How to make GREAT homemade bread (it's soft!)

I used to be scared of yeast. Honestly I would try anything in the kitchen- as long as there wasn't any yeast in it. I've overcome my fear of yeast with just a few recipes that are tried and true.

I also used to have a hatred of homemade bread. My mom made bread rather than buying it because she had nine kids and it's MUCH cheaper to make bread than buy it (especially when you buy the ingredients in bulk). Now I've come to appreciate a great loaf of homemade bread for the taste, consistency and the price! With this recipe my kids prefer homemade to store bought bread.

From making bread

From making bread

Here is my no fail bread recipe:
3 cups of hot water (about 110 degrees- but just 'hot' when you touch it)
1 Tbsp. salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp dough enhancer
2 Tbsp Vital wheat gluten
5 cups of whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp instant yeast
3-6 cups white flour

A couple of items about the ingredients.
Dough Enhancer and Vital wheat gluten are what makes this bread soft. If you decide to only use white flour instead of whole wheat then you can omit these ingredients. You can generally purchase vital wheat gluten and Dough enhancer at health food stores.

You want your wheat flour to be freshly ground. If you've got a high quality blender you can blend your wheat into flour in that.

From making bread

The benefits of whole wheat flour are that the whole of the wheat is present (the bran, germ and endosperm) so that there are fiber and protein that refined white flour is missing. This recipe you can add as much or as little whole wheat flour as you like- I generally do 5 cups of whole wheat to about 3-5 cups of white.

Here is my whole wheat flour in comparison to my white.

From making bread

In a mixer with a dough hook add the water, salt, oil, honey, dough enhancer, and vital wheat gluten. Then we'll add the whole wheat flour and the yeast. Begin mixing and add white flour slowly until the dough is 'cleaning the sides of the bowl.'

From making bread

On a sunny day I'll usually only add 2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of white flour, but the day that we made this is was pouring down rain outside- so there was more humidity in the air and we used almost 5 cups of white flour in this dough. It will vary- the important thing is the consistency of the dough- not the number of cups of flour. If you find that you've added too much flour you can add water a Tablespoon at a time to fix it. Dough is less finicky then you'd think.

Knead the dough until the gluten is developed, I usually knead it for about six minutes. If you're kneading by hand you'll want to knead for at least 12 minutes.

The dough will no longer be sticky and you'll see that it starts to 'stretch' a bit- that is the gluten developing that you're seeing.

From making bread

After kneading you'll immediately form it into loaves and place them in greased pans.

From making bread

Let the loaves rise in a warm place covered with a clean towel or paper towels until double in size. They will rise a bit more once you place them in the oven, but not much, so it should be about the size you want your loaf to be when it's baked.

From making bread

My middle loaf didn't quite get enough dough- and the loaf on the side got a little too much- but that's okay. Mine took about 45 minutes to rise- but it varies depending on the warmth of your house. On warm days my bread will be ready to go in the oven in 25 minutes. I generally start preheating the oven when the bread has been rising for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When you put the bread in immediately drop the temperature to 325. This causes the bread to 'poof' up a bit more. Bake for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden and sound 'hollow' when you tap on it. Remove from oven to a cooling rack and immediately spread butter on the top of the loaf. This helps keep the crust soft. Cool 5 minutes and then remove from pan to cool completely on cooling rack. Put in plastic bag or airtight containers when cool. Extra loaves can be frozen until you're ready to use. Remember- we didn't add preservatives so a homemade loaf will mold faster than a store bought loaf!

Enjoy!

From making bread

Baked Potato Soup

So I don't know about your neck of the woods- but here it's gotten chilly fast. My family is not very soupy- generally they turn their noses up at anything that's not condensed from Campbell's. (I know!) Soup for dinner rarely goes over well. But I keep trying. After a not well attended church dinner we ended up with about 15 baked potatoes. We're not big potato eaters here either. I was recovering from surgery and just had the kids throw them in the freezer.

I made this soup with those potatoes for the second time tonight- it's so easy and so delicious I need to share.

From food, snow, garden

I got my starter recipe from YumSugar. Their picture is much better then mine. I did take some liberties though.

