Irish Soda Bread

What does a good lass do on the eve of St. Patty's day while watching Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA March Madness tournament? Why she bakes an old family recipe for Irish Soda Bread to take to ma's of course! This recipe was given to my Grandma Enright by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Enright.




Ingredients

5 C. Flour

1/2 C. Butter

1 C. Sugar

1 T. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

2 1/2 C. Buttermilk

1 Egg (slightly beaten)

2 1/2 C. Raisins

1 1/2 T. Caraway Seeds.


Directions

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in butter until mix resembles corn meal. Add raisins, egg, and buttermilk. Stir only until all dry ingredients are moistened. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 min - 1 hour. *I pour the mix onto my cooking stone but the recipe says to bake in 2 bread pans.


Enjoy!

Easter Resurrection Rolls

What a great way to tell kids about the Resurrection of Christ on Easter morning! Found this one at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/resurrection-rolls/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=resurrection%20rolls&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe. This will definitely be made a tradition in our family!

• 1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 8 large marshmallows
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Separate crescent rolls into individual triangles.
3. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar.
4. Dip a marshmallow into melted butter, then roll in sugar mixture. Place marshmallow into the center of a dough triangle. Carefully wrap the dough around the marshmallow. Pinch the seams together tightly to seal in marshmallow as it melts. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat.
5. Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Easter Chick Rolls

Found this fun recipe at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bird-rolls/detail.aspx

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon water
• black peppercorns for eyes

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, brown sugar, 2 eggs, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Roll each into a 12-in. rope; tie each into a knot. To form beak, pinch front of head with fingers. Push two black peppercorns into place. With a sharp knife or scissors, cut two slits on opposite end to form tail feathers. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Beat remaining egg with water; brush over dough. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Best White Bread

Wow! This white bread will knock your socks off! Super tasty! Found this recipe in the instruction manual for our KitchenAid Stand Mixer.

1/2 cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine (I used 1 1/2 T. of each)
.4 Oz active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (I run the water in the faucet until it gets hot)
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

1. Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter into a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar and salt have dissolved. Allow mixture to cool to luke warm.

2. While mixture is cooling, warm mixing bowl by swirling with hot water. Add 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Sprinkle in yeast. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and stir if necessary. Add lukewarm mixture and 4 1/2 cups of flour.

3. Mix on level 2 for 1 minute and 1/2 cup at a time, add remaining flour. Allow to continue mixing with dough hook until dough sticks to the hook, and cleans the sides of the bowl.

4. Place dough into greased bowl, flipping 1x. Cover with tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm, draft free location. (I warmed the oven to 400 for 1 minute and then turned it off and placed bowl on center rack) Removed dough from bowl and divide in half. Roll dough out onto floured surface with floured rolling pin. After dough is rolled out to approximately 14x9, roll dough tucking and pinching ends. Place into 9x5 bread pan.

5. Allow to rise 1 hour covered in warm location. Preheat oven to 400 for baking. Bake for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Remove from pan immediately and allow to cool on a rack.

ENJOY!

Zucchini Bread

The day before my birthday party, Matt and I were cooking up a storm. The recipe we were least excited about that night was this Zucchini Bread. It wasn't until we tried it a day later that Matt fell in love with this one and we have made 2 more loaves since. This recipe is from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside.

2. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini, and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy) Fold in the nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Best French Bread

Found this recipe online.....

It is FANTASTIC!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups Water
3 cups Bread (not all-purpose) flour
2 Tbsp Gluten flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt*
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Bread yeast

Corn meal
Cooking oil

* salt is recommended but is optional for those on low-salt diets


DIRECTIONS:

This recipe calls for 3 risings and takes about 3 hours total to complete. If two loaves is too much to use in 24 hours, you can cover the dough and refrigerate half after the first rise.

The dough holds well for up to 12 hours, though it will take about one hour to bring it and the pan back to room temperature before the second rise.

1. Put yeast in 110o (43o C) water for 8 minutes. (Tap water that is hot to the touch – but not scalding – works well). Mix well.

2. Mix gluten flour, sugar and salt, setting it aside until yeast preparation time is done.

3. Add bread flour and gluten flour/sugar/salt mixture to bowl.

4. For the bread machine, mix using the ‘Dough’ setting on bread machine. Scrape down the bowl, if portions of the flour doesn’t absorb. If your flour mixture is having trouble picking up all of the dry ingredients, add 1 Tbsp water.

