Multi-grain peasant bread

This is our new go-to bread for sandwiches. It makes two beautiful loaves (I use 9x5 bread pans) and once they're cool I freeze one, then I only have to bake bread about once every other week (because clearly we don't go through a lot of bread).

Multi-grain peasant bread
Proving yeast
  ● 1 tbsp dry yeast
  ● 1/4 tsp. sugar
  ● 1 c. warm water
Bread
  ● 2 c. all purpose flour
  ● 4-5 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  ● 1 c. rolled oats
  ● 1/3 c. cracked wheat or bulgur
  ● 1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp. yellow cornmeal
  ● 3 tbsp. sesame seeds
  ● 2 1/4 tsp. salt
  ● 2 c. warm water
  ● 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Glaze
  ● 1 egg white beaten with
  ● 1 tbsp water

Directions:
1. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over 1 cup warm water in small bowl; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy.

2. Meanwhile, combine all purpose flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, rolled oats, cracked wheat, 1/4 cup cornmeal, sesame seeds and salt in bowl of heavy duty mixer fitted with dough hook. (I have also added sunflower seeds from time to time).

3. Slowly add 2 cups warm water and oil and beat until well combined. Mix in dissolved yeast. Add whole wheat flour slowly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Continue beating 3 minutes (dough will be slightly sticky). Let dough rest in bowl several minutes.

4. Turn dough onto heavily floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (the finger poke test should produce a lasting divet), kneading in additional flour if necessary (sometimes I don't have to do this part at all). Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat entire surface. Cover with damp towel and let rise in draft free area until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon cornmeal on baking sheet or grease bread pans. With well floured hands, divide dough in half. Pat one piece into 9 inch wide rectangle. Starting at one 9 inch side, roll up tightly jelly roll fashion and shape into an oval loaf. Repeat with remaining dough and place loaves seam side down on prepared sheet or pans. Cover with towel and let rise 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slash tops of loaves with sharp knife. Bake 20 minutes. Brush top with glaze and vontinue baking until loaves brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and turn out to cool on racks. Wait about 5 minutes, then try a piece while it's warm!

Cranberry oat scones

Somewhere in our genealogy there is a little British. This is evident in how much we have come to enjoy our afternoon tea, Calvin and I. Tea and scones. It's a jolly good time.

Cranberry Oat Scones Recipe

Yield: Makes 8 scones
Ingredients:
  ● 1 3/4 cups flour
  ● 1/3 cup sugar
  ● 1/4 tsp. salt
  ● 3/4 tsp. baking soda
  ● 1 tsp. baking powder
  ● 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
  ● 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  ● 2/3 cup dried cranberries
  ● Zest of an orange
  ● 2/3 cup buttermilk
Egg Wash:
  ● 1 large egg
  ● 1 tbsp. milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and whisk to combine. Cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add rolled oats, dried cranberries and zest. Mix until combined. Stir in the buttermilk and mix just until dough comes together.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, then pat into a circle about about 1-1/2 inches thick. Cut dough circle into 8 triangular sections (like a pizza). Place scones on parchment papered baking sheet and brush tops with egg mixture.

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on racks.

Enjoy! I highly recommend the tea.

Bagels!

I finally did it. After weeks of saying I'd give it a try, and weeks of my chickening out because there were too many other things to do in a week, we finally made bagels today. Now that I've done it I have to wonder why on earth we waited this long. They were incredibly easier to make, and so, so yummy—soft on the inside with just the right combination of crunchy and chewy on the outside. These are even easier than english muffins, since you don't have to stand over a hot griddle cooking each one for several minutes, taste much better than your store variety bagel, and are probably a lot healthier than your bakery or Panera bagel (I haven't done any research here, but when making them at home you have control over what goes in, so...).

I looked at several different recipes online and combined them to come up with the one I give here. These are definitely going in my bread roatation.

Homemade bagels

Yield: 8-12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 60 minutes rising time

Ingredients:
  ● 1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115 degrees F)
  ● 2 tbsp. dry yeast
  ● 3 tbsp. sugar
  ● 1 tbsp. salt
  ● 4 1/4 cups flour, (I used 2 1/4 whole wheat)
  ● 2 qt. water, for boiling
  ● 1 egg white, lightly beaten
  ● 1 tbsp. water
  ● Toppings/flavors, optional (think raisins, garlic, poppy seeds, etc.)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm water together and let stand until foamy (several minutes).

2. Mix 2 cups of flour with the salt in mixing bowl; add yeast mixture slowly with machine on 2. Mix until combined, then slowly mix in two more cups of flour.

