Italian Bread

This recipe is delicious.  It isn't very difficult but it does take a considerable amount of time due to all the rising time.  But if you plan to be around all day, like on a Sunday, it's not too bad.  I did everything by hand but if you have a bread machine or a dough hook attachment that would make this even easier.  I kinda of combined several different recipes I came across.

Ingredients

7 1/4-7 3/4 cups all-purpose flour - I probably used closer to 6 1/2 but it depends on how sticky your dough ends up.  I also sifted my flour but it didn't say you had too.

2 packages fast-rising active dry yeast - there is approx. 2 1/2 teaspoons in a packet

2 1/2 cups water (110 degrees)

1 tablespoon salt

yellow cornmeal - I forgot to use this and it turned out find.  

1 slightly beaten egg white

1TBS cold water

Directions:

1. In large mixer bowl, combine 3 c of flour and the yeast.

2. Combine the water and salt

.3. Add to the dry mixture.

4. Beat at low speed for 30 seconds, scrapping the sides constantly.

5. Beat at high for 3 minutes.

6. By hand, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make dough only slightly sticky.  You can always easily add more flour but it is hard to take it away

7. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and very elastic (15-25 minutes).

8. Shape into a ball.

9. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough.

10. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double (about 1 hour).

11. When dough has doubled, punch it down (deflate it), and cover and let it rise a second time, until doubled in size. This will take around 30 minutes.

12. Punch down the dough again and knead 1 minute on a lightly floured surface. cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll each piece into about a 15x12 inch rectangle. Roll up jelly roll fashion and pinch the seam together. Tuck the ends underneath. Grease baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.

13. Place the bread on the prepared baking sheets: cover and let rise until doubles again, about 30 minutes.

14. Make several evenly placed diagonal cuts on top of each loaf. Beat together the egg white and the 1 tablespoon of cold water: brush over each loaf of bread gently with a pastry brush.

15. Place a pan of hot water on bottom shelf of the oven. Place baking sheet with loaves on shelf above the water.

16. Bake in a hot 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from baking pans and cool on wire racks. Enjoy!

Carrot Nut Bread

I used this recipe that I found online.  I made some changes to it and it turned out pretty good; Kevin really likes it with peanut butter on top.  I think next time instead of using all of the oil I am going to use mushy banana instead to make it more moist and healthy.  You could also use apple sauce if you don't have someone allergic to it in your household like I do.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3/4 c oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4-1/3 c milk

1 1/2 c flour - I used 1 cup white flour and 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c walnuts

1 cup carrots - about two large carrots

Directions:

1.  Cream together sugar and oil

2.  Add egg and vanilla and mix well

3.  In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts (i read if the nuts are coated in flour they are less likely to rise to the top of the bread)

4.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk until well blended.

5.  Fold in the carrots 

6.  Pour into a well greased bread pan

Bake for around 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees

Let cool and remove from pan

Granola bars

I got this recipe from smitten kitchen and just adapted it a bit to what I like and had on hand.  I like that this recipe doesn't include any butter or corn syrup just good ol' honey.  The big thing I forgot to do was line the pan with parchment paper so I ended up with only a few bars and a bag of what looks like granola.  Nonetheless they are super delicious, so much better tasting then the store bought ones.  Also, if you buy some of the items in bulk really they are not very expensive to make, it really just depends on the nuts you choose to use. 


Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup nuts - sliced/chopped - you can whatever kind of nuts you want. I used a mixed variety.
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed (I could only find sweetened but it still turned out well)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed - the original recipe called for wheatgerm but I could not find that to save my life - not even at Trader Joe's
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt - If you accidentally bought salted nuts like I did leave the salt out.
1 1/2 cup dried fruit - any mix you like works
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

I bought a mixed bag of craisins, chocolate chips, and a variety of nuts just cause it was on sale for cheap. Then just seperated it by hands and chopped the nuts up some more.

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter an 8×12-inch baking dish (lacking this, I used a 9×13-inch) and line it with parchment paper. - this is very important

2. Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the flaxseed.

3. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.

4. While the mixture is still warm, stir in the honey, vanilla and salt until the mixture is well coated, then the dried fruit. Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish and press, press, press it in - wet hands work best

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares — your best serrated knife is great for this.

