Favorite Potato Bread

My sister in law made this bread on Sunday for dinner. It was delicious. The recipe is written out for a bread machine, and it stated that it made one loaf. Here is what I ended up with:
A loaf of bread big enough to make sandwiches for Paul Bunyan. Next time I will split it into 2. This recipe is great to make if you have a Kitchen Aid because the dough is not very substantial. A Kitchen Aid could handle it just fine, I think.

I added some whole wheat to the recipe and it did not take away from it at all, the bread is soft soft soft.

1 1/2 cups luke warm water
2 Tbs. butter
2 tsp. salt
4 cups bread flour (I used 2 cups white and 2 cups wheat)
4 tsp. sugar (I used 2 tsp)
1/2 cup potato flakes
2 1/2 tsp yeast

dissolve yeast in water. Combine all other ingredients in mixer. Slowly add yeast mixture and mix until combined. Knead in mixer about 3 or 4 minutes, until dough is smooth and shiny.(If the dough does not smooth out, add a Tbs. or so of water.) Let raise for about an hour. Punch down and form into 2 loaves. Let it raise for about 30 minutes. Bake 350 for 25 minutes, checking periodically. You want it nice and brown on top, but not burnt.

Soaked Whole Wheat Pancakes

I try to always soak my wheat because it reduces the phytic acid. In general, whole grains have high levels of phytic acid, a substance that reduces our absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

Phytic acid is becoming a hot topic on the internet, even Lance Armstrongs website is talking about it.

In all my reading, this explanation seemed the easiest to understand (aside from all the scientific terms)

Phytic acid (known as inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), or phytate) is the principal storage form of phosphorus in many plant tissues, especially in the grass family (wheat, rice, rye, barley etc) and beans. Phosphorus in this form is generally not bioavailable to humans because humans lack the digestive enzyme, phytase, required to separate phosphorus from the phytate molecule.

Phytate structure (Source)

Phytic acid binds to important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc and can therefore contribute to mineral deficiencies, as the minerals are not released from the phytate and are thus unavailable to the body. For people with a particularly low intake of essential minerals, especially young children and those in developing countries, this effect can be undesirable.

A common way in developing countries to increase the bioavailability of minerals from grains and beans is using fermentation. Many bacteria possess phytase activity and by fermenting grains or beans by lactic acid bacteria the phytate is destroyed and the bioavailability of the minerals is increased.

Phytic acid recently has been studied for its potential anti-carcinogenic properties. Recent studies have indicated that phytic acid may have some preventive effect in prostate, breast, pancreatic and colon cancer. The mechanism, however, is not yet understood.

If we can reduce the phytic acid in whole grains, our bodies can better absorb the minerals and the food is easier assimilated into our bodies. Here is an easy recipe for whole wheat pancakes, using the soaking method. It yeilds a light and fluffy pancake. Skip any boxed whole grain pancake mixes and give this a try, its easy and tasty too!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

3 cups fresh ground wheat flour
2 1/2 - 3 cups kefir
1/3 honey
2 T. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 eggs

About 24 hours before you plan to make your pancakes, combine wheat and kefir in a large bowl.

It does not need to be runny, just be sure to use enough kefir to moisten your wheat, like this:
Stir it up really good and cover it, I just set a plate on top of my bowl and it forms a sort of lid, you dont want to seal it tight, just cover it. Plastic wrap would work fine too. Let it sit on your counter for 12 - 24 hours.

When you are ready to make pancakes, add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl of soaked wheat. Whisk everything together and cook on a hot griddle.

These are yummy when they are topped with fresh fruit, yogurt, or homemade buttermilk syrup.
Extra pancakes can be stored in the freezer and cooked in the toaster on mornings you are in a hurry.

Bodacious Brown Bread

I am a sucker for homemade bread. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Give me a side of chocolate chip cookies and I would be in heaven!!

Of course, I have to limit my consumption of either of those foods. But hands down, they are my favorites.