3. Remove dough from mixing bowl and knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding additional 1/4 cup flour (or more) if necessary (I recommend hand kneading as opposed to mixer kneading with these). Place dough in oiled bowl, turning to coat, cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).

4. Remove dough from bowl. If you are adding mixed in ingredients (like cinnamon and raisins) this is the time to do it—make a well in the dough and add ingredients, then knead just enough to mix throughout, being careful not to over-knead.  Divide and shape into 8-12 balls, depending on the size of bagel you want. Place balls on baking sheets, cover, and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. After 5 minutes rest, make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place bagels back on baking sheets, cover, and allow to rest for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 350, and make your coating by mixing the egg white and water. After bagels have rested, use a pair of soft tongs drop them, 2 or 3 at a time, into the boiling water for about 45 seconds, turning each once. Remove to wire racks to drain.

7. Brush tops of bagels with egg white mixture and sprinkle with any additional toppings if using. Place bagels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking (if making topped bagels, rotate). Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny when done. Remove to cooling racks.

here they are pre-boiling

The boiling process—you don't want them layered in the pot, and they only stay in for 45 seconds, so stick to boiling just a few at a time.

The final product! I made some plain, some "everything" (poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic, and course salt), and some cinnamon raisin (After the rise, I divided my dough into three parts, mixing cinnamon and raisins into just one part). These were incredibly good right out of the oven, of course!

Rustic Zucchini Bread

It's that time of year! Our zucchini plants are valiantly fighting powdery mildew (with a little help from their farmer–did you know that a 1:1 dilution of organic milk sprayed on the leaves after dusk does wonders for this ailment?), and are producing at an astonishing pace. I keep remembering last year when all we got was one armload of zucchini before the plants succumbed to the fungus that we are successfully fighting organically this year!

In any case, with so many zucchini on hand, how could I not make zucchini bread? I found a standard recipe online, which we tried as written first, then made it a tad heartier and healthier with my own variations, including substituing whole wheat flour for half the white, increasing the amount of nuts, and decreasing the amount of sugar. I was expecting the worst, but really it was beautifully moist and very flavorful. Better than the original, if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

● 2 eggs
● 1 cup sugar
● 2.5 tsp. vanilla
● 3 cups grated fresh zucchini, skin on
● 2/3 cup melted butter
● 2 tsp. baking soda
● 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
● 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
● 1 tsp. nutmeg
● 3 tsp. cinnamon
● 1.25-1.5 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the grated zucchini then add melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, a third at a time (I mixed the two flours together first). Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix. Fold in the nuts.

2 Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour at 350, or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean (check for doneness at 50 minutes). Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

Jessica's pesto burgers

We have a good friend to thank for this idea and recipe, so I've named it after her in my book. Since our little herb garden has yet to mature we had to buy our basil and pesto, and we found beautiful organic herbs at Meijer. Come to think of it, all of our Pesto ingredients are organic from Meijer!

Pesto burgers

● 1/2-2/3 cup pesto
● ~1 lb. ground beef

Mix pesto and ground beef together in a small bowl before forming into hamburgers. Grill to desired doneness and serve on buns with your favorite toppings! We topped with mozzarella cheese, tomaotes, and mayo mixed with the leftover pesto.

Pesto for pasta

● 1 cup fresh basil, firmly packed
● 1/2 cup fresh parsley, firmly packed with stems removed
● 1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated
● 1/4 cup pine nuts
● 1 large garlic clove, quartered
● 1/4 tsp salt
● 1/4 cup olive oil

In food processor combine all dry ingredients and blend until a paste forms (pulsing sometimes helps with this), stopping the machine frequently to scrape the sides if necessary.
While machine runs slowly, add olive oil and continue to process to the consistency of soft butter.

Hamburger buns

● 2 tbsp. active dry yeast
● 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water , (105° to 115°)
● 1/3 cup vegetable oil
● 1/4 cup sugar
● 1 egg
● 1 tsp. salt
● 3-3.5 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Let stand for 5 minutes. 

In mixer bowl combine oil, 2.5 cups of flour, egg, and salt, add dough hook and mix on speed 1 for a few seconds.  Add yeast mixture slowly, over about a minute, with machine running on speed 1 or 2.  Allow flour to incorporate then add remaining flour slowly until a soft dough forms a ball on the hook and begins to clean the sides of the bowl.

Remove to a lightly floured surface and divide into 10-12 pieces, rolling each into a ball.  Place on greased baking sheets, approx. 3 inches apart.  Cover and let rest for at least 10 minutes, then press each ball gently and bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.