Category: Breads

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Cheddar & Garlic Biscuits

These fluffy, cheesy, buttery biscuits are just like the ones you get at that ubiquitous seafood chain. What’s it called again? Blue Crab? Yellow Crayfish? You know the one I’m talking about. And, they go well with just about anything, not just seafood.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tbsp. White Sugar
  • 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tbsp. Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1 cup Whole Milk
  • 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, melted
  • 1-1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 4 tbsp. Butter or Margarine
  • 1 tbsp. Dried Parsley
  • 1 tsp. Garlic Powder

 

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 440 degrees.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl*, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt.
  4. Add melted butter or margarine and milk, and mix until almost combined.
  5. Add cheddar cheese, and mix until all ingredients are just combined.
  6. Use a large tablespoon to spoon batter onto prepared baking sheet, leaving space between each biscuit. (This should make about 12 biscuits.)
  7. Bake in preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes, until they begin to brown.
  8. While biscuits are baking, melt 4 tbsp. butter or margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  9. When melted, add dried parsley and garlic powder and mix until well combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
  10. When baking is complete, remove biscuits from oven and transfer biscuits to a baking rack.
  11. Brush biscuits with melted butter mixture and serve immediately.

*I’m usually a big fan of using a stand mixer for just about everything, but do NOT use one for this recipe. The secret to good texture in a biscuit is keeping the mixing to a minimum.

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Best Ever Banana Nut Bread

They say when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. But, what do you do when life gives you brown bananas? Bake banana bread, of course! With a hint of spice and an abundance of nuts, this recipe is hearty enough to pair with a strong cup of coffee, and so scrumptious that these loaves will disappear fast, leaving only a few tasty crumbs behind. Go bananas!

Ingredients

  • 3 Large Bananas
  • 1-1/4 cups White Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1/3 cup Whole Milk
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 2-1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Ground Allspice
  • 1 cup Walnuts, coarsely chopped

 

Directions

  1. Move oven rack down one notch lower than the center, so that the top of your loaves will sit in the middle of the oven.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Place four small aluminum loaf pans* on a baking sheet, and coat with cooking spray.
  4. In a large bowl or stand mixer, mash peeled bananas.
  5. Add sugar, butter or margarine, eggs, milk, and vanilla, and mix until well blended.
  6. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and allspice, and thoroughly blend into wet mixture.
  7. Add 3/4 cup of the chopped walnuts, and stir to incorporate into batter.
  8. Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pans. Each should be about 3/4 full.
  9. Sprinkle remaining walnuts on the top of the loaves, and gently pat into the batter, just enough to make sure they stick.
  10. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted through the center of a loaf comes out clean.
  11. Remove from oven and transfer to a baking rack to cool. Ensure that the loaves have cooled to room temperature before wrapping.

*You can use one large loaf pan instead. Just increase the baking time by about 10 minutes. However, making this recipe in smaller loaves means it’s easier to share!

 

Sneaky trick: Why do I reserve some of the walnuts to sprinkle on the top? First, the nuts on the top of the loaf stay nice and crunchy, and even get a little toasted, adding a great complementary texture to the soft loaf. Second, the visible nuts are a big red flag for anyone who is allergic to nuts or wears loose fitting dentures, preventing them from getting an unpleasant surprise when they bite into a piece. I’m thoughtful like that.

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This sweet, buttery bread makes the finest French toast, the sweetest snack, and the tastiest toast. This recipe is designed for the bread machine, which I consider one of the ten greatest inventions of all time. You can customize it with raisins (if you like that sort of nonsense) or finely chopped nuts, by adding them when you sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on your dough. Go on, give it a swirl!

Ingredients

Bread

  • 1 cup Milk
  • 1/4 cup Hot Water*
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 2 tbsp Butter or Margarine, softened
  • 1/3 cup White Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 3 cups Bread Flour
  • 2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

*Hot tap water is just fine; no additional heating is needed. You just want to warm up the milk and egg a bit as the dough is mixing to give the yeast a fighting chance. 

