Bobby Flay's Grilled Flat Bread

I discovered this amazing recipe this past summer at a friend's bbq. I was immediately addicted, and now anytime we fire up the grill I am sure to have this dough ready to go. The topping choices are limitless and it's fun to experiment with new flavors.

Orange Sweet Rolls

I've been dreaming of orange sweet rolls just about every week now. There's a bakery close to us called Shirley's, and they have amazing sweet rolls in variety of flavors: Cinnamon, orange, raspberry...

Yum.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Amish Friendship Bread

I received an Amish Friendship Bread started from a friend of mine. I hadn't made any for about a year and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it. I decided to mush it and feed it, as instructed, and once it was done and ready to be used I didn't feel like making any. So what do you do in that situation? You put it in the fridge, of course! Sure, the so-called instructions tell you NOT to put it in the fridge. It also states that 'only the Amish know how to create the "starter"'.

Yeah, right. That's why there are recipes for the starter on every single self-respecting recipe site.

They've cracked the Amish bread starter code!

Laskiaispulla - Shrove Tuesday Pastry

Today is Shrove Tuesday. Or Fat Tuesday, if you'd like to call it that.

I like fat. It makes things taste good.

Lemon Bread

I found this recipe in a cookbook we received as a wedding present years ago. The book is called New Dieter's Cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens. My roommate got it for us, and no, she wasn't hinting anything.

English Muffin Bread

This recipe changed my life! For awhile now I've been looking for a recipe for bread that D would like to toast for breakfast. Up until now all the recipes have been just ok, but this one he absolutely loves! 

The life changing part is that I don't have to buy bread from the store anymore. This one is for toasting, snacking etc. and the French bread is for making sandwiches and garlic toast, and for soup dipping. That pretty much covers all our needs. 

Pulla - Finnish Sweet Bread

Last night I had a craving for some good homemade Pulla. Pulla is sweet bread that is a traditional Finnish treat enjoyed at most every gathering. Plus, it makes your house smell heavenly. I like to enjoy mine with a cup of hot chocolate but traditionally it is served with coffee.

Instead of using one of the many Pulla recipes online, I just used the same dough recipe that I use for my cinnamon rolls. I add about 2 teaspoons of ground cardamon to the wet ingredients before adding flour. After the dough is done, divide it in half. Then divide each half into three, four or five pieces, depending how you want to braid the Pulla. Roll each piece into a 12 to 16 inch strip. Then just braid away! (Or if you don't want to deal with braiding, just make little rolls out of the dough.) Place the two braided loaves on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled. Then brush with egg wash, sprinkle some pearl sugar (found in Ikea) on top and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on size.

Best served when warm but still great the next day, especially when dipped in hot chocolate...

You can add raisins and slivered almonds to the dough for variety, and if you don't have/want to use pearl sugar you can just use regular sugar or sprinkle slivered/chopped almonds on top.

Monkey Bread

This is D's new favorite. He'd have this over cinnamon rolls, which to me is quite incomprehensible. Not that I don't love this recipe, but give me a cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting and I'm in heaven...

Monkey/pull-apart bread usually uses refrigerated biscuit dough, but mine is made with the dough recipe I use for my cinnamon rolls. Toss ingredients in your bread machine, and once dough cycle is done, there's only few things you need to do. Pretty simple, and so delicious!

Monkey Bread

1 recipe of cinnamon roll dough

1 cup white sugar

2 tsps ground cinnamon

3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1. Prepare dough as directed. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a Ziploc bag. Set aside. 

2. Once dough is done, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease one Bundt pan and one 9x5 loaf pan. (The dough makes too much just for the Bundt pan. Believe me, I made the mistake of putting all of it in the Bundt pan, and the syrup overflowed, forming a nice, fragrant burnt sugar layer on the bottom of my oven...)

3. Pull small chunks off the dough, rolling them into 1 inch balls with your palms. Drop a few dough balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture, shaking the bag so balls are evenly coated. place balls in pans, staggering layers so ball is placed over the space between two other ones. Use about 2/3 of dough for the bundt pan, 1/3 for the loaf pan.

4. Melt butter in a small saucepan and add brown sugar. Boild for 1 minute, then our over dough balls, again using 2/3 for Bundt pan, 1/3 for loaf pan. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, for 30 minutes to an hour. Bake one pan at a time until golden brown, for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and turn over on a plate and remove pan. Bread should slide out pretty easily. 

Then just EAT!

Bagels

Here's a new recipe that I wanted to try. I had never even thought of making bagels until I happened on a recipe that uses breadmachine to make the dough. How simple is that?

The process was pretty simple but I made the mistake of placing the bagels on waxpaper to rise. I thought: "I can lift them off easier that way!" I do not know how that made any sense to me. Don't do that. They stick. You'll be pulling them off the paper and they'll resemble bagels no more. You'll have a gnarly used-to-be-shaped-like-a-bagel lump of dough. *Sigh* I must have been dehydrated/tired/low on sugar and chocolate that day.

Whether it was because of my waxpaper idea or some other glitch, my bagels turned out somewhat flat. First this deflated me (no pun intended), but after tasting one and making a tuna sandwich out of another one I really didn't mind the flatness. It was actually really good. AND (yes, there's more) I found this post by David Lebovitz on *drumroll* FLAT bagels! I must be really in with the food blogger crowd.

Now I tell myself that my bagels were flat on purpose.

