Carrot Bread

Ok, don't just blow this post off yet.  Carrot bread is good.  Way good.  I found this recipe in college in a food preparation class and I have been making it ever since.  And no, it is not like carrot cake.  I seriously could eat half a loaf in one setting.

So, here's the recipe---

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 T oil
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw carrots, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In mixing bowl beat egg.  Add sugar gradually, beating until thick.  Add oil slowly and continue to beat until thoroughly combined.  Stir in flour (that has been mixed with baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon).  Blend until smooth.  Stir in carrots, distribute them evenly through batter.  Pour into one well-greased 5X9" loaf pan.  Bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool, right side up on rack.

All ready for Tim to take to a potluck today! :-)

One week and counting....

It's almost Thanksgiving!  The kiddos are counting down the days!  We went Tuesday and bought our Thanksgiving turkey.  He's a big one, weighing in at 19.33 lbs!  The kids were excited about picking it out!

Fall always puts me in a mood for pumpkin stuff.  This year I bought some pie pumpkins at Walmart for decorating.  As they sat on my table, I thought, why not see how to make pumpkin puree from them.  I googled how to do it and I gave it a try.  I have now made pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cream cheese muffins from the pumpkin that I made myself!  It is not something that I would want to do every year because it is a little time consuming but it was fun learning something new!

The pumpkin cream cheese muffin recipe comes courtesy of Baked Perfection.  Click here for the recipe to these excellent muffins.

The pumpkin bread recipe is wonderful!  It is the moistest bread I have ever had and it tastes divine!  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 c packed brown sugar
2 large egg whites
1 c pure pumpkin
1/4 c canola oil
1/3 c plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 c all purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray loaf pan and dust with flour.  In large bowl, with wire whisk, combine brown sugar and egg whites.  Add pumpkin, oil, yogurt and vanilla; stir to combine.  In medium bowl, combine flour, wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.  Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir until just combined.  Do not overmix. Pour batter into pan and bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Yeast Rolls

31/2 to 33/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c shortening softened
1 tsp salt
1 packaged regular or quick acting active dry yeast
1/2 c very warm water
1/2 c very warm milk
1 egg
margarine or butter softened

Mix two cups of the flour, the sugar, shortening, salt and yeast in medium bowl.  Add warm water, warm milk and egg.  Beat on low speed 1 minute, scraping the bowl frequently.  Beat on medium speed 1 minute scraping bowl frequently.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. 

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface.  Knead about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Place in greased medium bowl and turn greased side up.  Cover and let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until double.  Punch down dough.  Cut dough into 24 pieces and shape into balls.  Place close together in greased round pan.  Brush with margarine.  Cover and let rise about 30 minutes or until double.  I usually let them rise during the afternoon before dinner.  Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake 12-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Braided Yeast Bread

1 T active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 c warm water
1/2 c sugar
1 c milk
1/4 c butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 1/2 c flour
1 beaten egg for glaze

In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and 1/2 tsp sugar.  Set aside

Heat 1/2 c sugar, milk, butter and salt to 115 degrees F.  Pour into a mixing bowl and add beaten eggs and 3 cups of flour.  Mix well; add the yeast mixture.  Mix until combined, then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead 3-5 minutes.  Place in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and let rise 1 hour.

Punch dough down; divide into 6 pieces.  Roll each piece into an 8-inch rope.  Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf; repeat with remaining ropes.  Place loaves into 2 greased 8X4 inch loaf pans.  Cover with a wet tea towel; let rise 45 minutes or until doubled.

Brush laves with a beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with sugar.  Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until loaves are brown.  Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

St. Patrick's Day breakfast and Beer Bread

Ohmuhgosh, you have to try this beer bread:
3 cups self-rising flour
1 can beer
7 Tbsp sugar
1 stick butter
Mix together all except butter.  Spray loaf pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  Place stick of butter in bread and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool 30 minutes, then slice.
**if you don't have self-rising flour, to every 1 cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.

Lessons in Yeast

Well, I have been trying for sometime to make breads and rolls using yeast. I did what the recipes said, but the bread never rose. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. So, I did a little research. I learned a little bit about "proofing." See, you must proof your yeast, yet the recipes did not talk about this at all. I guess they assume you already should know this tidbit of information. Proofing is sprinkling the yeast over warm water and adding about a teaspoon of sugar. The yeast thrives off of carbohydrates. After 10 minutes, the yeast should have doubled in size and look like it is creamy and/or bubbly. Another bit of information I learned is that yeast rises the best in temperatures around 85 degrees and high humidity always helps.

Needless to say, after I gained all of this very useful information, I made another batch of yeast rolls. They rose wonderfully!

I hope that this information helps anyone who is struggling with yeast as I was!

Some Banana muffins I made Saturday as well...