APPLE BREAD || a sweet recipe

A couple of days ago, the girls and I took a dear friend out to pick apples at my grandparent's old farm.  We picked a big basket full of beautiful, tart, green apples.  I plan to make some applesauce, but sweet apple bread was calling my name :)

One of my favorite resources for tried and true recipes is Jenny Hobick's blog, Everyday Occasions.  I have been following her blog for years and every recipe turns out so good!  I made a couple of modifications to her recipe....I only had 1 cup of granulated sugar so I used 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of granulated, and I baked my bread for longer!

APPLE BREAD

4 small or 2 large loafs

2 Eggs
2 cups Sugar (or 1 cup Brown Sugar and 1 cup Sugar)
1 stick of Butter (melted)
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 Apples, peeled and diced
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare loaf pans by lining them with parchment paper, or greasing with butter.

In a mixer, combine eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Add flour mixture into the butter and sugar mixture slowly.  Add apples in and stir just until combined.

Pour batter in the pans.  

Bake for 30 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then move to wire rack.

I love that it makes 2 large loafs, 1 to enjoy warm out of the oven and the other to give away!

This is the best sweet bread I have had in a while, it's so good and so easy!!!!!  The perfect after school snack or lazy Saturday morning breakfast bread :)

Enjoy!!!

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD || a sweet recipe

The other day the girls "got" to join me for a color consultation.  Typically they play with Grandma when I meet with clients, but that wasn't going to work, so they tagged along.  My client was SO sweet.  She turned what could have been a totally draining morning (shushing and nagging little girls while trying to be professional and have a meeting) and turned it into a fun and productive time.  A great reminder of how I want to treat those around me!  When we headed out into the alley way to look at all of the different colors she had tried painting on the building, she started to snap some photos of the girls.  This one is my favorite!

That evening, the girls and I decided to do some baking.  It seems fitting to bake all things pumpkin in October, so we started our baking spree off with pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

This is a new recipe (to me) and the bread turned out so good!

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BREAD

2 loaves

3 cups flour 
2 tsp cinnamon 
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp baking soda 
4 eggs 
2 cups sugar 
2 cups canned pumpkin 
1 1/2 cups canola oil

Preheat oven to 350. 
In stand-up mixer, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil. Gradually add in dry ingredients until just combined.  Pour in chocolate chips. 
Pour evenly into two greased loaf pans (4x8). Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks. 
Slice and serve.  It also freezes really well!

 Enjoy!!

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD :: a bread recipe

When the seasons change, and the weather turns cold, there is nothing better than warm, home made bread...right out of the oven.  It's my favorite.  My family's too!

This honey whole wheat bread recipe is so easy.  If you are intimidated by yeast, don't be!  Once you start baking with it, you will get more comfortable with it....I promise!  {Not to say you won't have total 'flops', at least I seem to 75% of the time ;-}  Try this, your family will love you for it!!

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Ingredients::

2 cups warm water

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. canola oil

1 T. yeast

1 t. salt

2 c. whole wheat flour

5 (or so) cups of all purpose flour  (add until the dough pulls away from the sides and is no longer sticky).

Directions ::

Grease (I use butter) two loaf pans.

Pour 2 cups of warm water into your mixing bowl.  Add the oil THEN the honey.  Use the same liquid measuring cup and your honey will come right out of the cup.  Start your mixer on low.  Then add yeast, salt and 2 cups of whole wheat flour.  When those are incorporated, start adding the all purpose flour until  the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky to the touch.  It usually takes about 5 cups.  

When the dough is just right, turn it onto a clean, floured surface and knead it for 5-10 min, or use the dough hook  of your mixer.  The longer you need it the more dense it becomes.  I knead this bread (on low, in the KitchenAid mixer) for 7-8 minutes.  Put some oil into the bottom of the mixing bowl and then add the dough back to the bowl to rise.

