Orange Raisin Bread with Walnut Glaze.

I cant believe that I am actually writing a blog post. In my quest to get back on the wagon of baking and blogging, I decided to start with this bread. I think that my family: myself, husband and my 2 young sons go through at least 3 loaves of bread per week. Instead of spending money, why not just bake them myself? so, that is my goal. for today, just to make sure I still could do it, I started with just one loaf.

This bread was a great way to get back into the rhythm. and, now, I cant wait to bake more.

  Orange Raisin Bread.  adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Bread. 2.5 cups flour2 1/4 teaspoons yeast3/4 cups water1/4 cups milkzest of one orange1/4 cup butter1/4 cup sugar1 teas salt1 egg3/4 c raisins Glaze:1/2 c powdered sugar1 teas butter, softened1/4 c finely chopped walnuts3 Tablespoons Orange Juice In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the yeast. over heat, in a saucepan, heat the water, milk, orange zest, butter, sugar and salt until butter melts and mix is warm but not hot to the touch. (around 115 degrees)pour over the flour and mix to partially combine, and then add egg and mix to combine. add the flour, little by little until you get a dough that comes together. dust a counter surface with a little flour and knead the dough for 10 minutes until it is no longer tacky, but take care to add only a little flour at a time to avoid over drying the dough. place in bowl and let rise for 90 minutes. punch down, shape into a round and let sit for 20 minutes on the counter, below a cover.then, shape into a log and place into greased loaf pan. let rise around 60 minutes. preheat oven to 375. bake for 40-50 minutes until the loaf is nicely browned.while the loaf is baking, mix the glaze ingredients to a slightly runny consistency. when loaf emerges from the oven, glaze using a pastry brush.  cool, then devour.  
- Posted from bed using blog press for iPhone..

Holy crap.

time flies when you are having fun! has it really been 7 months? man, well, I am slowly starting to get my groove back, here. (2 kids later..) I hope to be posting more really soon. and by soon I mean, in less than 7 more months. I have had to take a little hiatus. having kids is keeping me really busy and when I do find downtime, you will find me with my wine, propped on the couch, or sleeping. I hope to be back soon!

Lemon Muffins.

Recently, we enlisted a birdie to come and take our son's binkies to a better place. For that, it has taken some time for him to forgive us and a week later, he is still asking for it at bedtime. (breaks my heart just a little bit) But, I told him that if he could do it, I would make him cupcakes. He loves lemon. loves it. eats it raw most times, so I decided to make him a basic Lemon Muffin. I also had to redeem myself from a Lemon Cake debacle from the day before, Fathers Day, in which I created the biggest flop of a cake. (Martha Stewart Everyday, in part, to thank for that.) In case you are wondering, her recipe for Simple Lemon cake sounds dandy, using whole lemons in the batter, similar to a shaker pie, but the results were terrible. not sure what happened, and I hope its not just me losing my touch. can I blame her just this once?

For this recipe, I just wanted a basic lemon muffin. no frills, but lemony. I took the sugar and perfumed it with lemon zest, and then I also added some juice. I added some honey yogurt (full fat Greek Gods goodness) and think next time, I would use a lemon yogurt (like Chobani) I finished them with a little lemon and powdered sugar glaze. Instead of butter, I used walnut oil, and I think next time I might try using coconut oil. (my new fave oil to bake with)

Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup yogurt, I used honey Greek Gods

3 Tabl oil, I used walnut

2 Tabl Lemon juice

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teas baking powder

1/4 teas salt

1 Tabl lemon zest

lemon juice and powdered sugar to glaze.

zest one lemon and add to sugar in a bowl. with hands rub the sugar and zest until moistened.

whisk together zest/sugar, egg and yogurt. add oil and whisk to combine. add lemon juice. stir. add dry ingredients and stir to combine.

bake at 350, 15 to 20 minutes. yields around 8 muffins.

Vegan! Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I feel like a broken record here, cookies, banana bread, cookies, banana bread. but, there is a cookie out there that is so delish, and its actually vegan. (gasp!) I buy them all the time and devour the bag within a day. I still cant believe that its getting easier to find vegan goodies out there. I am such a butter in my cookies girl, and these just might turn me into a vegan. well, maybe not. but, they are that good. They are peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from Uncle Eddies and I think, I think that I may have just recreated them. Aside from the crumbly mess that was the cookie dough, once you can form the cookies and get them to stick on the cookie sheet, they actually bake well and dont fall apart into a crumbly mess upon consumption. these are gooood.

