ciabatta

This recipe from Holy Cow! Vegan was the weirdest, slimiest bread dough I've ever worked with, but oh my goodness was the result amazing. Most recipes I could find called for bread flour and a multi-day process, so this one caught my attention for the pantry ingredients I had. A couple tips to remember for next time

1. Keep an eye on the first rise-- mine about quadrupled in an hour, so I cut that rise short
2. Really use the cues of "flapping sound" and "cleanly pulling cleanly of the sides of the bowl" to time the kneading and do actually turn the mixer to medium high (it seemed so fast for bread!).
3. I pre-heated the oven with my cast iron griddle on the middle pan to use as a baking stone. I then put the whole backing sheet on top of the griddle.
4. Trim the parchment to the shape of the pan. I set off the smoke alarms (twice!) because the parchment was hitting the sides of the oven and smoking.

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
• 2 ¼ cups warm (not hot) water (you might need more if you are in a dryer area)
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp sugar (not usually found in traditional ciabatta, but it really helps speed the rise)

Instructions

1. Mix the sugar, water and yeast in a bowl and set aside for five minutes for the yeast to start working.
2. Add the flour and salt and mix in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. You want the mixture to be just slightly thicker than a pancake batter-- it should definitely not pull together into a firm dough.
3. Let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes. Then turn on the stand mixer to a medium-high setting. After about six minutes, the dough will start to make a flapping sound and start rising up the sides of the bowl.
4. At this point, switch the paddle for the dough hook and knead for another six to seven minutes until the dough starts pulling cleanly off the sides of the bowl. It will be smooth at this stage but still very sticky and loose.
5. Grease a bowl and pour the dough into it. Cover with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel and place in a warm spot, like an oven with the pilot light on.
6. In about 1 ½ to 2 hours, the dough would have tripled.
7. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper and then dusting the paper liberally with flour.
8. Pour the dough out of the bowl and into the center of the cookie sheet. Dust the top with flour.
9. Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into two pieces. Using the bench scraper and a wet hand if needed, shape the dough, tucking the irregular pieces underneath, until you have two flat logs. The logs should be about six inches apart. This is a rustic bread, and the wet dough is not going to hold a definite shape, so don't even try for a beautiful, even look. This is known as an Italian slipper bread for a reason. The baked bread will turn out absolutely gorgeous, trust me, with a translucent, lit-from-within look and those gorgeous air holes.
10. Dust some more flour over the logs, then cover them with a loose kitchen towel and place in a warm spot for about an hour or until the logs are risen and all puffy-looking.
11. About half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone or baking stone in place. Place an empty pan in the bottom rack while preheating, then add a cup of water to it just before you place the bread in the oven.
12. Place the ciabatta loaves directly on the baking stone by sliding the parchment off your cookie sheet. If you are really not sure how to do this, just place the entire baking sheet on top of the baking stone.
13. Bake for 25 minutes or until the loaves are golden-brown and the bottom sounds hollow then tapped.
14. Cool thoroughly on a rack.

no knead buttermilk pull-apart rolls

 We used this recipe from Alexandra's kitchen for our rolls to go with ham on Easter. So good!

Note-- my new trick for a warm place to let bread rise rise is to fill the crockpot about half-way with hot water, put the lid on upside down and set the crockpot on low. Put the bowl/pan or rising dough on top of the inverted lid. 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups (512 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping
• 2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt, see notes above
• 2 tablespoons sugar 
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup (236 g) boiling water 
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 6 tablespoons melted butter, divided
• flaky sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour salt, sugar, and instant yeast.
2. In a 2-cup liquid measure, pour the boiling water over the buttermilk and let stand for 10 minutes. Give it a stir. The buttermilk will likely look curdled. This is okay.
3. Pour the buttermilk mixture and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter over the flour mixture. Stir until a sticky ball of dough forms. Cover the bowl with a tea towel, cloth bowl cover, or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise for 2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Flour a work surface and sprinkle flour lightly over the dough and around the edges. Gently coax the dough out of the bowl onto the floured work surface and shape into a rough ball. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the ball into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion roughly into a ball, then use a bench scraper to divide each ball into 6 roughly even portions to create 24 small pieces total.
5. Using as much flour as necessary, shape each piece roughly into a circle. It’s okay if each piece is a little misshapen. Place the dough balls into the prepared pan, spacing them evenly apart.
6. At this point, you can cover the pan and refrigerate overnight. Otherwise, heat the oven to 375ºF. Let the dough rise, uncovered, for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the dough pieces have puffed to almost fill the pan. (Note: If you refrigerate overnight, remove the pan 30 to 45 minutes prior to baking.) 
7. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove pan from the oven and immediately brush the surfaces of the rolls with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle flaky salt over top to taste. Let the rolls cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the pan out onto cooling racks and invert onto a plate or serving platter.
8. Serve warm with more butter on the side.

