Category Archives: Breads

Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread

March 20, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

I have recently rediscovered my bread maker. Great, a loss of more valuable real estate on the counter! But so worth it. I can’t honestly remember the last time I regularly bought bread at the shops. Home made bread, whether you do it completely from scratch or with the assistance of a bread maker…just so yummilicious! The house smells good, the bread is good – even if it doesn’t come out just right- oh, yes, the taste of freshly baked bread, straight out of the oven with a bit of butter or good olive oil.
I have to admit that I love a slice of homemade white bread; it’s like you have died and gone to foodie heaven. It’s what childhood should taste like. White, pure, absolutely delicious. Maybe that is why I love it so much; it symbolizes what I miss, what I hope I gave my children and what I hope to give to my grandchildren.
I digress, while I do love white bread and all it has to offer, I also love a fresh-outta-the-oven slice of whole wheat goodness! It is more sensible, right? Now the cookbook that came with my bread maker was sadly lacking in everyday recipes…who makes Potato Bread on a regular basis? Or Banana Bread…in a bread maker?? So I sat down at the computer and googled whole wheat bread; I settled on this one from my trusted friends over at Betty Crocker <-she taught me how to cook, bless her soul! I chose this recipe for Whole Wheat Cranberry Bread but have changed it up a few times: once I used Epicures 3 Onion Dip mix and Parmesan Cheese, another time I used Garlic and Italian Herbs…subbing out the Cinnamon and Cranberries, of course. So far they have all been a hit!

whole wheat cranberry bread — Grilled Cheese on Whole Wheat Cranberry Bread

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Hot Water (70degreesF – 80degreesF)
1/4 cup Honey
2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) Butter, cubed
2 cups Flour
1 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
2 teaspoons Bread Machine or Quick Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries or Raisins

Carefully measure all ingredients into the bread pan, in the order listed, except for cranberries – I often use the a bit of this a bit of that regime for making recipes but never for bread! It wants precision.
Select Whole Wheat cycle (on my machine Setting 2)
Use Medium or Light Crust colour.
Do NOT use delay cycle – Dough cycle is alright.
Add Cranberries when the machine beeps.
Remove baked bread from pan and cool on cooling rack.

herb and garlic whole wheat bread — Herb and Garlic Whole Wheat Bread

Omit Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Cranberries.
Measure water, butter and honey into baking pan.
Add flours, salt and ADD
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
Carefully stir herbs and garlic into the flour without disturbing underlying water.
Sprinkle Yeast over combined flour mixture.
Use the same Whole Wheat Bread cycle (Setting 2 on mine)

Omit Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Cranberries.
Measure water, butter and honey into baking pan.
Add flours, salt and ADD
1 Tablespoon Epicure 3 Onion Dip Mix
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated – when the machine beeps.Carefully stir herbs and garlic into the flour without disturbing underlying water.
Sprinkle Yeast over combined flour mixture.
Use the same Whole Wheat Bread cycle (Setting 2 on mine)
When machine beeps, add Parmesan Cheese.

Yeast

Scrumptious Dinner Rolls

February 26, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

These are simply the BEST, quick and easy yeast rolls you will ever make. And make them you will, and often, because they are that easy and that incredibly yummy!
Admittedly, I already had a tried-and-true recipe for quick dinner rolls but when these popped up in my Facebook feed I simply had to try them. I have had favourable results with a lot of Kitchen Meets Girl recipes and figured this recipe for 30-Minute Dinner Rolls would be no different. I was right. I love being right, especially when it comes to food!

The Best Dinner Rolls you will ever have

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Warm Water
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups Flour

Preheat oven to 400F.
Lightly spray a 9X13″ pan with vegetable oil spray.

In mixing bowl combine warm water, oil, yeast and sugar.
Allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Using the dough hook, stir in 2 cups of the flour, salt, egg into the yeast mixture.
Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour slowly, about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
On low speed, knead for about 5 minutes.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface, gather into a ball and knead a few times, until smooth and elastic.
Shape dough into 12 evenly shaped balls and place in prepared pan; cover with a clean tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Bake in preheated 400F oven for about 10 – 12 minutes, or just until the tops are golden brown.
Remove from oven and turn out onto wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Yield: 12 Dinner Rolls

Oh, and BTW, they are absolutely incredible with Vegemite!

Best Ever Dinner Rolls with Vegemite - Yum! — Best Ever Dinner Rolls with Vegemite – Yum!

Coffee Cakes, Quick Breads

Cinnamon Roll Bread

February 23, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

All too often I find myself craving Cinnamon Rolls. I have a few problems with that: all the kids are grown and gone so I would have to eat the entire batch on my own, they are sinfully good therefore I would find it impossible to eat just one in a single sitting, and finally, the cream cheese frosting is far too good to be true.

