Honey White Bread

 I'm back to making bread. I have had spurts of bread making enthusiasm over the years. Recently I was wondering what the difference is between bread made with bread flour and that made with all purpose flour.  So I took a cruise around the internet and found this recipe. 

I found this recipe on the Love To Be In The Kitchen site.  It looked lovely and it is.  It is called honey wheat, but there is only a modest amount of honey and it is just fine for a sandwich or toast or all by itself. I couldn't tell the difference on the different flours . I guess I need a side by side blind taste test. But that will have to wait until I feel like making 4 loaves of bread in one day.  One major difference is that bread flour requires less yeast, an important distinction.

Honey Wheat Bread  

1 3/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup honey

1 Tablespoon yeast, this is slightly less than two packets.

!/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

5-6 cups bread flour

I placed hot tap water in the metal bowl of the Kitchen Aid mixer and let it sit for a bit to warm up while I got out the ingredients for the bread. It is currently winter and the bowl felt cold.  

I melted the butter in the microwave so it could cool a bit before I added it in.

Pour out the water and replace it with the 1 3/4 cup of warm water (100-110 F).  Stir the honey to dissolve in the warm water.  

Sprinkle in the yeast and let it stand for about 10 minutes until it blooms.  

Add in the slightly cooled, melted butter.  Beat the egg in a small bowl and add it and the salt.  Mix until smooth.

Replace the paddle of the mixer with the dough hook.  Add the flour one cup at a time, starting the mixer slowly so you don't get the flour everywhere. Continue in this fashion until you have added 5 cups of the bread flour. Add a bit more of the sixth cup of flour until the dough pulls away from the bowl. It will still be a bit sticky. Knead with the bread hook about 5 minutes.

At this point I removed the dough from the mixer and placed it on a a lightly floured counter.  I used the bread flour and I had a bit extra flour to add to the dough if it was sticking to the counter while kneading for a bit.

Pour a small amount of vegetable oil in a large mixing bowl. Put the dough ball in the oil and turn it until fully coated.  Cover with some plastic wrap and place in a warm location. Let it rise until doubled, about an hour. 

Spray two bread pans with Pam. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto the counter. Save the plastic wrap. Knead it to get rid of most of the bubbles and cut it in half.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle.  Pop any bubbles that dare to show themselves. 

 

Roll the dough up, pinching the edges to seal.  Fold over the ends to make it slightly smaller than the bread pans. 

Pinch those edges closed and place the dough seam side down in the prepared pans. Cover with the reserved plastic wrap.

Let rise until doubled and an inch or so over the side of the pans. This will take another 45 minutes to an hour

Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Spread softened butter over the top and turn out on a cooling rack. Cool before slicing.

Gingerbread Crackle Cookies

 When a cookie recipe says crackle, it generally means that the raw cookie dough has been rolled in powdered sugar before baking. Then as the cookie rises and spreads the sugar makes a crackle effect. This recipe calls for the dough to be rolled in granulated sugar and then powdered sugar. It has a bit of crunch, so a double crackle. 

I have the Williamsburg recipe for gingerbread in this blog. They are very good, but not terribly sweet.  These cookies are sweeter and have more flavor from the spices.  If you like a less sweet cookie you may want to try the Williamsburg version. I guess it is less sweet as sugar was a rarer commodity back in the day. Use the search on the right to compare them. That recipe makes a lot more cookies if you are feeding a crowd

I found this recipe in a book I checked out from our local library. It is called Sweet Tooth by Sarah Fennel. It is FILLED with recipes I want to make. But I can’t make a lot of desserts these days as even a few servings does bad things to my waistline. As it is close to Christmas I decided to make the Gingerbread Crackle Cookies. 

Gingerbread Crackle Cookies

3/4 cups butter, (1 1/2 sticks) 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, I like to buy the seeds and use a microplane grater so it’s an estimate.

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Pre heat the oven to 350°.  Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. I usually bake with silicone sheets, but the recipe called for these and I thought they might increase the crispness to the cookies. 

Use a stand mixer. I use a Kitchen Aid. Beat the room temperature butter until light and creamy. Add the brown sugar. Keep beating. 

Use a spatula to scrape down the bowl and add the molasses, egg and vanilla. Beat until fluffy and incorporated. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Beat slowly until fully incorporated. You will need to scrape down the sides.

