Pesto Pull Apart Bread

 Another old recipe that I found when reorganizing. I guess being organized has its benefits. I don't think I have made this bread in close to twenty years and I'll have to check with Brian to see if the time frame is true.  If he remembers it, it is less than 20 years since I made it, otherwise, its been over 2 decades.  The good thing is that a good recipe remains the same over time, unlike most everything else!


I made this the night we had Italian Garden Soup, pesto being a common ingredient in both. I did use a square pan and some prepared pesto I had purchased for a last minute recipe that I had to whip up and I didn't have time to make homemade. If I use prepared pesto again, I will definitely use closer to 1/2 cup...or the pesto I used didn't have enough flavor. My batch had little to no pesto flavor, so I think I will try to stick to the original recipe in the future since I have always loved the results.


Ingredients:
1 clove garlic
1/2 t salt
1/2 c firmly packed basil leaves
1/2 c grated romano cheese
1/4 c olive oil

    OR 1/4-1/2 cup prepared pesto
pinch sugar
1 package yeast
1/4 c warm water
3 c flour

Directions:
Mince basil with garlic. Add romano. Place in bowl and gradually add oil, whisking constantly. Set Aside.
Place generous pinch of sugar, yeast and 1/4 c warm water in bowl of mixer, set until foamy.

Mix 2 cups flour with 1/2 t salt. Add to yeast mixture along with  basil mixture and 1 c water. Stir and add 1 cup flour gradually. Knead with dough hook. Place in greased bowl, cover, rise for 1 hour. Punch down,knead briefly. Divide into 14-16 balls. Fit around edge of 14 inch greased cake pan, leave room for rising. Rise 30 minutes. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375F

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Carrot Quick Bread and Pumpkin Muffins!

This is the time of year my kids ask for their favorite pumpkin bread recipe made into muffins. As I look back in the blog, I realize that I have never posted the actual recipe for pumpkin muffins that I use all the time.  That recipe, which is originally from cooking light, has served us well for years.  I usually double the recipe and use one can of pumpkin...here is the link Pumpkin Muffins.

I sometimes go overboard when making purchases at Costco. Last winter, I bought too many carrots...meaning big carrots.  I thought I would be making enough stews etc. to use them all, but it became apparent that I was going to have to get creative or wasteful.  My decision was to cook and puree the carrots, freeze the puree and hope for a  further use. This puree has been staring at me every time I open my big freezer, so on this very rainy and windy day, I decided to thaw a container.

Once the puree was thawed, it was evident that I had seasoned the carrots, but I'm not sure what I used.  As I looked around the pantry, I came across some canned pumpkin and thought, hey, I can make carrot muffins instead of pumpkin muffins! I had about 2 cups of puree, so I followed the Pumpkin Muffins recipe, doubling it.  I did add another teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and 2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed. The batter tasted very similar to the pumpkin batter and the finished product was delicious! I made bread, not muffins, but everyone loved it.  This turned out to be a very moist bread. Next time I might use 1/2 t more pumpkin pie spice and not a whole tablespoon.

The best is those carrots didn't go to waste!
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Leftovers and Crostini

The plan was leftovers for dinner. I knew that Paul and Eleanor wouldn't be too excited about it, so I decided to add a fun appetizer type thing to the menu. I would definitely make these again...maybe with salad for a summer dinner?

After slicing a baguette into thin slices I brushed one side with olive oil and put them on the panini maker until toasted. I really do like the panini maker! I used a Breadsmith baguette for a few reasons: they are located in my village, the bread is delicious, and the staff have told me that they are careful about cross contamination with tree nuts. I get that there is not guarantee, but the staff has always been pleasant and it seems like they try to keep customers with allergies safe.

The crostini pictured on the right...that's a favorite at this house...fig jam sprinkled with bleu cheese. I get the fig jam/spread at Whole Foods. It was lucky I was headed there for lunch with some friends the day I thought of this dinner idea, so I was able to get a jar of it. It was nice to have the sweet crostini for a more dessert-y item.

The recipe on the left is a new one from Bon Appetit...Grilled Corn, Creme Mexicana and Cilantro. Would repeat this recipe...for sure.

There were a number of other ideas in the magazine, so we'll have to try them over the summer.

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Cinnamon Rolls

Elizabeth gets the credit for thinking of using the artisan bread dough and making it into cinnamon rolls!

I used some of the dough, rolled it into a rectangle, brushed it with 1 T. of melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon and brown sugar. Cut into rolls and let rise 45 minutes or so..then bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes or so.

Good idea, Bup!

Quick Bread from the Garden?!

Zucchini...you either love it or hate it and I have one child who hates it...no matter how I prepare zucchini, it won't be eaten EXCEPT when I make Zucchini Bread.  When I made this recipe for the first time, I told the kids it was cinnamon bread.  Once they were hooked, I revealed that it was actually zucchini bread, but by then they really didn't care! I received 3 large zucchinis from my CSA this week, so it was time to grate some and create this wonderful bread.