I am always looking for ways to incorporate that yummy Cinnamon Roll taste in a smaller, simpler recipe. I was delighted when this Cinnamon Roll Bread recipe from CenterCutCook came through my Facebook Feed over at Ay Sontespli’s Kitchen! If you love Cinnamon Rolls as much as I do I hope you will be as pleased with this quick bread recipe as I was!

cinnamon roll bread — Cinnamon Roll Bread

2 cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup Milk ( I often use Almond Milk)
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/3 cup Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream

Swirl Ingredients
1/3 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Water

Glaze Ingredients
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly spray a 9X5 inch Loaf Pan with vegetable oil spray.

In a small bowl combine Swirl Ingredients together: sugar, cinnamon and water; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; make a well in the centre.
In a small mixing bowl or a large pyrex measuring cup combine egg, milk, vanilla and yogurt or sour cream.
Add dry ingredients all at once into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
Stir just to combine.
Spoon half of the bread batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Spoon half of the swirl mixture over the batter.
Carefully spoon remaining bread batter over both, spreading it evenly over the swirl mixture.
Top with remaining swirl mixture, then use a knife to make swirl designs to incorporate the cinnamon swirl into the bread batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
Remove bread from oven and place on wire rack to cool.
Run small metal spatula around the edges of the cinnamon bread to loosen from pan; turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
While bread is cooling, make the Glaze:
Combine icing sugar with scant Tablespoon of milk, adding a little more to achieve desired consistency.
When bread has cooled completely, drizzle glaze over the bread, allow to harden slightly before slicing to serve.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: 8 to 10 Slices.

Breakfast

Broccoli and Cheddar Whole Wheat Pancakes

February 3, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

I wanted to make Luke Breakfast for Dinner but didn’t have any bread in the house. Luke doesn’t like to mix his savoury with his sweet so I couldn’t make, you know, regular pancakes. But, hey, I saw a post the other day for Ham and Cheese Pancakes…I don’t remember where I saw it but I have a pretty good grasp on how to make a basic pancake and let’s see, what’s in the fridge? Broccoli, cheddar, tomato….yup, I have it. Broccoli and Cheddar Whole Wheat Pancakes with Tomato Sriracha Yogurt.

Broccoli and Cheddar Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil or Butter, melted
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 – 2 cups Almond Milk or Milk
3 stems Broccoli, finely chopped
1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
2 Green Onions, chopped

1 cup Greek Style Yogurt
1 Roma Tomato, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha Sauce
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Pepper, to taste

Heat electric griddle to 350F.
In mixing bowl combine flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl combine vegetable oil, eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk; add all at once to dry ingredients and stir gently, just until combined, adding more milk if needed to get right consistency. ( I never measure milk…just pour!)
Fold in chopped broccoli, shredded cheddar and green onions.
Drop about 1/3 cup of batter onto lightly greased griddle, smoothing batter out a bit with the back of your spoon. I can usually cook 6 pancakes at a time on my griddle.
Cook until bubbles form and start to pop, about 3 – 4 minutes, before turning over.
Continue cooking for another 3 – 4 minutes.
Transfer to serving platter and repeat with remaining batter.
While pancakes are cooking, combine yogurt, chopped tomato, sriracha sauce and salt in a small bowl.
To serve, stack two or three pancakes on plate, top with Tomato Sriracha Sauce, a bit of shredded cheddar and chopped green onion.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Broccoli and Cheddar Whole Wheat Pancakes with Bacon and Eggs

Breakfast

Breakfast Bulgur

January 15, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

So I ran out of Chia Seeds the other day. I rummaged in the cupboards looking for a protein packed substitute that I could add to my Breakfast Smoothie. I grabbed a package of unopened Bulgur….big mistake!
Ah, but now the package is open! Why did I buy this stuff? Surely I was not thinking of making Tabbouleh in the Winter? Who knows? Some recipe that contained the stuff must have caught my eye; too bad I can’t remember what the recipe was?? Now I will just have to find other ways to cook up this package of Bulgur.
I usually make Eggs and Bacon for my husband but he has expressed a desire to cut down on the animal protein he consumes. Woot! Mayhaps I will get him to come back to a Vegetarian way of life…?? One can hope. Anyway, it is cold and gloomy out these days so a cooked breakfast is the way to go, right?
I used all of my rolled oats in my Christmas baking so that was out. Oh yea, that package of Bulgur…surely that is cooked up like Rolled Oats? Sure is!

3 cups water
1 cup Bulgur
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Honey
Blueberries, fresh or frozen
Strawberries, fresh or frozen

In medium saucepan combine water, bulgur, cranberries, salt and honey.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until bulgur is tender and mixture is consistency of oatmeal, about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries and/or strawberries.
Serve with milk and top with extra fruit.

Serves 6

Variation:
Omit Dried Cranberries, Blueberries and/or Strawberries
Reduce Honey to 2 Tablespoons
Maple and Brown Sugar Bulgur
Stir in
1/3 cup Raisins
1/4 cup Walnuts, Chopped
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
Brown Sugar, to serve

www.aysontespli.ca — Maple and Brown Sugar Bulgur

*I like to make up a batch of cooked breakfast porridge and keep it in the fridge for a quick breakfast that can be warmed up in the microwave.

Aysontespli's Kitchen