in a warm place for about 4 hours or until batter falls about 1 in. and surface bubble activity is reduced.

Stir in the sugar, caraway seeds, salt, 2 cups all-purpose flour and remaining water; mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes (or use dough hook on mixer). Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Divide dough into two portions. Shape into two round loaves, about 6 to 7 in. across. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray (or place parchment down); sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves on pan side by side. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.



With a sharp knife, make several slashes across the top of each loaf. Brush with egg. Sprinkle each loaf with caraway seeds (I like a lot, but do this to taste).


Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, rotating pans after 15 minutes, or until browned. Cool on wire racks.

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Source: modified from allrecipes.com

Bubbly Garlic Bread

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Last week I made a big pot of red sauce to have with spaghetti and jazzed it up (though the sausage in the sauce was pretty jazzy all by itself) with some of this Bubbly Garlic Bread. I actually prefer plain bread, but given a choice my husband will always choose big fat Bubbly Garlic Bread. It certainly has more calories than plain bread, or even plain bread with butter, but it's very yummy as an occasional treat.

Bubbly Garlic Bread
serves 6 - 10

1 loaf Italian bread, store bought or homemade
1 stick salted butter, softened
garlic powder
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat broiler in oven and place rack on top shelf.
Slice loaf of bread in half length wise (so you have a top and a bottom). Spread half of butter on each cut surface. Sprinkle with garlic powder to taste -- I use about 1 teaspoon for each half.
Divide Parmesan and shredded mozzarella over each half, with the mozzarella on top. Place on a cookie sheet (covered with foil for easy clean up) and place on top rack of oven. Broil, watching so it doesn't burn too much -- a little is o.k. -- until cheese is bubbly. Cut each half crosswise and serve.

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Banana Bread

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You probably have a recipe for banana bread. Or two. Or three. I do. I think I have five. Or six. That doesn't mean that any of them are sub-par recipes. On the contrary. They are all good. And they all fill different needs. One has chocolate, another chocolate chips. One is très rich, made with sour cream. Another is low in fat. This one I am posting today has a little bit of spice, and is flexible when it comes to the dairy added. You can use buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream and I often use a mixture, depending on what is in the fridge and needs to be used up. Today I had some yogurt that was dated yesterday and so I used all yogurt. As my kids would say, "It's all good."

This recipe is just slightly modified from the King Arthur Flour cookbook. It calls for a teaspoon of cinnamon, but that's too much for me. It also calls for a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, but I use whole nutmeg and just a couple of scrapes on a micro plane is plenty -- probably 1/8 teaspoon. I also simplify the process -- instead of mixing the dry ingredients all together in a separate bowl, I just add them directly to the wet -- saving another dirty bowl.

This bread is moist and can be fairly low in fat if you use low fat buttermilk or low fat yogurt.

Banana Bread
makes 1 loaf

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2 eggs
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup oil
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 medium)
2 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
2⅔ cups flour
1 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and oil. Blend in the mashed banana and vanilla. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. Stir just until mixture is almost completely combined, with some flour left unmixed. Add buttermilk or sour cream or yogurt, mixing just until combined.

Pour into a greased 5x7 pan. Bake for 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean. Tent with aluminum foil if bread browns too quickly.

Source: modified from King Arthur Flour cookbook

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Pizza Rolls

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Lunch is such an issue in my house. My picky children just don't like to eat the same thing all the time. I could eat peanut butter and jelly every day. They balk if I serve the same thing two weeks in a row. Most of the time I just ignore their complaints, but once in a great while I create something new, and to their liking. These pizza rolls were created to shush them. They are just like cinnamon rolls, but with pizza toppings inside instead of cinnamon and sugar. They are really yummy. I used pepperoni and cheese, but you could use cooked sausage, or veggies, or make it into something else entirely -- like corned beef, Swiss and sauerkraut, or ham and Swiss with Dijon mayo -- the possibilities are endless. They would be great to serve at a party or for a ball game on the television.

Pizza Rolls
serves 6

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1 cup warm water
2 t. yeast (or one package)
2 T. sugar
2 T. olive oil
1 t. salt
3 - 3 1/2 cups flour (amount needed depends on brand of flour and humidity)

6 oz. package sliced pepperoni
8 oz. package shredded pizza cheese (or mozzarella)
14 can pizza sauce, or 2 cups homemade

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 c. flour, oil and salt and mix with dough hook until dough forms (or if mixing by hand, with a spoon). Add flour, 1/4 c. at a time, kneading at low speed until a smooth elastic dough forms,
about 5 minutes, in mixer (or if kneading by hand, turn onto floured surface
and knead until smooth and elastic). Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover and let rise about one hour, until doubled. Punch down. Roll dough out into a rectangle 24 inches long and about 10 inches wide on a lightly floured surface.

