Monday, April 12, 2010

Whole Wheat Bread (2)

Whole Wheat Bread #1

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 T yeast
1/4 cup honey
1 T salt (you can add a little less)
5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Mix together water and yeast and let sit a few minutes. Add honey and salt and mix. Then add flour, until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl. Knead for at least 6 minutes (until dough is smooth and elastic). Form into loaves, put in greased 9x5 loaf pans, and cover with a damp towel or greased plastic wrap. Let rise for 20-30 minutes, until loaves are level with pan rim. Put loaves into preheated oen at 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

*I'm still working on this "bread making skill". The more often you do it, the better you will get i'm figuring out. You have to learn to recoginze each stage in making the bread, becuase humidity and other outside factors can alter how much flour you add to your recipe each time you make it!

Easy Whole Wheat Bread (recipe #2)

1/3 cup oil (olive or canola)
1/4 - 1/3 cup honey (if using white sugar, double this amount)
2 1/4 t. salt
2 3/4 cup of hot water (120 degrees) * to hot will kill the yeast, to cold will not activate it.

1/4 cup gluten flour
3 3/4 t. yeast
7-8 cups whole wheat flour

Mix together first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add 3 1/2 cups of flour and stir will. Put in 1 1/2 cups more flour, gluten flour, and yeast. Mix well. (Dough should be wet and easy to mix). Now slowly add remaining 2-3 cups of flour, watching closely for when dough starts to pull away and clean the sides of the bowl. When the dough does this, you have added enough flour. Knead in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes. Shape and put in 2 greased 9x5 pans. Cover and let rise. Bake 350 for 30 mins.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

No Bake Cookies

This was one of my favorite "Sunday cookies" to make- easy enough for a kid to do and no waiting for them to bake in the oven!!! (i've also seen them called "lunch box cookies")

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
3 Tablespoons cocoa

Bring these 4 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in:

1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups oats
(you can also add coconut- but my husbands not a fan :)

Drop by rounded teaspoon on to wax paper, and they will harden as they cool!