Homemade Bread

I have been trying for awhile now to make a loaf of bread that's not a dense brick of carbs. A few weeks ago I tried an oatmeal molasses concoction which turned out okay but it still didn't rise enough for my taste (sorry there is no photo).

Today I made a loaf using a recipe that I've had lots of success with in the past to make a garlic and herb braided bread. I didn't include any of the spices so it's just a plain loaf.

It even has the bulge on top that is typical of breads - hooray!

I also made a pumpkin loaf (remember how I told you it was time that pumpkin made its way into everything?) this morning and put it along side the bread to give you a comparison.

So for the bread recipe:

• 4 - 4 1/2 C bread flour (I used multigrain)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 packages of quick rise yeast
• 3/4 C milk
• 1/2 C water
• 1/4 C butter (cubed)
• 1 egg

1. In a large bowl combine 1 1/2 C flour, sugar and both packages of yeast. Whisk to mix
2. In a small saucepan heat the milk, water and cubed butter until it's heated through, but not boiling
3. Add this milk/butter/water mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until moistened
4. Add the egg and beat until smooth
5. Stir in the remaining flour (I sometimes don't need the full 4 1/2 C, and just for for 4 C total) until it forms a smooth dough
6. Knead until smooth
7. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes
8. Grease a 9x5 pan in preparation
9. Punch down and let rise in the pan you are going to cook it in (9x5 loaf pan) for about 25 minutes in a warm location
10. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
11. Remove from the pan to a wire rack and let cool

Pumpkin Pie!

It's getting to be that time of the year, where pumpkin makes its way into everything!

I picked up a pumpkin at the grocery store yesterday and made this tasty treat:

Here's my recipe!

Pumpkin Filling Part I:

1. Cut the pie pumpkin (much smaller than one you would carve) in half and scoop out the seeds
2. Places the halves cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and with a little oil
3. Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes, the time will depend on the size of the pumpkin so just check it once it hits 45 minutes and go from there
4. Remove from the oven, flip the halves over and let them cool. Scoop the flesh from the peel 
5. Puree with whatever form of blender/hand blender you have or mash with a potato masher

Pumpkin Filling Part II:

• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C white sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2C of the pumpkin you just pureed
• 1C coconut milk

1. Combine the brown and white sugar and spices in one bowl
2. In a larger bowl: beat the eggs, add the sugar mixture, pumpkin and vanilla and mix until smooth (I use a whisk and that works really well)
3. Fold in the coconut milk
4. Bake for 15 minutes at 425F
5. Reduce to 350F and bake for 50-60 minutes (or until the knife comes out clean

Pastry for Single Crust Pie

• 1C white flour
• 1/4C whole wheat flour
• 1/3C butter
• Cold water

1. Use a pastry blender (or fork) to cut in the butter until the pieces are pea sized
2. Add 1 tbsp of cold water at a time over the flour mixture and toss with a fork. Repeat this until you have a dough and can work it into a ball. If it gets too wet just add a bit more flour.
3. On a floured surface use your hands to flatten the ball into a circle and roll the pastry into a larger circle that's about 1/2cm thick.
4. Transfer your pastry to the pie plate by rolling it onto the rolling pin and then rolling it back out over the pie plate.

Dinner

Now that I'm back in Fredericton and making dinners for myself...or rather making dinner in general (Greg was very good to me in Saint John) I'm visiting some dishes that Greg cooked up and trying my hand.

One tasty meal was Bean Burritos.

Source

I made them tonight and despite trying to cut the recipe down to make a reasonable amount I still managed to make enough to feed a small army.

They were tasty but I think I'm going to have to get creative with ways to incorporate them into all of my meals or it might spoil!

Interested in making them yourself? Here's the recipe.

So Much Food!

Food Food Food! Clearly I'm a fan, and when it comes to visits with Greg there is always an abundance of it.

This weekend we made beer bread from a recipe I got from a friend. We used Mill Street's Tank House Ale and it was delicious, although a bit dense. We ate mulligatawny from a recipe Greg got from a coworker...I don't have it at the moment but I will hopefully remember to link it. The mulligatawny was served over rice but we ate it the next day for lunch over couscous which was better.

Beer Bread

Mulligatawny and sliced beer bread

The next day we used the rest of the beer bread to make french toast, since the bread didn't taste too strongly of beer it made for really yummy french toast:

Sunday morning breakfast, westerns and fruit - omnomnom:

Excited for Spring!

Not that I'm a winter-hater, I actually enjoy it (except those SUPER cold days) but there comes a time each year where each of us have had enough of winter.

For me that time is approaching, I'm dying to wear something other than boots to school and take less than 5 minutes to get ready to go outside.

On my way home from school the other day I heard birds singing, which I thought was unusual since the only bird I have seen these days is a seagull, crow or pigeon. So I looked around to find these birds and was surprised at what I saw - lots and lots of pretty birds! They were having a feast on the berries clinging to a winterized tree on Kings College Road.

I don't know what kind of bird these lovely little guys are, so if you know please let me know!

In the spirit of spring and making cookies as thank-you presents I used fun cookie cutters and icing to create these babies:

I got the cookie recipe from allrecipes.com you can check it out here. The icing recipe I used was also from allrecipes so you can give that a whirl here!