honey whole wheat bread

I love my brown bread. i love grains, whole wheat, ryes the works. but seeing as i'm new to this bread thing, i'm going to start with THIS honey whole wheat loaf.

I figure seeing as the white bread worked so well, this can't do me any wrong. I like to find a good recipe and stick to it, with the occasional change up, it's nice to know what the end result will be like every time!
It did, it turned out beautifully! It actually makes a rather large loaf, so i used 2/3 of the dough as a loaf (as you can see it's quite large) and made some dinner rolls, to have with salad in the evening =)

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

3/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°F)
1 envelope FLEISCHMANN'S Active Dry Yeast
3/4 cup warm milk (100° to 110°F)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions (remember to prepare the yeast as per the jars instructions first)
Place 1/4 cup warm water in large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved.
Add remaining water, warm milk, honey, oil, salt, and 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour; blend well.
Stir in whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top.
Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Punch dough down.
Remove dough to lightly floured surface; roll to 12 x 8-inch rectangle.
Beginning at short end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll.
Pinch seam and ends to seal.
Place, seam side down, in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; let cool on wire rack.

Happy Baking!

white bread

I have always wanted to make bread, to have homemade bread at home. It's been a long time since i did my cooking school training and bread just wasn't one of the things i had the chance to make often. So i decided to start now, while i have the time, to experiment with it.

My husband just loves home cooking. He is a meat and three veg kinda guy. SO when he came home and i had fresh white bread and slow cooker beef stew for dinner he was wrapt! Simple and delicious.

On top of that, i was so very happy it turned out! I remember trying back in the day and not having the desired results everytime. YAY =)
I used THIS RECIPE for starters. Thinking that a site using the same yeast as me would help, in my mind anyways, hehe. I only used 2 tsp of sugar NOT the 3 tbsp as quoted. That's too much for a regular loaf if you ask me. And i used the Active Yeast not the RapidRise.

So pleased was i when all the hard work turned out like this:

The one thing i've found since living here in Canada is, there is an high sugar content in a lot of the shop bought breads. I can taste it. In Australia there is a limit on how much sugar you can put in commercial breads, i remember years ago when even McDonalds had to stop putting so much sugar in their buns! So This way i get to make sure it is JUST bread we are eating and as much as i love white bread it's no good for my waistline, so i'll experiment with wholewheat and grains for myself. Hubby however, wants the white, loves it. Oh and raisin bread...mmmmm!

The recipe revised as i used it:

Makes 2 Loaves

5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions

Place 1/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°F) in a large warm bowl.
Sprinkle in yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar; stir.
Let sit 5 to 10 minutes, until foamy on top.

In a large bowl rub butter into sugar, salt and 5 cups flour.
Add remaining water and milk.
Mix well using the medium speed of an electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Or by hand.
Stir in extra flour to make a soft dough, if needed.

Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Divide into two.
Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.
Cover; let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Punch dough down.
Roll each half to 12 x 7-inch rectangle. Or whatever you would like to make.
Beginning at short end of each rectangle, roll up tightly as for jelly roll.
Pinch seams and ends to seal.
Place, seam sides down, in greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pans.
Cover; let rise in warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 200°C = 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Turn half way to get an even colouring.
Cover tops loosely with foil if they are getting too dark and the bread isn’t ready.
Remove from pans; cool on wire rack.

easter jelly

Have i mentioned yet how much i love everything about jelly? While browsing the net for new interesting ideas, i found this recipe, so i say thankyou to the Food Librarian =) a fun colourful and delicious jelly for me to try! hehe (the good thing about jelly is my husband doesn't like it, it's all mine mwahahaha)

i adjusted it slightly....but not by much, because mine split while setting, i think because i added the milky mixture too soon, my jello was still hot and wasnt dissolved properly. The top green layer you'll note worked better because i figured that out, although the split layering does look kinda cool. Mind you if i wanetd it like that i bet it wouldn't happen again! =P

Easter Jello
3 or 4 boxes jello (you pick colours)
2 packets Knox gelatine
1 tin sweetened condensed milk

For each layer:
1 packet jello
1/2 package of Knox gelatin.
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup milky mixture (that you make in a minute)

Mix until totally dissolved.