5. For a stand mixer, mix on lowest until all dry material is blended. You may find yourself scraping down the bowl to get everything mixed. If your flour mixture is having trouble picking up all of the dry ingredients, add 1 Tbsp water. After blending, raise your Kitchen Aid to setting #2 and mix for an additional 7 minutes.

6. Let dough rest for five minutes.

7. Flour a cutting board with 1 Tbsp flour – and 1 Tbsp standby, as the dough will be tacky.

8. First, flour your hands to ease handling of the sticky dough. Then pull the dough out of the bowl and onto the cutting board for hand kneading – it should be folded over 75 times to stretch the glutens and cool the dough. If you tire during the process, walk away for five minutes, then return to resume the kneading.

9. Place in rising pan, cover with plastic wrap (like Saran Wrap) for first rise. Allow to double in size – 30 to 40 minutes should be enough but judge by the size of the rise.

10. Prepare your bread pan with a very light oil and powder lightly with corn meal. Spraying the pan with a cooking oil like Pam works well. Set aside on your cooling rack.

11. Remove from dough onto a re-floured cutting board and deflate. Fold it over three or four times until there is strong cohesiveness to the dough. Allow to rise a second time, until it is 2-3 times its original size. This second rise should be about 60 to 75 minutes.

12. Heat oven to 450o (232o C) at least 30 minutes before planning to bake (especially if you have a baking stone, which is recommended).

13. Remove and cut dough into two pieces upon completion of the second rise. Each should be folded lengthwise 3 times, sealed with your finger tips, and rolled out into 2” diameter loaves. Place into bread pans.

14. Give bread a final rise of one hour. Before placing into the oven, slash the top with a single-edge razor blade (a utility knife with a fresh blade is another option).

Toss 1/2 cup (125 ml) water into hot oven as the bread pan and dough goes in. The steam helps form the outer crust of the bread.

Bake bread for seven minutes – then crack oven door to let out steam and heat -- and reduce temperature to 400 o (205o C) for about another five minutes. Remove to cooling rack.

ENJOY!

http://knol.google.com/k/andrew-czernek/baking-french-bread/o4q327ykmzte/12#

Rosemary Bread

This was a delicious compliment to my mother-in-law's lasagna! (Found on allrecipes.com entitled, "Jo's Rosemary Bread"

Ingredients:
1 Cup water
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon dried rosemary (we used fresh dried rosemary from our backyard)
2 1/2 cups bread flour (we used all purpose flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Direct liquid ingredients in the pan of a bread machine. Add dry ingredients (except yeast). Using your finger, create a well in the flour where you will pour the yeast. Yeast must never come into contact with a liquid when you are adding ingredients. Measure the yeast and carefully pour into the well. Select the Basic or white bread setting and select start.

ENJOY!

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

We made this bread on Wednesday, October 30th, 2009. Crazy how well they turned out and so delicious!

Ingredients

• 2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup minced jalapeno peppers
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup warm water (90 degrees)
• .2 ounces active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 2-2/3 cups of flour, cheese, jalapenos, 2 tablespoons sugar and the salt; mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the water, yeast and remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar. Let sit about 10 minutes; stir until all yeast is dissolved.
3. Add the oil to the liquid mixture, stirring . Add half of the liquid mixture to the flour mixture. Mix with hands to moisten flour as much as possible. Add remaining liquid mixture to dough and mix until flour is thoroughly incorporated.
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until smooth and elastic to the touch, about 15 minutes, gradually adding only enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking.
5. Place in a large greased bowl and invert dough so top is greased; cover with a dry towel and let stand in a warm place (90 - 100F) until doubled in size, about 45 min. Punch down dough.
6. To Make Bread: Pop any large air bubbles by pinching them. Form into loaf. (Note: I like roll out the dough, which pops all bubbles easily and quickly.) Place in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Cover with towel again and allow to rise until almost doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
7. Bake at 300 degrees F (165 degrees C) until light brown and done, about 40-45 min. (We created an aluminum foil tent for 30 min of the cooking and removed for 10 min to brown the outside of the loaf.) Remove from pan as soon as bread will easily lift out, after about 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool about 1 hour before slicing.