Bread Machine Bagels

1 1/8 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsps salt

3 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp white sugar

2 1/4 tsps active dry yeast

3 quarts water

3 Tbsp sugar or molasses

Egg white/olive oil

Poppy seeds

1. Place water, salt flour, sugar and yeast in a bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and start.

2. After cycle is complete, let dough rest on a sligthly floured surface. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Flatten balls and poke a hole in the middle with your thumb. Twirl the dough around your finger to enlarge the hole, and to even out the dough around the hole. (Make the hole pretty big, it'll get smaller during rising and boiling.) Let bagels rise, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot bring water and sugar/molasses into a boil. Sprinkle an ungrease dbaking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer bagels into the boiling water, few at a time. Boil for about 1 or 2 minutes, turning half way through. Drain briefly on a clean towel. Arrange bagels on the baking sheet. Glaze tops with egg white or olive oil if desired (I didn't), and sprinkle with poppy seeds or other favorite toppings.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until well browned. Enjoy!

Original recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Machine-Bagels/Detail.aspx

Note: David Lebovitz's site is going through reconstruction and the link may not work for a few days. Sorry.

Zucchini Bread

Good things are happening in my kitchen today. Eggs, sugar, oil, chocolate, zucchini... Mmmm... Definitely good things!

This is one of my favorite Fall recipes ever. The baking bread makes your house smell divine and eating a slice with a hot cup of chocolate is heaven.

Now I remember why I always gain weight in the Fall. I blame the bread.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsps vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate and I tend to use more since we love chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Beat in oil. Once incorporated mix in white sugar with a spoon. Add zucchini and vanilla and stir. Stir in flour mixture in batches, adding chocolate chips with the last batch. Stir until combined. Pour into prepared pans.
3. Bake until golden brown, for about 50-70 minutes, depending on your oven. Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pans. Let cool completely on a cooling rack, or dig in like I do. I don't have much patience when it comes to Zucchini Bread.

The nice thing about making Zucchini Bread is that you can use all those humongous overgrown zucchinis that are taking over your or your neighbor's yard. You're really just doing a favor to yourself or your neighbor. It's a sacrifice to make and eat this. Really.

Banana Bread by Martha Stewart

Here is another cookbook recipe, this time taken from the Martha Stewart Cookbook I bought years ago from a yardsale.

I always think of house arrest when someone mentions Martha and, to be fair, it's time to change that.

I browsed through her cookbook the other morning while O. was playing with things found in our computer desk drawers. Cords, a keyboard, videocam tapes, CD's... it all kept him occupied while I spent a good hour and a half dreaming of food.

Since I still had some leftover overripe bananas I decided to give her banana recipe a try. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon though, since that's how I fly. And no nuts. Because I love my husband.


Banana Bread by Martha Stewart

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
(1 tsp cinnamon)
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan or four small loaf pans.
2. With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in the nuts and pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

I added the bananas to the butter mixture before adding dry ingredients. I feel it stirs easier that way. My bread was definitely done at 55 minutes, probably even earlier. Also, I covered the bread loosely with foil right after taking it out of the oven. It made it nice and moist right away.

Have you seen Martha's farm? If you haven't, go and see it here.
I have found my dream home!

p.s. This cookbook inspired me to start planning a Fall party, taking place in our backyard when the air is crisp and the apples are ready to be picked. We'll see in a couple of months where my idea goes...

Cinnamon Rolls

Nothing beats warm gooey cinnamon rolls on a rainy afternoon. Especially when your bread machine takes care of all the hard labor.


Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup warm milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour (I use all purpose)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast


Filling:
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
1/4 cup softened butter

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Place ingredients for the dough in the pan of your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and press start.
2. When the cycle is done, turn dough unto a floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Cut dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle. Spread each rectangle with half of the softened butter. Spread some brown sugar on top and then sprinkle with cinnamon. (I just use as much as I feel like using, no measuring here.) Optionally, you can also add some raisins. Roll up dough and cut into 8 rolls, totalling 16 rolls. Place rolls in two lightly greased pie pans, 8 per pan. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled.
4. Bake until golden brown, 15-20 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt. Spread frosting on warm (not hot) rolls.

French Baguettes

This is by far my favorite bread recipe. It's really easy using a bread machine, and it makes awesome sandwiches, garlic toast, dipping bread for soups, etc. Would make great bruchetta too!
I make this almost every day. That's how easy it is.

French Baguettes

1 cup warm water

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tbsp white sugar

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Italian seasoning (optional)

1 egg white

1/3 cup water
Cheese (optional)

1. Place ingedients into a bread machine pan in the above order. Select Dough cycle and press start.

2. Once cycle has finished, let the dough rise for about 30 minutes in the machine or a well-oiled bowl.

3. Punch dough down. Roll into a 12x16 inch rectangle on a floured surface. Cut the rectagle into two 8x12 inch rectangles. Sprinkle italian seasoning on the halves, if desired. Roll up each half tightly, beginning at the 12 inch side. Place on a greased baking sheet. Make deep diagonal cuts across loaves. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes until doubled.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.. Brush loaves with egg white and sprinkle with cheese if desired. Place them in the oven and throw a 1/3 cup of water onto the bottom of the oven at the same time. (This trick will give you a nice crisp crust)
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown. Once done, move the loaves on a cooling rack right away to maintain crispiness.

I'm sure this recipe would work just fine without a bread machine. The reviews at allrecipes.com have instructions for making it without one.

Recipe modified from
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Baguettes/Detail.aspx