Oat & Honey White Wheat Bread

Looking for a change from my usual bread recipes and here’s a good one! This recipe makes 2 loaves, but because we were barbecuing burgers for dinner, instead of a second loaf, I made 8 burger buns. In the picture you might notice there are only 7 buns, I couldn’t wait!

1½ cups old-fashioned oats (plus a little more coating loaves)
4 Tbl butter
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp salt
2½ cups boiling water
1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)
4½ tsp (2 pkts) dry yeast
3 cups white wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

In large bowl of mixer, add oats, butter, honey, and salt, pour boiling water over and let sit for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle yeast over the 1/2 cup warm water, let sit until foamy. Add yeast mixture to oat mixture and stir. Add white wheat flour and all-purpose flour, mix until combined. Knead for about 7-8 minutes. Turn out into greased bowl, cover and let rise 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto flour surface and cut in half. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise until double, about 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake bread 35-40 minutes (bake buns 20-30 minutes), or until temperature at center of  loaf is 200°. Remove loaves from oven, cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cooling rack.

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Mtn Dew Bread

For fun, and in honor of my brother Tyler’s birthday, Mtn Dew Bread! In our Fam we love Diet Dew and Diet Coke, so, the breads you see pictured below are made with Diet Dew on the right and Diet Coke on the left. The Dew Bread is our favorite!

3 cups flour
4½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbl sugar
3 Tbl butter, melted & slightly cooled
1 (12 oz) Mtn Dew Soda (I use Diet)

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with non-stick spray. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add butter and Mtn Dew; stir just until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan, sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown on top and pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Buttery Parker House Rolls

I wanted to eat the whole pan of these buttery, tender rolls!

3 cups all-purpose flour
2½ tsp yeast
3 Tbl sugar
1½ tsp salt
1/4 cup potato flour or 3/4 cup dried potato flakes
3 Tbl butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 large egg
3 1/2 to 4 Tbl butter, melted; for brushing on rolls

In large mixing bowl, or in bowl of electric mixer, combine all ingredients (except the 3 1/2 to 4 Tbl melted butter at the end), mixing to form a shaggy dough. Note: to speed rising process, whisk together milk and egg, and heat gently just enough to remove refrigerator chill; then add to remaining ingredients. Knead dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (7 to 8 minutes) until it’s smooth.

Place dough in lightly greased bowl, let rise for 90 minutes; it’ll become quite puffy, though it probably won’t double in bulk. Transfer dough to a lightly greased work surface, divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, roll or pat the dough into an 8″ x 12″ rectangle. Brush dough with light coating of melted butter. You’ll have butter left over; you’ll need it for the other half of the dough, as well as for brushing on top of the baked rolls.

Cut dough in half lengthwise, to make two 4″ x 12″ rectangles. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold lengthwise. You’ll now have a rectangle that’s about 2 1/4″ x 12″. Repeat with other piece of dough. Cut each rectangle crosswise into four 3″ pieces, making total of 8 folded rolls, each about 2 1/4″ x 3″. Flip rolls over (so that their smooth side is facing up), and place them in lightly greased 9″ x 13″ pan. Repeat with remaining piece of dough, making 16 rolls in all. Arrange 4 rows of 4 in the pan, with the longer side of rolls going down longer side of pan. Gently flatten rolls to pretty much cover bottom of pan.

Cover pan, and let rolls rise about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they’re puffy but definitely not doubled. Towards end of rising time, preheat oven to 350°. Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re golden brown and feel set. Remove from oven and brush with remaining melted butter. Pull apart to serve. Recipe found at kingarthurflour.com.

More Rolls!

   

Fast Honey Buttermilk Bread

This bread takes about 1½ hours to make and it is DELICIOUS! One of my favorite things is a fat end slice of homemade bread hot from the oven slathered with butter. It reminds me of my childhood, coming home from school and mom would have bread right from the oven with butter and homemade jam for an after school snack. Thanks Mom!

