Monday, January 23, 2012
So as I told you a few posts ago I had gotten the new Healthy Eating Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen. When I saw this recipe for Trail Mix Bread I knew I had to make it. It is delicious and is my new favorite bread for toast for breakfast. This bread is chock full of all kind of goodies, sunflower seeds, pecans and dried fruits. If you haven’t bought this cookbook yet it is worth buying, now if they will just do a low sugar cookbook, I would be in heaven. I am such a fan of America’s Test Kitchen in case you can’t tell. All of their recipes are full of such useful information and their recipes work. There are 2 pages of info on making this bread in the book so if you want more information you’ll have to get the cookbook.
One of my favorite things for measuring yeast is a spoon you can get from King Arthur Flour that measures exactly a package of yeast. I am not sure if anyone else sells one but for sure you can get one there. I buy my yeast in bulk from Sam’s or Costco and keep it in the freezer until I need it. So economical that way!
Trail Mix Bread
Yield: 1 9 inch loaf
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 - 60 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk (110 degrees)
1/3 cup water (110 degrees)
1/4 cup light molasses
3 1/2 tablespoons melted butter - cooled
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 envelope instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup pecans - toasted
1/4 cup sunflower seeds - toasted
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup apricots, coarsely chopped (I omitted these because I didn't have any and added raisins instead)
1/4 cup dried cherries
vegetable oil spray
Directions:
Whisk together the milk, molasses and 3 tablespoons butter in a stand mixer with a dough hook.
Add the yeast to the water and let set for a few minutes to make sure the yeast proofs. Add to milk mixture.
Mix together the 1 3/4 cups bread flour, wheat flour and salt. Add to the milk mixture and with the dough hook mix together on low speed, about 2 minutes. Continue to mix the dough on medium-low for about 8 minutes. If after 4 minutes you need to add more flour do it a 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but still sticks to the bottom.
Add the nuts and dried fruits and mix for another 2 minutes until they are incorporated.
Turn the dough out into a greased bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the dough has doubled.
Spray a 9 x 5 inch bread pan with spray. Shape the dough into a loaf and cover in the bread pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Brush the loaf with the remaining butter. Bake the bread for 50 - 60 minutes or until center of bread is 200 degrees. Cool loaf in pan for 15 minutes after baking. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Note: One of things I do when I use rasins in a bread like this is to heat the water and add my raisins to it. I let it sit for 15 minutes and then use that water to proof my yeast.
1/2 inch slice 200 calories
Decorations on bread were made using all Stampin’ Up! products.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Growing up we always had a big Sunday dinner, sometimes at grandma’s a few blocks away. You never knew who would be there and because I had a large family it was always fun. I learned a lot watching my grandmother cook, it’s a good thing too because so many recipes were never written down. She always used just a little bit of this and a dab of that. Thankfully my mom was able to preserve her roll recipe, much to my grandmothers dismay when my mom made her measure everything before she could proceed with making the rolls that day. Luckily it was a real good day for grandma’s bread and mom got the recipe so we are still able to have my grandmothers rolls today.
So today I have for you an easy pork loin roast with baby carrots cooked in the juices from the roast. The carrots add a good flavor to the gravy also. I served mine with mashed potatoes and fresh broccoli. Everything but the broccoli would of been typical of what grandma served.
Sunday Dinner Pork Roast with Carrots
Yield: Serves 6 - 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 lbs. pork loin
4 garlic cloves - minced
1 teaspoon rosemary
salt and pepper
1 medium onion
1 cup chicken stock
oil
1 lb. baby carrots
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper together. Rub mixture over roast.
Heat a small amount of oil in a dutch oven. Add roast to pan and brown well on all sides. Add onion and cook until it begins to soften and gets a little brown. Add chicken stock. Cover.
Bake for about 2 hours or until roast reaches 145 degrees. Halfway thru the cooking time add the carrots.
Let roast rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Make gravy using 3-4 tablespoons flour mixed with water. Bring the pan juices to a boil. Stir in the flour mixture. Taste for seasonings add salt and pepper as necessary.
Friday, January 20, 2012
I bought a new cookbook (America’s Test Kitchen’s Healthy Eating) last week and today I tried several of the recipes in it. I must say these dinner rolls are amazing and may just be my new go to roll for hamburgers. From start to finish took less than 3 hours. They are really light and have a wonderful texture to them.
Their recipe called for sunflower seeds on top but I ommited them as I only had roasted sunflower seeds and I was concerned they would get too toasty. I also skipped the step to use a baking stone and to lightly spray the rolls with water, as I wanted a softer roll.
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Yield: 16 Rolls
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 - 15 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours
Wonderful, soft whole wheat dinner rolls
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons butter - melted and cooled
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 - 2 cups bread flour (their recipe called for all-purpose)
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt (theirs 2 teaspoons)
vegetable spray
1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water, for brushing on top
Directions:
Whisk together milk, honey, egg in a stand mixer. Add the yeast.
Add the 1 1/2 cups white flour, the whole wheat flour and the salt. With the mixer at low speed, use the dough hook to combine the flours with the milk mixture until the mixture comes together. This takes about 2 minutes.
Increase the mixer speed to mediumand knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. If more flour is needed add the reserved 1/2 cup white flour, 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl but not the bottom.
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead to form a ball. Place ball in a greased bowl and let raise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Turn the dough out on the flour surface. Roll the dough into a large log. Cut in half and then half again. Cut each piece into four pieces. Cover while working with shaping the rolls. To shape the rolls, I punched a hole in the center of the piece and then rolled the sides into the hole until I got a nice round shape. Place on a greased baking sheet. When finished cover the rolls and set aside to raise until doubled.
Brush the rolls with the egg - water mixture.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.
Calories: 190
Fat: 4.5 grams
Chol: 30 mg
Carb: 31 grams
Protein 6 grams
These counts are with the sunflower topping which I omitted.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen
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