Spread with about 2/3 cup sauce. Place pepperoni and cheese in bowl of food processor and pulse until chopped finely (but not pureed -- see picture of mixture). Spread pepperoni mixture over sauce. Roll up from long side and pinch edges to seal.



Cut in half and then cut each half in half. Cut each quarter into three pieces for a total of twelve rolls. Place rolls in a greased 13 x 9 pan. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. and when preheated, bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until rolls are golden brown and when poked in the middle look completely baked.

Let cool for 10 minutes or so and serve with leftover sauce warmed up.

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Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

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I'm still working my way slowly through all of the scone recipes in the world. I know it's not a very healthy collection, but I'm doing it slowly. This Blueberry Buttermilk variety was wonderful. I liked them, the kids liked them, even the pediatrician liked them (hey, we had an appointment and what better way to stay in the good graces of your doctor than with warm baked goods?)

This recipe, which came from Brown-Eyed Baker, makes a tender and slightly sweet scone with a hint of vanilla that goes so well with blueberries. I skipped the egg wash and sanding sugar because I don't find it a necessary addition, but other than that, the recipe is unchanged. I'm posting it the way I made it.

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones
Makes 12 scones

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1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour (not self-rising)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup (½ pint) blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers, until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal. Stir in blueberries.

Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and the vanilla. Drizzle over flour mixture, and stir lightly with a fork until dough comes together but a small amount of flour remains in the bowl.

Turn out dough onto a work surface, and gently knead dough once or twice just to incorporate flour. Pat dough into two 1-inch thick round. Cut each into 6 wedges. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer scones to wire rack to cool.

Note: I freeze leftover scones and pop them (frozen) into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Source: modified from Brown-Eyed Baker


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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

My college boy came home last week and brought me a loaf of my favorite bread, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, from his employer, Panera. There is just nothing like this lightly crumbed, lightly sweetened, studded-with-raisins bread toasted for breakfast in the morning. It never fails to bring a "yum" to mind. But, as much as Doug and I enjoy it, the kids won't touch it because of the raisins. Picky, picky, I say, but I don't buy it for that reason (because that would be selfish, right?). Which means I don't get to enjoy it very often either.

After a fairly extensive search on the internet, I did not find a copycat recipe for Panera's current Cinnamon Raisin Bread, which surprised me (I thought one could find just about anything on the internet). I did, however, find what looked to be a pretty good recipe for a Raisin Cinnamon Bread they must have served in the past. The recipe I found does not call for rolling the bread out and sprinkling it with cinnamon and sugar, which is why I know it's not the current recipe. And the bread they sell today does not have cinnamon chips in it. I decided, however, to at least try the dough (and modified it) and use my own technique for swirling it with cinnamon.

Yum! It is tender, light, just the slightest bit sweet, and cinnamony. And after being toasted and buttered -- it is it! (without the raisins) The kids love it, Doug loves it and I really love it. I made two loaves last week and two more today. I'm going to slice and freeze one, so it's not so tempting to eat two loaves of bread in a few days!

I have a tip below for placing the bread on its side hot out of the oven so that it gets nice indentations from the racks to use as guides for slicing. This only works if your cooling rack is similar to mine (see pictures below).

Cinnamon Swirl Bread
makes two loaves

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Starter
1 cup warm water (baby bottle warm)
1 package yeast (or 2 teaspoons)
1 cup all-purpose flour

Dough
3/4 cup warm water
3 T. honey
2 packages yeast (or 4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup shortening
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

3 T. butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 scant T. cinnamon

1 T. butter
1 T. honey

Combine the water and the yeast in a small mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Cover with a cloth and ferment the starter at room temperature for 30 min.

Combine the water, honey, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the shortening, flour, salt, and starter. Mix the dough on low speed with a dough hook for 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Remove from bowl. Grease bowl and place dough back in bowl, rotating to grease all sides. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 to 60 minutes.

After dough has just about doubled in size, punch it down and divide in two. On a floured surface, roll each half out into a large rectangle -- about 20 by 9 inches. Mix white sugar and cinnamon thoroughly. Brush the surface with half the melted butter and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar.

Roll up starting at short end, tightly, and pinch seam closed and place seam side down. Press heels of your hands onto rolled ends to press closed and fold ends under. Place in greased bread pans -- 9 x 5 inches. Cover with a towel and let rise 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake for 30-40 min., until the crusts are a deep golden brown.

Meanwhile, melt 1 T. butter and honey together.

Remove from pans immediately and brush with melted butter/honey mixture. Place loaves on their sides (if you want to make indentations for slicing guides). Cool completely.

After cooling -- see the guides? Just cut on the lines.

Text and pictures © Bless Us O Lord.



Dough source: modified from thathomesite.com