Healthier White Bread

So I stuck to my promise of making another loaf of bread using the bread machine. I served this bread with the creamy tomato basil soup, it's the bread I used for the grilled cheese sandwich pictured with the soup. If you are not able to use the bread within a few days, slice it and seal in zip lock bag in the freezer. I think the next time I make this I will add more Italian seasoning and basil to give it more flavor.

Healthier White Bread:

Source: Bread Machine: How to prepare and bake the perfect loaf. By: Jennie Shapter

Ingredients:

generous 1 1/2 c. water

4 1/2 c. white bread flour (I used 2 c. wheat flour & 2 1/2 c. white flour)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 T sugar

2 T butter

1 tsp. rapid rise active dry yeast

2 tsp. basil (I added)

1 T. Italian seasoning (I added)

Directions:

Follow directions based on the directions of your bread machine.

I choose: basic bread with a medium colored crust.

Tomato Basil Bread

Confession: Before making this bread I had not used our bread machine, ever. Dan had the machine before we met and he uses it when making pizza dough or bread. Before now I have always made bread by hand (with help from the kitchen aid), I'm excited to say that I will be baking bread from my couch again in the near future. Not to say that I will give up making bread the old fashioned way (I've made bread by hand too). The same day that I made this bread I also made Curry Lentil Soup for dinner, they surprisingly went together well.

Tomato Basil Bread

(Source: Brooke at ...And A Cookie For Dessert)

Ingredients:

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1/4 cup warm milk

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil (I used a basil paste)

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon dried thyme

3 cups all-purpose flour

1-3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:
In bread machine pan, place all ingredients in the order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic bread setting. Choose crust color and loaf size according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). I added 1 T of water.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Need a way to use up leftover buttermilk, then these biscuits are for you. I have been meaning to make these for the past several months but I keep forgetting when I have buttermilk. In my opinion these biscuits are much better than the ones that come in a can, and the way that I look at it the are also healthier. I justify this because you get a larger biscuit for the same amount of fat or possibly even less (not 100% sure because I have not compared the nutrition info for both). When I served these I made them into egg & cheese biscuits and served the leftovers with boysenberry preserves.

Buttermilk Biscuits:

Source: Alton Brown

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.)

3.Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
4. Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times.

5. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, (I used a drinking glass) being sure to push straight down through the dough.

6. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they don't (original directions say for them to touch) touch.

7. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting.

8. Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. (mine baked faster, about 12 mins.)
Yield: 10 biscuits

Nutritional Information:

Calories		145.2
Total Fat		5.3 g
	Saturated Fat	2.6 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.9 g
Cholesterol		8.6 mg
Sodium		427.5 mg
Potassium		64.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		20.8 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.7 g
	Sugars	1.2 g
Protein		3.4 g

Calculated using SparkRecipes

Easter Tea Ring

This bread was delicious, but I can not take any of the credit for it. That's because my talented husband made it for us. I hope that he makes it again sometime soon.

Recipe by Jenny Shapter author of Bread Machine (We adapted the filling)

Ingredients:

6 T milk

1 egg

2 c. bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 T sugar

2 T butter

1 tsp yeast

For the filling:

1/4 chopped almonds

1/4 chopped cranberries

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 brown sugar

1 T melted butter

For the glaze:

3-4 T orange juice

3 T powered sugar

Directions:

Steps 1 & 2 may need to be reversed based on the type of bread machine that you own.

1. Add flour, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the yeast.

2. Pour the milk, eggs and melted butter into the bread machine pan.

3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting, use basic dough setting if available. Press start and lightly oil a baking sheet.

4. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the bread pan. Place it on a lighly floured surface. Punch the dough down gently and roll it into a 12 by 18 inch rectangle.

5. Chop the almonds and cranberries (a food processor works well). Melt the butter and mix in cinnamon, brush over the dough. Sprinkle almonds and cranberries over dough, top with brown sugar.

6. Starting with the long edge, roll up the rectangle of dough, similar to rolling a jelly roll. Turn the dough so that the seam is underneath.

7. Curl the dough into a circle, brush with a little bit of milk to seal. Place on the prepared baking sheet.

8. Using a pair of cooking scissors, snip through the circle at 1 inch intervals, cutting 3/4 of the way through the roll. Twist the sections so that they start to fall sideways.

9. Cover the ring with lightly oiled plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until the dough is well risen and puffy.

10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

11. Bake the ring for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

12. While the ring is still warm, prepare the glaze and drizzle over the ring.

French Bread

I made this bread this week to show Dan that I know how to make bread from scratch. He didn't believe me at first because I hadn't made any at home before now. Unfortunately the picture that I took didn't turn out; hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

French Bread:
2 packages of dry yeast
2 ½ cups warm water
1 tsp. sugar
6 c. all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp salt

Directions:
1. Make sure water temperature is 110 to 115 degrees F. Place water in a large bowl and sprinkle with yeast and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes until yeast dissolves and starts to bubble.

2. Stir in 2 cups flour and salt. Cover and let rise for ½ hour.

3. Then gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. (Knead by pressing the dough, then folding over and pressing with the heel of your hand.) Then clean the large mixing bowl, grease it with vegetable shortening, and place the dough in the bowl. Turn it in the bowl so that the dough is greased (this will prevent the dough from cracking as it rises.)

4. Cover the dough and let rise at room temperature for about 2 ½ hours, until doubled in bulk. With your fist, punch down the dough. Divide in half and place one half on a lightly floured surface.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a 12X6” rectangle. Starting with the 12” side, roll up tightly. Seal seams and edges by pinching. Repeat with remaining dough.

6. Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves on prepared sheet. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

7. Pre heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray the loaves with a small amount of water, then using a blade, make a few slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake for 25-30 minutes until loaves are golden brown.

8. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack.