Whole wheat bread recipe

I am frequently asked about my bread recipe. I had a more complicated recipe that I have put on the blog before, but I tend to go back to this simple but yummy recipe I got from someone who used to be a friend (yes, they decided to block me from their personal blog and facebook without any explanation, I swear I felt like I was back in high school). Oh, well, their choice.

Anyhow, I am naming it

Carla's Basic Wheat Bread

Into your bread maker put the following in this order (you can also usebasic bread techniques in a mixer if you don't have a breadmaker, you just need tomake sure to knead it for a long time):

10 oz warm water
1/4 cup honey
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (if its too gummy use less you may have to experiment based on your humidity)
1.5 tbsp oil
3.5-4 cups fresh ground white wheat (if using store bought you may need less, i just keep an eye on the breadmaker for a few minutes and add flour as needed till its no longer too sticky)
2 tsp instant yeast

Turn your bread maker on to the dough setting. It will go through kneading and some rise cycles. When its done pull it out and knead it into a loaf shape and throw it into a greased loaf pan. Let it rise covered for another 25 minutes, then take a knife and cut a 1/2 inch deep gash along the length of the loaf to allow for more expansion. Put the loaf into a cold oven, then turn the oven on to 350 and set the timer to 28-30 minutes. When the loaf is nice and golden pull it out then let it cool on a wire rack.

New Bread Recipe

So, I had a bread recipe I had been using for about a year that for some reason was becoming unremarkable to me. I decided to go back searching, and remembered a King Arthur recipe I liked. I made it a couple times, but it was too orange-y to me. So I modified it a bit and came up with something nice and light and it really does keep well. There is nothing "weird" in the recipe that you have to search for except the vital wheat gluten (I buy it in bulk from amazon).

10 ounces warm water

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup dried milk (you can just use warm milk instead of the water)

1/2 cup instant potato flakes

2 tbsp orange juice

2 tbsp some kind of oil/butter (I use extra light olive oil but canola or a low flavor vegetable oil would work best)

1-2 tbsp vital wheat gluten (you generally need less in the summer, if your bread is gummy, use less)

1.5 tsp salt

3.5 cups white whole wheat flour*

2.5 tsp instant yeast

I combine all the ingredients in an order recommended by my bread machine but you could use standard bread making procedures. After its kneaded (and whole wheat needs a good long knead) and risen, shape it into a loaf pan (metal works best, and actually I use three mini loaf pans because it keeps better if the loaf hasn't been cut into), cover and let rise again. Place bread into a cold oven, turn the oven on to 350 and set the timer for 20 minutes. If you use a regular metal loaf pan it will take longer (about 30 minutes), but my mini loaves are done at 20. Take it out of the oven and immediately out of the pans and let cool, then store in a ziploc bag.

*I use freshly ground white wheat flour. If you use wheat from the store you may need to use less. Sometimes I need less/more depending on the humidity anyways, so just make sure it has formed a nice ball and isn't too sticky while kneading.

**Metal is better by far than glass (I found some good pans at Kroger recently, and bonus, they were cheap, but still bake really well!). If you use a glass loaf pan you may also need to cover it with tin foil to prevent too much browning on top.

Yummy Garlic Bread

Buttery Garlic Bread Ring:
Bren’s Recipe

1 Loaf frozen bread dough thawed & allowed to rise (or make your own)
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. parsley flakes
1 stick butter, melted (I use ½ stick)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In small bowl, beat egg and add parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt & parsley flakes, and mix to combine. Spray bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pull golf ball size pieces of dough off the risen bread dough. Roll in egg mixture and set them around the bottom of the bundt pan. Allow resting for 1/2 hour and it will rise again slightly. Bake in oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter. When bread comes out of the oven, immediately drizzle or brush butter on the bread, covering it evenly. It will sizzle or bubble and look like the bread is drowning in butter but, don't worry, in about 1 minute, it will soak into the bread.

Notes: This removes easily out of the pan and you can either butter the cut bread slices or place melted butter in the center of the bread & use to dip the bread.
*This can also be made in a loaf pan (But, I think the bundt pan is better). Set balls of dough in lines of three going down the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top. Drizzle or brush the top with the butter. Serve warm right out of the oven. Slice to serve.

