Grapenut Bread

This is a dense and hearty quick bread that comes together quick in a mixer. Makes great toast, especially with this honey butter.

I adapted this recipe from several I found online

Grapenut Bread

1 1/2 C grape nuts
3 C Lowfat Milk + 3 T vinegar to sour (or lemon juice)

Place the grapenuts and the milk in the bowl of the mixer and let them soak for 15 minutes or so.

With the mixer on, add the following:

2 eggs
1 C sugar
6 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 C flaxseed meal (ground flax)
1/4 C bran or wheatgerm
5 C flour

Spoon the batter into greased bread pans. This will make two good sized loaves or one larger loaf and two or three mini loaves. You can wet your hands to pat it down in the pan. Let the bread rest for a few minutes while the oven preheats. Some recipes have you wait as long as an hour but I didn't want to do that.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, making sure larger loaves are truly cooked in the center. This is a dense bread that does not brown, but will sink as it cools if it's not fully baked. - If you don't have on hand or don't want to use the flax and bran, just substitute in one more cup of flour, for a total of 6 C flour. I calcluated the recipe as is at about 250 cals per serving and about 5 grams of fiber. It's also pretty lowfat since it uses no oil.

For the honey butter:

1 stick of butter, softened
1/4 C honey
1/4 C marshmallow cream

Blend together with a hand mixer.

French Bread ala Moi

My brother in-law's gf brought this french bread to our soup party last Sunday. I cannot believe that it's homemade. I really didn't know it was possible to bake such good french bread without a proper, industrial bakery oven-thing...you know what I mean. So thank you, Charla!

French Bread ala Moi

2 ½ cups very warm water

2T sugar

1 T salt

2 T cooking oil

6 cups flour

2 pkg dry yeast (2 T)

Into a large warm mixing bowl, pour in warm water then stir in sugar, salt, oil, half the flour and then the yeast. Beat vigorously 2 – 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until all dry ingredients are completely mixed in. Leave spoon right in the heavy batter.

All the dough to rest 10 minutes, then stir down. Repeat this until the dough has been stirred down five times.

Turn the dough onto a floured board. Knead only enough to coat the dough with flour so it can be handled. Divide into two parts. Roll each part into a rectangle shape about 9 x 12 and then roll up like a jelly roll – rolling from the long side. Pinch edge of loaf to seal the dough. Arrange lengthwise on a large cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal, allowing room for two loaves. Cover lightly and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

With a very sharp knife, cut three slashes at an angle on the top and then brush entire surface with a slightly beaten whole egg.

Bake immediately at 400 F for 25 – 30 minutes or until brown. Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks.

Guest Chef - My Big Brother.

I just received one of the best emails ever. My big brother, actually really big brother (he is 6'7"), emailed me, sheepishly requesting to be a part of our fantastic blog. He sent the following awesome recipe and four great photos (of which I will only be posting one for the sake of space). So this is a really simple recipe (besides milking the cow part) for making your own butter. What a man, right? Making his own butter. I am impressed. I have been wanting to do this for a while now, but have been too intimidated by the process. So, ladies and any other men we have secretly reading this blog, I hope you enjoy this recipe from a gourmet construction worker. Feel free to comment in an effort to make our newcomer feel welcome.

Welcome Edward!

Homemade Butter

I have been following this blog for months now. Both secretly and publicly and I came up with a recipe finally that I don't usually mess up. So here it is.

There are a couple ways to make your own butter it is so easy a construction worker can do it. First if you have raw milk then you skim the cream off the top. If you don't have raw then you can buy 1-2 cups heavy whipping cream, or double cream (1/3 liter) (preferably without carrageenan or other stabilizers). I have seen this at the store, so it is available.

Next you put it into a blender and walk away or watch it spin if you like that too. it will go for about ten min and you will hear the change when the cream turns to butter. Turn off the blender and let the buttermilk separate from the butter. The butter will be a faint yellow color.

Slowly drain the buttermilk into another jar or Tupperware(you can save this for making buttermilk pancakes or bread, recipes online)

add one cup of ice cold water and blend again for 3-5 min. Drain-but don't save. Do this repeatedly until drained water is almost clear.
Then take a clean dry cloth towel place it over a mixing bowl. pour the contents of the blender into the the towel, lift up on the towel, the last of the moisture will drain through the towel into the bowl.

finally bring the towel around the almost solid butter and slowly squeeze the remaining moisture out your butter. take the butter out of the towel, add about a 1/2 a teaspoon of salt roll up your sleeves and knead that salt deep throughout the butter.

Now that you have this beautiful ball of butter you can form it into sticks and then put it in the fridge or put it on some fresh baked bread.
should make about one cup of butter and one cup of buttermilk! Home made with no waste!


2 cups cream
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)


Enjoy!

