Marbled Loaf

Marbled Loaf


3 to 3 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/2 Cups milk
2 TB Sugar
2 TB Cooking Oil
11/2 tsp Salt
2 TB dark-flavored molasses
1 1/4 Cups rye flour or whole wheat flour

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups all-purpose flour and yeast. Heat milk, sugar, oil and salt just until warm in a microwave or on the stovetop. Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat well. Scraping the bowl often. Beat on high speed (in an electric mixer) for 3 minutes.

2. Divide batter in half (take out approximately 1 Cup of batter). To the 1st portion of batter add remaining all-purpose flour (1 to 1 1/2 Cups). Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes. The dough should be moderately stiff and elastic. Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl, turning the dough once to grease the top of the ball. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise.

3. To the other portion of batter add molasses and rye flour (or whole wheat flour). Knead dough again for about 6-8 minutes. Let rise in a greased bowl in a warm spot.

4. After 1st rise (approximately 1 hour, or until doubled), turn each ball out onto a floured surface and roll into two rectangles about 12x8 inches. Place dark rectangle on top of white one and roll into a log. Place in a greased or parchment lined loaf pan (8x4x2inch). Cover and let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour.

5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If the loaf is browning too much on top part way through the cooking time, cover with tin foil to keep the loaf from over-browning.

6. Immediately remove from pan and allow to cool completely before slicing.

We love this loaf! The sweetness of the molasses is a nice treat, and the swirl in the middle of the bread surprised my kids!

Happy Baking.

Could Making Yogurt Get Any Easier?

Back in Canada, I often made my own yogurt, but it was quite the process. First you have to bring the milk to a temperature of 180 degrees, then let it cool to 110, add the yogurt starter and incubate for 6-12 hours.

Well here, in Madagascar, where milk as I know it is basically unavailable, there is UHT milk. Or heat-treated milk. After doing a little research online, I discovered that when making yogurt with UHT milk, there is no need to preheat the milk and let it cool (which is the most tedious part of making homemade yogurt)! It has been thrilling to just add a little bit of yogurt to a litre of UHT milk, set it out in the sun, or keep it warm in a pan of hot water, and voila, yogurt!

If your yogurt is still too runny, try adding some milk powder to the milk before adding your culture. You will add calories, but the yogurt stiffens up a bit more in the end.

To Soak or Not To Soak

Moving climates, and working with different brands of ingredients call for a change in bread making as well. Also, I have been reading up on soaking whole grains before using them, and I am still a bit confused on whether or not this is truly health beneficial to our family who doesn't suffer from any sort of grain intolerance right now. But, I do find dough that has been left over night easier to work with the next day. For instance, the method: Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day - gives you such a nice chewy yet light crumb textured bread.

There is some proof to show that soaking your whole grains with the liquid from your recipe overnight may help reduce phytic acid in the grain making it easier to digest and easier for the body to absorb more minerals. There are countless websites that talk about this if you Google "Why Soak Whole Grains". There are also countless recipes for whole wheat bread you might try. I used my own recipe and adapted it for a pre-soak using the instructions found here.

This is my first attempt at doing a pre-soak with my whole wheat flour:

 This is after combined 1/3 Cup of oil, 1 & 3/4 Cups warm water, 2 TB of plain Yogurt, 6 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour together. The consistency was extremely dry, yet wet. I left this overnight to "soak".

I proofed my yeast in 1/4C warm water, 1/2 Cup brown Sugar, 1 TB Yeast, and added 1 TB of Salt all to the soaked flour and let in knead until it was elastic-y, and I could do the "window-pane" test. (About 10 minutes in the machine). I ended up adding approximately 1 more cup of flour.


Making sure I rose the dough in a warm environment, I was pretty pleased with the results. The second rise wasn't fantastic, but I achieved excellent "oven-spring" which is exactly what you want!

After cutting into the bread, I was pretty disappointed. I allowed it to cool, but it was still soggy inside, even after baking for 40 minutes.

Easy Chicken Curry

New Recipe! Chicken Curry (A new family favorite)

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts (cut up into small chunks)
1 Lg Onion chopped
1 Lg Potato cut into bite-sized chunks
1 Lg Carrot cut into bite-sized chunks
4 Garlic Cloves minced
4 TB Ginger Root minced
1 Apple chopped
4 TB Flour
4 TB Curry Powder (or less if you prefer less spice)
1 TB Salt
1 TB Brown Sugar
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1 14oz Can Coconut Milk

Prepare all of the above ingredients and dump into a soup pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring about every 15 minutes. Let simmer for an hour. Serve over rice. You might thicken with a little more flour and milk at the end if you want.