Swirl

  • 4 tbsp Margarine or Butter
  • 1/3 cup White Sugar
  • 2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Directions

  1. Place all Bread ingredients in the pan of your bread machine in the order listed.
  2. Select the Dough cycle and press Start.
  3. Relax while you send an email to Panasonic, expressing your gratitude to them for inventing the home bread machine in 1986.
  4. When the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
  5. Knead briefly, and roll into a long rectangle approximately 1/2-inch thick, with the shorter side of the dough slightly more narrow than the longer side of your bread pan.
  6. To make the swirl, melt butter or margarine.
  7. Brush the rectangle of dough with butter or margarine until well coated. Reserve remaining melted butter or margarine.
  8. Mix together sugar and cinnamon.
  9. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture evenly over buttered dough.
  10. Roll the dough tightly, from the shorter side.
  11. Spray a bread pan with cooking spray.
  12. Place the rolled dough in the pan, with the seam on the bottom.
  13. Allow to rise in a warm, quiet place for 30-45 minutes, until doubled in size, and taller than the rim of the bread pan.
  14. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  15. Re-melt remaining butter or margarine if needed, and brush loaf with it.
  16. Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
  17. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool to room temperature before wrapping.
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Chuge Challah

I may not be a hollaback girl, but I am a challah bread girl! This recipe makes two humongous braided loaves – one to eat and one to share! And, since it’s designed for the bread machine, it’s as easy as it is tasty. Left-over challah also makes fantastic French Toast. Es gezunterheyt!

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups Warm Water
  • 2 Large Egg Yolks
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1/3 cup Cooking Oil
  • 1/2 cup White Sugar
  • 4-1/4 cups Bread Flour
  • 1-1/4 tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
  • 1 Large Egg, beaten
  • Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, or both!

Directions

  1. Place water, egg yolks, salt, oil, sugar, flour, and yeast into pan of bread machine in order listed.
  2. Select Dough cycle and press Start.
  3. Thank the gods of flour and yeast that you have a bread machine.
  4. When Dough cycle is finished, line baking sheets with foil or parchment paper, and lightly coat with cooking spray.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and divide into two equal pieces.
  6. Split each of the two pieces into three sections of equal size.
  7. Roll each section into three long, snaky strands.
  8. Braid the strands together, connecting the ends (use wet hands to stick the ends together if your dough is stubborn) and turn the ends under the loaf.
  9. Repeat with the second piece of dough to create two large loaves.
  10. Allow the loaves to rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place, until doubled in size.
  11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  12. Brush both loaves with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame and/or poppy seeds.
  13. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes until dark golden brown.
  14. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
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16-Cent Soft Pretzels

These pretzels have all the great taste and texture of Auntie What’s-Her-Name’s at about 4% of the price! I’ve tailored this recipe to make the dough in the bread machine because I’m not a masochist. The sweetness of this pretzel works great with cinnamon and sugar as well as more traditional toppings.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup Warm Water
  • 1/4 cup White Sugar
  • 3/4 tsp. Salt
  • 2-1/2 cups Bread Flour
  • 2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
  • 4 cups Water
  • 1/2 cup Baking Soda
  • Kosher Salt, Poppy Seeds, Sesame Seeds, or Cinnamon Sugar

Directions

  1. Add warm water, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast to bread machine pan in order listed.
  2. Select Dough cycle and press Start.
  3. Relax and smile the smug smile of someone who knows that they don’t have any mixing, kneading, or rising to attend to.
  4. Just before dough cycle is complete, put four cups of water into a large glass bowl, and microwave for about 5 minutes until almost boiling. Make sure the bowl is large enough! It should be no more than 1/2 full of water.
  5. Add baking soda to water and stir to incorporate. It will foam up like an elementary school science project volcano. Hence the need for the large bowl.
  6. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
  7. When dough cycle is complete, remove dough from pan and knead briefly on a very lightly floured surface.
  8. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  9. Cut dough into 12 equally sized pieces.
  10. Roll each piece of dough out with your hands into a long snake. The longer and thinner it is, the easier it will be to shape.
  11. Hold each end of the dough snake and flip it so it twists twice. Then lay on the lightly floured surface and tuck the ends over the center of the loop to create the traditional pretzel shape.
  12. Slide a thin spatula under your shaped pretzel and dip it in the water and baking soda mixture. Make sure the dough it is entirely coated, but don’t soak it. Your pretzel should only be in the water for about five to ten seconds.
  13. Lift pretzel out of the water and baking soda mixture with the spatula, and arrange it on the prepared baking sheet. Make sure there is plenty of space between each pretzel.
  14. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt, Poppy Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Cinnamon Sugar, or whatever floats your boat.
  15. Repeat steps 10 through 14 until all dough has been used.
  16. Bake in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes until dark brown.
  17. Remove from oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack.
  18. Enjoy with spicy mustard, fondue, or just as they are!

 

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