Pretzel Bites

I know it has been awhile since I wrote a blog post. June has been a crazy busy month, and with the little man off at the Grandparent's house for the month, I just haven't done much as far as cooking goes. Everybody loves pretzels right? I know I do. This recipe even though slightly involved, is ahhhmazzzzing!

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115F)

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

22 oz all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 cups)

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Vegetable oil, for greasing bowl

For Finishing:

Cooking Spray

10 Cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp water

Pretzel (or kosher) salt

Directions

To make the dough, combine the water, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to dissolve the yeast. Add in the flour and melted butter and mix just until the dough comes together. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough i smooth and clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with vegetable oil, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, about 50-55 minutes or until doubled in bulk. 

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Bring the water and baking soda to a boil in a large saucepan or stockpot. In the meantime, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll a segment out into a 24-inch long rope. Cut the rope into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Place onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 or 2 at a time, for 30 seconds. Remove from the water with a slotted skimmer and return to the baking sheet. Once all the pretzels have been boiled, brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Printer Friendly Recipe

Whole Wheat Bread Loaves

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I promise you that this recipe more than makes up for it. It is so good that we no longer buy bread because you can freeze this dough! Thank you too vanderbiltwife.com

for this recipe!

Ingredients

5 tsp or 2 packages of active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water, divided

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 Tbsp salt

6 cups white whole wheat flour 

Directions

**Makes 3 loaves**

This recipe can be made either in a stand mixer with dough hooks or mixed by hand. Because there is not a lot of kneading, it's not too bad to do by hand.

Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast over it. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter over low heat. Add honey and sugar and stir together. Let cool slightly - it's OK if it's warm, but not hot.

Add butter mixture, salt, and remaining 2 cups water to the yeast and water in the bowl and stir well to combine.

One cup at a time, add in flour and stir until it's combined. When done, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead just until all the flour is worked into the dough. (Or, use speed 2 on your mixer with dough hooks.)

Cover bowl with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and then let rise again, about another 45 minutes to an hour.

Separate dough into three equal balls. Press each ball into a rectangle with floured hands, roll up lengthwise, and then tuck ends under. Place loaves in greased loaf pans.

Cover pans and let rise again 30 minutes, until dough is to the top of the pan.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until loaves are golden brown and sound a little hollow when you tap on them. Let loaves cool completely before slicing and serving.

**Note about freezing**

Shape loaves and freeze them after two rises. Defrost in a greased pan and let it rise (this does take awhile, at least for me. Count on about 4-6 hours before it's ready to be baked.)

Printer Friendly Recipe

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

The other night I was hankering for something sweet and very yummy tasting. I wasn't sure what I wanted, I just knew I didn't have much on hand to make any kind of dessert. I had an apple pie filling, but I really didn't want to make any pie shells. I saw we had a bunch of raisins though and then the idea formed that I wanted cinnamon raisin bread. So close to midnight, I embarked on an insane late night baking frenzy. I found this recipe here.

This recipe makes a total of 3 loaves.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup milk

1 cup warm water (must be between 110-115 degrees)

2 (1/8 ounce) package active dry yeast

3 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 

1 cup raisins

8 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp milk

1 cup white sugar

3 Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp butter, melted (approx)

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a small sauce pan on the stove until it just starts to bubble, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Let cool until lukewarm, about 120-125 degrees.

4. Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside until yeast is frothy, about 10 minutes or so (make sure your water is at the correct temperature or the yeast won't activate.) Then mix in egg, sugar, butter salt and raisins (stir in the cooled milk slowly so you don't cook the egg.) Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.

5. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until smooth.

6. Place in a large, buttered, mixing bowl and turn to grease the surface of the dough.

7. Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rise. Allow to rise until doubled, usually about 1 1/2 hours.
(It was at this point that I was wondering just how sane I was to embark on this baking expedition.)

8. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick.

9. Moisten the dough with 2 tablespoons milk and rub all over the dough with your hands.

10. Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle mixture evenly on top of the moistened dough.

11. Roll up tightly (the long way)

12. The roll should be about 3 inches in diameter.

13. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends and pinch bottom together.