3 tbsp. butter
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (I used a couple Tablespoons of pre-minced garlic. I like garlic)
6 baking potatoes already baked and skinned and coarsely chopped
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 oz.)
6 cups milk (use 2 percent reduced fat if you prefer- I actually mixed up some powdered milk and used it to save $$)
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided (use reduced fat if you prefer)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled- I used pre-crumbled, pre-cooked bacon to save time
1 cup cooked millet or white quinoa (optional)
Cracked black pepper (optional)

You start off by making a roux. Once you've learned how to make a roux you never need to 'dump in can of cream of ____ soup' again. Plus it doesn't have MSG- which gives me headaches so I avoid using it.

1. Melt your butter, add the onion and garlic and cook until onions are clear. Gradually have your flour out and add it to butter- whisking as you go. When you've added all the flour (will be clumpy) gradually add milk, whisking as you go again until all the milk is added. This is your Roux.

2. Let cook, stirring as you go for about 5 minutes- then add potatoes and grain (millet or quinoa). Let simmer until it thickens (about 15 minutes) then add the bacon, sour cream and 1/2 the cheese as well as the salt.

3. Let simmer until you're ready to serve (add pepper and garlic powder to taste) then top with a dollop of sour cream, green onions and cheese.

I served ours with the easiest home made bread. Recipe coming soon for that. Great warm meal on a chilly fall or winter day.

My family actually LOVES this. Even though they're not soup eaters.

Simple ways to WoW your food

I am pretty good about sneaking veggies into stuff- but here are some ways I've added extra veggies and grains to things:

In baking I've been substituting 1/4 to 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour. I've also been adding a couple tablespoons of flax seed (that I've run through the blender)

To anything with ground beef I'm adding 1/2 cup of red Quinoa. I've done this to Taco Salad and Sloppy Joes this week.

Spaghetti sauce is a great place to hide grains and veggies. Even to bottled sauce you can add zuchini, carrots, quinoa, millet- just simmer and then throw in the blender when everything is soft. No one will be the wiser.

I've WoWed our homemade pizza by adding:
Crust-I substituted out two cups of whole wheat flour and added dough enhancer and Vital Wheat Gluten
Sauce- I added 10 baby carrots that I'd steamed in the microwave to soften and zucchini and then blended it in the blender.
Toppings- My newest favorite pizza toppings are: red peppers, tomatoes, onions, and thinly sliced zucchini topped with mozzerella and asiago cheese. YUM!

Have you WoWed anything?
Have your tried any recipes here?
What do you think?

It's been about three weeks.

The differences I've noticed from eating more whole grains:
1- my chronically constipated kid that nothing including laxatives seemed to help for long? She's pooping. Maybe too much info for you all- but I need to share what a huge relief this is for me! I didn't want her to rely on medication for simple bodily functions for the rest of her life. But she's only had one poopy accident in the last week. This compared to a multiple times daily thing? YAY!!!

2- I have more energy.

3- My kids don't need to snack as often.

4- I don't need to snack as often.

5- My sugar cravings that used to be out of control? WAY down.

This is huge people. HUGE!

Hi! I'm Jill the next door neighbor

Amber is just so kind! I'm really not that great of a cook but I am trying.  My story in a nutshell is that my family eats like crap I'm slowly trying to change that.  My fridge and pantry were full of processed, fatty and just not good for you foods.  With the help of a few great chefs I decided I better kick myself in the butt and start cooking healthier for the sake of all of our health and my three boys poor wives of the future.  So I will post some of the WoWed recipes that I have tried and have been a complete success for picky eaters!  The great thing about all of these grains is that they are not only full of vitamins but they don't have a whole lot of taste to them so you can pretty much hide them in anything, it's really a no brainer, why wouldn't you do it! Here are a few recipes that I'm sure you will love.

WOW Nacho Supreme

2 cups Refried Beans (pressure cook and blend)

1 cup white bean

Brown:

1 diced onion

1/2 Lb. Hamburger

1 cup red Quinoa

1 can diced tomato (blended or not)

1/2 pkg Taco seasoning

Salt to taste

Serve over tortilla chips top w/ cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

WOW Crepes

1 cup low-fat milk

3/4 cups whole wheat/spelt flour

1 large egg

1 additional egg white

1 Tablespoon sugar 

In a blender mix the milk and egg until well mixed, but stopping short of creating foam. Add flour, sugar and any spices you want to try and pulse until just mixed. The batter should be 

quite thin. Heat a lightly-greased medium skillet or crepe pan over medium head. The pan is ready when a drop of water dropped in the pan dances on the surface.