Put the granulated sugar in a small bowl and the powdered sugar in a separate bowl.

Use a medium cookie scoop or about 2-3 tablespoons. Roll the dough in your hands if it isn’t rounded enough.  Place a ball of dough in the granulated sugar and roll it around. I used a fork to lift it. Then repeat this step in the powdered sugar, making sure it is evenly covered.

Place on the prepared pans and bake about 12-15 minutes.  The cookies should be firm on the sides and soft in the middle with cracks all over. Let the cookies rest for a few minutes to allow them to firm up.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

These cookies were soft with a nice little crunch.  I particularly enjoyed the mix of spices.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

We're having a simple Thanksgiving this year. It's just the two of us and I'm not making a bunch of food.  I bought a frozen turkey breast and we'll have mashed potatoes and a salad. I did buy cranberry sauce as it is necessary for the sandwiches over the coming days.

I decided I needed to make some pumpkin cookies in lieu of having candied sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons milk

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves (optional. I wouldn't buy it just for 1/8 teaspoon!)

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups (one package) chocolate chips. I splurged with the Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Place precut parchment paper on a couple of baking sheets.  

Mix sugar and oil in a large bowl.  Add the eggs, milk, pumpkin, and vanilla and stir to combine.  

In a medium bowl stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture. Stir to combine.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

I wanted to use my largest cookie scoop to make big puffy cookies.  It looks like an ice cream scoop. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart,  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are no longer glossy.  Mine took 14 minutes.

Remove the pan and allow the cookies to rest for about 5 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack.

If you looks closely you can see the flecks of spices in the cookies.  They add a nice touch but you can just add the cinnamon if you wish.

When the cookies are completely cool they can be stored in an air tight container.

These cookies are moist and will become  even more moist when kept in storage.  I found that cookies the next day were better when placed in a toaster oven at 300° for 2 minutes.  

Oatmeal Bread

I've been enjoying making bread but got tired of the same thing. I thought oatmeal bread would be a fun and different thing to try.  This time I just made a single loaf. I have been having to freeze the second loaf to keep it from going bad. After all, homemade bread doesn't have any preservatives.

Oatmeal Bread

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup scalded milk

1 envelope yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons

1/2 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons molasses

2 1/2 cups flour plus 1/4 cup as necessary

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons butter cut in small pieces

oil for greasing the bowl

Pam for spraying the loaf pan

Heat 1 cup of milk to just when it starts to bubble and before it boils. 

Pour the milk over 1 cup of oatmeal in a medium bowl. Stir to moisten and set aside.

Put the molasses and the very warm, but not hot, water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top, give it a brief stir and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer place the 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar and salt.  Use the paddle to mix slowly.  

Remove the paddle and add the oatmeal, butter and yeast mixture.  Use the dough hook to mix. Stop frequently to scrape down the sides. 

My dough needed a bit more flour.  It was too sticky to form a ball.  I added about 1/8 cup more of flour and then used the rest of the 1/4 cup to sprinkle on the counter.

 

Then I hand kneaded for about a minute until it was smooth and elastic and had absorbed the flour.  

Pour about 1Tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large bowl and spread up the sides.  Place the ball of dough in the bowl and flip it a few times to oil the whole ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and set aside to rise for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Lightly flour the counter.  Punch the dough down and knead it to get rid of bubbles.  

Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle slightly wider than the bread pan. Roll it up tightly and then fold the ends in so it is slightly shorter than the loaf pan. Pinch the ends to try to make a seamless tube.

Spray the loaf pan with Pam.  Place the dough in it with the seam side down. Cover with whatever you used to cover the bowl. Let it rise until it has doubled, about an hour.

Adjust the rack in the oven so the bread can cook in the middle of it. Preheat the oven to 375°. Bake about 30-40 minutes.  Mine was done at 30 minutes. 

Set the loaf pan on a rack to cool.  

While it is cooling brush the top with butter.  After about 5 minutes turn the bread out onto the rack to finish cooling.

After it had cooled completely, I cut it and had a bite.  It was great.  

Then I buttered the slice.  It was even better.

I served it toasted with eggs.  Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner? It was great toasted, too.