This is an easy, quick and hearty bread. I like it because it is substantial enough to eat with soup or on its own. Most breads that I make to go along with dinner take HOURS. With all the rising, kneading, rising again, then baking....not this one.

And I like it because I have had a sourdough start for years. I mostly use it for pancakes and pizza dough. Now I have something else to use it in.
this is my picture of the bread:

And here is the bread pictured by a professional and posted on line. It is much better than mine, but theirs doesnt have a cute little boy in the background.

Heres the recipe. Since its fall, everyone should bust this out next time they make soup.

For the bread:

1. 2 cups (480 ml.) buttermilk
2. 2 large eggs
3. 1½-2 cups (360-480 ml.) dark molasses (Teri is partial to Grandma’s®)
4. ¾ cup (180 ml.) sourdough starter (see recipe below)
5. 1 cup (240 ml.) all-purpose flour
6. 6 cups (1.44 lt.) whole-wheat flour
7. 1 scant tablespoon (<15 ml.) baking soda (use your judgment; Teri says the full amount leaves a baking soda taste.)

* Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
* Mix together the buttermilk, milk, eggs, molasses and sourdough starter in a large mixing bowl.
* Sift together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours and the baking soda.
* Add the dry ingredients gradually to the wet and completely mix together between each addition.
* Pour the batter into 2 lightly buttered 9×5-inch (22.8×12.7-cm.) loaf pans.
* Let stand for 20 minutes.
* Bake for 50-55 minutes or until bread is firm when tested with a toothpick and comes out clean.

The original post and recipe can be found here
http://www.thetasteoforegon.com/2010/04/12/the-otis-cafe-and-bodacious-brown-bread/

Biscuits and Gravy

First off let me say: if you have ever made Bisquick biscuits, these are a million and one times better than those. Do yourself a favor, skip using the yellow box and try these biscuits. They are crispy on the outside and soft and light inside.

Biscuits and gravy is my favorite breakfast meal. And my kids like to help make it, so its win - win.
Our boys helped me set the table for dinner (we eat breakfast for dinner quite often). When I realized I had a plate with Lightning McQueen on it at my place, I opted to just take a picture of the food while it was still on the stove. I am not sure a CARS plate lends itself to a good picture.
(biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs)
Drop Biscuits

2 cups flour (You could use any combination of wheat and white. I use all wheat and they are still fluffy. If they turn out a little dense, they get smothered with gravy anyway, so it doesnt really matter.)
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup shortening ( I use Spectrum, its non hydrogenated)

Preheat oven 425. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add shortening and use fork or pastry cutter to combine until it looks like coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until blended. Scoop dough out by spoonful and drop on cooking pan. Bake 12 minutes

Gravy

Brown a little sausage and set aside. In the same cooking pan combine 1 1/3 cups magic mix and about 2 cups water or milk. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Add the sausage back in and serve over hot biscuits.

Big Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe comes from my good friend Allyson. These cookies are hearty and thick so scoop em up big, cuz they are suppose to be substantial.

Cookies are another good way to disguise wheat. Everyone loves cookies, dont they? They are still filled with other stuff that is not necessarily good for you, but they are cookies. Supposed to be a treat. In my opinion, treats are supposed to be good.

A friend brought me some cookies a while back. They were sweetened with honey, the eggs had been replaced with flax and water, and she had omitted the raisins called for in the recipe. The cookies were edible and fit in the category of a healthy food, but they were not very good. If I am going to make a treat and have it in our house, I think it should taste just like its intended to, a treat.

And on the occasion we do have treats, they are homemade. No funky ingredients or additives.

Ally Bs Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 1/3 cups flour ( I use 2 cups wheat and 1 1/3 all purpose)
3/4 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs and 2 egg yolks
1 Tbs. vanilla
choc chips

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions. Preheat to 325. Whisk flour, salt, and soda and set aside. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed 1 - 2 minutes. Beat in yolks and eggs and vanilla until just combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

scoop out cookies on pans and place 2 in the oven at a time. Bake for 8-9 minutes then switch pans and cook for an additional 8-9 minutes.

