Crusty no - knead bread

This bread recipe is very easy to make, tastes kind of like sourdough, and has a nice crust on the outside.

  Recipe slightly adapted from Simply So Good

Ingredients: 

3 c. flour

3/4 tsp. yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

1-2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar.

In a large bowl stir together all the dry ingredients and then stir in the water until it's a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 8-18 hours or overnight. It will rise and have bubbles on the top.  Preheat the over to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a ball and let it rest. While it's resting, take a glass pot ( or a dutch oven if you have one) and put it into the over to heat up for 30 minutes. Take the bowl out of the oven, line it with baking paper, and put the dough in. Put the lid on the pot and bake for 30 minutes, then for an additional 15 without the lid. 

Enjoy! 

Honey olive oil bread

 I'm usually hesitant to make yeast bread because all the recipes I see seem to take so long and it seems like there's so many ways to mess up. I'm really impatient and it seems to be a "okay make this but you won't actually have finished bread in front of you for 14 hours," kind of a thing, but his stuff is great because you can make it in under one hour. I love fresh bread and this has a wonderful crust.

Ingredients: 
recipe adapted from Yammie's Noshery

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil

Stir together the yeast, sugar, olive oil, and honey and let it sit for 5 minutes. Use the bread hooks on an electric beater to combine this mixture with the flour and then knead for ten minutes. Let it rise in a greased and covered bowl in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Put it in a greased loaf pan,  and bake for 10 minutes at 425 F. Then turn the heat down to 350 F and bake for an additional 5- 15 minutes. When it's done, it will sound hollow when you tap it.

Enjoy!!

The best whole grain banana bread

I've been trying for a while now to make healthier banana bread that still tastes great and I think I've finally got it.  This stuff hits the spot and is tastes almost exactly like "normal" banana bread but its way more nutritious. I used really dark bananas for maximum sweetness and didn't use very much butter therefore I used buttermilk ( I just do it myself with skim milk with lemon juice) so it wasn't dry.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. oat flour ( make your own by just grinding up oats)
1/4 c. ground flax
1/4 c. millet
1/4 c. melted butter
3/4 c. buttermilk
3 overripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp honey
1/2 c. to 3/4 c. sugar depending on how sweet you want it.
2 eggs


Grease a loaf pan with butter and add about 2 tbsp of white sugar.  Shake it around until evenly coated. This will give the banana bread a nice crispy crust. ( Idea from Crazy for Crust)

Whisk together the mashed bananas, honey, eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter. In a separate bowl whisk together the oat flour, flax, millet, and baking soda. Add the 2 mixtures together and bake at 350 degrees for 20-35 minutes.

 It tastes best after letting it sit in the fridge overnight.

Enjoy!!

Cinnamon sugar pretzels with caramel sauce

 

 Ready to go in the oven.

 

 Now with caramel poured on top.

 Cinnamon sugar covered pretzels

Recipe slightly adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon of white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups of warm water
• 5 cups of flour ( you can use whole wheat if you want, I just used white because I made mine more of a desert)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
•  
• Topping:
•  1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup of melted butter

1. In a small bowl mix the yeast with the 1 tsp of sugar and 1 1/4 cups of warm water. Let it sit for around 10 minutes
2. Mix together the remaining sugar, flour, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the oil and the yeast mixture and mix with a beater.  If its too dry add a few more tablespoons of water ( I ended up adding around 3)
3. Knead it until its smooth then put it in a greased bowl and let it rise in a warm place until its doubled in size ( around 1 hour and 15 minutes)
4. Roll them out into the shape of pretzels and use a paintbrush to brush them slightly with melted butter. Mix the cinnamon and white sugar together and sprinkle it on the pretzels.
5. Bake at around 450 degrees for around 12 minutes

Caramel sauce:

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 brown sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp milk

Melt the butter then mix everything else in until it's dissolved  and dunk your pretzels in it for a total sugar overload! :)

Chocolate Banana Bread

I first found this recipe at Joythebaker Its not too sweet and really  chocolaty. The original recipe had chocolate chips in it and I didn't have any on hand but it was still great even without!

Chocolate Banana bread:
recipe from: Baking from My Home to yours


Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk ( I just used regular milk and added a tbsp of lemon juice)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder

In a separate bowl beat the 2 sugars, and butter. Add the eggs one at a time and then the bananas. Add in the dry mixture and then the buttermilk.
Pour into a pan lined with baking paper and bake for 30 minutes. Then cover it in foil to keep the top from burning and bake for around 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.


Enjoy!