 My oven has a proofing setting for the rising phase but you could also heat your oven to 200 when you begin and then just turn it off so that the oven is a little warm but not hot.  I place a warm towel over the bowl and let it rise until it’s doubled in size.  It usually takes 45 minutes to an hour in the oven.   After it’s doubled, divide it into two loaves, shaping it into loaves by tucking the sides under, and then place into greased loaf pans.  Let rise again until it’s just to the top of the pans.  Bake at 375 for 25-30 min.

***This recipe makes two loaves so it’s perfect for sharing.  If I don't give away my second loaf, I wrap it in plastic wrap, then pop it into a freezer bag.  It's stays fresh in the freezer for quite a while, although mine never stays in the freezer longer than 2 weeks.**

recipe adapted from here

OLIVE OIL PUMPKIN BREAD :: a quick bread recipe

 

I am still baking anything and everything that calls for pumpkin!

I LOVE pumpkin and find I really only bake/cook with it in the Fall.

I thought I would share an easy olive oil pumpkin bread recipe I found online.  It's tasty and I love that it uses olive oil and honey, instead of vegetable oil and sugar.  **Full discloser, I added a powered sugar glaze and it adds just a perfect extra hint of sweetness.  A cream cheese frosting would be good too!**

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup  pumpkin purée*
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 cup  chopped walnuts or pecans

* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, honey and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.

3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Can easily double the recipe.

Can easily add a powered sugar glaze or cream cheese frosting to add extra sweetness.

'NO KNEAD' FRENCH BREAD :: a bread recipe

I love baking bread!

I love the way my home smells while it is in the oven.....I love a warm piece slathered with butter for a late afternoon snack.....and I love teaching my little sweet pea how to bake and navigate her way around the kitchen.

I have a few recipes that are my standbys.  This recipe is one of them!!  With the weather changing and soup season upon us, I thought I would share this recipe.  Seriously, you will see that it is so easy to make home made bread any time!!

It's as easy as mixing the ingredients in a large bowl, letting the dough rise, shaping it and baking it.

I usually make two loaves.  A large one for us to eat right out of the oven, and a smaller one to give away or freeze.

No Knead French Bread From Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day via The Ivory Hut


3 cups of lukewarm water 
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast 
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Grab a very large mixing bowl, or a large container that you can cover. In it, mix the water, yeast, and salt. You don’t have to heat up the water to a precise optimal temperature for the yeast. I’ve even used just regular tap water, and it’s worked well for me. Just let that sit together for a while (you don’t have to wait for the yeast to dissolve completely), then dump the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to knead this, and you’re not looking to make it come together into a dough ball. You just want everything mixed well, with no streaks of flour left, and you’re done.

Leave it in your container, covered (but not airtight, or it’ll pop), for a few hours. When it has risen and then deflated a bit, your dough is done. It’s ready to be used or stored in the refrigerator.

To bake the bread, just grab a chunk of dough, about the size of a grapefruit. Dust your hands with flour to help prevent sticking, and gently pull the sides of the dough toward the bottom, rotating the dough, until you get a roundish shape with a smooth surface. It should only take you about a minute or less to do this. The dough won’t be entirely in the bottom, where it may look bunched up, but don’t worry about it.

Put it on a cutting board that’s been dusted with cornmeal to prevent sticking, and let it rest for at least 40 minutes. No need to cover it. If the dough has been refrigerated, it helps to let it rest a little more, until it’s no longer chilled.

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, put a cast iron skillet (or a pizza stone) in the middle rack of your oven, and put a broiler pan (I used a cookie sheet) in the bottom rack. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Dust some flour on the top of your loaf, and slash the top, about 1/4-inch deep.

After twenty minutes of preheating, it’s time to bake. (You can put the bread in after 20 minutes, even if your oven hasn’t reached 450 degrees yet.) Slide the loaf onto the baking stone, and then quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler pan. Then quickly shut the oven door to keep the steam inside. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until you get a nice brown crust. Remove and let cool completely, if you can wait that long.