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
4 cups sugar
4 ½ cups flour
2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 cups cranberries, fresh (chop in food processor)

Preheat oven to 350
In a bowl combine eggs, pumpkin puree and oil. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add cranberries and mix well. Divide dough into 2 big loaf pans, and 1 small one . Bake for 50 minutes

World's Best Zucchini Bread

I always have thought it is quite audacious when people try to say a recipe is the "world's best" because who really has the authority to make such a claim? So I will not try to pretend to have such authority, but I was seriously this close (imagine my thumb and pointer finger coming almost totally together) to doing so in respect to this recipe. It really is that delicious.

Not only is it the perfect snack or dessert, it fills your home with cinnamon, nutmeg and bread baking in the oven aromas that cannot be duplicated. In the Fall (like right now) it also makes a perfect housewarming or "just thinking about you" gift for those you love or maybe just like.

Without further adieu, here you are, compliments of the Lion House:

Zucchini Bread

3 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
3 eggs
1 C oil
2 C sugar
1 T vanilla
2 C zucchini, grated
1 C walnuts (optional)
(*I add a sprinkling of nutmeg as well)

Grease well large 8x4 inch loaf pan or 2 small 7x3 inch loaf pans. Set aside. In large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, & cinnamon (& nutmeg). Set aside. In separate mixing bowl, beat eggs until light & foamy. Add oil, sugar, vanilla, & zucchini; mix well. Add flour mixture and mix just until moist. (Overmixing causes tunnels & coarse texture.) Fold in nuts Pour into prepared pan or pans. (Pans should be about two-thirds full.) Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes for large loaf or 35 minutes for small loaves, or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not overbake. Serves 10 to 12.

Jane's French Bread

Here is my aunt Jane's recipe for easy white french bread. I just made it for my first time and it was delicious!

1/2 C warm water mixed with: 2 T yeast, 1 T sugar

Stir together 3 C white flour, 1 T salt, and 2 C hot water with a wooden spoon. Then stir in the yeast mixture and add 3 more cups flour. Stir until the flour is all incorporated and then lest rest in the bowl. Leave the spoon in the dough and let rest, covered. Stir down the dough after it has risen, let it rest again and repeat 4 more times.

Preheat oven to 450. Divide dough into two rectangles and roll like jelly roll. Place loaves on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double in size. Slash tops and brush with beaten egg white, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 25-35 minutes.

I would keep an eye on it a rotate the pan so the loaves brown evenly. It only took about 20 minutes for my loaves to bake, so be aware that you may not need the full time.

Yum

I canned a batch of apple butter a week or two ago, and the result is so good, I want to share the recipe. It made 12 half-pint jars for me. All that is needed is a 5 minute dunk in a waterbath canner, so this is not difficult to can. I am planning on giving this out as Christmas gifts...

Appalachian Apple Butter

6 lbs unpeeled granny smith apples, cored and cut into eights
3 C apple cider
3 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt

In a large stainless steel pot, combine apples and cider. Boil reduce heat and cover. Simmer til apples are mushy, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain liquid and puree. I used an immersible hand blender for this part, but you could use a food processor or normal blender. Make sure your blending obliterates all of the peels. In a clean pot, add the pureed apples the brown sugar, spices and salt. Stir well and simmer over very low heat, uncovered til quit thick, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring often. Remove from heat and ladle into hot jars. wipe rims, seal with two part lids and process in a water bath for 5 minutes each batch.

The recipe says to wait a month before eating, but we opened them right away. It was still really yummy but next jar it had been about 2 weeks and it definitely tasted better so I recommend waiting!

Easy Whole Wheat Bread

I use this bread recipe every week and I still get excited every time the bread comes out of the oven. My mother in-law got this recipe from Jared's great aunt in Arizona. This recipe is wonderful because you don't have to let the bread rise twice. In addition, it doesn't call for sugar, butter or eggs and you use olive oil. It is really chewy and stays moist for well over a week.

*Note: sometimes I use half white flour/half whole wheat because it tends to rise more and sugar can be substituted for honey if needed since that is less expensive.

EASY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
(makes 2 loaves)

3 ½ c. whole wheat flour (white wheat works well)
1/3 c. gluten flour
1 ¼ tab. yeast

2 ½ c. hot water
1 tab. salt

1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. honey

1 ¼ tab. dough enhancer

2 ½ c. whole wheat flour

Mix together first 3 ingredients in mixer with dough hook. Add water all at once & mix for 1 minute. Cover & let rest for 10 minutes. Add salt, oil, honey, and dough enhancer, and mix for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing between each cup. Knead in mixer for about 8-10 minutes. Should be a soft dough. Turn dough onto oiled countertop & divide into 2 loaves & place in two oiled bread pans. Cover with a dish towel & let rise on warm oven until double in size (it will rise a little more when baking). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from pans & cool on racks.


Tip: Lemon juice or vitamin C granules can be substituted for dough enhancer.