Banana Spice Bread or Cupcakes

1/2 cup Butter, melted
150 grams Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs
3 medium Bananas mashed
150 ml of Buttermilk
90 grams flour, Buckwheat flour for Gluten free
90 grams Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon each of Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
*100 grams of dried Cranberries
*100 grams of chopped Walnuts or Pumpkin Seeds
 

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in the microwave (or use room temperature butter), mix in sugar, salt, spices, and vanilla. Add Eggs and beat till thoroughly mixed. Blitz Bananas in a food processor with the buttermilk, stir into the mixture. Stir together flour, baking powder and baking soda before mixing into wet ingredients. Mix in the nuts and cranberries, if using. Secret tip:  I use an ice cream scoop to measure out batter for muffin cups, it is 1/4 cup of batter. Makes 16.

Muffins bake for 25 minutes, an 8 x 8 cake or loaf pan will take at least 40.  Use the toothpick test if you are unsure. Let the Muffins rest in the pan for 15 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate leftovers to prevent spoiling.

*Alternative recipe: Leave out dried fruit and/or nuts.  It will not make as many without the nuts and fruit.

Homemade Crescent Rolls and Roll-Ups

This is the recipe my Mother has been using for years.  I halved it and tweaked it a little for the purpose of making fewer, and for *hot dog roll-ups.

1.5 cups of Flour
2 teaspoons quick rise Yeast
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Sugar
1/3 cup of warmed (105 degree F.) Milk or Buttermilk
3 Tablespoons of Butter, melted
1 Egg

Melt the butter and warm the milk in the microwave.  Stir the flour and yeast together and wait about 30 seconds before adding the salt and sugar.  Pour in the milk and butter and stir lightly.  Add the egg, break the yolk, and mix well, knead for 5 minutes.  The dough should be sticky. 

Cover with a wet towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours.

Punch down, roll out on a floured surface as thin as you can, (at this point my Mom brushed the top with more butter, and I would if you are making as rolls).  Cut into 12 pie wedges and starting with the large end roll in.

*If you are making roll-ups, now is when you would sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over the whole round, and place 1/2 a pre-cooked (not boiled) hot dog, or slice of ham, at the large end of each wedge before rolling in.

Set the rolls in a greased glass lasagna pan, 9x13, or a greased jelly roll pan.  Let rise for 45 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 12-15 minutes (till your desired golden).  Brush with melted butter, or do it the easy way like me and just rub the stick over the hot rolls.  Enjoy!  Makes 12.

"Stuffing" Herb Bread

I came up with this recipe for the markets when I was preggers.  It is just my same old Challah bread recipe, but not braided (although you could for Thanksgivukah), and seasoned with herbs.  I also marketed it under Scarborough Fair Bread, if you remember the Simon and Garfunkel song, which reminded me which herbs to use, although I don't remember the exact amount.  Whatever didn't sell I would turn into stuffing.  Mind you none of this is gluten free.  It makes the most amazing sandwiches, or just plain buttered toast.  Making bread isn't as much work as it sounds, and you'll have 4 beautiful loaves.

7 cups of bread flour*
2 Tablespoons of instant rise (no proof) yeast
3 Tablespoons of sugar
2 cups of hot water (105 F)
1 Tablespoon of salt
1/4 cup Oil
3 Eggs

2 Tablespoons dried Parsley
4 teaspoons dried ground Sage
2 teaspoons dried Rosemary
1 teaspoon dried Thyme

Blend the flour, yeast and sugar.  Pour in the hot water and stir slightly.  Add the remaining ingredients, make sure to break the yolks.  Stir slightly till somewhat incorporated.  Using the dough hook, and a stand mixer, beat on medium-low for 5 minutes.  The dough should be slightly sticky, but not runny.  Pour a couple of Tablespoons of oil over all and flip and turn to grease under and all around.

Trick for a perfect rise:  Fill a tea kettle with water and bring to a boil.  Set it and the dough in the greased bowl inside your oven.  The heat and steam from the kettle create the perfect environment.  If it is particularly cold in your kitchen, do slightly warm the oven, 105 F.

Let rise for 45 minutes.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into 4 pieces.  Knead slightly and shape into loaves, place in greased (and floured if metal) loaf pans.  Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Let the loaves rise (not in the oven this time) for another 25 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven.  Give an extra 5-10 if the bread doesn't seem done (sounds hollow when you thump it).

*If you don't have bread flour, you can add 1 T. of gluten for every cup to your all-purpose flour.  If you don't have gluten on hand don't go buy it, just buy some bread flour, or else wing it.

Gluten Free Scones, An English Cream Tea

An English Cream Tea is an afternoon tea service that only includes scones with clotted cream and jam with the tea.  These may have been the single best gluten free baked good I have ever made.  I triumphantly made and ate them for a movie day involving the BBC 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

Gluten Free Scones

1 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend, no bean flour

1 cup Gluten Free Oat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup yogurt

Soften the butter (not melting) in the microwave, or let soften overnight on the counter. Cut into the butter (this is where a food processor is helpful) the flours, baking powder, salt.  Add sugar, egg, and yogurt and mix till just combined.  Drop out onto a greased glass baking dish by the 1/4 cup full.  Let rest while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake in the higher middle rack position for 15-20 minutes, till golden on top.  Let rest 5 minutes.  Whatever you don't eat, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

They are sweet and buttery enough to eat on their own, and absolutely decadent with extra butter and raspberry or strawberry jam.  I had wanted to make clotted cream to serve with, but didn't get around to it.

Yield: 10 scones, factor 2 per person

Pound Cake

Recipe link below, so good it's addictive.

I had decided long ago to make pound cake, and Challah, for the market, because they required a lot of eggs, which was the first thing our farm ever produced.  In the Market rules, your baked goods must have an agricultural product, and you-a home processor permit (free, in KY).  Secondly, you must have an egg producer certificate or license, which we did, to use your own chickens' eggs in baked goods for sale, or sell to commercial establishments.  The license means you are following production and handling rules, i.e. washing and refrigeration.  I've known other bakers who couldn't use their chickens' eggs at all in their baked goods for this reason.  Oddly enough you can still sell up to 60 dozen a week, direct sales, without a license.

So, since we aren't marketing, and won't be again for awhile, if ever, here is the recipe I used, which I modified for ease and finished product perfection, Paula Deen's pound cake recipe. 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups plus more for pan all purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) plus more for pan butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I also had come up with a variety of seasonal favorites.  One of the most popular was Lemon.  Just add zest, would work for Lime, and Orange as well.

Savory Zucchini Muffins

In an effort to try something new, and use up the Zucchini, I made these muffins.  These couldn't be any easier to make.  The Hubs loved them and when we have more Zucchini, I'll make more.

1 cup shredded Zucchini
1 egg
1/3 cup of cooking oil
6 Tablespoons (slightly more than 1/3 cup) Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon finely chopped Basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix all liquid ingredients together.  Blend dry ingredients and mix into wet, as little as possible.  Oil a muffin tin-fills 8 muffin cups.  Top each muffin with about 1 teaspoon of the Parmesan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack or serve piping hot.

1 Muffin has 210 calories.

Finnish Potato Rye

I found this recipe in one of my several bread books, The Festive Bread Book by Kathy Cutler.  I was looking for a way to use up the Rye flour I had and this also let me use up the potato flakes that were just sitting around.  Of course I changed it slightly, and Tom loved this bread so much he wants me to make it all the time.  Here's what I did:

2 - 3 cups of Bread flour
1 cup Rye flour
1 Tablespoon Instant Active Dry Yeast

Stir in the yeast to the flour and let it sit for 1 minute before adding:

1/2 teaspoon of Salt
2 teaspoons of Caraway seeds

In a 2 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup, combine and stir till dissolved

2/3 cup instant potato flakes
nearly boiling hot water, fill to the 1 1/2 cup marker
1/4 cup Molasses (I use Grandma's Brand Molasses, it's dark)
1/4 cup packed Brown Sugar

Add to the flour mixture, make sure to stir in gradually, or let it cool slightly, so you don't kill the yeast.  Knead with a mixer for about 5 minutes, by hand 10.  If the dough does not come together, add more bread flour.  Grease the bowl under and around the dough, cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.  I put a pot of water on the stove and when it comes to a boil I pot it and the dough bowl into the oven.  It creates a warm, moist environment perfect for raising dough.

Punch down the dough.  Shape loaf and place in a greased and floured metal loaf pan.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, on the middle rack, for 45 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  Once cooled, place in a plastic bag to let the crust soften which will make it easier to slice.

The original recipe calls for a boiling potato that you use 1/2 cup of "potato water" (leftover from boiling) to proof the yeast and then add 1 cup of the mashed potato to the recipe.  It also calls for 1/2 cup of Molasses and no brown sugar.  I tried this and it was good but a denser loaf that did not want to dome, but fell when baked.  I also tried it with just 1/4 cup Molasses and no sugar, and I substituted 1 cup of Whole Wheat White for Bread flour.  It was dryer, not as soft, and did not have the characteristic tang that the sweetness gives.

I also learned that Rye flour doesn't really give us that traditional flavor we associate with Rye bread.  It's all about the Caraway seeds.  Some recipes call for you to crush or grind the seeds to enhance that flavor.

English Muffins!