I prepared everything in the afternoon during a quieter moment, and then I was ready to dump everything in the pot about an hour before I wanted to serve dinner. This recipe could easily feed 6 adults over a large portion of rice.


This awesome Chicken Curry was adapted by a wonderful blog I often read: Passionate Homemaking.

Baking Adjustment

Those of you who may have read this blog for a while know that I love baking our own bread, especially whole wheat. The other day, I thought it was time to try baking whole wheat bread in Madagascar for the first time. Once it was mixed and rising beautifully (which was very exciting for me as I couldn't get it to rise as well in Quebec for one reason or another) I was just about ready to start heating the oven! Then, the power went out. I probably should have suspected it would happen since it had been quite windy most of the morning. Fortunately the power returned about 15 minutes later so I could start heating my oven.....then it went out again as it was pre-heating. Tempted to throw out my rising loaves, I decided to carefully place them in my freezer and try baking them later when the power would seem a bit more trustworthy. To my surprise, later in the afternoon once the power was back on, I baked them and they turned out almost fine! They hadn't had a chance to completely freeze, but the cold did stop them from rising anymore. I was happy that they didn't deflate while in the freezer too.

So now we are enjoying whole wheat bread this week. Which is a nice treat, since we have been living on artisan breads, which are also nice, but there's something about the rustic-ness of a good whole wheat loaf. :)

Sourdough

This is bread I baked this morning from a sourdough starter my mom gave me while we were visiting them last week! The starter is amazing; I have never used starter that actually rises well and gives the bread a true 'sourdough' flavor. Since reading up on sourdough bread I have learned that it is actually very good for you despite being made from white flour, which we typically think of being 'less healthful.' Sourdough bread contains good bacteria and also has a low glycemic index, which means it won't spike your blood sugar. Whole grain breads, I have just learned actually do spike your blood sugar and leave you feeling hungry shortly after, not to mention the plummeting energy level.

 The two breads could probably be debated about which is better, but this one sure tastes yummy!

Deep Dish Skillet Pizza

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Dutch Baby

These are so yummy and super easy! A great alternative to traditional pancakes or waffles, without having to babysit the fry pan.

These are known by a few different names: German pancake, puff pancake, Dutch baby...
In my mind, it is simply and GIANT yorkshire pudding! Yum!

1/3 cup Butter/Margarine
5 Eggs
1 1/4 cups Milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 425.
While oven is heating, melt butter in a cast iron skilled on the stovetop. (You may also use a glass baking dish and melt your butter in the dish in the oven.)

In a blender, blend together eggs, milk, flour and vanilla extract. Once butter is melted and oven has preheated, pour batter into the cast iron skillet.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, or until center is cooked.
Serve with sliced apples or fresh blueberries and maple syrup.



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Whole Wheat Thins Please

Another yummy cracker recipe and my kids and I gobbled up the other day!

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp ea of salt, and any other seasoning blend (like Mrs. Dash or garlic and herbs), baking powder, yeast
3 Tb Extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup warm water

Preheat oven to 400

Dissolve yeast in warm water with oil. Combine dry ingredients and then mix wet with dry to form a soft dough.

Roll out super thin, as thin as you can! Place on parchment lined baking sheet and then use a pizza cutter or other small cutter to cut squares into dough. Squares about 2" x 2". No need to separate, they will break apart after you bake them.

Bake for about 20 minutes. You may check on them at 18 minutes and remove any outside crackers that are getting too dark to allow the middle ones to brown up more.
They will have some bend to them when they come out of the oven, but will crisp up more and more as they cool.



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Homemade Rye Animal Crackers

I found this recipe on another blog; it was adapted from King Arthur Flour's recipe for rye crackers. And I have adapted it again.

1 cup whole rye flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon molasses


Preheat oven to 325


In a large bowl sift or whisk together flours, cocoa powder, and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles course crumbs.


In a small bowl or measuring cup, blend water and molasses. Gradually stir water mixture with the dry ingredients and knead to form a soft dough. You may need to add a couple drops more of water.


Divide ball into 3 even pieces - working with one piece at a time. Keep other pieces covered. Roll out each piece of dough on a well floured surface. Turn often to keep from sticking. Roll to 1/16" thick; about the thickness of a quarter.


Cut dough with small cookie cutters, (2" x 2") or into small squares. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. 


Bake until crackers begin to turn crisp, about 18-25 minutes. They will crisp up further as they cool. Move crackers to a wire rack to cool completely. 