Wait for it to cool to luke warm before adding the milk mixture so it blends better.

Meanwhile, while your jello cools, in a separate glass measuring jug, empty 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. Add enough boiling water to make 2 cups of liquid. Let cool slightly.

Add 1/2 cup of the milky mixture to the dissolved colored jello.

Pour into pan and let set for about 30 minutes (depending on how much gelatin you use and if you let the mixture cool a bit before pouring). Make sure your refrigerator is level! :)

Continue for other colors. Make sure every layer is set right before adding more or they will meld together. You can make up to 4 layers with the 2 cups of milky mixture.

I used watermelon pink, blueberry blue and lime green.
Lemon yellow would be good, purple grape came out too dark, so I didn’t use it.
Overall a wonderful result!

carrot cake

a delicious and simple cake. i'm so glad i found this recipe years ago, it never fails me. it's one recipe that you remember how to make and it is always a hit. i have added pineapple, walnuts, extra carrot and it always turns out! my husband absolutely LOVES this one. i swear if i wasn't around it would be eaten before i knew it =) this recipe turns out a little gooey but tasty.....but it's all good!

valentine's day cookies

so it all began with a recipe i found whilst browsing bloggers (im always browsing) at Bake at 350 an excellent foodie blog, with loads of delicious treats to try!

the cookies turned out perfect, and the recipe was so easy to follow. i managed to get 32 hearts out of one batch...

banana cake

what better than banana cake when your bananas have gone beyond the point of no return....
im a fussy one, if i am to have a banana.....
it must be perfect.
any more ripe or under ripe or too many bruises i just can't do it, makes me squeamish...but i do love a very overripe sweet banana for cake =)
i chose a banana bread recipe, doubled it, added one extra banana than suggested and baked it in a 23cm round pan and i got a moist dense banana cake, yum.

chocolate frosting

This is my favourite chocolate frosting recipe, not too sweet, not too cocoa-ey and makes enough to fill and decorate a two layer chocolate cake =)

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup cocoa

3 cups icing sugar

1/3 cup 10% cream

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until light and creamy.

Gradually add in the cocoa/icing sugar and alternate with the cream.

Add the vanilla and beat until the desired consistency.

Bear in mind, the longer you whip it up the lighter in colour it will get.

Keeps in the fridge for a couple of days if needed, but i tend to use it all up =)

cream cheese frosting

this is the basic recipe i use for my cream cheese frosting.....
it makes enough to cover one 23cm round cake, or cover and fill a smaller 20cm round cake.

1 (375g) package of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 to 2 cups icing sugar

cream the butter and cheese together until creamy and changes to a lighter shade.
gradually add in the icing sugar and beat until you get the desired consistency.

ice your cake. =)

chocolate coconut slice

just like my mum used to make. a very coconutty chocolate biscuit slice...mmmm...

Preparation Time - 10 minutes

Cooking Time - 15 minutes

Makes - 24 pieces

Ingredients
• 200g crushed cookie crumbs (any plain sweet biscuits will do)
• 1 ½ cups desiccated coconut
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 200g butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture
• Extra 1 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp hot water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 16x26cm baking pan and line with baking paper. Place biscuits into a mixing bowl with coconut and sugar. Sift over flour and cocoa and stir.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Pour over dry ingredients. Add vanilla. Mix well.

3. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and press down to level. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked.

4. Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl. Add water and stir well. Ice slice while still hot. Cut into squares to serve.

5. Sprinkle a little extra coconut on top of icing. Cool, cut and serve.

It's more of a biscuitty slice, but yummy nonetheless!

rainbow jelly

i love jelly. the colours, the texture, the fun you can have with it!

i've been browsing online for jelly recipes that are a little more fun and unusual that your everyday bowl of jello. i found quite a few recipes which i can guarantee i will try as this first experiment went so well, looked so good and tasted great!