Tag Archive | bread

Honey Wheat Crescent Rolls

Aug27

Plated roll

Bread baking is of my many passions. There’s something magical about combining just a few simple ingredients, applying a little love, and transforming it into a loaf of crusty bread. I must have been a baker in another life cause I really could spend all day baking bread.
For family holidays and special gatherings, I usually make my homemade crescent rolls. They pair perfectly with ham and turkey or just a slathering of good jam. Instead of my traditional white, I’ve played with a wheat version which is actually lighter and more flavorful. I tend to shy away from most wheat breads, which I think often taste like cardboard, so if you don’t typically like wheat then I will bet this recipe will win you over!

**Directions for using either a bread machine or making by hand are included below.**

Honey Wheat Crescent Rolls
Makes approximately 24 rolls

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (I highly recommend King Arthur)
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted (for basting rolls when they come out of the oven)

1. Combine ingredients in the pan of a bread machine according to your machine’s instructions.

2. Set to dough and complete cycle, allowing it to rise once.

photo

3. Continue below “By Hand Directions” for next steps.

By Hand Directions for Dough:

1. In a small bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and one teaspoon of sugar. Mix together and let stand for 10 minutes. Yeast will activate and get frothy.

2. In a separate large bowl, combine remaining sugar and rest of dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour the yeast mixture and remaining ingredients in. Mix to form dough and knead until smooth, approximately 10 minutes.

3. Spray a bowl with cooking spray or lightly oil, place the dough in the bowl, making sure to coat the whole ball with oil. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, approximately an hour.

Directions continued for either making “By Hand” or “Bread Machine”:

4. Pour dough onto a floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle, approximately 1/4″ thick.

Rolled dough

Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 3-4″ strips.

Dough in strips

Cut the strips into small rectangles and then cut at the diagonal to form a triangle.

Small squares

Square cut into triangles

5. Starting with the base of the triangle, roll the dough up to the point.

Triangle

 

Rolled up crescent

Use a little bit of water to seal the top and then lay on a greased baking sheet.Water to seal edges

rolled crescent roll

 

rolled crescent roll

6. Allow the crescent rolls to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes to an hour.

Risen rolls

7. Preheat oven to 375°. Bake the rolls one sheet at a time for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Helpful Tip: Since all ovens vary slightly, I strongly recommend baking one roll all by itself to determine your oven’s exact baking time. Better to throw out one burned roll than an entire pan!

Buttered rolls

8. Baste the warm rolls with the melted butter and enjoy!

 

Cherry Almond Bread Pudding

Jul28

Bread Pudding platedBread pudding is one of those dishes that is so yummy and satisfying and great to serve any time of the year. I often make it for brunch, dessert, and holiday get-togethers. The thing I don’t like about most bread pudding recipes is that they often require heavy whipping cream or half-n-half, which I never have on hand and frankly don’t want to use because of the calories. However, after experimenting with a few recipes, I tweaked and tested out ingredients until I settled on this to-die-for winner. It really couldn’t be easier and the addition of dried cherries, almonds, and white chocolate chips pair perfectly with the soft bread pudding. Trust me when I say that you’ll love this bread pudding! And what a great way to use up stale or day old bread. If you’re cooking for a crowd, consider doubling the recipe and serving in a 9×13 casserole instead.

White Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding
Serves 12

Ingredients:

6 cups cubed french bread *You can use just about any type of bread as long as it’s airy and not dense.
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cherries *You can also substitute with raisins or other dried fruit if you prefer.
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 8″ square dish or 9″ round pie pan with non-stick spray.

2. Sprinkle half of the bread cubes in the dish and then cover with half of the cherries, white chocolate chips, and almonds.

1/2 bread covered with cherries, chips, and almonds

Top with remaining bread and then sprinkle remaining cherries, white chocolate chips, and almonds on top.

Bread covered with cherries, chips, and almonds

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and honey. Add eggs and milk and mix until well incorporated. Mix in spices and vanilla extract.

Liquid mixture

Pour liquid mixture over the bread, making sure all the bread is coated.

Milk mixture poured over bread

Use a spatula to press down tops of bread into the milk mixture.

Spatula pressing bread into milk

4. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread is light and springy and not gooey in the center.

Finished bread pudding

Allow to cool 10-15 minutes and serve warm. Enjoy!

