Tag: Baking

Banana Honey Muffins
Recipes

Banana Honey Muffins

Sarah

These banana honey muffins are easy to mix up and bake and are a great way to use up ignored over-ripe bananas. Not too sweet and nicely moist. Be sure to measure your mashed bananas to ensure you are not short, as you will get a drier muffin.

Banana Honey Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 ripe bananas (1 1/3 cups mashed)
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 large egg
  • ¼ cup avocado oil
  • ¼ milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1¾ cups of all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-count muffin tin with parchment liners.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the banana, honey, egg, oil, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt until smooth.

Stir in the baking soda and flour till just mixed.

Divide between the cups evenly (use a 2 Tbsp disher)

Bake for 20 minutes and check; they should be lightly browned on top and not look wet.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Note:

The muffins can be frozen in plastic freezer bags or glass containers. Thaw on the counter, covered,

Makes 12 muffins.

~Sarah

Bread Machine American Style Pumpernickel Bread
Recipes

Bread Machine American Style Pumpernickel Bread

Sarah

I don’t often make pumpernickel bread, but sometimes I crave the hearty flavor. It must have caraway seeds in it, for me! And oh….to be where you are getting the ingredients all on the counter and realize you are out. Off to the store quickly. I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

(What is Caraway Seeds? They are a tiny dried fruit, but they are the size of a fennel seed. They have a citrus and light licorice flavor, which is very delightful. Dried caraway is nearly always used in “seed” form – so whole – as the ground version, it is often overpowering in flavor.)

I used locally grown and milled rye flour in this loaf, which was well worth the extra cost. The flour had a great aroma and texture. I found it recently while shopping at a food co-op on the other side of the water.

The recipe uses honey instead of molasses, and you could swap that in for a deeper-flavored bread. However, I liked the light flavor of honey better, and I think this will be my sweetener of choice for rye bread.

This is a 1½ pound loaf recipe that bakes up lovely in a Zojirushi Bread Machine.

American-Style Pumpernickel Bread (1½ pound loaf)

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups water
  • 1½ Tbsp olive or avocado oil
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1½ tsp sea salt
  • 1½ tsp caraway seeds
  • 3 Tbsp dry milk
  • ¼ cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup rye flour
  • 270 grams all-purpose or bread flour + more as needed (used an additional 60 grams)
  • 2½ tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

If using a Zojirushi bread machine, add the listed ingredients, ensuring the yeast is nestled into the flour. Only add the first 270 grams of flour.

Set the machine for a basic loaf.

When the kneading cycle starts, check on the dough and add in enough extra flour so the dough isn’t sticky, and it clears the bread pan while kneading. I used about 60 grams of extra flour.

Once baked, remove it promptly and knock it out. Let it cool on a wire rack before enjoying it.

Store in a plastic or cloth bread bag, and eat within 24 hours for the best taste.

If using a regular bread machine, follow the method for adding the ingredients (including using warm water).

~Sarah

Bread Machine Honey White Bread
Recipes

Bread Machine Honey White Bread

Sarah

The other week, I was browsing the local Senior Thrift store and came across a copy of “The Best Bread Machine Cookbook Ever” from 1992. Since it was a pink tag day, I got it for 50% off, so I paid about 67 cents for the copy. This seemed appropriate for a cookbook that came out when I was 19. I found it on Amazon and was shocked that they were still selling new copies of it, and they wanted almost $20 for it.

This is a side rant, but if there is one thing about the mass Boomer retirement, it is the sheer volume of books being dumped. The market for used older books is nearly dead. If thrift shops want it to move, they must price them low and pray someone even wants out-of-date cookbooks. As with most books of the 1990s, it’s not a flashy book. There are no photos, just black and white pages, with a recipe on each page. It made for easy book writing back then. The author put out 3 bread machine cookbooks in 1992, 1994, and 1995. Modern cookbooks are full-color photos first, then the recipe. It’s more about the coffee table essence, but in your kitchen, to impress visitors.

But for 67 cents, I was willing to see what gems might lie in it, and that I might like a couple of the 150 recipes. I am always looking for inspiration and new recipes.

The bread recipes have 1—and 1½-pound variations (listed as small and large loaves). In the early 1990s, bread machines were still small and not very affordable. I don’t remember having a bread machine until at least the mid-to-late 90s, and I think my mom was gifted it. We couldn’t afford to buy a bread machine then. That bread machine actually came with me when I met Kirk, and I started using it often in the early 2000s. Then our cat knocked it off the counter and broke it (it would rock like crazy while kneading and was super hot, so he’d sneak up to get warm).

It was only after that Kirk surprised me with a Zojirushi bread machine, that can do 1, 1½, and 2 pound loaves. That machine runs often and still works as well as it did when new, and it is well over a decade old (it’s been in 3 houses now). Zoji machines do work differently than most others. It prewarms the liquids, so you don’t have to do the extra steps. For example, the milk would have been warmed in this recipe, and the butter melted. No need to with the Zoji! It makes my life that much easier.