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Pakistani Kima

Saute in skillet or pot: (one with a lid)
3 T Butter/Margarine
1 Cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
Add:
1 lb ground beef
Brown well. Stir in:
1 T Curry Powder
1 1/2 t salt
dash pepper
dash each of cinnamon, ginger, and tumeric
2 Cups tomatoes chopped
2 Potatoes, diced
2 Cups frozen peas or green beans
Cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve with rice.
Garnish with shredded coconut!
I made this for my family last night, and I was pleased that it was a hit! We all love rice (brown basmati), which is terrific because it’s so easy! This Indian curry dish isn’t too overpowering, and it isn’t spicy at all. The shredded coconut is my favorite part! This bit of added sweetness makes me feel as though I’m having some dessert with my supper.
Recipe was taken from “More-With-Less”

Homemade Rice Milk

This is a super easy rice milk recipe! If you are trying to stay away from dairy products, I wouldn’t recommend substituting it for cow’s milk completely since there’s no added protein, and it isn’t fortified with vitamins. However, Faith enjoys drinking it every now and then, and I have been spoon-feeding a little rice milk to Joyanne twice a day. It can be used as a dairy substitute in smoothies or on your cereal or porridge in the morning.  I haven’t tried it in tea or coffee, but hey, if you’re adventurous… why not?
 
1/2 C cooked Brown Rice
2 C Water
2 T Sweetener (sugar/agave/honey optional)
Vanilla to taste (optional)
Makes approx. 3 Cups
Blend in the VitaMix for 2 to 3 minutes, until completely smooth. Store in the refrigerator. Shake well before using.
If you don’t have a VitaMix, you can use a normal blender, but you may want to strain the milk through cheesecloth or a fine sieve so it isn’t pulpy. The VitaMix is a master at literally pulverizing the grains so the texture is similar to milk.
None of my family is lactose intolerant. That is not why I experimented with this recipe. I was going to make baby rice cereal because the past couple of weeks Joyanne has gone from sleeping nearly 12 hours through the night, to waking up a couple of times! So, rather than introducing rice cereal, I thought I would try her on this rice milk with a spoon. She is excited to see the spoon and smiles like crazy as I try to spoon the liquid into her mouth!

Easy Satisfying Biscotti

This is a super easy biscotti recipe that my mom has always makes that I love making as well!! It is really easy too.

Easy Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti

1 Cup Butter/Margarine
4 Eggs
2 Cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp Almond Extract

5 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
2 tsp Salt
1 TB Baking Powder
1 Cup mini Chocolate Chips

Cream: eggs with sugar. Add vanilla and almond extract. Slowly add melted butter/margarine (not hot though, you don’t want to cook your eggs!) Beat well.

Combine dry ingredients  (flour, salt, and baking powder), and add to your egg mixture. Add 1 cup of mini chocolate chips to your dough. It should be fairly stiff. Refrigerate dough for a few hours or overnight to make it easier to form logs.

Form dough into 3 short logs across baking sheet (width-wise) on parchment paper.

Cut each log into 12 pieces; don’t separate. (Each slice will be about the width of your index finger)

Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn sheet around and bake for another 15 minutes.
Cool for 20 minutes on the sheet.

Slice and separate pieces by laying them on their sides. Bake at 225 degrees for 20 minutes. Flip each biscotti over and bake for another 20 minutes. Turn off oven and leave baking sheet in oven for at least an hour.

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Friday's Archive Visit - a Yummy one!

This mix is especially yummy! And if you've ever enjoyed a chai latte at Starbucks and turned around and bought those boxes of chai tea concentrate at the store, you'll enjoy this homemade mixture!

(Original Post: October 22, 2008)

In the last while I have taken a liking to chai lattes or frappes before bed during my son's final nighttime feeding. I find chai tea so comforting!

I'm really into making 'homemade mixes.' Having muffin mix on hand, or homemade seasoning blends in my pantry that I know I'd pay much more for at the store, is so exciting to me! ;) There's that frugal side to me coming out again.

Instead of buying those expensive tetra packs of chai concentrate from the store, I decided to try and make my own version today! To my delight, it worked out great! And was SUPER EASY! I will definitely keep this one on hand. :)

Karina's Chai Tea Concentrate

1 1/2 C Water

1 1/2 C Milk (I use skim milk)

10 "Stash" Chai Tea bags

1/2 C Honey

Bring milk and water to a boil on the stove, while heating add honey. Once boiling, remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep for 5 minutes.

Remove tea bags and pour concentrate into an icecube tray and FREEZE, or store in your refrigerator without freezing.

To make, use 3 cubes per 8oz drink and add 1 cup of hot milk. Sweeten if you wish.

Karina's Chai Frappe Recipe

Banana

6 iced chai tea cubes

1 Cup Milk

1 TB Honey

1/8 tsp Cinnamon

Add ingredients to blender and blend to a smoothie consistency.

Makes about 2 servings.

I do not have cardamom spice on hand right now, so I haven't tried to make my own chai from scratch. That will be my next venture. For now, I favour "Stash" chai tea blend. It is spicy, and delicious!