5¼ cups flour
2 pkt (4½ tsp) dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)
3 Tbl honey
1/3 cup oil
1½ tsp salt
1½ cups warm buttermilk

In bowl of mixer, add flour and yeast. Pour in warm water over yeast. Add honey, oil, salt and warm buttermilk (heat buttermilk in microwave on 50% until warm, careful not to curdle). Mix for 5 minutes. Spray counter and 2 bread pans with non-stick spray. Shape loaves, place in pans and cover. Let rise 45-60 minutes. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes (tent with foil during baking if necessary so loaves don’t get too brown).

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

This is a fun and delicious treat to try during quarantine or anytime! Stir batter together while waffle iron heats, cook for 1-2 minutes, and you have a chocolate treat that’s a little crunch on the outside and tender fudgy on the inside.

4 Tbl unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
dash of salt

Heat waffle iron to medium heat. Melt cocoa with butter in small bowl in microwave. In large bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, flour, and the cocoa mixture. Spread some batter in hot waffle iron and bake 1-2 minutes, depends on your waffle iron, take a peek after 1 minute. Cool on rack.

Butter Swim Biscuits

This recipe is one of the most visited on my website, posted back on May 26, 2014. Stir together five ingredients, pour melted butter in a pan, spread mixture in the pan with the butter, and bake. A little crisp and very buttery on the outside and fluffy tender on the inside. A super easy addition for any meal.

2½ cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1¾ cups buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400°. Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Stir in buttermilk just until combined. Pour melted butter into 8″x8″ or 9″x9″. Drop biscuit batter into pan and spread out evenly. Butter will come up over the edges and cover over the top of the biscuit batter, as if it is “swimming”. Cut biscuits about half way down into batter to create the individual biscuits (4×4). Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and beautiful! Cool a bit and cut through again, but all the way through to the bottom of pan. Enjoy!

*This time I used a rectangle pan (7″x11″) that is comparable to the 9″x9″. Below is the picture from the first posting using a 9″x9″.

 

Classic Sandwich Bread

During this quarantine, I am baking some form of bread every other day. It keeps me busy, happy and we are well stuffed with carbs. This is #16 and the last of kingarthurflour.com‘s Best Basic Recipes Collection. I have baked this bread twice now and it is wonderful, great texture and flavor. Is there anything better than a big fat end piece off a loaf of homemade bread right out of the oven? I’ll answer that, no! It is the best! My favorite lunch is homemade bread and peanut butter sandwich, yes just peanut butter, my daughters think I’m a little crazy.

3 cups flour
1/2 cup milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole, your choice)*
1/2 to 2/3 cup hot water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough
4 Tbl melted butter or 1/4 cup oil
2 Tbl sugar
1¼ tsp salt
1 pkt (2¼ tsp) yeast

*Mix cold milk with hot tap water to make a lukewarm liquid before adding to the remainder of the ingredients.

∇ This recipe makes 1 loaf, it is easy to double the batch to make 2 loaves!

To make the dough: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. Or mix and knead the dough using an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine set to the dough or manual cycle.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise until puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. If you’re using a bread machine, allow the machine to complete its cycle, then leave the dough in the machine until it’s doubled in bulk, perhaps an additional 30 minutes or so.

Gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a lightly oiled work surface. Shape the dough into an 8″ log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 60 minutes, until it’s domed about 1″ above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly. Towards the end of the rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until it’s light golden brown. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom (it should sound hollow), or by measuring its interior temperature with a digital thermometer (it should register 190°F at the center of the loaf).

Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

More Luscious Bread! 

 

Biscuits

This is new to me, I have never made biscuits without cutting shortening or butter into the flour, the recipe just uses heavy cream. This is recipe #14 of the kingarthurflour.com Best Basic Recipes. The recipe says you will get 9-11 biscuits, I feel like to get even 9 biscuits, I had to roll the dough too thin and the biscuits are pretty flat. They do have really good flavor and reminded me of getting Fisher Scones at the Ellensburg Rodeo! A tasty breakfast that took me down memory lane.