We all associate certain foods with memories. Around winter time/the holidays, my favorite foods are white grapefruit, the family frosted sugar cookies, and raisin english muffins. My mom for at least one winter of my life, I think year 11, purchased what felt like an endless supply of raisin english muffins and I decided that was my food of choice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I remember curling up on the sofa, it's snowing, I'm enjoying a buttery muffin, and watching the Rankin/Bass production of Rudolph, probably chasing the muffin with a grapefruit. Since going gluten free (Food For Life makes a GF raisin english muffin), I haven't had much of a chance to eat those types of foods. Even when not eating/buying Gluten Free, I refuse to pay nearly a dollar per muffin, so instead I decided to make these at home. I modified the recipe from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1935.

1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 scant Tablespoon of instant-rise yeast

Mix together in large mixing bowl or kitchen aid mixer bowl.

1/2 cup scalded milk
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

In a Pyrex 2 cup, scald the milk in the microwave. Add the cup of water, salt and sugar, stir. Combine with flour/yeast mixture, beat well. Let rise to double in bulk, about 30-35 minutes. Add:

3 Tablespoons of Canola (or other mild flavored) oil
1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of raisins (optional)

Let your kitchen aid knead the dough thoroughly, 5-10 minutes, till the raisins start falling out of the dough. Let rise till double, another 30 minutes.

The key to a good rise is to boil a pot of water on the stove while the dough is kneading, transfer the covered dough, and the pot of water to your oven.

Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal and roll out dough till 3/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds with a cutter, or a clean can from your recycling bin.

Heat a large heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Butter well, and fry muffins in pan for 15 minutes, turning several times during cooking. You want to bake them, but not severely brown the muffins. If your muffins are getting too brown, turn them more frequently, turn down the heat, or transfer them to the oven at 375 degrees F. for the remaining cook time. The slower you cook them the fewer the nooks and crannies, but they still taste just as good. Makes 16. I like to then toast mine on the top and smother in salted butter. My mom likes hers with butter cinnamon and sugar.

Mmmm...Muffaletta

Ever since my trip to New Orleans I have loved this sandwich. For those who have never had it, it is a most delectable concoction of what is know as Olive Salad on a special Italian bread with Capicola ham, salami, mortadella (I will explain later), provolone and mozzarella. Central Grocery in New Orleans (the best muffaletta) serves theirs cold, which I prefer. But you can eat it hot.

Your first step is to prepare the olive salad a week in advance. I use the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs new orleans cuisine here it is:

Muffuletta Olive Salad

1 1/2 Cups Green Olives, Pitted
1/2 Cup Calamatta Olives (or Black) Pitted
1 Cup Gardiniera (Pickled Cauliflower, carrots, celery, Pepperoncini)
1 Tbsp. Capers
3 each Fresh Garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/8 Cup Celery, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. Italian Parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Fresh oregano (When I have it in my garden) or 2 tsp. dried
1 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 Cup Pimientos (Roasted red peppers) Recipe follows
1 Tbsp. Green Onions, thinly sliced
Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground pepper To Taste (salt may not be necessary)

Crush each olive on a cutting board with your hand. Combine all ingredients. Cover with:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil about 1 - 1 1/2 Cups

Put into a bowl or jar, cover and let the flavors marry for about a week.

Next you'll make your own bread. My mom was able to make some Italian bread that was very close to the muffaletta bread I remember so well. I was slightly less successful, but here is the recipe I used and it was very good.

Italian bread:

2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 scant Tablespoon "no-proof" yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Add yeast to flour and mix gently, wait 30 seconds and then add the rest of the ingredients in order. I use a Kitchen Aid mixer and knead on low for about 5 minutes. Pour a little more Olive oil over dough, turn to coat and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. Flour a work space and turn out dough, knead till compact again and divide into 6 equal blobs and let rest for 15 minutes. Shape each blob into an 6-8 inch flat round, set onto a corn meal dusted cookie sheet and pierce all over with a fork. Let rise another 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from sheet and cool on a wire rack.

And lastly you'll need to go to a respectable deli and purchase meat and cheese. While a traditional muffaletta calls for Capicola ham and Mortadella, I bypass both of these and just get regular ham. Capicola is very hard to eat-it does not bite and you will end up pulling out pieces from your sandwich and making a mess. And Mortadella, as I promised I would explain, is essentially ground up ham and pressed with additional fat, originating from Bologna it is the original form of what is now known as Bologna (think Oscar Meyer). So here is your purchase list and don't skimp, get a good quality. I mean you've already gone through the trouble of making olive salad and your own bread.

1 lb of thinly sliced Ham
1 lb of thinly sliced Salami
1 lb of sliced Mozzarella
1 lb of sliced Provolone

To construct:

Slice each round of bread in half, I like to gently toast mine. Top each half with olive salad (1/4-1/3 cup on each side). Layer with the 4 deli items to your liking. Put the sides together. Mangia!

P.S. the olive salad on some toasted bread (think bruschetta) is amazingly good. See above picture.