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup walnut oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

just throw everything in a bowl and mix. I also added the hippy version of m&m's, sundrops, instead of chocolate chips.

bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

should make about 2 dozen...less if you are a snitcher of cookie dough like me.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Z had his way with a banana or two today, rendering them unfit for normal peeled consumption. so, what an excuse to make some bread! My good friend Rachel had mentioned a recipe recently, so I thought I would try it out. I ended up not having a few of the ingredients on hand, so I tweaked it a bit to use up some things that I did have on hand, and what I got was something really tasty. I used coconut oil in place of shortening, brown sugar in place of regular and a mixture of sour cream and heavy cream in place of buttermilk. yummy fatty goodness. and a really really moist bread. The batter tasted of coconut and banana, but the baked product has just a hint of coconut. I think next time, I might add a little shredded coconut to bring that flavor around a bit more. and, there will be a next time. yum-o.

 Coconut Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

3/4 cup brown sugar
 2 eggs
1/2 cup melted coconut oil, unrefined. (I got mine at Whole Foods, the 365 brand.)
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream

2 bananas
 2 teaspoons vanilla

2.5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients, then add mashed banana and vanilla. Then add the dry ingredients, combined. Be sure to just stir until combined, not overmixing is key. then, add the chocolate chips. divide batter between 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for about 45 to 55 minutes, depending on your oven!

Apricot and Raisin Oatcakes.

I suppose I should be napping right now. But, I have to tell you about these. I am not sure how I even thought of these things, but it must have been while I was nursing at 2 in the morning. things just pop into my head, random things. and, the other day, it must have been these oatcakes from my youth. I just remember eating these after a hard swim workout when my mom would take me to the bakery in town. Of course, this must have been after my chocolate croissant days, possibly in my high school years when I was an awkward teenager concerned a little more about what I ate, and carbs were all the rage.

These are dense and not all that flavorful. sound good right? well, they actually are, which is kind of crazy. SO, the other day, I was inspired to try and make some at home. 

They are lightly sweet, and the more dried fruit you pack into them, the better.

Apricot and Raisin Oatcakes

3 cups oats, ground in cuisinart

2 c flour

1/4 teas baking powder

1/3 cup yogurt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 teas vanilla

1 egg white

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup apricots, dried, and diced.

mix first three ingredients, set aside. mix 2nd five ingredients. pour into dry mix and combine. add raisins and apricots and mix. it may to be mixed by hand, it gets fairly stiff.

form 2 dozen hockey puck sized patties. bake 325 for 20 minutes.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

but first, some ramblings..

I have decided that it is time to get back into baking more bread. It has been 6 months since I baked a yeasted bread, and I love making bread. Life with kids has dominated my days and I am ready to give myself a little something that I enjoy. I also really miss this blog. So, I have a new goal, to bake something new every week. just one thing. And, hopefully, I will have blog worthy results most days and will be posting more here. I love being a mom, but sometimes I just miss my old self too. and, I hope to get a little of that back. Jointly, I also hope to start running again. My goal is to train for a half marathon, but not quite sure of that reality just yet...but, I need to commit, as it it less than 4 months away and, I havent run in at least a year and a half.

holy cow, did I really just write that?

now, on to the bread..

It was good. past tense. We pretty much decimated the whole thing during the course of the day. I made a whole wheat dough, let it rise and then rolled it out flat. I then brushed it with melted butter, sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it and then folded it onto itself. I then cut it into slivers and lined them up horizontally in a bread pan, baked it and yum.

idea from Joy the Baker, adapted from Beth's Basic Bread Book.

My version, I cut back on the butter and sugar and used the whole wheat dough in place of a white dough. what you get is not a bread that is sticky gooey, but a bread scented with cinnamon and caramelized here and there.

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tabl dry yeast

1/2 cup warm milk (not hotter than 115!)

3 Tabl brown sugar

1 1/2 Tabl melted butter

1 1/2 teas salt

1 egg

1 1/4 cup wheat flour

2 cups white flour

2 Tabl melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 teas cinnamon

dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar, melted butter and milk. stir. whisk the egg and add to the yeast mixture. combine the flours and add to the liquid mixture. stir till the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. add the salt. knead dough on counter with just as little flour as you need. let dough rise 1 hours. punch down. let rise 1 hour more. punch down. roll out into a rectangle. brush with melted butter. sprinkle cinnamon over the top. fold the dough in half and cut into strips. depending on the length, and size of your pan, cut those strips in half. layer vertically in bread pan that is brushed with melted butter. let rise 45 minutes. bake 375, about 40 minutes, until fairly brown on top.