1¾ cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbl baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1-1¼ cups heavy cream
1-2 Tbl melted butter

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Stir in enough heavy cream to moisten the dough thoroughly. You’ll probably use about 1 cup in the summer, 1 1/4 cups in the winter, and 1 cup + 2 tablespoons at the turn of the seasons. You want to be able to gather the dough together, squeeze it, and have it hang together easily, without dry bits falling off.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and very gently pat it into an 8″ circle about 3/4″ thick. If you’re uncertain about your ability to make a nice freeform 8″ round, pat the dough into a lightly floured 8″ round cake pan, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Use a sharp 2 ¼” biscuit cutter to cut rounds (I prefer to make a large square and use a pizza cutter and cut 9 squares, you’re only working the dough once). Place them on a lightly greased (or parchment-lined) baking sheet. Brush the biscuits with butter, if desired, for extra flavor. Place the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes. This will improve the biscuits’ texture and rise.

Preheat the oven to 425°F while the biscuits are in the freezer. Bake the biscuits for 20 minutes, till they’re golden brown. Remove from the oven. If you have any melted butter left over, brush it on the baked biscuits. Serve immediately.

More Delicious Biscuits!

Golden Pull-Apart Butter Buns

These buns are delicious! Recipe #11 on kingarthurflour.com Best Basic Recipes collection. There’s nothing like homemade rolls/bread, and quarantine is a great time to practice our bread baking skills. Happy Baking!

3½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbl potato flour or 1/4 cup potato flakes
3 Tbl dry milk
2 Tbl sugar
1½ tsp salt
4 Tbl softened butter
2/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm water

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and mix and knead — using your hands, a stand mixer, or a bread machine set on the dough cycle — to make a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased container, cover, and allow the dough to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s just about doubled in bulk. Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, by dividing in half, then in halves again, etc. Round each piece into a smooth ball. Lightly grease two 8″ round cake pans. Space 8 buns in each pan. Can you use 9″ round cake pans, or a 9″ x 13″ pan? Sure; the buns just won’t nestle together as closely, so their sides will be a bit more baked. Cover the pans, and allow the buns to rise till they’re crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover the buns, and bake them for 22 to 24 minutes, until they’re golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the center bun should register at least 190°F. Remove the buns from the oven, and brush with 2 Tbl melted butter. After a couple of minutes, turn them out of the pan onto a cooling rack. Serve warm. Store leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.

More Roll Recipes!
Honey Wheat Rolls
Cornbread Yeast Rolls
One Hour Homemade Dinner Rolls
Sweet Honey Butter Rolls
Sweet Bread Rolls
Lion House Rolls

Whole-Grain Banana Bread

Moist and flavorful is what I will say about recipe #10 on kingarthurflour.com‘s Best Basic Recipe list. I say that after much grumbling about the burned overflow in the bottom of my oven and the burned smell that exists in my house. I am following these recipes as exact as I can to see if I agree with the word BEST given in the title.

So, as I poured the batter of this banana bread into the loaf pan and it goes scarily close to the top rim, I say to myself, this isn’t going to work. In my mind there is a battle brewing, that is way too much batter for that pan, no, trust the recipe and the pan size it says, follow the recipe as exact as possible, you better use a larger pan or separate into two smaller pans. You add quarantine to this situation and it’s not good!

Well, I went with trust the recipe and the pan size it says. All is cleaned up now, it’s not the prettiest loaf you will ever see, and you have the full story. Use a larger pan or two smaller ones, and you will have a moist and flavorful Whole-Grain Banana Bread. Ü

Batter
2 cups mashed banana, about 4-5 medium bananas
1/2 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Topping
1 Tbl sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan; if your pan is glass or stoneware, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Weigh your flours; or measure them by gently spooning into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts into the banana mixture. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix again to thoroughly combine the ingredients. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter.

Bake the bread for about 60 to 75 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a paring knife (or other thin knife) inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs (but no wet batter). If you have a digital thermometer, the bread’s temperature at the center should register about 205°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 15 to 20 minutes of baking. Note: If baking in a glass or stoneware pan, increase the baking time by 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely. Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.