Let cool on pan a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Incorporating wheat in dinner rolls

People ask me all the time "What do I do? I want my family to eat wheat. Where do I start?" Then they give me a long list of reasons their families wont eat wheat bread. The bread is hard, its too dense, its dry, it doesnt taste good, the loaves are too big so the bread cant be used for sandwiches because it doesnt fit in zip lock bags, it takes too long to make.....there are lots of reasons.

I think learning how to incorporate wheat is a process. Its important to start off small. Try putting a cup of whole wheat flour in a batch of cookies, or substitute a cup or two when making rolls. The trick to good whole wheat products is a good recipe and learning the recipes technique. Sometimes, you might have to try a recipe a few times before it works out. But the most important thing is not to give up. Keep gathering recipes and keep trying. If you are at a pot luck and the homemade rolls are delicious, ask for the recipe. Ask whoever baked them to give you some tips if you need. Somewhere in your baking things will work out. One day you will know just what the dough should look like or just how glossy your rolls should be and that will be the determining factor when adding ingredients. You will realize your dough "looks right" when you add 3 cups of flour instead of the 5 that the recipe calls for.

When I use whole wheat in recipes it is fresh ground. I dont know how that compares to whole wheat flour you can purchase at the store but I imagine they would be interchangeable. (Although, fresh ground grains are always superior in nutrition to the pre ground stuff you buy at the store. But if you dont have a grinder, or dont know someone who does, the store bought stuff will work)

Tonight I made a few dozen of these:

I used 2 cups of fresh ground white wheat and about 3 1/2 cups of regular ole white flour. They were light and fluffy and very flavorful. I dont think anyone would have guessed there was a little bit of actual nutrition in them.

So if you are just starting out with grains and want to incorporate some in a recipe, this is an easy starter. Follow the recipe using 2 cups wheat flour and the remaining 3 or 4 cups will be all purpose flour. Hope you get rave reviews!

recipe here

Carrot Oatmeal Applesauce Muffins

After posting that last recipe, I thought I might need to make it up with something a little more healthy.

2 large carrots - shredded

2 cups quick oats

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 cups milk

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine flour through cinnamon in bowl; set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in another bowl. Mix wet into dry just until combined.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Recipe from Cristine Cooks

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Since I am pregnant and went so long without eating much and cooking even less, I am definitely making up for it now! I have a desire to cook and bake anything and everything.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/3 cups flour (it calls for white, but some wheat will not take away from it at all)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I would highly recommend fresh if you can get your hands on them!)

Streusel:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries.

This makes about 12 muffins so once you have all of the batter distributed in your pan, top it with the streusel.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies just might be my new favorite. In my opinion, chocolate chip cookies are the only kind of cookie that should be eaten. And since these are filled with good stuff, I dont feel bad about eating a lot of them! We made them small, like chippers, and they turned out perfect!! Kaleb ground some flour for me and we mixed white and red wheat, kamut, and spelt.

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

mix together until light and creamy:
1 c soft butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla

then add:
2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (or 2 cups of spelt)
2 1/3 cups rolled oats
2 t. baking soda

mix until incorporated then add:
1 pkg. chocolate chips
chopped nuts (if desired)
1/4 cup raw millet

bake 350 for 10-12 minutes. If making them smaller, bake for 6-8 minutes. They turn out soft and chewy and so delicious! We had some fresh goats milk that was ice cold and it was the perfect combination.

This recipe is courtesy of the Enlightened Homemaker, Shari Goodman.

Corn Bread

I have tried lots and lots of corn bread recipes. This is by far, my favorite.

1 cup wheat flour (or you can use white)
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 c. milk
1 egg
1 Tbs. oil

Combine all ingredients and mix well until smooth. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes until lightly browned.