Spelt Oatmeal Muffins

Absolutely delicious. Here is the recipe. I plan on making them again really soon. Plus, I got to use the spelt flour I got for my birthday and the wheat bran I picked up at the store last week. (I used oil and vanilla yogurt and some smashed up banana).

1 cup whole spelt flour
1/4 cup wheat or oat bran
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled oats, slightly chopped (or quick cooking oats)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt (non-fat is OK)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin, or line with baking cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, bran, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir in dried fruit and oats.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and water.
Add buttermilk mixture to oat mixture and stir until just combined. Let stand for 15-20 minutes. You may refrigerate the batter, covered, for about a week at this point.
Spoon batter into prepared tins by heaping 1/4 cups (about 1/3 cup).
Bake for 20 minutes, until muffins are golden brown and spring back when gently pressed. Add 5 minutes baking time if batter is cold.
Garnish if desired.
Makes 12 large muffins

Naan Bread (without a grill)

I was first introduced to Indian Naan bread by Brad and Alicia (who also blogs here) when we went over for an Indian dinner one night. We love, love, love flat bread and so of course we were in love with this. Alicia made up the dough and Brad cooked it on the grill. It had those beautiful grill lines.

Well, Andrew and I wanted to make a flat bread to go with our dinner yesterday. We remembered the yummy Naan but were afraid we wouldn't be able to make it since we didn't have access to a grill. We decided that since tortillas are cooked on a hot flat surface and pancakes are too- why not Naan?

We cooked up our little breads on my electric skillet (which is one of the most wonderful kitchen appliances in the world) and they were beautiful and perfect! Not to mention delicious.

So, if you don't have a tandoor or a grill- don't be intimidated- you can still make a mean Naan.

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

OR

3. Heat electric skillet to about 300 degrees. Let it get very hot.
4. Flatten out one roll of dough very thin. Lightly brush one side of the bread with olive oil and place oil side down in the skillet. Cook 2 minutes. Brush the uncooked side with butter and turn over. Cook another 2-3 minutes. Butter the cooked side. Remove from skillet and continue until all naan has been prepared.

Alicia, is this the same recipe you have? If yours is different you should put yours on here.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I've been looking for a recipe for a long time. I finally found one in my cook book from Basic Food Prep in college. That was a fun class. Anyway. here is the recipe:


2 cups flour
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking powder
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 c. hot water (120-140 degrees F)

Combine dry ingredients. Add oil and work with hands until oil particles are dispersed.


Add water, stirring with hands to make a soft dough. Divide into 1” balls.




Flatten, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll on floured surface until very thin and 10-12” in diameter. Cook on ungreased frying pan or griddle over medium heat until brown spots appear, about 30 seconds. Repeat on other side.





I like this recipe for cafe rio-esque salads. I feel like the tortillas were a little too dry to actually use them like regular tortillas. Maybe if I added more water? But they are SUPER easy to make!

Buttermilk Bread

I love this bread. It is my absolute favorite bread. I love it when it is hot out of the oven. Mmmm…

Buttermilk Bread

5 to 6 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 tablespoon margarine or butter, melted

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan, heat buttermilk, water and 1/2 cup margarine until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F)-mixture will look curdled. Add warm liquid to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in an additional 2 1/2 to 3 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

On floured surface, knead in 1/2 to 1 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85 degree F) until light and doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.

Grease two 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pans. Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Divide dough into 4 parts; shape into balls. Shape into 4 rolls by rolling out each ball into a 10x7 inch rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up; pinch edges firmly to seal. Place 2 rolls side by side, seam side down, in each greased pan. Cover; let rise in warm place until dough fills pans and tops of loaves are about 1 inch above pan edges, 15 to 30 minutes.


Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Uncover dough. Back 30 to 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from pans; brush with 1 tablespoon melted margarine. Cool on wire racks. Makes 2 (14-slice) loaves.

Sourdough Bread

I have a pet.
It lives in a jar in the fridge.
I feed it once a week.

It is my Sourdough Starter.

