Homemade Bread

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making homemade bread. My husband's favorite food is bread and I wanted to see if I could find a way to make bread at home for cheaper than I could get it for at the store, and without all of the preservatives typically used to keep store bought bread from going bad quickly.

I searched the internet high and low to find a recipe that would meet my needs. I don't have a bread maker, but wasn't too excited for the time requirement of making it completely by hand. I wasn't having much luck at first, and just when I was going to stop the search I came across a great recipe. I've been adjusting the flour levels a little bit everytime I make it, and the version I'm sharing today has more whole wheat flour than I've used before. Very happy with the outcome, and it's a good feeling knowing that I can provide my husband and I with healthy bread that is also a great source of fiber.

My mom told me about 'white whole wheat' flour and I love using it in my baking. The color is lighter than traditional whole wheat flour, and it seems to have a lighter texture.

The original recipe called for 2.5 cups white flour and 1.5 cups wheat flour. The first time I followed this exactly, then I went half and half. Today I used 3 cups for wheat flour and 1 cup of white. The flavor and texture actually didn't change all that much for me, but definitely an increase in the healthfulness of the bread by the ratio change.

No bread machine is used here, but you do use a stand mixer.

To begin, place 3 cups of whole wheat flour in the stand mixer bowl. Then add 1 cup of white flour. Next, add 1.5 tablespoons of sugar. Follow this by 1.5 teaspoons of salt and 1.5 teaspoons of yeast. I use rapid rise yeast (it says bread machine yeast on the bottle, but doesn't really matter... I use it for this and for my cinnamon roll dough!). Next I use 3 tablespoons of instant nonfat dry milk.

I actually had this ingredient on hand from another recipe I tried out. I wanted to make a 'box cake mix' mix that I could have on hand, but that wasn't full of preservatives and chemicals. The recipe I found uses nonfat dry milk..... I'll share that in the future!

Now melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add that to the bowl. At this point you can put the bowl into the mixer stand and use the 'paddle' attachment. Turn the mixer onto low. While it's combining the ingredients, get 1.25 cups of warm water and slowly pour it into the mixture.

I have had to add at least an extra 1/4 cup of warm water every time I've made it. Just watch as it's mixing and if there is unincorporated flour on the bottom of the bowl, add a little more water to combine it.

Now remove the paddle attachment and place your dough hook on. You could also choose at this point to knead the dough by hand. If that's you, sprinkle some flour on the counter and get started. .....that's not me, though. I put on my dough hook and let it go on medium for 5-7 minutes. It will make lots of funny noises, don't worry, this is normal.
After the time is up it should look something like this.... If it feels too sticky, add some more flour and let it mix up!
Take your dough ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
Here's the risen dough....
Place out on your counter and use your hands to form it into a rectangle shape. The dough is very easy to mold at this point.
Now let's get folding! I usually fold it in thirds approximately, but do more folds if that's your thing!

Here's one fold -
and the next...
Final product. Now you can seal the seams a little bit more than I did as you go if you want to.
Grab your loaf pan and lightly oil it. I just sprayed it with some cooking spray. Spray the top of the loaf with the cooking spray, and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the dough is long enough to touch both sides of the pan. Let proof for 1 to 1.5 hours. You want the dough to rise and start to crest over the top of the pan.
I could have let it go a little bit longer at this point if you want, but it will still be awesome if you put it in the oven now. Place into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, turn the pan 180 degrees and put in the oven for another 15 minutes.
Take the beautifully browned loaf and immediately place on a cooling rack.
Yum! Does anything beat the smell of homemade treats? Try to let it stand for 1-2 hours before cutting.

I wanted to show you all a comparison..... I decided to make a second loaf today and make a cinnamon swirl bread. I let this proof for longer in the loaf pan and you can tell in the size difference. Both were delicious with a nice texture, though.
For the cinnamon swirl, (I forgot to take a picture of this step!) when you have the dough formed into the rectangle, sprinkle a mixture of sugar and cinnamon over the top to cover. Then roll up as we did above, and follow the recipe exactly after that. This had such a lovely sweet taste to it! So yummy with a little butter or margarine spread on top. You could do the same thing with lots of fillings.....an olive mixture, herbs, anything really!