As I think back to where I got this recipe, I realize that it came from one of my mother's co-workers from back in the early '80s.  My mom went back to work when I was in middle school in a small, 3 person office and Ruth was her office mate. As my siblings will agree, my mother was not much of a cook and Ruth was a GREAT cook. My mother's culinary skills never became gourmet, but she did expand her repertoire with the help of her friend Ruth.  Ruth also had a huge garden and, yes, we got lots of zucchini from her.  I still make a lot of her recipes, everything from this great bread to main dish stews and desserts.

This recipe is decidedly NOT low calorie.  I had a lot of zucchini so I actually quintupled the recipe(5x).  As I was making it and started figuring the oil and the sugar, I decided I just couldn't put 5 cups of oil AND 5 cups of sugar in anything! I cut the oil and sugar to 4 cups each.  The finished product is a bit drier than the original, but the sugar isn't missed and overall it is still a moist, tender loaf.  If you do decide to make as large a quantity, I would add a little more cinnamon and nutmeg, the spices did seem a bit weak. Another note, cooking this much bread takes time...I ended up with 8 mini-loaves and 24 muffins.  I only have a small, single oven and each batch of 4 mini-loaves took 50 minutes and each batch of 12 mufins took 20-25.  I had planned on cooking all day, so it wasn't an issue, but the baking time was significant. I have frozen 7 mini-loaves and 12 muffins...stocking the freezer for the months to come.

Ingredients

• 3 c flour
• 2 c grated zucchini
• 1 c oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 t vanilla
• 1 t cinnamon
• 3/4 t nutmeg

Preparation

Mix dry ingredients. Beat Zucchini with eggs, add oil and vanilla. Mix together wet and dry ingredients. Grease pans. Bake at 350° F for 1 hour for regular loaf pans, 50 minutes for mini-loaf pans and 20-25 minutes for muffins. Test with a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out clean, the bread is cooked. This bread freezes well.
 

Banana Bread Muffins for a Crowd

With the 4th of July weekend upon us and family coming in from out of town, I decided to whip up some Banana Muffins to feed the crowd. I freeze bananas when they get too ripe to eat and then use them in smoothies or Banana Bread.  Sometimes I just throw the whole banana in and other times I peel and slice them.  the peel'n'slice method takes a bit more time but is more convenient when it is time to use them.

Today I am making a triple batch of a recipe I got about 25 years ago from a family I babysat for(yes, I am dating myself).  This recipe has a healthy touch with the use of whole wheat flour and less sugar than most other recipes, but there is a ton of butter in it, so I can't really call these "healthy" muffins.  They are delicious however, and my family loves them.  You can bake the dough as bread or muffins, your choice...my kids prefer the muffins as they can grab them quickly for breakfast or a snack.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 medium bananas
1 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c hot water
1/2 c chopped nuts(optional)

Melt butter.  Blend in sugar, mix in eggs and bananas(I usually throw the whole eggs in with the bananas and then use a potato masher to mash the bananas and beat the eggs). Blend until smooth. Whisk together the flours, salt and baking soda.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, alternating with the hot water. Stir in chopped nuts, if desired.

Put in loaf pan, bake at 325℉ for 1 hour 15-30 minutes.  For muffins, bake at 350℉ for 20-25 minutes.

A single batch doesn't last long in our house, but if I do double or triple the recipe, the muffins
and bread freeze well, so use up those bananas!

Bread...So easy you won't believe it

As my first post to my new blog, I thought it would make the most sense to start with bread. Like many of you, I have baked my fair share of bread over the years, but time was always the problem. Traditional recipes require hours to make and allow the dough to rise before you end up with a finished loaf. Well, there is a solution!  About 6 months ago, my good friend told me I had to try the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Master bread recipe.  She assured me, all I needed was a large container, flour, yeast, water and kosher salt. I chose to purchase a large plastic container at Bed, Bath and Beyond, but any container large enough to hold 5 quarts is sufficient.  So, I gathered my ingredients and set to work.

For the past six months, there has been a container of dough in my refrigerator at all times.  Once I completed my first batch, I knew this was a new staple in my recipe box.  I now buy my flour (25 or 50 lbs) and yeast(4lbs) at Costco and make fresh, artisan bread for my family at a budget price.

You are now probably looking forward to the recipe...well, since I don't have any licensing rights to the books, I can't reprint the recipes. I can, however, let you know that there are two books currently available, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, both by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoë François. The website (artisanbreadinfive.com) gives some more information as well.

A few adaptations to the original recipe that have worked well...I have successfully added up to 4T of ground flax seed and 4T bran to the original recipe without dramatically altering the taste or texture of the finished product.


Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day has a recipe for Pita Bread which I have successfully made with the Master Bread dough from the original book.

Happy bread baking!