For an added touch of decadence, serve with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. So good! 🙂

Copycat Cinnabon Cinnamon Bun Rolls

Jul3

Cinnamon RollTo me, Cinnabon cinnamon bun rolls go hand-in-hand with flying and airports. There’s something about the stress of flying that just melts away with that first bite of ooey-gooey-goodnesss of one of their cinnamon rolls. I honestly think more peace treaties would be signed if Mrs. Cinnabon showed up with a tray of these babies. Unfortunately, I can’t have them unless I am travelling since there aren’t any Cinnabon stores in Charleston. Not to fear! A copycat recipe to the rescue. I’ve made this recipe about a dozen times and have never not had at least one person beg for the recipe and/or tell me that the dang thing was literally the best cinnamon roll they’d ever eaten. So instead of being a copycat recipe, it might actually beat the Cinnabon brand but you be the judge. This copycat recipe is from Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes Cookbook with a few modifications. I’ve also included directions for using either a bread machine or making by hand.

Copycat Cinnabon Cinnamon Bun Rolls
Makes approximately 2 dozen cinnamon rolls

Dough: 

  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 4 cups bread flour (bread flour works best but I’ve used all purpose in a pinch and they still turn out great)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup white sugar

Filling: 

  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened

Icing: 

  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. BREAD MACHINE METHOD: Dissolve yeast and warm milk. Dump rest of ingredients into your bread machine. Create a little well in the center and pour in yeast milk. Start the dough setting on your bread machine.

Ingredients in Bread Machine

1. BY-HAND METHOD: In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm milk and let sit for 5 minutes to allow yeast to activate. Add the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs and mix well. Add flour in gradually and mix well. Flour your hands and knead the dough into a large ball. Put in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

2. After dough has finished rising, roll out on a lightly floured surface. Helpful Tip: You’ll need a large area so I always clear off and scrub an entire counter top in my little kitchen to work on. Roll out to approximately 21×16″.

Ball of Dough

 

Rolled out dough

3. Now it’s time to fill the dough! Pour the melted butter over the dough and sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top or the butter. Use a fork or spatula and sort of swirl the three together to combine a bit. FYI, I’ve tried combining in a bowl first and while it’s less messy the filling basically turns into a sticky paste and doesn’t spread well.

Filling on dough

4. Roll up dough and filling from the longest end closest to you up to the end furthest away from you.

Rolling up dough

Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut 1 1/2″ slices and place on a greased baking sheet. If you want more rolls then cut thinner slices or if you want giant rolls cut thicker slices. Just be sure to watch them while they’re in the oven as it will impact baking time.

Cutting rolls

Sliced rolls on pan

5. Cover cinnamon rolls and allow to rise, almost doubling, for 30 minutes to an hour.

6. Preheat oven to 400°F. Once the rolls are done rising, bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

Baked cinnamon rolls

7. While rolls are cooling, mix together icing ingredients.

Mixed Icing ingredients

8. Spread over the warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!

Iced Cinnamon Rolls

Hello World! We come to bring you peace and yumminess.

Cinnamon Roll

These are great eaten right away or reheated later. Just zap in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and enjoy!

Pizzeria Garlic Knots

Jun27

Plated Knots

I love baking garlic bread to go along Italian dishes and these homemade garlic knots are my favorite. They’re very simple, kids love to help with knotting the dough, and they taste just as good as any Italian restaurant or pizzeria’s garlic bread and tons better than the frozen stuff. They also make a great appetizer when served with marinara for dipping. Warning: these disappear quickly so consider a double or triple batch. 🙂

I’ve included both the bread machine and by hand directions below.

Pizzeria Garlic Knots
Makes 24 knots

Dough:

  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 1 3/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon dry Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Garlic Butter

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Bread Machine Directions:

If using a bread machine, add the ingredients as recommended by your bread machine and set to dough setting. Continue with “Making the knots” (below):

Risen dough

By Hand Directions: 

In a small bowl, add the warm water and sugar and mix. Add the yeast and let rest for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, olive oil, salt, and Italian seasoning. Make a small well in the center of the four mixture and pour in the yeast water. Mix and then knead together for 5-10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, lightly coat with olive oil, and place in a covered dish to allow to rise (approximately 1 1/2 hours).

Making the knots: 

After your dough has finished rising, grab a handful of dough at a time and roll out on a floured surface. Roll to a small rectangle, about 4 inches long and 1/2 an inch thick.

Rolled dough

Using a pizza cutter, make 1 inch strips.

Strips

Take each strip and tie to make a knot.

Knotting

 

Knotted

Lay on a greased baking tray and leave plenty of space in between so that the knots can rise a second time.

Knots on a tray

Cover pan of knots with seran wrapped sprayed with olive oil and let rise until doubled in size (about two hours).

Second rise

After knots have finished rising, preheat oven to 400°F.

Remove seran wrap and bake knots for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven to cool.

Browned knots

While knots are cooling, melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add garlic. Heat on low for 2-3 minutes then add salt and parsley and remove from heat.

Garlic Butter

Generously brush garlic butter onto the still warm knots. I just pile all the finished knots onto one tray and brush away.

Garlic Brushing

Enjoy!

Plated Knots