For each crepe, use 3 Tablespoons of batter. Immediately swirl the pan gently to distribute the batter in a very thin layer. Cook the crepe until the surface appears dry -- about 1 minute. 

Stack completed crepes on a plate with wax paper between each crepe to prevent sticking.

Fill crepes with you favorite filling. Roll and enjoy!

Lettuce Wraps

I love cooking Asian food. There are some important flavors that the majority of Asian foods require (at least at my house).

-Sesame oil
-ginger
-soy sauce and/or Teriyaki sauce
-Hosin sauce
-garlic


Lettuce wraps are pretty versatile- you can add pretty much any meat (or no meat) and whatever veggies you have on hand and as long as you chop everything about the same (small) size and season it properly they'll taste great. I feel pretty good about serving Asian food to my family since it's so full of veggies. Tonight I WoWed some chicken lettuce wraps and they got rave reviews from my toughest critics.

This is what I started with. Chicken breasts (I was in a hurry- so I used some leftover chicken from tacos two nights ago and supplemented it with frozen chicken breast pieces. Also, Yoshida sauce, a yellow and a red pepper, zucchini, green onions, thai sweet chili sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and tonight I added leftover brown rice, millet and red quinoa. Of course lettuce for the 'wrap' part. Usually I use romaine lettuce- but I've found that really iceberg works best for these.



These are really easy to make- but the chopping does take some time. I enlisted the help of Megan (okay- she begged me) to chop the chicken. Little side note- my kids BEG to help in the kitchen. I have speed and perfection issues when it comes to cooking and really struggle with letting them help. Megan usually has chicken issues- but after chopping the chicken tonight she was so excited to eat the food she helped make. I need to 'let go' more often. She really did a good job with it though- and even used a sharp knife!

The key is to cut the veggies/meat to the same size.

I decided to add some red onion as well. Also I poured the Yoshida sauce over the cut up chicken so it would absorb some flavor before cooking (also I had to cover up the taco seasoning). I also sprinkled it with ginger. If you have fresh ginger I suggest using that- but I didn't have any so I substituted with powdered ginger.

Look how pretty it looks in the pan!


Now of course you can make these without the grains- but these whole grains will fill you up and make it so your kids aren't begging for food 20 minutes after you finish dinner. Also- they're delicious!

I started with some Sesame Oil, heated it until it was liquid- then added the garlic, veggies and stir fried them until they were tender- then I added the chicken and grains and some more ginger and Yoshida sauce. I also added Hosin sauce.

When I first started experimenting with Asian food other then stir fry (which is one of my favorites still) it took me lots of searching and finally going to a specialty grocery store to find Hosin Sauce. Now it's relatively easy to find in the Asian section of most grocery stores.

YUM!


Simply fill a lettuce leaf with some filling, roll like a taco and enjoy!



The critics say:
Ashley- "I'd give them five thumbs up if I had five thumbs!"
Megan- "These are the best! Can we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow?"
Annika (who wouldn't eat it as a wrap- but ate a couple pieces of plain lettuce and then the filling with a fork)- motioned two thumbs up.
Cori- Motioned two thumbs up- after she saw her sisters do it- but she ate three wraps.

Enjoy!

P.S. We had our wraps with cherries.

Millet- not just birdseed anymore!

Millet is our next super grain!



Millet is a super grain- meaning that it is a complete protein. In many parts of the world millet is a staple, although in America it's primarily used as bird seed. Millet is easy to digest and is gluten free. Try adding cooked millet to casseroles for extra protein- and use less meat.


To prepare millet you can simmer it 1 part millet to 2.5 parts water for about 30 minutes (until water is absorbed). It's very soft and bland- which helps it blend into most foods seamlessly.

I cooked 1 cup of millet tonight and ended up with 5 cups of cooked millet.




1 cup of millet contains 284 calories, 8 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat, 7 mg calcium, 240 mg phospohorus., 1.5 mg iron, 3 g dietary fiber as well as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and potassium.