Brown Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Bread

I haven't posted in a long time for a few reasons. One, I was busy with school and second, because I had made some of the same things. Didn't want to be redundant in my posts. It's like posting pics of yourself on FB with the same outfit over and over again *thumbs downs* lol!  I love making bread but it can be so time consuming.  This is a recipe I've wanted to make for a while. I had to modify quite a bit in terms of the amount of flour and I also reduced the sugar. When I first followed the recipe exactly, the dough was extremely wet and sticky.  I ended up adding about another 3 cups in order for the dough to be pliable. Thankfully I'd made bread before and knew that the dough just didn't look and feel right.  Once I had the right amount of flour, the rest was pretty simple.  For me, letting the dough rise is the most time consuming part, followed by the cleanup. Other than that having my KitchenAid makes breadmaking fairly easy.  I only got a couple of pics but hopefully soon my photographer friend will be taking more professional looking pics for me:)

My Bread Fix

There are some things I hope to never have to give up- chocolate, rice, and bread.  I'm a proud carb head and would more than likely give up all meats before giving up carbs.  Ever since I started making bread last summer, I have not purchased any store-made bread. It is so much more enjoyable for me to make my own with ingredients I know are fresh.  Recently, I decided to step it up and actually bought bread flour. Boy, does it make a difference! I buy the organic bread flour by King Arthur which I generally find at Whole Foods. I slightly modified a recipe (see below), to add in a little more whole grain and reduce the sugar, from one of the best blogs for bread.  I've made it with the original recipe as well and it is DELICIOUS! Had 2 slices with toast and a bowl of Farina. Life is good:)

After kneading the dough for 5 minutes in my Kitchen-Aid, I let it rise for an hour in a greased bowl.

Put it on a floured piece of parchment paper and divided it in half. (Had to add a little more flour because the dough was too sticky.)

Degassed it by rolling it out into a rectangle.

Tightly rolled up to fit into a loaf pan.

Pinched the seams and placed in greased loaf pan.

Let rise for an hour then brushed with egg wash.

Baked for 30 minutes. Loosely covered with foil after 20 minutes.

Let cool on rack for about 10 minutes.

Ingredients modified from Cooking Bread:

•  cup water (lukewarm 110 - 115F)
• 1 cup buttermilk (room temp.)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 5 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4  + 1 tbsp cup sugar 
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast

Foodista

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Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling

I've had a can of Organic Pumpkin Puree since Halloween and kept talking about making Pumpkin Bread. Since my daughter is not into big breakfasts, I thought this would be a good choice for her.  I searched the Internet for "the perfect recipe." I wanted something a little more special than just regular pumpkin bread or muffins.  Then, I found this recipe on Joy of Baking.  I halved it and modified it a bit (see end of post for recipe).  I did this at 4:30 AM!  It came out very moist with the perfect amount of sweetness.  My daughter loved it!

Dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin spice

Wet ingredients- Organic pumpkin puree, milk, melted butter, vanilla extract; brown sugar and cane sugar

Add half of batter, layer with cream cheese filling then top with remaining batter

Bake for about 1 hour and let cool for 10 minutes.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

After making bread for the first time a few months ago, I vowed to never buy bread again (I get really excited sometimes).  I'm always pleased with the results and I love knowing EXACTLY what I put in it.  My mom and neighbor love it also and often ask when I'm making my next loaf.  I modify a recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  (I replace 3 cups of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and replace some of the regular sugar with brown sugar and honey.  I do this to ensure that the bread is soft and moist.  It takes about 3-4 hours but most of that time is just waiting for the dough to rise.

Ingredients

Heat milk to 110 degrees and place in bowl of mixer.

Sprinkle yeast over milk and stir with whisk.

Add flour, eggs, butter, sugar, honey and salt and knead. 

Pat down on a floured surface and sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins 

Let rise for 1 hour. Since my apartment is cold,  I place it on my stovetop with the oven on. I rotate  it after 30 minutes.

It should double in size.

Pat out and spread cinnamon sugar and water filling.  Roll into a log and tuck in edges.  Let rise in greased loaf pans.

Brush with beaten egg and bake for 30-40 minutes at 380-400 degrees.The baking times and temperature in Martha Stewart's book don't work for me for some reason. So I bake it for less time at a reduce temperature.

Let cool on wire rack before slicing. Enjoy!