14. Place loaves into well greased 9x5 inch pans and lightly grease tops of loaves.

15. Let rise in warm place, uncovered, again for about an hour.

(This is where I was starting to get loopy and had to reread the recipe three or four times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.)

16. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped. (I set my timer for 30 minutes and checked the bread. I ended up pulling it out at 35 minutes and it was done)

17. Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

18. Take melted butter and spread over tops of loaves.

19. After about 20 minutes, lay loaves on their sides and remove from pans.

20. Allow to cool before slicing. ( I didn't make it to the cutting part as it was nearly 330am and I was falling over exhausted. But when I tried it the next morning...yummy!)

Printer Friendly Recipe

Gold Fish Cracker Fail

I think it's safe to assume that we all love the little yellow fishy shaped crackers of cheesy goodness. I know in our house that if I buy a bag, it doesn't last a day. Because these suckers are expensive to buy, I scoured the internet to find a recipe for them. I was thrilled when I found the recipe here. It seems so simple to make. Especially with my nifty Ninja food processor. (By the way, if you don't own a Ninja, you must buy one. I don't know how I lived without mine.) I made several mistakes while trying to make these, but I'm positive now that I know what I did wrong, I should be able to make this again without ruining them in the process...or so I hope. One thing to make note of for myself. Trying to bake when tired equals some serious issues.

Here is the recipe and where I went wrong.

Ingredients

8 ounces weighted sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 Tbsp of butter, cubed
1 Cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp of water

Directions

Pulse everything together (except water) in a food processor until the dough resembles coarse sand. (Mistake #1...I had shredded 8 ounces of cheddar cheese...it wasn't enough.)

Pulse in water 1 Tbsp at a time.
(Mistake #2...I didn't use enough water, resulting in a crumbly dough)

Remove dough from processor. Wrap in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.




Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. You can use a toothpick to make the eyes and the smile. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until crispy.
(Mistake #3...I should have set my timer for 10 minutes as 15 was too long.)

As you can see by the picture on the right, the crackers look a little over cooked and are not exactly the right color. My husband thinks they are great. I, however in my perfectionism think they could be sooo much better.

 I will try this recipe again in a couple of weeks after I get over the fact that I can't be perfect in the kitchen 100% of the time.

According to the recipe, the dough should make close to 7 dozen crackers. I didn't count, but I'm assuming I got close to that.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I've been on a huge kick to try and reduce our grocery bill each week by as much as I possibly can. So to help reduce that cost, and to enjoy a more organic way of cooking, I decided to try my hand at baking Hamburger Buns. I was daunted at first like I usually am when dealing with baking breads until I stumbled on this recipe from allrecipes.com.

Burger or Hot Dog Buns

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package of instant yeast
 2 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.









3. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 30 to 35 minutes.

4. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

**For Hot Dog Buns: Shape each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly and pinch edges and ends to seal. Let rise about 20 to 25 minutes. Bake as above. These buns are pretty big. I would make 16 instead of 12.

I'm looking at the pan of hamburger buns right now and thinking that I should have made 8 instead of 12. The buns are about average size. I usually like mine a little bigger then this, but that's alright. They smell and taste delicious! 

French Bread

This year instead of doing the expensive thing and having the boy child's birthday party at some place expensive, I decided to have the party at our house. I thought it would be great for the kids to make their own French Bread Pizzas so I went on the quest for an easy recipe. I found the recipe for the French Bread and the Pizza at TheFrugalGirl.

Let's start off with the French Bread.

Ingredients

2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (120 degrees F)

Method

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 2 cups flour with the salt, sugar and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in enough additional four to make a soft but kneadable dough.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise 45 minutes (an hour if your house is cold). 

Punch dough down and roll into a long rectangular shape. Starting from the long end, roll up jelly-roll style.

Place seam-side down on a greased baking sheet, cover with a wet towel, and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled. (It really depends on the warmth of your house).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk one egg white with one Tbsp of water until slightly foamy. Using a pastry brush, gently brush beaten egg white onto loaves. Using a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of the loaf. 

 Bake for 15-20 minutes,, or until nicely browned. Cool on a wire rack.

 I made three separate loaves. They were a little dense so I think I didn't kneed the dough well enough to activate the gluten. They still turned out good though!