What are your comfort teas? Do you make your own tea from scratch? I'd love to hear your recipes. Leave a comment.

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Food Rules

Can't say I follow all of these, but I found them interesting and a good reference if you want to figure out how your eating habits are measuring up.
The following ten "Food Rules" are taken from a book by Michael Pollan, of which I have never fully read and therefore can't say if I endorse or not.

1) One ingredient foods are always safe to consume. For example, apples, sweet potatoes, spinach, salmon. These are all one ingredient foods.

2) If you cannot pronounce the ingredients, you shouldn't eat it. Yeah, I know I've said this 100 times. It's worth saying again. Besides, I know you have no idea what di-sodium phosphate has to do with food (but it could be in your breakfast cereal).

3) If your teenaged son's sports drink is the same color as toilet bowl cleaner or antifreeze, it's not a good thing to consume.

4) If your great grandmother ate it, it's probably okay for you to eat it, too.

5) Drink just water when you go out to dinner. Everything else is too expensive, too caloric and you don't need it.

6) Sodas of any kind, suck up your money, your health and put on the weight, regardless of whether or not they're full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup or are sugar free. They are the enemy.

7) Juice needs to be drunk sparingly; it's concentrated calories. Tread carefully.

8) Eat your veggies. Lots of them. Seasonal, fresh or frozen and avoid the canned variety, full of salt.

9) Eat as colorfully as possible. Salads should look like a rainbow and not contain Iceberg lettuce, which is nearly worthless nutritionally.

10) To afford to eat food worthy of consuming, eat only quality, real food and eat less of it.

I especially like numbers 3, 4, and 5! What are in those sports drinks anyways? What happened to drinking just plain old water when you exercised? I stick to number 5 mostly because of the cost factor. I have to admit though, a cold pop is awfully enticing. Which brings me to my dislike of number 6. I don't disagree with it, but I definitely enjoy carbonated drinks every now and then.

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Vinegar - A Bread Secret?

I ran out of gluten about a month ago and haven't had a chance to visit the health food store and buy more. I decided to try the whole wheat bread recipe that I have been using but add a tablesopoon of vinegar to the dough instead of gluten. My mom's bun recipe inspired this idea. We are convinced that the vinegar in the bun recipe helps them puff up and turn out light and fluffy. Well, I have had beautiful results with the 100% whole wheat loaf too when vinegar is added! Gluten has become a short-lived ingredient in my household now. I probably won't invest in it again. I'd rather save the calories anyways. The calorie count is enormous when added to doughs!
The bread pictured above was made from Rogers course whole wheat flour. I haven't purchased this brand of flour before, but I am so pleased with how it turned out. It is very rustic and full of flavor. Yum!


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Flopped Bread Dough

A batch of whole wheat bread dough ended up in the garbage this morning! I bought a bag of whole wheat flour from Costco this time, and it is Rogers. I usually buy Superstore's No Name whole wheat flour. I measured my usual amount in my machine, and when I came back to check on how it was kneading, it was so dry! I had definitely over estimated the flour amount. So.... in order to try and salvage this terribly dry and crackly dough, I added some water. Well that turned into a horrible mess. Into the trash it went.

THIS is what the dough should look like before the first rise!

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My Mom's Bun Recipe

This bun recipe really is amazing. This is not a dinner roll size bun though. These are large enough to be burger buns! They rise better than any other bun recipe I have tried!

4 Cups Warm Water
1 TB Yeast
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup softened butter/margarine
1 TB White Vinegar
1 TB Salt
9-10 Cups All-purpose Flour

Combine water with sugar and yeast and allow yeast to proof.
In a mixing bowl combine salt, vinegar, softened butter.

Add proofed yeast and water to mixing bowl and add 9 cups of flour. Knead in another cup if required. Form an elastic dough by kneading for approximately 15 minutes, or 7 with a Kitchen Aid mixer or equivalent.

Allow to rise in a warm spot for an hour or until doubled.

Punch down and form into 36 to 40 buns. Place on a greased sheet and allow to rise for another hour.
(If making cinnamon buns, make into three large rectangles, roll and cut each roll into 12 pieces.)

Bake at 325C for 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from pans immediately and allow to cool.

(For cinnamon bun filling I spread melted margarine on each rectangle and then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.) See Cinnamon Buns here.

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GIANT Cinnamon Buns

These cinnamon buns turned out enormous!

I suppose that's what a recipe designed for 36 will do when you squish 24 buns into three smallish pans.

MmmmMmmmmm so good. Reminds me of going home. My mom seems to always have these ready for us.

 

Fun Popcorn

Pictured above: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Popcorn

and Butterscotch Almond Popcorn