giardiniera and italian cheese scones

 I had half a jar of giardiniera in the fridge and was craving a spicy snack, so I modified a cheddar and jalapeno scone recipe from The Black Peppercorn to use giardiniera and mozzarella instead. Cael and I both loved them!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter cut, grated on a box grater
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup hot giardiniera, drained of as much oil as possible
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• parmesan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Grate cold butter into the flour mixture and stir gently to just incorporate Stir in the grated mozzarella and migiardiniera.
4. Pour the milk into the flour and stir together until just combined. Work gently and be careful to not over-mix the batter.
5. Spread a little flour on a flat work surface. Dump the batter onto the floured work surface and pat down to make a 7 inch square. Cut into 4 quarters. Cut each quarter into 4 more quarters.
6. Place wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Sprinkle with parmesan. 
7. Bake for 14-16 minutes. The scones should be just starting to brown on top.

focaccia

 Another recipe from Salt, Fat, Acid Heat. The overnight rise makes this much chewier and more flavorful than my other focaccia recipe. I couldn't get Diamond Crystal salt, so used 365 kosher sea salt and would definitely halve the amounts next time. 

Ingredients: 

For the dough: 

• 2½ cups (600 grams) lukewarm water
• ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2½ teaspoons (15 grams) honey
• 5 1/3 cups (800 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (18 grams) Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
• ¼ cup (50 grams) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for pan and finishing
• Flaky salt for finishing

For the brine:

• 1½ teaspoons (5 grams) Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cup (80 grams) lukewarm water

Instructions: 

1. In a medium bowl, stir together water, yeast, and honey to dissolve. In a very large bowl, whisk flour and salt together to combine and then add yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir with a rubber spatula  until just incorporated, then scrape the sides of the bowl clean and cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature to ferment for 12 to 14 hours until at least doubled in volume.
2. Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons oil evenly onto a 18-by-13 inch (46-by-33 cm) rimmed baking sheet. When dough is ready, use a spatula or your hand to release it from the sides of the bowl and fold it onto itself gently, then pour out onto pan. Pour an additional 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough and gently spread across. Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward.  The dough will shrink a bit, so repeat stretching once or twice over the course of 30 minutes to ensure dough remains stretched.  
3. Dimple the dough by pressing the pads of your first three fingers in at an angle.  Make the brine by stirring together salt and water until salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the dough to fill dimples.  Proof focaccia for 45 minutes until the dough is light and bubbly. 
4. Thirty minutes into this final proof, adjust rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F (235°C). If you have a baking stone, place it on rack.  Otherwise, invert another sturdy baking sheet and place on rack.  Allow to preheat with the oven until very hot, before proceeding with baking. 
5. Sprinkle focaccia with flaky salt. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes directly on top of stone or inverted pan until bottom crust is crisp and golden brown when checked with a metal spatula.  To finish browning top crust, place focaccia on upper rack and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more.  
6. Remove from oven and brush or douse with 2 to 3 tablespoons oil over the whole surface (don’t worry if the olive pools in pockets, it will absorb as it sits). Let cool for 5 minutes, then release focaccia from pan with metal spatula and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. 
7. Serve warm or at room temperature.  
8. To store, wrap in parchment and then keep in an airtight bag or container to preserve texture. Gently toast or reheat any leftover focaccia before serving. Alternatively, wrap tightly to freeze, then defrost and reheat before serving.

baking powder biscuits

These easy, delicious homemade biscuits from Sugar Spun Run were a Sunday lunch hit. With only pantry staples, I'm sure we'll be making these again. I doubled the recipe and it made 15 biscuits

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups all purpose flower
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 3/4 cup whole milk

Instructions

• For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
• Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.
• Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).
• Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable. 
• Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
• Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 3/4" round biscuit cutter with flour. 
• Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
• Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than 1/2" apart on baking sheet. 
• Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
• Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
• If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.

cranberry walnut bread

In an attempt to recreate my favorite sweet bread from Whole Foods, I tried this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. I followed all instructions exactly and it got a bit overdone, but was still delicious. I've adjusted the instructions below to hopefully account for my oven and prevent overcooking.

Ingredients

• 3 cups + 2 Tablespoons (390g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for hands
• 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Star Platinum yeast (instant yeast)
• 3/4 cup (95g) chopped nuts (I like walnuts or pecans)
• 3/4 cup (105g) dried cranberries
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (about 95°F (35°C))