One fair note: This cookbook uses cup measurements for the flour. I highly suggest you weigh it out instead at 120 grams per cup. Then, while the kneading cycle has started, add extra flour as needed. I usually weigh out an extra 120 grams and sprinkle it in as needed until the dough looks right to me. It’s so much easier to add more flour than to try to add water while kneading, especially if your machine only has one kneading paddle that bogs down.

The loaf is nicely denser and chewy, with lots of flavor. It is a moist, sturdy, slicing loaf. It is quite recommendable to try out.

Honey White Bread (1½ pounds)

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups milk
  • 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, thinly sliced
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • ¾ tsp sea salt
  • 360 grams + 120 grams all-purpose or bread flour
  • 1½ tsp active dry yeast

Directions:

If using a Zojirushi bread machine, add the listed ingredients, ensuring the yeast is nestled into the flour. Only add the first 360 grams of flour.

Set the machine for a loaf.

When the kneading cycle starts, check on the dough and add in enough extra flour so the dough isn’t sticky, and it clears the bread pan while kneading. I used about 110 grams of flour.

Once baked, remove promptly and knock out, let cool on a wire rack before enjoying.

Store in a plastic or cloth bread bag, and eat within 24 hours for best taste.

If using a regular bread machine, follow the method for adding the ingredients.

You must warm the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter melts before adding them to the machine.

~Sarah

Handcrafted Pizza Rolls
Recipes

Handcrafted Pizza Rolls

Sarah

I saw a Reel the other day of a bakery pulling out savory pizza rolls, and I was obsessed with them and had to try making my own. The boys loved them, both piping hot and later chilled. It’s equally good either way.

Don’t be intimidated by yeast dough; this is nearly as fast and easy as a baking powder recipe, but the texture is much better than biscuit dough.

Handcrafted Pizza Rolls

Pizza Dough Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups warm water (115°)
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tsp instant yeast (bread machine yeast)
  • 1½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 3½ to 4 cups flour (I used half pizza (00) and all-purpose flour)

Filling Ingredients:

  • 15-ounce can of pizza sauce
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup uncured pepperoni, chopped
  • ¼ to ½ cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

Plug in a heating pad and set it on medium or high.

Line a large-rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the water, honey, oil, yeast, salt, and 1 cup of flour to a stand mixer bowl. Using a kneading hook, process on low until mixed. Slowly add flour until a ball forms, and let it knead for 4 minutes. Knock out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and not sticky, adding in flour as needed.

Place in the bowl, cover with wrap, and place on the heating pad for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Divide the dough into half. Lightly oil a work surface and roll the dough pieces each out to 10″ by 14″.

Spread about ½ cups of pizza sauce on each section, avoiding the edges. Sprinkle half the pepperoni on each section, then divide the mozzarella cheese between them.

Roll the dough up, long side, like how one rolls cinnamon rolls, using a bench scraper as needed. Pinch the ends and the seam.

Cut in half, then each section into thirds.

Place on the baking sheet carefully.

Sprinkle the parmesan cheese across the top.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and the cheese is browning.

Remove and serve.

Use the remaining pizza sauce as a dipping sauce, room temp, or warmed up.

Makes 12 pizza rolls.

~Sarah

Vintage Recipes: Old-Fashioned Coffee Cake
Recipes

Vintage Recipes: Old-Fashioned Coffee Cake

Sarah

I saw a mention of this vintage recipe the other week on a recipe page, and stashed it to try it out. With a drizzly cool fall-leaning morning, this seemed like a good day to bake.

I did lower the sugar by using my favorite substitute for the white sugar, but otherwise, I followed the recipe.

As for the “salad oil,” that would have been corn, soybean, or sunflower, most likely, back in the ’50s. Whatever was bland and cheap. I prefer to use avocado oil in recipes. Bakers’ flour is just all-purpose flour.

And? It turned out fabulous. It’s moist and soft, and there is just a thin layer of crumb topping. I wondered if I would miss the thick crumb topping, but I did not. It’s also far less messy to eat.

Do not be scared by the nutmeg either; it makes the cake. Maybe America needs to embrace Nutmeg more; it used to be so popular until after WWII.

Old-Fashioned Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar or powdered sucralose or similar sugar substitute
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¾ cup avocado oil
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°, lightly oil a 9×13″ glass baking pan.

In a mixing bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, nutmeg, and oil, until crumbled.

Transfer ½ cup of it to a small bowl, and add the cinnamon.

Add the baking soda, baking powder, egg, and buttermilk to the mixing bowl and whisk until combined.

Scrape into the prepared baking pan and smooth out.

Sprinkle on the reserved dry mix over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes. Test the center to see if it is done; if not, bake another 5 minutes.

Let cool on a rack.

~Sarah