Friday, April 15, 2011

Bread Recipes that I Love Baking

One of my friends recently asked me for one of my bread recipes.  I promised to email it to her but things being as busy as they are, I forgot all about getting back to her.  So, I'm posting it now along with a few other recipes that I love.  Some are from family, some from friends and others from cookbooks that turned out really well.  Enjoy!

Garlic & Rosemary Country Bread
Makes 1 large loaf


6 C. unbleached flour
2 TBSP. butter, softened
2 tsp. salt
1/4 of a yeast package
1 3/4 cups (450 ml) lukewarm water
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. cracked rosemary
olive oil for greasing the pan in the bread machine


Put the ingredients into your bread machine in the following order:  water, butter, garlic, flour, salt, rosemary then yeast on top.  Set your machine for white bread, medium crust.  Great with Italian meals!

Whole Grain Wheat Bread
1/3 C. plus 1 TBSP brown sugar, divided
2 C. warm water
2 pkgs. yeast
5 to 6 whole wheat flour
3/4 C. powdered milk
2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. vegetable oil

I use my KitchenAid mixer for this one.  Dissolve 1 TBSP. brown sugar and yeast in warm water in a small bowl and let it stand.  Put 4 C. flour, powdered milk, 1/3 C. brown sugar, and salt in mixer bowl.  Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer.  Turn to speed 2 and mix about 15 seconds.  Continuing on speed 2, gradually add yeast/sugar/water mixture and oil to flour mixture and mix about 1 1/2 minutes longer.  Stop and scrape bowl.

Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 C. at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.  Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place (I use my oven) about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down and divide it in half, shape each loaf into a loaf pan or onto a cookie sheet.  I put cornmeal down before putting the dough down on a cookie sheet but it's not necessary.  Cover and let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes longer.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. 

This one came from my grandmother-in-law Ruth's recipe box which I received after she passed away.  It's a little lighter than pumpernickel and a little darker than rye.  Great for making a pastrami sandwich!

Black Bread
1 C. rye flour
2 TBSP. vinegar
2 TBSP. dark molasses
1/2 square unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 TBSP. butter
3/4 C. water
1 pkg. yeast
2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. bran cereal
2 tsp. caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. instant coffee
1/2 tsp. onion powder

I do this one in the bread machine, too.  You just put all the liquids in first, then add the dry ingredients, then the yeast last.  I like to mix it on the dough cycle, then I take it out, shape into loaves and let rise in my oven for about an hour.  Then bake it at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  You could also make this conventionally but you'd have to dissolve the yeast in the warm water and then melt the chocolate in the molasses.  Mix the dry ingredients together then mix in the 2 liquids slowly, using a KitchenAid mixer or hand mixer.  Then you'd have to let it rise for an hour, then shape into loaves and let rise again.

Boston Brown Bread
Being from Massachusetts, we often had cans of B&M brown bread with our beanie weenies.  I loved how moist and sweet the bread was.  When we moved overseas to Puerto Rico, I wasn't able to buy my bread in a can at the commissary so I had to improvise.  After a few "oopsies," I managed to perfect a recipe that tastes almost like B&M bread.  It's also a fun recipe for kids to help out with--Jeremy loved the idea of "cooking" bread on the stove.

2 C. butter milk (If you can't find buttermilk, you can sour the milk by adding 2 TBSP. plain vinegar to it and letting it curdle for a few minutes).
3/4 C. dark molasses
1 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. rye flour
1 C. cornmeal
1 TBSP. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix buttermilk and molasses in a large bowl.  In another bowl, combine whole wheat flour, rye flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Blend into liquid mixture, a little at a time until well blended (I do mine in the KitchenAid).  Pour batter into two well-greased coffee cans (the smaller ones, about 5"x 3") and cover the cans tightly with tinfoil.  Place on a rack or trivet and place in a large pan or dutch oven.  Pour boiling water to a depth of 1" in the bottom of the pan or dutch oven.  Place lid on pan or dutch oven and simmer on low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, adding more boiling water if needed.  Let cool in cans for about 15 minutes, then run a butter knife around the edge of each can and turn over to get bread out.  You may need to tap the bottom of the can to get the loaves out.  We serve it in round slices about 1/2 inch thick with hot dogs & beans (aka beanie weenies).  We use B&M brand baked beans.  I get two cans (about 14 oz) and put them in a baking dish.  I add 1 tsp. ketchup, 1 tsp. dijon mustard, and 2 TBSP. molasses.  Stir together in the beans and then level the beans to make a flat surface.  Gently place 1 package of hot dogs (we prefer the Ball Park beef hot dogs :) on top of the beans.  Then I take the ketchup bottle and squiggle lines of ketchup on each hot dog.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  

1 comment:

  1. Yay....I can't wait to try them! ~S is gonna love the black bread for sure, she loves it with honey cinnamon butter.

    ReplyDelete