Homemade Wheat Sandwich Bread

I have been on a quest lately to come up with a really good sandwich bread recipe that not only meets the requirement of being healthy but also edible by kid standards.  Store bought bread is convenient without a doubt, it also has a lot of junk in it.  Most supermarket brands have high fructose corn syrup in them.  Did you know that when you make bread the amount of sweetener needed is very small, just enough to feed the yeast.  My recipe has 2 tbs of honey for the entire loaf.  So the bread companies are putting high fructose corn syrup in because they are too cheap to spring for the tiny amount of more expensive, better quality sweetener.   Not to mention preservatives, that don't really seem to work that well considering my bread lately has been moldy  after a couple of days.

Homemade bread may seem very daunting, but it really is easy, especially if you have a bread machine.  You can do this in a kitchen aid mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand if you don't have a bread machine.  With the machine it takes only a few minutes of my actual time.  This recipe was adapted from The Bread Bible but I did change a few things.

2 2/3 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 c. flax seed
2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs honey

In the pan of your bread machine or your bowl if not using the machine combine the flours and flax, make a well in the center and add the honey, yeast and salt followed by the water.  Set the machine to the dough cycle and leave it alone.  If mixing by hand or machine mix ingredients until a smooth ball of dough forms and let rise for 40 minutes.  After the dough is done, remove from machine or bowl and punch down on a floured surface, the dough will be slightly sticky. Place in a well greased loaf pan and cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.

Let rise for 50 minutes.  Meanwhile heat oven to 375 and place racks on the lowest two positions, place a cookie sheet on each rack.  When the dough has risen, very carefully remove the plastic wrap and gently but quickly score the top with a sharp knife.

 Very gently place loaf pan on top of the top cookie sheet in oven, pour 1/2 c. ice cubes onto the lower pan and gently close the oven.  Let bake for 50 minutes.  Remove from oven and remove loaf fro pan to cool.  Let cool two hours before cutting.  Keep bread tightly wrapped and it will keep for 3 days.

More Homemade Yumminess

Even though it is unbearably hot outside this week (heat index of 110) I've still been spending a good amount of my time in the kitchen.  I try to avoid the oven though.  I'm still working my way through the Eating Well cookbook, which I love and yesterday I checked out a book on making bread and one on ice cream as well.  So this is what has been in the kitchen the last two days.

This morning the kids wanted chocolate chip pancakes and I happily obliged.  I was so happy to have local farm fresh milk, eggs and honey to use in this recipe.

Pancakes
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1 egg beaten
1 tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbs canola oil or butter
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together in bowl, the mixture will still be slightly lumpy.  Spoon 1/2 c per pancake onto either a hot griddle or pan.

This was my crazy amazing breakfast.  Irish oats with farm fresh blackberries and drinkable peach yogurt.  This tasted like dessert, it was sooo good.

Blackberry Peach Oatmeal
1/2 c. irish oats
1c. water
handful of fresh blackberries
1 tbs agave nectar
1/2 c. drinkable peach yogurt or kefir

Place water, oats, agave and berries in bowl and heat for 3 minutes in microwave.  Stir and let cool for a minute, then add a few more fresh berries and pour the yogurt on top.

This was last night's dinner.  I made the mozzarella burger from Eating Well although I changed the recipe quite a bit. I added in some steamed green beans and a little leftover orzo from the night before.

Mozzarella Burgers
1lb lean ground turkey
2 tbs Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp Worcestershire
salt and pepper
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese plus an additional 1/4 c for the tops
foccacia bread
Muir Glen Pizza sauce
1 tbs lemon zest

Mix together the turkey, spices, Worcestershire, garlic and lemon zest.  Make into 8 thin patties.  In the center of 4 patties add a spoon full of cheese top with another patty and press the edges closed.  Cook until done through.  Place cooked burger on top of a thin slice of foccacia and top with the pizza sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.

House Party!!

Are you down with House Party?  If you haven't heard yet this site works with companies to offer up party opportunities.  All you have to do is go to their site and register.  After that keep your eyes open for a party that you are interested in hosting, apply for it and then wait.  After a few weeks they will let the chosen folks know.  If you are selected you get a party package for the item you are promoting.

I hosted my first House Party this past Saturday for Weight Watchers Ice Cream.  It was a pretty great experience.  They provided me with coupons for all of the ice cream, a few items to help with the party and some fun activities for my guests.  We had a great time hanging out and eating some yummy snacks.  One of my favorite activities was making inspiration boards with the ladies.  We cut out magazine pictures and words that went with our goals and made little collages.  Mine is hanging on my fridge and every time I see it I remember my goals.

Check out some of the fun pictures from my House Party and head over there now to register for yours.

inspiration boards

girls working hard 

strawberry shortcake kabobs

Drink bar

All the yummy goodness

-Kim

Cinnamon-pecan scones

Yes, more scones. They were just so good the other day. So I was looking at my previous post and it came to me cinnamon rolls + scones = cinnamon-pecan scones, and since I am going to visit my mother-in-law today I thought I should put the plan into action. So I took my recipe for the blueberry scones and gave it an overhaul to produce these sweeties. I used honey this time, but I may swap for maple syrup the next time since after I had them in the oven it occurred to me that the syrup would have been a good flavor combination. I made candied pecans to go in these but you could just use plain if you are short on time. So here is the recipe, enjoy!

Candied pecans

1 1/2 c. roughly chopped pecans
2 tbs. white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the oven to 350

In a 8x8 pan spray pecans generously with cooking spray and toss to coat. Add vanilla to the pecans and toss to coat. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, add to the pecans and toss to coat. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes watching carefully so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cinnamon-pecan scones

2 c. all purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
3/4 tbs. salt
6 tbs. cold butter cut in pieces
1 tbs. white sugar plus some for sprinkling on top
2 tbs. honey
1/3 c. heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops
1/2 c. sour cream
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. candied pecans

Heat the oven to 400 degrees

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the texture is very small crumbs. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. In a small bowl stir together honey, cream and sour cream, add to the well in the center. Add the cinnamon and pecans at this point also. Stir with a fork until a ball forms, take out of bowl and knead just a few times, don't overwork as this will cause a tough scone. Form into a 6x6 square on your baking pan, cut into 4 equal squares and then into 8 triangles. Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 20 minutes. When cooled you can drizzle a "icing" on top. Just mix 1/2 c. confectioners sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and enough heavy cream to make a glaze.

-Kim