I had the starter recipe in a cook book my mom made for me, but no directions on what to do with the dough after I had a starter! So, I did a little online research and I found a fabulous Sourdough Bread website. I will give my start recipe and directions on the bread, but for more information, I'd definitely go to this website to learn all about sourdough bread making.

It may seem like a LOT of work and a long process, but once you figure out how to do it, it goes faster and is a lot easier. So, don't be scared of it!


Sourdough Starter

2 1/2- 3 cups lukewarm potato water (this is the water you boiled potatoes in)
1 pkg. dry yeast (this is a "cheat" to getting your starter going faster)
1 1/2 Tbl. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups flour

Make this a day or two before you need the starter!

Pour potato water into a bowl. Sprinkle with yeast, sugar and salt. Let rest 10 minutes.

Sift flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in yeast water. Stir to combine. Beat with an electric mixer.

Drape a towel over the top and set in a warm place for 1-2 days.

The sourdough starter should have a slight odor. If it doesn't ferment or it turns very discolored, discard it!

You can either use the starter to begin baking (after it has had its 1-2 day rest), or put it in a container and place it in the fridge until you are ready.

Here is my refrigerated starter. As it sits, it develops a hooch- a stinky, colored liquid that will sit on top. Either drain it off or stir it in.

Here is my starter after I have fed it and stirred it up. I usually feed it equal parts of flour and water. Usually 1/2 a cup of each. If you want it to grow in volume faster, feed it 1 cup of each and/or more frequently.


When you are ready to bake, you first need to "proof the starter". Bring the starter to room temperature (although, I forgot to this last time and it was just fine).

Pour all of your starter out into a bowl! Add 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of flour. Stir well and let it sit for anywhere from 1-8 hours.

The amount of time really just depends on you. I let this batch of proofed starter, called sponge, sit out all night, I think it was about 20 hours from when I started proofing to when I used it to make the dough. It should bubble when it is ready like this:


Take 2 cups of sponge and place into a separate bowl (return the remaining starter to your jar (wash it again) and return to the fridge).

Sourdough

2 cups sponge
2 Tbl. olive oil (if you want)
4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
3 cups flour (in 1/2 cup portions)

Stir the sponge, oil, sugar and salt together. Add 1/2 cup of flour and mix. Then add another 1/2 cup. At this point you can begin to knead it with your hands in the bowl. Add the flour by 1/2 cup each time. Pay attention to the dough! You'll know when it is ready: elastic and flexible and easy to work with. I rarely can get more than 2 cups of flour into it. One time I forced 2 1/2 and it was hard work. This kneading takes a lot of arm power (I don't have a food processor)! Form into a ball, cover with a towel and let rise until double.


After it has risen double its size, punch it down, knead for a few minutes. Then form into a loaf.

One good way to make a loaf ( I didn't take a picture, sorry) is to flatten it out on the counter a bit, dimple with your fingers then grab the edges at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock on the dough and pull it up to the center and pinch it together. Turn the lump over so that the edges are all now tucked neatly underneath. Use cupped hands to smooth it down and out a little bit.

Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until double- again.


Place the dough in the oven. Then turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Do not preheat the oven! Cook for 30-40 minutes or until golden and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

If you just place it in the oven, it will be a light color and the crust will get soft after cooling. If you brush it with milk, it will brown a little more (see below) but still be pretty soft. If you brush it with egg, it will be shiny and brown and the crust will be a little more chewy/crispy. I think it is prettiest with the egg wash!

(that ring is from milk that went under the loaf as it baked).

It is delicious plain, toasted with butter, used for sandwiches, used as the toast for creamed tuna and toast, garlic toast, bread bowls and anything else!

The longer you let your starter sit in the fridge and the longer it proofs, the more "sour" it will taste. Happy bread baking!

Challah Bread: Attempt One

This is a bread adventure that I already posted on Los Frost. I was a little disappointed in how it turned out. However, we used it for French Toast that night which was DELICIOUS!

I felt like there was too much egg washing which made it too hard. It also got cooked a little too long. Here is what it looked like last time...I'll be trying it again very soon. When I do, I'll include the recipe.