Whole Wheat Bread

I've been tinkering around with whole wheat bread recipes for a while now. I started with Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day but really this crust is too hard for all the time. Then I found another blog with a wheat bread recipe that calls for all kinds of dough conditioners (vital wheat gluten, vinegar, potato flakes) and I thought I had found my recipe. Its really good, fairly dense but very moist and keeps pretty well (this is my normal problem with sliced bread, it dries out. I like to make three mini loafs instead of one big loaf and this helps it stay moist.). But, of course I can't leave well enough alone and was wandering around the King Arthur Flour website and found an interesting recipe. Orange juice, huh? This was fluffier than my other recipe. I just made it today so I can't say yet how it will keep, but this may be made frequently too.

I think my bread plan is to mostly make wheat bread but maybe once a week make some yummy white rolls. The kids really like even my homemade 100% wheat bread and they were never big on store bought wheat bread. Who knew?

Cream Biscuits

Biscuits so good (and easy too!) you'll never want those in a can or from the freezer again! From the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (forget Betty Crocker this is my go-to cookbook).

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and spray baking sheet. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add in cream and stir until a dough forms (about 30 seconds). Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead until smooth, about 30 seconds. I then pat the dough out into a flat shape (roughly circular) about 3/4 inch thick and cut into 8 wedges. You can also use a biscuit cutter to cut out circles. Put on your baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes.

Awesome Bread!

I found this in another blog here the other day. Since I was making soup tonight (cream of tomato, America's test kitchen recipe) I decided to give it a go. It was AWESOME! So good! The recipe is below:

Super Easy Skillet Bread
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2-4 T. butter
optional mix ins: cheese, bacon bits, green chilis, cornmeal, taco seasoning...use your imagination
Stir together the dry ingredients, then stir in the milk until a smooth batter forms. Place an oven proof skillet (I used an 8x8 pyrex dish) in the oven while it's heating up and put the butter (I used all 4 tbsp) in. Once the butter is nicely melted and bubbly, pour the batter into the skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown. You may either slice it into wedges to serve, or simply tear off hunks. I put in about 1/2-1 cup of shredded colby jack and it was way good! So, this is not that great leftover cold (may reheat all right). You can also cut the recipe in half and do it in some smaller containers (I used some corningware last night).

How I make Pizza

I feel like I have perfected pizza making so I thought I would share my method.

First buy a pan like this or this.

Next buy frozen white bread loaves. I find these at Walmart made by Rhodes, but Kroger also sells a generic. You can similarly buy pizza dough from the bakery at Publix.

Start making your pizza.

About 4 hours before dinner, get out your frozen bread dough. Put it in a loaf pan and allow to defrost and rise. You can warm your oven a bit to speed up the process. Once you dough has risen, work it into a round shape. I roll it out for a while and then I start stretching with my fists and fingers. Just try not to pull it so thin it breaks. Spray your pan with non-stick spray, spread your pizza dough on it (you want it fairly thin), and put it in a 400 degree oven. Now watch your dough, if it starts forming bubbles, pop them with a fork. When it starts to get just slightly brown, pull it out of the oven.

Now for the toppings. Put on your sauce, a little cheese, your toppings, then a little more cheese. Throw it back into the oven and wait for the cheese to get just a slight bit brown and bubbly on the edges, at least 10 minutes in my oven. Pull it out and slice. You have a nice crispy crust and we really enjoy it. If you come to my house on Friday night you are almost always guaranteed to see us eating pizza!

Rolls

Update to the update: I have gone back to making the recipe typed below and not the allrecipes.com one. They are both good though, can't go wrong either way!

Update: I don't really make this recipe anymore. Instead my go-to white roll recipe is:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Dinner-Rolls/Detail.aspx The only thing I do differently is I don't use the 1/4 cup butter when shaping the rolls.

Dinner Rolls
1 1/3 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 T instant yeast
1 tsp salt (although I think it could use more but I don't know what that would do to the recipe)
2 eggs
4+ cups of flour (all purpose or bread flour, or you can sub in some whole wheat flour to make it more healthy. Luke says it tastes too healthy with the wheat!)

Mix water, sugar, and yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes. Mix in salt, eggs, and 3 cups of flour. Continue adding flour until it is smooth and dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer (but still sticks just a little bit to the bottom). Remove mixer attachment and let rise in mixer bowl covered for 30 minutes. Knead with a little more flour and shape and let rise for 30 more minutes. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.