How pretty is the swirl?
One other thing I wanted to mention was that you don't even have to have a loaf pan for this recipe. I made two batches of the dough at the same time last week, and only have one loaf pan so I just placed one on a baking sheet. It's wider and shorter, but same flavor. Just a little more rustic look. :)

I still have to figure out the cost comparison, but I know for sure that it is cheaper for me to make this bread than it is to buy it in the sore. And guess what, I think it tastes WAY better!

Mary

Dinner Tonight

I have been missing in action on the blog, but have been cooking up a storm and been taking lots of pics, so here goes tonight's healthy dinner....
Roasted Chicken and Asparagus, and Mac 'n Cheese
Chicken legs are always on sale for .99cents/pound, so I use them often because of price point, moistness, and high iron level (I'm a regular blood donor!!) I almost always skin my chicken, and then I rubbed with Lawrys, garlic and lemon pepper. If time, I usually throw in a zip lock and use a little olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic and assortment of herbs that I have on hand. Anything will do. I didn't have time tonight, so hence the seasonings. No salt and pepper necessary. I decided to grill on my grill pan first, as I like the look and taste of grill marks.

I then threw them on a baking sheet and roasted at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Next comes the Mac 'n Cheese. Now, some of you might be surprised by this being on my menue, but once you see the "sneaks" in it, you will understand why I allow it....
This recipe is Ellie Kreiger, the nutrition chef on Food Network:

Step one is measure and weigh out your ingredients. I could not find squash puree in two grocery stores, so I cut up a butternut squash, you can easily buy ready to go at Trader Joes or Costco, and then I steamed for about 15 minutes. I drained the squash and poured milk into the same pot adding back the squash. Brought to simmer, as stated in the recipe, and then pureed.

Meanwhile, bring pasta, whole wheat, of course, to a boil.

Mix pasta and sauce, place in baking dish and top with bread crumbs topping as given in recipe.

Twenty minutes into chicken baking, put mac in the oven as well.
I then heated my second oven to 450 degrees. If you don't have the luxury of two, then when you pull out chicken and pasta, up temp. I placed my cleaned asparagus on baking sheet, sprinkling with a little olive oil and tossing and then sprinkling with some parmesan cheese. Roast in oven for 5-10 minutes.
Dinner is complete....

Chicken & Cabbage Soup (With lots of other veggies, too!)

[Writer's note: just ate some leftovers of this for lunch and it was fabulous - better than yesterday. Even though my rice sopped up all the liquid, it just made for very moist and rich rice!]

My mom made a version of this soup last week, and after hearing her rave reviews about it for several days, decided I needed to make it myself. Yesterday's cold and rainy weather provided the perfect opportunity to get nice and cozy and make soup for lunch. This is a veggie packed soup with cabbage, carrots, zucchini, and tomatoes....and lots of them!

Let's dive right in...

My mom used chicken thighs in her soup, but I didn't have any so chicken breasts it was. She recommended using about 4 thighs. Salt and pepper these babies and put them in a very hot pan to brown. You want to hear a sizzle when they make contact.
While your chicken is browning, wash and peel your carrots. No exact measurements in this recipe....the more the merrier really...
Grab your zucchini and wash that, too. Then cut up your veggies. Size does not matter here... I went with a rustic interpretation and had various sizes.
Crack open a can of whole tomatoes. Now let's go check on our chicken!
Flip it over and mmm browning nicely. See all those brown bits on the bottom of our pan? That is the flavor right there. And guess what - it's 100% natural.
Alright, once both sides are browned throw in your chopped veggies.
I then got a big measuring cup and proceeded to pour cupful after cupful of water in. You want to add enough to cover everything. And you see how it looks like I added chicken broth and not water? That's due to the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. *Do not overlook the importance of browning.*
I decided to use my tongs and add in each tomato instead of pouring it in with all the juicy goodness. Your choice. I wanted to be a rebel yesterday.

