Rosemary Focaccia Bread

This is another Best Bites recipe. I made this to go with the Fettuccine with red pepper and cayenne sauce tonight and it was a hit. The original recipe calls for letting the bread raise twice- I didn't have time and formed into loaves immediately and only let it rise once. It turned out pretty dang good. I'll have to start earlier next time and see if the results are even fluffier.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread
1 c. warm (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit) water

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1 tsp. Kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

2 Tbsp. butter, divided

2 Tbsp. rosemary (dried or fresh)

2 1/4-2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

Sprinkle sugar and yeast in warm water and let sit for 10 minutes until creamy.
Knead in 2 cups of flour, 1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp rosemary until combined. Add remaining flour until no longer sticky (don't add too much).

Let rise until double (unless you don't have time) and then form into two round loaves. Place on greased cookie sheet and cover with a warm towel. Let rise for 45 more minutes. Melt remaining butter and then add in rosemary and a sprinkle of garlic if desired and brush on dough. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I've never made a tasty zucchini bread. The recipes I've tried usually come out with too much baking soda taste. I tried this one from Our Best Bites today. It is heavenly. It makes two loaves- I used one to pay for piano and one is all but 1/4 gone. I don't even think it's all the way cool yet. I may need to make another batch tonight to send in lunches tomorrow. This is a 3 thumbs up recipe for sure!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Mix together and set aside:
2 C flour
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Beat in bowl with mixer:
1/2 C canola oil
1 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla (cut to 1 tsp to make up for the vanilla yogurt)
1/2 C sour cream (I may have not had sour cream and used vanilla yogurt instead..)
3 C grated zucchini
3/4 C mini chocolate chips (I used regular sized chocolate chips and it's still tasty).

Add dry ingredients. My batter was really thin (I think it's because my zucchini was a bit watery) so I added an extra 1/2 cup of flour.

Pour into two pans (sprayed with flour baking spray and then wipe down the top 1/2 inch of sides so you don't get a 'lip') and then top with:

Topping:
2 T brown sugar
2 T white sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Bake at 350 for 45ish minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.

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

Breadsticks (twisty style)

We ate at a pizza place several months ago that had THE BEST breadsticks. I've fiddled around with a way to copy their recipe. I use my pizza crust dough- usually I make two pizzas and then use the rest of the dough to make breadsticks.

You'll need food safe dowels- I get them in the cake decorating aisle (of a craft store or Walmart).
I start soaking the dowels in warm water when I make my dough- so they soak for at least an hour while the dough rises and I make my crusts for pizza.

Then roll out pieces of dough into long 'snakes' as my kids call them, roll out all your dough so that the first ones are 'resting' while you roll out the rest, this will make the dough easier to roll onto your sticks.

Then wind them up around the soaked sticks and lay on a cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter and either sprinkle with garlic salt and basil, or brush with butter and then roll in a cinnamon and sugar mix. (Don't sprinkle on the cinnamon and sugar- you'll end up with a burnt, smoky mess).

Here is the rolled out dough and the first couple of one's ready for the oven:
Here is a close up of the oven ready ones (before adding spices):
Here they are out of the oven :

Brush with butter as they come out of the oven while they're hot- this will keep them soft. Baking them on the sticks keeps them moist. They turn out fabulous (and eating them off the sticks is just fun).

And these are my lovely assistants/taste testers: