Multigrain Crusty Bread

I can't tell you enough how much I love bread. I love the way it feels and I love the way it smells. I love how it changes shape, and texture throughout the whole process. I could spend my life baking bread and it would not be a life wasted. It's those early mornings in a bakery that deter me from making it my career.

I have been making bread regularly for the past 6 months or so? I can't even remember how long it's been now but what I can tell you is I have no idea at all when the last time is that I bought bread from a store. I did however buy bread and buns from the farmers market over the summer. Other then that though, I've been baking up my own bread! Mostly I make whole wheat as it's delicious, quick and easy but it does get boring always doing the same thing.

I have a book of Fast Breads and in it there is a section of refrigerator breads. The first time I made a dough from that book it went horribly wrong and it made me apprehensive to go back to the book. This book also explains how to make the bread using a mixer which I do not have thus makes me question what it is I am doing. However, I thought about what happened and I realized I just can't trust the book I have to trust my instincts. With this new confidence I tried again with two successes. Well three now.

This loaf of bread turned out wonderfully. The center is soft but full of flavour with the different seeds and flours in it. The crust is tough but not sharp or crunchy. The shape of the loaf is not my best work, but I think that will come with practice. I also really need to invest in an oven thermometer to find out my true oven temperature. Overall, I am so pleased and I can't wait until I can make more bread, and I think it's about time I get fancy and try some more complicated ones.

Multigrain Crusty Bread

from Fast Breads by Elinor Klivans

(the original recipe makes 2 loaves I only made one so I cut all the ingredients in half)

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 cups bread flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds

1 tbsp steel-cup oats

1 tbsp cornmeal

1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1/2 tbsp wheat bran

1/2 tbsp oat bran

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp of yeast

1 1/8 cup warm water

(water should be warm but not scalding or it will kill the yeast.)

1. In a small bowl pour in the water  and sprinkle the yeast. set aside.
2. toasted your sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds in the oven. Do this by pour the seeds on a pan and putting them in a 350 degree oven for 10 mins or until you can smell them and they have goldened. remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. While toasting the seeds you can combine all of your dry ingredients in a large bowl and light stir or whisk so they are evenly mixed.
4. Check on your yeast. The water should be cloudy, and the yeast dissolved. Sometimes I give it a little stir to help it fully dissolve.
5. Pour the seeds into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and lightly stir.
6. Make a hole in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in your water/yeast.
7. Using a wooden spoon fold in the wet and dry ingredients into each other thus forming a shaggy dough. set this aside for 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb some of the excess liquid.
8. Once it has rested dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes. The dough is going to be soft and a little sticky. Add enough flour to it to stop from sticking to the counter as you kneed.
9. Now that you are done kneeding place the dough lightly floured bowl, and sprinkle a little flour over the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight, or up to 2 days.

"Rise and shine sleepy head" your dough awaits.



10. Remove the bowl containing your dough from the fridge. The dough will have puffed up but it is unlikely to double.
11. Removed the dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. At this point you can either make a long loaf, or a boule. (I made a boule for something different) 
12. To form the boule pat the dough down into an 8inch circle. Then bring the edge of the top and bottom of the circle to the center. Then the left and right edges of the circle together. Press all the edges together.  Repeat of the remaining edges and Press all the edges together. Place the boule in a bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel that has been floured. with the seams up and cover the dough. Let rise for 45 minutes. Once again the dough will look puffy but will not double.
13. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees while you are waiting for the dough to rise. Get a metal pie plate.
14. Tip the risen dough onto a pan. the seams should now be down.  Prepare the topping (1/2 tbsp of each: sunflower seeds, steel-cut oats, cornmeal, toasted sesame seeds, oat bran) brush the dough lightly with water and sprinkle of the topping. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 15 minutes.
15. Put the metal pie pan (I used my cast iron skillet) in the oven on a lower rack 5 minutes before the bread is ready to go in.
16. Place the bread in the oven. Pour 2 tbsp of water into the metal pie pan, this will generate steam to make the crust crispy. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. the dough will rise about 2 inches during the baking process.
17. Removed from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

and voila you did it. and I did it. we all did it. and we are all living in a world with beautiful multigrain, crusty, artisan bread that was easy and delightful and yummy for morning breakfast sandwiches. 

All in cookies

Here I am. I haven't been lost at sea. I have been lost in the world of working and trying to put my life together. However, that sometimes does feel like being lost at see. I have still been baking and cooking up a storm but no pictures have been taken or stories complied to share. I can tell you though that I'm still loving baking, cooking and sharing with my friends.

With that said I'm back to share my love of baking!

There are a few blogs that I look at almost daily, and get emails sent to alert me to new posts. One of these bloggers is Joy The Baker. I adore her recipes, her pictures and her quirkiness. I recently bought her cookbook and so far I have made Bacon Waffles, which were for a Chicken and Waffle night I do with my friends every second Wednesday, but thats a story for another time. I have made the Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies and the one I will be sharing today, Trail Mix Cookies. I'm a sucked for oatmeal cookies, raisins and everything else this recipe contained. So, I went a little bonkers on this one when I started adding in the extra things.  You will see in the recipe below.






All in cookies.

Otherwise known as Trail Mix Cookies
taken/adapted from Joy the Baker.

 2 1/2 cups oats*
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter/margarine softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

This is where I went a little crazy and maybe you will too. have fun and pick things you enjoy.
1/2 cup peanut butter chippits
1/2 reese's pieces
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup smarties
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.
In a medium bowl mix together the oats, flours, bp, bs, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl that fits your mixer ** combine your sugars and butter until smooth.***
Add each egg on at a time, and beat in between each. add the vanilla and mix until combined.
With the mixer stopped pour in the dry ingredients. (I put in half, and mixed and then added the rest) mix until combined.
Take your bowl off of the mixer and pour in all the goodies you have chosen to include.
Use a wooden spoon or very sturdy spatula and stir until all the goodies are evenly dispersed.
Now take a large tbsp of dough and roll them into balls.
Place these on your cookie sheets and bake for 10-13 minutes until golden.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

*Joy says to use Old Fashioned Oats, I only had Quick Oats and I think they turned out just fine.
**(LOOK A GOT A CLASSIC SUNBEAM MIXER, However I do not have an original bowl. I bought a bowl but it is not high enough and does not sit well on the table that turns. So, overall its pretty comical using it. It's fun and exciting though.) 
***(at this point there were piece of butter flying out at me because of my low bowl. I hope that doesn't happen to you. my roommate might find butter in some unexpected places)

And all that is left for you to do is enjoy them in whatever way you please. Whether its eating them all yourself, giving them away, taking them to working or for a snack with tea and a great friend!

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I had never had a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie until about a year ago.
My boyfriend bought a box and I have to say they were so addictive I think we ate the whole box in less then 24 hours. Thinking about that makes me feel ill. When you are in it though, and those cream pies are sitting on the table calling your name, it's hard to resist.
I decided I would make Oatmeal Cream Pies for him and they are all over the baking blog world.
I ended up using the recipe from sallysbakingaddiction because it was easy and I didn't need to use gelatin and I had the ingredients. I love oatmeal cookies so I knew that whatever happened they would be wonderful. Tt was just a question of how close they would be to the original Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies and how much my boyfriend would like them.

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

Cookies
1 & 1/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp cooking molasses
1 & 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 cups quick oats


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
cream together butter and sugars until smooth
add egg, vanilla, molasses and continue to blend together.
in another bowl add in all the dry ingredients and lightly mix.
slowly add the dry ingredients into the other ingredients and continue to mix. You may have to end up mixing with a wooden spoon as the mixture will be thick.
scoop out round amounts about 2-3 tbsp in size and place on cookie sheets. (I made some larger ones and some smaller only 1 tbsp in size)
the cookies will spread out so leave enough room between each cookie.
bake for about 10 minutes until cookies are golden on the edges.

allow to cool on the cookie sheets for a couple minutes then allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Once cookies are completely cool make the cream filling:
3/4 cup margarine
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp whipping cream
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

beat butter until creamy. add the sugar and mix together. pour in the cream and vanilla and beat until fluffy. add a pinch of salt or more if desired. Add more sugar or cream depending on how thick or thin you would like the filling to be. Spread filling on bottom of one cookie and sandwich with another.

These cookies were really good. I enjoyed them alot and so did my boyfriend.
However, hey are not like Little Debbie's, I'm not sure if it would even be possible to mimic the texture and flavour of those little plastic wrapped creme pies. bravetart says her recipe is the closest to them, so I'm going to have to try them out sometime!
I still have Cream Filling let over though, I wonder what I should put that filling on or in...hmm..

for love of peanut butter!

I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! I. Love. It!
have I ever told you that? I really do.
If you asked my boyfriend he would tell you I feel this strong love for other things as well, he probably has a list so he can make fun of me about it, but it's true I really love peanut butter.

A while ago I wanted to make my own peanut butter because how hard could it be all you really need is peanuts. I looked at different websites to see if you had to put oil in too or not and just peoples different take of making it. I came across Averie Cooks because she makes her own peanut butter and in lots of variations. She also has a cookbook focused on all peanut butter snacks. I made my own peanut butter and it's delicious and I plan to make my own variations which for some reason I had never thought of until looking at what Averie had made.

This week I wanted to make something fast and easy. However, I wanted it to be super good obviously. I don't remember why I decided on Peanut butter and Jam. Probably because I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! There are so many great recipes out there but I decided to go with one from Averie Cooks because she seems to be the peanut butter connoisseur.

I'd like to tell you now that if you love peanut butter as much as I do, and if you love peanut butter and jam. If you love grilled peanut butter and jam sandwiches (which were introduced to me by my sister-in-law as she use to make them for herself when she was vegan and couldn't have grilled cheese). If you love ooey, gooey desserts with a sweet and salty combination. This recipe is not for you. It really, really is not for you. I'll tell you why... because you will eat the whole tray. You will eat the dough, you will eat the topping. and you will eat it as soon as it comes out of the oven and burn your mouth on it. So I'm telling you now. Just stay away.

These are to die for.

Peanut butter and Jam Blondies

recipe from averie cooks

1/2 cup butter melted

1/4 cup peanut butter melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsps vanilla

1 1/4 cup AP flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 - 1/3 cup peanut butter in tbsps

1/4 - 1/3 cup jam/jelly in tbsps

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a square baking pan with foil.

heat the butter until melted then add in the peanut butter. stir until all melted and smooth. you may need to heat the mixture again to melt the peanut butter completely.

add the sugar, stir in to mixture.

add in the egg and vanilla, stir to incorporate.

add the salt and flour. Mix until combined. Do not over mix.

pour the batter into the prepared pan.

(i used a electric mixture however it was not necessary)

Now scoop tbsp size amounts of peanut butter and jam onto the batter.

then swirl together.

now you are ready to put your creation in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

you are not going to want to over bake these so keep and eye on them.

You want them to be an ooegy, gooey mess. trust me.

let them cool before taking the out of the pan and slicing so the peanut butter has time to set.

I do not recommend eating them right out of the pan as you will burn your mouth.

but boy was it worth it.

voila.

Lemon Cheesecake

Since I'm a grown up now and live on my own, when I attend family gatherings I have to contribute to the feast. I guess "have to" might be too strong. I like to contribute. Being in love with baking naturally I wanted to bring dessert. I decided on making a strawberry milk cheesecake featured on sprinklebakes. However once I fell in love with this cake, and obtained all the ingredients except one, which was strawberry milk powder I hit a little bit of a problem. Canada does not have strawberry milk powder, or at least not where I live. I went to a number of stores and my mother being the great women she is helped me look as well with no success. I even looked on ebay! The dilemma was then what should I make instead? Cheesecake naturally because I had the ingredients, but what kind? Lemon and Strawberries was all I could think about, both remind me of spring flavours and it just so happened that strawberries were on sale this week, bonus! I then had to decided what lemon cheesecake recipe to use. After I looked at so many recipes, and had to avoid all recipes that contain gelatin as my brother and his fiance are vegetarians I decided on one from creative-culinary. It seemed easy enough, which is what I needed as I had never made a cheesecake before. I did however look at multiple other sites to tell me how to know when it was done. To be honest right until I cut into this cake I was still unsure of whether or not I cooked it enough, or too much or how this cheesecake turned out. It seemed alright but having no cheese

cake experience except for eating it I had nothing to go on except what I read, my faith in my trusty old gas oven, and my baking spirits. And I must say the cheesecake gods must have been looking down on me because this was lemon bliss.

Lemon Cheesecake
recipe from creative-culinary

Crust:

2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp melted butter

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

mix together crumbs, sugar and butter. once combined press into a large spring form pan. on the bottom and sides. (I used a 10 inch, the original recipe calls for 11-12 inch.)  

bake crust for 5 minutes and allow to cool.

Filling:

3 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed prefered)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest

beat cream cheese until smooth.

add in eggs one at a time, beat until smooth each time.

add the sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. beat until smooth and combined.

stir in lemon zest.

pour into cooled crust.

baked in heated 350 degree F oven for about 45 mins. (since I used a smaller pan I had to bake it longer original recipe says bake time 35 mins.) 

Sour Cream Topping:

2 cups sour cream

3 tbsp granulated sugar

mix sour cream and sugar together.

once baked remove from oven.

spread sour cream topping on cheese cake and return to oven.

bake for another 15 mins. 

remove from oven and allow to cool on rack for 30 minutes.

place in refrigerator and allow to cool.

prepare lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 cup water 

2 tbsp lemon juice

in sauce pan combine sugar and cornstarch.

place on medium heat and stir in water and lemon juice.

bring to boil, stir constantly and until mixture is thickened.

take off heat and allow to cool.

once cool pour onto cheese cake and refrigerator cake overnight.

Top with whipped cream and strawberries, or whatever you've like.

Bagel Bites

I'm a bargain shopper. I love deals which I get from my Dad. When I was a child we would go shopping at Safeway on Saturdays and he would give me coupons and I would run around trying to find the items. He trained me at a young age to be frugal and so here I am today. There was cream cheese marked down at the grocery store by my house and I thought that would be perfect to use in bagel bites from the-baker-chick. Not making the cream cheese would simplify the whole process, and I was able to whip them up in the morning before meeting up with my parents to assist with Easter Dinner.

Bagel Bites:
adapted from thebakerchick

filling:
one container light cream cheese ( I used vegetable)

dough:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups water
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I forgot to put oil in.)

scoop out 16 balls of cream cheese on to a pan and place in freezer.
In a bowl combine flour, salt and yeast.
pour in water and oil and mix until a shaggy dough is formed.
on a floured surface knead dough for about 8 minutes. You may need to add more flour to form it to the texture that is needed. when done kneading the dough should be smooth, slightly sticky and come back when poked.
place in a bowl and cover. let rise for 45 mins.

preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
once risen remove from bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
cut the dough into 16 pieces.
form each piece into a round disk about 3 inchs in diameter.
place frozen ball of cream cheese in center of each dough disk.
bring sides of dough around cream cheese and pinch. roll dough in your hands to form a nice smooth bun shape and place on a parchment lined pan.
now you can brush with butter or egg and sprinkle with your desired toppings.
-my dough was sticky, probably stickier then it should have been so I just took each ball and dipped it in a small amount of chili pepper flakes and they stuck just fine.
bake the bagel bites for 20-30 mins. until golden and cream cheese starts to burst out.
once they are done, you can allow them to cool slightly and try to tuck the cream cheese back in or just leave as is.

I think my dough ended up being too sticky, and I think I may have not formed the dough even enough around the cream cheese thus allowing them to explode prematurely. Even though they aren't super pretty, they still taste pretty damn great. Being a person who doesn't eat bagels or cream cheese all that often I found these to be just perfect for me.

Pretzel Bird Nest

I am really excited about spring and easter and mini eggs so I had to make another recipe with that theme in mind.

I made Bird Nests inspired by bakeat350 but ended up changing many things about them. I did not like the idea of using ramen noodles, it didn't appeal to me at all. I also wanted to make it a little more spring tasting so I added in white chocolate chips and candied peel, which I have leftover from making hot cross buns. I'm really impressed with how these turned out the candied peels really put it over the top for me and they are just so darn cute.

Pretzel Bird Nests
inspired by bakeat350
1/8 cup margarine
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3 cups broken pretzels
1/4 cup diced candied peels
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
cadbury mini eggs

line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
in a sauce pan melt butter at medium heat.
pour in the marshmallows and occasionally stir.
once marshmallows have melted pour in the chocolate chips and stir in.
pour in the pretzels and candied peels into the marshmallow mixture stir until completely coats.
take off heat. and cover your hands in butter or oil. you may need to do this repeatedly through out the shaping process.
take handfuls of mixture and form into a ball. place on parchment paper and press thumb in to form a nest.
while the nests are setting melt dark chocolate chips.
in the set nests spoon chocolate to line the inner nest and place mini eggs in the chocolate.
place in the refrigerator to allow the nests and chocolate to complete set.