Instructions

1. No need to grease the bowl.* Stir the first 6 ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir in the warm water. The dough will be pretty sticky– don’t be tempted to add more flour– you want a sticky dough. Gently shape into a ball as best you can. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Set on the counter at room temperature (honestly any normal room temperature is fine!) and allow to rise for 12-18 hours. The dough will double in size, stick to the sides of the bowl, and be covered in air bubbles.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using lightly floured hands, shape into a ball as best you can. Doesn’t have to be perfect! Transfer dough to a large piece of parchment paper. (Large enough to fit inside your cast iron dutch oven)
4. Using a very sharp knife, gently score an X into the top. Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap and leave alone for 30 minutes.
5. During this 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 450°F . (Yes, very hot!) Place your dutch oven (with the lid) or heavy duty pot inside for 30 minutes so that it’s extremely hot before the dough is placed inside. After 30 minutes, remove the dutch oven from the oven and carefully place the dough inside by lifting it up with the parchment paper and sticking it all– the parchment paper included– inside the pot. Cover with the lid.
6. Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on. Carefully remove the lid and continue baking for 8-10 more minutes until the bread is golden brown. Remove pot from the oven, carefully remove the bread from the pot, and allow to cool on the counter for 30 minutes before breaking/slicing/serving.
7. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for 1 week.

sweet potato biscuits

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we ordered a box of root veggies from Driftless Direct. To our great benefit, they accidentally sent us a second box for free. We now have so many beautiful veggies, but I have to find creative ways to use them in recipes the kids will happily eat repeatedly. The perfect answer for several sweet potatoes were these yummy biscuits from Once Upon a Chef. The kids happily ate these two days in a row with lunch-- Kory and I enjoyed them too!

Sweet Potato Biscuits 

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup cooked mashed sweet potato (from one medium sweet potato)
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup whole milk, as needed
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the mashed sweet potatoes and 1/3 cup milk. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; process for a few seconds to mix. Add the chunks of cold butter, then pulse a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size chunks of butter within. (If you don't have a food processor, this can be done by hand with a pastry cutter or your hands.)
4. Transfer the flour mixture to a medium bowl, then add the sweet potato mixture and fold gently to combine. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons milk a little at a time until the dough is just moistened and holds together (you may not need all of it).
5. Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and knead lightly 2 or 3 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together. Pat the dough into a 3/4-inch round. Using a 2-1/2 inch-round biscuit cutter or glass, cut the dough into biscuits. Gently press the scraps into another round and cut out more biscuits. Place the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden on the bottom and firm to the touch, 12-14 minutes. Serve warm with honey butter.

During the Covid-19 quarantine, we planned chili for dinner one night, but wanted cornbread to go with it. This Taste of Home recipe was perfect for what we had in the pantry and fridge and the kids absolutely loved it!

Honey Cornbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions

• In a bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Add cream, oil and honey; beat well. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking pan.
• Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

rhubarb bread

Back in the midwest and surrounded by rhubarb at the early summer farmer's markets, we have been making this bread recipe from Taste of Home weekly. The boys all especially love it and eat it every day for breakfast. Two loaves sadly only last them about three days!

Photo by Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1-1/3 cups packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups finely diced rhubarb, 1/4-inch cuts
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the sugar and oil; blend in egg, vanilla and milk. Combine flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda; add to moist ingredients. Stir in rhubarb and nuts. Transfer to two well-greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans.
2. Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 loaves.

El Diablo Cornbread

This recipe from Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe is essentially chili and cornbread in one pan.  It's great for me to have on hand for vegan snacking or lunch.  I've made it both as muffins or as an 8x8 pan loaf.  I know that honey isn't actually vegan, but I am not a huge agave fan, so honey was good enough for me. 

Ingredients
1 20 oz bag Bob’s Red Mill Cornbread Mix
1 1/2 C room temp non dairy milk ( I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/3 C melted vegan butter or oil
3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked very well with 2 Tbsp water
3 tomatillos, finely diced
12 oz soy chorizo (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
1 C frozen corn kernels
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 packed cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Saute soy chorizo and diced tomatillos until they become soft. While your mixture is cooking, break apart soy chorizo in the pan so it is the texture of ground beef. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl mix entire bag of cornbread mix, egg replacer mixed with water, milk and butter or oil. Stir gently to incorporate all wet and dry ingredients.
Add chorizo mixture, corn, honey, and cilantro. Stir gently to incorporate.
Pour into muffin or 8x8 pan.
bake at 375 about 28-35 minutes until cooked through.  

sweet potato dinner rolls

The Thanksgiving baking has begun!  I saw this recipe on The Kitchn blog and thought they looked perfect for a make-ahead roll for Thanksgiving.  Cael thought they were fun to make (our whole family loves sweet potatoes) and they were easy enough for him to help with the whole process.  They were delicious fresh-- crispy and browned, but soft and moist on the inside.  Now I just have to hope that they reheat well after being frozen!

Crusty French Bread

Cael wanted to bake yesterday, well really he just wanted to use the stand mixer, so I hunted for a recipe that I had all of the ingredients for and this was it.  I did use olive oil instead of shortening.  It was yummy and we ate it with dinner fresh out of the oven, so it can't get much better than that!

Foccacia

This recipe is super yummy with any foccacia topping you add, from nothing but salt, to herbs de Provance, to tomatoes and spinach.  It makes a huge loaf, so be prepared to share or enter carb-overload-zone!