February Bread Recipes

It's a little late to post the February projects but things have been so crazy around here! Texas is still learning how to deal with cold weather in the form of ice and snow. We're not used to it nor prepared to handle what it does to our roads. I have a small little Hyundai so if the roads are bad, I stay home from work. This year, I felt a little guilty for skipping out so I decided to try to brave the roads. Turns out, I was the only one in my department who was stupid enough to come into work because I was by myself most of the time for about five days. On top of that, my little sister is getting married, and she doesn't like planning stuff so she's turned it over to me and my mom. We've got the bridal shower all planned out (the wedding is mid-June), and pretty much the reception itself. I'm LDS so the ceremony part is almost effortless. Anyways, enough with the excuses!

I actually cooked quite a bit this month! I was asked to teach a bread-making class, and my friend and I decided to make a dinner for our Thursday volleyball group one week. So let's start with the bread.

When I was an LDS missionary serving in Las Vegas, one of the families we would eat dinner with, the wife would make this wonderful pizza bread! The bread was soooo moist and sweet, and it tasted great with the pizza ingredients! I asked her to make it for me every time we came over because I loved it that much! When I came back home after my service, I emailed her, asking for the recipe. I had tried to make bread a few times before, and it turned out hard. I hated having to knead the bread, and it was just a lot of work. This recipe is incredibly easy! AND the beautiful thing about it is that you can use it as a basic recipe, and add ingredients to it to do different things. I made it once for a family dinner, and my mom loved it too. She likes easy recipes too that taste awesome so I passed it along, and she's experimented and made it way more times than I have. I happened to be in a meeting at church with some women who were planning an emergency preparedness activity for a bunch of LDS women in the area, and they needed someone who would teach a bread-making class. I told them I would be willing, and that I had the perfect recipe. So here's the recipe I used in my class along with ideas on different ways to make it:

Bread Recipe

Combine & let sit for 10 minutes:

·         ¾ c. sugar

·         3 c. warm water

·         2 pkg yeast

While this mixture sits, combine these ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

·         1/3 c. of oil

·         1 egg

Then add:

·         1 Tbsp. salt

·         About 8 c. bread flour (add a little at a time—usually 2 or 3 cups at a time)

Let rise 45 min-60 min.

Shape dough and add any “extra” ingredients. Some examples of flavors:

·         Jalapeño and cheese—add jalepeno slices and shredded cheese to taste. Shape in loaves or rolls. Cover and let rise at room temp for 30-60 min or more. Bake at 350 until done.

·         Italian herbs—add Italian spices to taste to the dough and also on top for a “garnish” (mix it with butter and spread on top before you bake). Shape in loaves or rolls. Cover and let rise at room temp for 30-60 min or more. Bake at 350 until done.

·         Wheat bread—you can leave out the sugar of the recipe and use half bread flour and half wheat flour. Shape dough into desired form (rolls, loaves, etc.) For bread loaves, I rolled out my bread into a rectangle and cut it into sections big enough to fit into my bread loaf pans. Cover and let rise at room temp for 30-60 min or more. Before baking brush with melted butter or egg whites. Bake at 350 until done.

·         Cinnamon rolls—roll dough out into a rectangle. Spread ½ c. melted butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. You can nuts or raisins as well. Start at the wider side of the rectangle, roll up dough and pinch edges together to seal. Cut into slices. Coat bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. After letting it rise a second time, bake until nicely brown at 350. For glaze, mix 4 tablespoons of butter, 2 c powdered sugar, & 1 tsp vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Spread over cooled rolls.

·         Pizza twist bread—make 4 equal balls of dough. Take one ball of dough & roll it out to about 12-16 in long. Flatten with a roller so it’s about 3 in wide. Add pizza toppings like pepperoni, sausage, chicken, sauce, cheese, veggies, etc. Gather up edges & seal by pinching edges together. Repeat this with the other balls of dough. On a cookie sheet, take 2 filled dough rolls and make an X. Pinch ends together on both sides to make a figure 8. Brush an egg white lightly over the dough. Cut a 1-3 in slice in each top section of the dough to reveal the toppings. Sprinkle with seasonings or cheese. Let rise again for 30-60 min or more. Bake @ 365 degrees until golden brown. Serve with dipping sauces.

 I didn't make cinnamon rolls because the activity was on a Saturday morning and because I wanted to the bread the night before so it was more fresh, and also because I didn't want to bother trying to make any of the bread during the class (I only had 30 min to teach), I decided to make the bread the night before. Here's pictures of what I made for the class (the jalapeno and pizza breads were the first to go):

I had about 60 people in my class and I made two batches of bread (the above recipe is a complete bacth...depending on how big your rolls are and how much the dough rises it probably makes about 3 dozen rolls) but split each batch in half to make four different "flavors", and I think I had like two rolls leftover. People were coming back for seconds and thirds! I was so intimidated at first because I knew I was going to have some older women in there who had probably been making bread since they were babies, and I'm still a newbie. But it's SO easy! I didn't indicate cook times on here so you'll have to experiment and watch the bread. If you underbake it just slightly, and take it out, it will continue to bake while it cools. If you overbake, store hardened bread into an airtight container with a dampened paper towel. The bread will absorb the moisture from the paper towel after several hours (best if stored over night.)

One trick I learned from my mom is mixing the ingredients in your Kitchenaid stand mixer. When you get ready to let it rise for the first time, put a heating pad underneath the bowl and wrap that along with the whole mixer in a towel. The heat activates the yeast. You'll be really surprised how much bread this recipe make. I had a mini Kitchenaid and could only fit half a batch in there. You can also mix the ingredients in a bread machine. But if you don't have either, your hands will work. It's important when you're letting the bread rise, that you introduce it to heat. Not scorching anything hot but warmth. One way I've done this is while I'm mixing the ingredients, I turn the oven on to like 250-300 degrees, and then when I'm ready for the bread to rise, I'll cover the bowl the bread is in with a towel, turn the oven off, and put the covered bowl in there (it obviously has to be a metal bowl or some kind of bowl that won't melt since the oven rack will be warm). One really Southern lady even said they used to set the covered bowl out under the sun during the summer hahah which, living in Texas and serving a mission in Las Vegas, that is completely believable!

So hope you enjoy and message or comment if you have any questions. I'd love to see what variations you come up with!