Corn Bread

There are so many corn bread recipes out there and I finally tried one that was moist and delicious. I have altered the recipe so that it includes Buttermilk which of course means substituting some baking soda for baking powder, and I have reduced the amount of sugar so it wasn't like corn cake.

1 cup corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour (gluten free flour blend, if it is bean flour free will do)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of buttermilk
1/3 cup (5-1/3 Tablespoons) melted butter
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425. Combine dry ingredients. Pour in butter, milk, and lightly beaten eggs. Stir to combine. Spread into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes. Makes 12 good pieces.

Bread Pudding

So I can't decide if I love french toast or bread pudding more. But bread pudding is definitely easier to make. The key is to using good bread, like Sourdough. Failing that, use any bread you like.

1/2 loaf of bread, cut into 4 cups of cubes. Let it dry a bit, if you are in a hurry you can toast it lightly in the oven while it's preheating.

3 eggs

2 cups of almond milk

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

 dash of salt  

1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Raisins (Optional) or 3 sliced fresh plums

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8 x 8 x 2 glass baking dish. Evenly spread the cubes in the dish. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then beat in the sugar, salt, and Vanilla, slowly add in the milk. Pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serves 4.

Cinnamon Pullapart Coffeecake

I found this newspaper clipping in my mom's old recipe tin. Who knows what publication it's from but it sounded good if not a little labor intensive.

Makes two 9-inch cakes

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup of butter
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup butter, melted
Cinnamon sugar: 2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Stir together 2 cups flour and yeast. In small saucepan, heat milk, butter, sugar and salt until warm (120 to 130 degrees), stirring to blend. Add liquid ingredients to flour-yeast mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed of electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 1 minute. Stir in additional flour to make a moderately soft dough.

Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 to 10 minutes. Shape into ball and place in lightly greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees) until doubled, about 60-75 minutes.

Punch down; let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 15 inch log. Cut each log into 20 pieces, about 3/4-inch wide. Dip each piece in melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar until heavily coated. For each coffeecake, place 10 pieces in bottom of 9-inch tube pan. Arrange second layer on top, placing pieces over spaces in layer. Let rise in warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then unmold.

Note: For one large coffeecake use whole recipe in 12-cup ring mold or 10 inch tube pan. Use half of dough each layer and bake as directed. (Spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level, Do not scoop.)

Pizza!

Since I am Gluten-Free I don’t usually eat pizza. Kinnickinnick brand makes an outstanding gluten-free crust that even gluten eaters will love. But making your own crust is also terribly easy (see recipe below, not gluten free). And making your own pizza at home is not only healthier, and cheaper, but fun. Everyone can make their own to suit. I did want to share with you all my tricks of the homemade pizza trade.

1. No matter what crust you use always pre-cook it especially if you make your own from scratch. With Kinnickinnick I put the frozen crust in the oven while it pre-heats and that seems to be enough.

2. Don’t use pre-made spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce. Instead get a can of tomato paste. In a mixing bowl combine equal parts of paste and water, add oregano, garlic powder, and salt to taste. Stir till smooth and use liberally. Also makes a great dipping sauce for crust, cheesy bread or breadsticks.

3. Always slice watery vegetables (peppers, mushrooms) thin, and use conservatively or your pizza will be soggy. And if you want crisp pepperoni put it on the very top.

4. I've had great results with combining shredded (low moisture part skim)mozerella, olive oil, oregano, salt, and pressed garlic. It's also great to pick up and eat so hopefully there'll be some left for the pizza. Of course whole-milk mozerella is amazing as well, but Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack if you like it spicy works really well.

5. And lastly, I am revealing to you a 6 topping combination that creates the best pizza you have ever eaten. 2 friends and I came up with this combination while trying to agree on a common pizza ground when ordering delivery. I have since made this pizza at home and was told by my dad that this may have been the best pizza he’s ever eaten. *Pepperoni, Sausage, pickled Jalapeno Pepper rings, pickled Banana Pepper rings, Mushrooms, and Green Olives* Of course personal tastes vary.

This is the most recent pizza dough we've been using with great success.  The recipe comes from Mother Earth News  February/March 2012 issue.

7 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups warm water

This is a very sticky dough.  Makes 3 large crusts or 6 small.  We often take 1/3 of the dough right to the pizza pan, grease and let it rise on the pan before spreading it out and letting it rise again.  Sometimes I spread it out right away and let it rise just the once for about 30 minutes.  The rest of the dough will keep for up to 2 weeks, and gets a wonderfully tangy flavor the longer it stays in the fridge.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400, bake the crust for about 10 minutes prior to topping, then an additional 15-20 minutes with the toppings-till the cheese gets slightly brown and bubbly.

Otherwise, for one crust:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of warm water