6. You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a week or two,or in the fridge since they get softer at room temp.  It all depends on what you like.

Faye's Dog Friendly B-day Cupcakes

 Faye's birthday was on the 13th so we decided to make her a special treat.  I used this recipe but I made a few changes of my own to make it a little healthier for her and just because of what I had on hand at the time.  Stephanie was actually a big fan of these; they really didn't taste that bad and Kevin was a huge fan of the icing I made.  Even more importantly than that Faye was a huge fan she tore her cupcake up.  I also put some cheese sprinkles on top aka grated cheese. You could also top with some kind of shredded meat as well.

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 brown banana (like you would use for banana nut bread) or 1/4 c applesauce
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the peanutbutter, banana, vanilla, honey, carrots and egg together.
Add the flour and baking soda, mix well.
Pour batter into greased cupcake pans.  These make about 6 very full cupcakes.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Icing:
3/4 c peanutbutter
1 six ounce container of yogurt (I used cherry vanilla because it was what I had in the fridge)

Mix the two together well and presto delicious dog friendly icing.

Easy No Knead Crusty Bread

This bread turns out just like expensive artisan bread at the grocery store. A nice crusty outside with a soft inside. It is really easy you just have to plan ahead.

Ingredients:
1/4 tsp active dry yeasy
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. I plan to try using whole wheat flour next or a combo of the two
1 1/2 tsp salt
a dutch oven - cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic. I am of course partial to cast iron.

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. If the heat in your house doesn't work like mine you may want it to sit longer or find a sunny or warmer spot to place the dough.
   
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. I had to add a decent amount more flour at this stage, although be careful because I think I overworked my dough a bit. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Banana Nut Bread

Yum Yum! A great recipe to use up those bananas that are too brown to eat.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c brown bananas (about three large bananas)
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp lemon juice
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven 350 degrees

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs
3. Add bananas
4. Combine milk and lemon juice
5. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt on a plate or in a bowl
6. Add flour mixture alterantely with milk mixture
7. Add nuts
8. Grease bread pans well. This recipe makes fits in either 3 small loaf pans or one large loaf pan.
9. Bake for 1 hr.

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Another mama Klein specialty.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter
1 3/4 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
3 c. flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 c. milk
12 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Cream together butter and sugar
2. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Add vanilla and almond extract
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt on a plate.
5. Add flour mixture alternately with milk
6. Mix in chocolate chips.
7. Grease bunt cake pan well with Crisco and flour
8. Bake for 70-75 minutes
9. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes
10. After cake is cooled you can coat it with a chocolate glaze, see below, although I prefer it without the glaze.

Chocolate glaze:
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. boiling water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. powdered sugar

1. Combine choc. chips and boiling water until smooth
2. Add cinnamon and mix well.
3. Add powdered sugar one heaping TBSP at a time.
4. Refrigerate 20 min or until desired consistency

Vanilla Butter Nut Pound Cake

This is a Mama Klein specialty. It is delicious and makes a large dense cake.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter - softened
1/2 c. Crisco
3 c. sugar
5 eggs
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP plus 2 tsp vanilla butter nut flavoring
1 c. milk
1 c. chopped nuts
1 jar maraschino cherries - chopped


DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN. The cake should go into a cold oven then set to 325 degrees

1. Cream together butter, Crisco, and sugar
2. Beat in eggs one at a time
3. Add flour and salt alternately with milk and flavoring
4. Stir in nuts and cherries
5. Grease and flour a bunt cake pan or angel food cake pan well
6. Put into a cold oven and bake at 325 for 1 hr and 45 min

Diana's Cheesecake

This is the best cheesecake ever!

Crust:

2 packages (2 2/3c) graham crackers

1 stick butter melted

1/4 c sugar
Mix all of these together and pat into the bottom of the pan

Cake

3 lbs cream cheese ( 6- 8oz packages ) room temp. - Beat until smooth
2 cups sugar - beat in thoroughly

5 eggs - beat in one at a time

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

Pour cheesecake batter into two 8' inch pans.

Place in water to bake 300 deg. for 1 hr 15 min. Let sit 1/2 hour. Remove from hot water.

Let cool completely. Refrigerate overnight. Remove from pan.

*I use a spring form pan so I wrap it in aluminum foil to make it water proof.