Raisin Swirl Bread TWD

I have been known to have bread and butter for dinner. Bread really is the one food I couldn’t live without, a low-carb evangelist I am not.  Yet, I have only made yeasted bread once before. The real barrier for me is the time factor. I am not the most patient person in the world and the multiple risings really prevent me from fully embracing bread making (perhaps this is a good thing). However, since this week’s TWD was bread and I love it so, I decided to face my impatience head on. (It didn’t hurt that I was scheduled for a day in the kitchen anyways, as I threw my first high tea on the weekend).

Overall, this was super easy to make. I had the oven on all day so the rising was a cinch. I always get a little confused on the warm place but now I have this nailed down. The bread rose beautifully and I used it to make goat cheese and apple sandwiches for my high tea. The only thing that kept it being a 100% sucess was that there was that it had a bit too much air. Alas, perfection is overrated.  My one adaption was that I used a maple sugar cinnamon mix instead of granulated sugar. Delish.

Thanks to Susan of Food.Baby for this week’s selection. Head on over to her blog for the recipe. You can see what other TWD bakers got up to over here.

Caroline

Oatmeal Bread

I love bread. I am quite happy to have a beer and bread for dinner (beer is really liquid bread, isn’t it?) That being said I try not to have that meal too often, for a variety of reasons, one being that if I had it all the time it wouldn’t be such a treat. I have been meaning to enter into the bread making world for a while but I kept putting it off. Last weekend, I committed my Sunday to bread making and it was well worth it.

Now I will be the first to admit that it isn’t the prettiest looking bread I have ever seen but I think it isn’t bad for a first go. The recipe comes from the Mennonite Central Committee’s More with Less cookbook. I recommend this book for it’s simple recipes and ideological perspective, especially in a time when concerns about food security and the ethical use of food resources are so pressing.The other books in the series are equally as good, Extending the Table and Simply in Season. You can buy these books from your local Ten Thousand Villages Store,  MCC’s online store or your preferred bookseller.

Oatmeal Bread

Combine in a large bowl:
1 c. quick oats
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T salt
2 T butter

Pour over the above mixture:
2 c. boiling water

Stir in to combine.

Dissolve:
1 pkg dry yeast (or 1 T) in
1/2 c. warm water

When batter is cooled to lukewarm, add yeast.

Stir in:
5 c. white flour

Once the flour is mixed knead the bread for 5-10 minutes. (I used my stand mixer for 5 minutes or so. I think that it could have used longer so I will try that next time). Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (I think this took an hour or so). Punch down and let rise again (Once again I think it took an hour or a bit more).  Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased 9x5x3 pans. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes. Cool and brush with butter. Eat this bread with your friends and family, good bread is meant for sharing.

Brioche Apple Tart- Tuesday’s with Dorie

I love bread and my goal this summer is to work on my bread making skills so this was a perfect recipe for me (that and the fact that I am on vacation and Claire isn’t). I was pleased that Denise of Chez Us picked the Brioche Plum Tart as I have always wanted to try making brioche. Now I would have tried the plum version but I am vacationing at my mom’s house and she is an apple fan so I needed to switch it up. I used seedless raspberry jam and I added a half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the sugar mixture and omitted the nuts (bakers prerogative, nuts are not my fave).

Heading for the fridge

Now given as I am new to bread I have to say this was a bit time consuming, the deflating and the refrigerating and warming, it seemed to be a time suck, not hard but it required a bit of attention. Needless to say I am glad that I am on vacation because I don’t think I would have time for this during the busy school year.

Ready for eating

So all in all it turned out very well. It is nice to have people to bake for; however, both my mother and Lisa (my vacation partner) have indicated that I can’t bake all the time. Lisa is getting married in August and is concerned that I am going to mess with her wedding dress, I say she just needs to run a bit more! With all this time on my hands I can’t help it if I bake up a storm.

I love strawberries!

Strawberry season is a personal favorite of mine. To me it symbolizes the start of summer and I really dig that delicious fruit. I thought I was going to miss this year’s season as I was in Kenya with my da. But given the lack of heat that we have been experiencing in Ontario, strawberry season was delayed (whoohoo). I  went strawberry picking on Canada Day (what could be more patriotic that picking red fruit on Canada Day?) with friends. I ended up making three different types of jam after realizing I still had TONS of last year’s berries in my freezer.  Despite the jam escapades I still had some strawbs left and I went searching for a recipe.

I went through my delicious tags and I found a recipe for strawberry scones over at Confessions of a Tart. I LOVE scones and since I came back to Canada by way of Ireland (where I ate my fair share), I was in a scone mood. This is how they turned out.

strawberry scones on a baking sheet

I guess since I had just eaten Irish scones my expectations were a little high. I thought they were okay, not enough sugar for my taste buds but once I put my fresh strawberry jam on them they were pretty darn tasty. The coworkers gave them the thumbs up, but then again, they will eat anything;) I think next time I will try adding strawberries to my momma’s scone recipe.

Scones on a plate

For the recipe and more artistic photos head on over here.

Traditional Irish Scones

Growing up we would have a traditional Sunday dinner at lunch time after arriving in from church. Often it would be roast beef dinner with Yorkshire puddings. Later in the afternoon my mom would sometimes whip up scones for evening tea. It would be a real treat to have warm scones and strawberry jam. Here is my mom’s recipe.

1 lb (2 3/4 cup) all purpose flour
8 tsp baking powder
2 pinches salt
4 oz (1/2 cup minus 2 tbsp) margarine or butter
4 oz (1/2 cup) sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 420. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in margarine and add sugar. Mix together the eggs and milk then add slowly to flour mixture. Mix to a light elastic dough. Place on floured surface. Lightly knead and form into 2 inch thick disk.

Cut out scones with a 2 1/2 inch pastry cutter (or a similarly sized glass).

Place on lightly floured baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until just browned. Serve warm with butter and jam.

Irish Soda Bread

There is nothing that makes me happier than bread, well good bread anyways. Part of my penchant for bakeries is about the sweets and part of it is about the bread. I love to check out the variations and permutations of one of my favorite foods. A carb avoider, I am not.

This weekend my mom and I had a bit of a bake fest and on the agenda was soda bread. This is a family favorite that makes our Irish hearts happy. Soda bread is a go-to kind of a food. You can serve it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is also perfect for afternoon tea or mid-morning tea for that matter. So take a few moments and whip yourself up a Stewart family favorite, you won’t be disappointed. Given that St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, perhaps you’ll use that as an excuse to treat yourself.

6 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Measure and sift flour into a large bowl. Sift the baking powder and baking soda into the flour. Add salt. Stir the flour mixture well with a wooden spoon. Add sugar and mix well. Add buttermilk one cup at a time and stir until just mixed. The dough will be sticky.

Flour your work surface. Divide dough in two sections. Place one section on the floured surface. Sprinkle a small amount of flour on the dough. Gently knead it into a round disc.

Try not to over-handle the dough. Transfer the dough to prepared baking tin (lightly greased and floured). Flour a knife and cut a cross into the tops of each. Bake at 350 for about an hour.

Variations:  Add 2 cups of raisins.
Caraway seeds to taste (usually 1/8 cup)