Pack everything in so it's covered, and put your lid on for about 20ish minutes.
In the meantime, grab a big head of cabbage and whack it in half. I think I'll do a post on how to cut cabbage soon. I know I was quite intimidated the first time I tried on my own. You want to cut the cabbage into wedges. After your 20 or so minutes are up, go check the carrots in your soup. They should be fork tender. When they are, add in your cabbage wedges. Nestle those babies down in there.
You then want to grab a few jalapenos and chop those up. Some of you may want to mince these very finely if you're a little wimpy when it comes to heat, but I was feeling brave so I left relatively large pieces. Rustic, remember?
Now here is the only thing I would change about this soup. I LOVE adding rice to my soups. However, I have since realized that the rice sopped up all of the wonderful broth, and continues to do so as it sits in my fridge this morning. My recommendation, cook you rice separately, and when you go to survive, add some into each individual bowl. That way you get the benefit of rice in your soup, but don't lose the delicious liquid it cooked in.
Go ahead and add some salt and pepper in. Be generous. Remember, we used water not chicken broth so there's really very little salt in the soup at this point. Add, taste, adjust as necessary. Put your lid back on after all of your additions are in. I was now waiting for my rice to cook, but you could just wait long enough so it's an hour of cooking time total (from when you added the water) and then dig in.
Serve this soup in a big bowl with a sprinkle of cumin, roughly chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

Perfect meal for a cool winter day. And guess what, the leftovers will be even better as the flavors have a chance to marry and settle in together overnight in the fridge. Thanks for sharing, Mom. :)

Mary

Awesome bean salad

I first came across this delightful salad from our wonderful friend Diane. She made this at a little get together at her house and I fell in love. I was so happy when she made this same salad for my bridal shower. I could have eaten the whole bowl! Diane was given this recipe from a family friend, and I'm so glad that she's since shared the recipe with me!

This recipe makes a large bowl of the salad. I just about halved it and there was still more than I could eat in one sitting (not because it wasn't super delicious!! just very filling).

Here is the original recipe:

Preti's Bean Salad

- soybeans

- white kidney beans

- red kidney beans

- red onion chopped

- cucumber chopped

- avocado, cut up

- corn (a quick saute is nice)

- cilantro chopped

Rinse and drain all beans. Combine ingredients and dress with the following dressing:

1/2 c red wine vinegar, 1/4 c olive oil, 2 T lime juice, 2 T lemon juice, 2 T sugar, 1 t salt, 1/4 t black pepper, 1 T ground cumin, 1 clove chopped garlic, 1/2 t chili powder (as desired)

The recipe uses a whole can of each type of bean. I used about 1/3-1/2 of a can of each. [I forgot to saute my corn, and totally spaced on adding the cucumber - oops!] Here is my bowl of soybeans (edamame), kidney beans, corn, white kidney beans (cannelini beans/great northern beans).

Chop a red onion...

Chop an avocado and add that and the onion to the bowl.

Chop up some cilantro and add it in. A rough chop is nice with this salad...really adds to the varied texture going on. [By the way.... I LOVE cilantro!]
Time to make the dressing. Combine all ingredients and stir up! By the way, I also am quite fond of cumin so I went ahead and still added the whole tablespoon of it. Also, I did a sprinkle of cayenne pepper for the heat.
Start dressing that salad... I halved the dressing recipe and still had too much. Used about half of the dressing I made. But I have a tupperware of leftover kidney beans, cannelini beans, and corn so I'll use that and the dressing later! [I had a frozen bag of soybeans, so I cut it open... put some into my little strainer and did a quick defrost under some warm running water. Then I placed the rest of the soybeans back in the freezer for another time.]
Stir it up and dig in!

I took a whole wheat pita and cut it up into chips and put in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes. Awesome lunch and I'm so happy to have this awesome bean salad recipe in my arsenal now!

Enjoy,

Mary