Favorite Bread Recipes

After testing a lot of recipes, here are my current favorites.

French Bread  

* Amazing French Bread from Keeping it Simple This one has a nice texture and tastes just a tad salty (in a good way).  The best part about it is that it only takes about 70 minutes from start to finish.

    1/2 cup warm water (not hot)

    2 Tbsp of yeast

Mix these two things together and let yeast dissolve in water for 10 minutes.  While you wait add these ingredients into a large bowl:

    5 Tbsp oil

    2 cups warm water

    3 Tbsp sugar

    1 Tbsp salt

    3 cups flour

Mix the ingredients with a large spoon. 

Add yeast mixture and stir.

Add another 3 cups of flours into mixture and stir.

Place dough on floured surface and then knead with your hands for 10 minutes, until the dough isn’t sticky anymore.  Add more flour if it’s too sticky.  Divide the dough in half and roll into rectangles (or as close to rectangle as you can), about 9x12 inches.  Roll the dough onto itself (like as if you are rolling a cinnamon roll) starting at the long edges (so the width of the roll is about 9”).  Grease a cookie sheet and then put the seam of the dough down, facing the sheet.  Then with a little water, close the ends with your fingers.  Cut three diagonal slits on the top using a knife.  Let raise for 30 minutes.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Rolls

Tanya Killian's Dinner Rolls

½ c. sugar

2 T. yeast

2 ¼ c. warm water

Mix, then add:

2 eggs, beaten

¼ c. butter, softened

2 t. salt

2 cups flour

Mix, then gradually add 4 more cups of flour.  You want a soft dough, but not runny.  Let rise for 1 hour in a greased bowl.  Roll inot 24 or 30 rolls and place on a greased jelly roll pan.  Let rise, covered with tea towel, for one hour.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or 350 for 20 or so minutes, until the bottom has browned.

 

Bread Bowls

* Italian Bread Bowls by Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (use 1 tablespoon instant yeast)
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal

Directions

1. In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. (You can omit this step if using instant yeast.)
2. Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed (you may not need to use all 7 cups). This bread bowl dough needs to be a bit firmer than a roll/bread dough so that the bread bowls rise up instead of out.
3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or let knead in an electric mixer). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down, and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal (or use silpat liners or parchment paper). If desired, slash the top surface of the bread bowl several times with a sharp knife or razor. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and baked through.

Whole Wheat Bread

I'm still searching for more recipes to try in this category (suggestions), but the best one I've found so far is from my friend Ana Blake:

Ana Blake's Oatmeal Wheat bread

3 T yeast

3 T gluten flour (I get mine at a local health food store)

4 1/4 cups warm/hot water

7 cups wheat flour (I grind about 25 lbs once per month and keep it on hand)

Add the above ingredients to your mixer, let it go for about a minute, then turn it off and let it sit for 15-20 minutes to "sponge" or until it is doubled in size.  (On warm days it goes faster.)

After it has risen, turn the mixer on to punch the "sponge" down and add the following:

4 cups oats (quick or regular, it doesn't matter)

2 T salt

1/2 cup sugar (or honey)

1/2 cup oil

2 cups white flour (adding some white flour, along with gluten flour helps the consistency and flavor of the bread A LOT)

Mix for 9-10 minutes.  Spray four loaf pans, shape the loaves (I just use a sharp knife to quarter the dough and roll each loaf a few times with the heels of my hands, tucking the ends in) and add them to the pans and let rise for 30 minutes or till double.  Put pans in oven, turn oven on to 350 (DON'T preheat first).  Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate pans from bottom shelf to top and bake for 15 minutes more.  Butter (or spray) the tops to make them soft.  Makes four loaves.

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Time for a new menu plan

(Note: this is also posted over at Full House)



It's the first of the year, and for me, that means making goals, revising chore charts, cleaning out junk, organizing, and in general, hoping that somehow, this year I can keep the chaos to a minimum. This is the year I plan on being the perfect wife, homemaker, mother, and friend. I'm going to exercise, stick to my own cleaning schedule, lose weight, serve healthy meals, keep a clean house, read scriptures daily, serve others, speak kindly, read with my kids more, and bring about world peace.



Of course, I won't actually be perfect at any of those things, but one can always try, right? My first plan of attack is revising my basic menu plan. I've used a system for several years now that I was introduced to by Marie Ricks. I've tried regular scheduled menus in the past, but her system was simpler and easier. As she put it at the beginning of the class, "Today I'm going to teach you how to know what to cook every day for the rest of your life." It was what I needed. Cooking is my least-favorite chore, but there's just no avoiding it when you're the mom of a big family -- unless, of course, you have a husband who likes to cook. Mine does, so he cooks on the weekends, leaving me just four or five days a week. He used to cook during the week more, way back when he had a low-stress job and we just had a couple of kids. But his job now is pretty intense and so it's best for me to do the weekly cooking.



My hardest problem used to be the panicked, crazy dinner hour, when I'd lean on the cupboard door wondering what in the world I should cook. Inevitably, I'd go back to one of my old stand-bys, something I'd made way too often. So this concept of knowing in advance and sticking to my plan worked wonders for me.



Marie's Menu Plan introduces a rotating four-week menu of meals. I'd done that before, but I found the key to success was that Marie suggests you have a one-week rotation of side dishes and that you have a consistent theme for each weekday. She does Mexican on Tuesdays, Quick Meals on Mondays, and then she suggests a fruit and a veggie for Tuesdays that goes with Mexican food, etc. I took that idea and ran with it, though I don't have a nightly theme for my menus. Mine, instead, are divided by how much time it takes to cook. In my old menu plan, I had 40-60 minute (from start to finish, including cooking time) meals on Mondays, 20-30 minute meals on Tuesdays, crockpot meals on Wednesdays, and so on. I chose the fruits and vegetables my family eats the most, though we do substitute other things now and then. It has been wonderful to have the side dishes planned, particularly as the two older kids (ages 9 and 8) are now old enough to help with meals. It's easy when you're working so hard on the main dish to forget about fruits and vegetables, but this introduces the concept to the kids that the meal isn't complete without a fruit and a vegetable. We also have a type of bread on the menu, but we usually only put that out once or twice a week (another thing to work on this year, right?).



I don't stick to the schedule rigorously -- if I know we'll be out all afternoon on Tuesday, for example, I might switch the Wednesday crockpot meal with the Tuesday meal. And every so often, I'll go to make the scheduled dinner and realize that we're out of sour cream or peppers and I need to make another change. Usually, I choose another meal from the four meals for that day.



I've used basically the same menu plan for the last two years, with some minor modifications. I'm finding lately, though, that several of the meals are just not getting made, whether because I get to that day and don't feel like making it, the ingredients are too expensive to keep on hand, or too many members of my family dislike it. So a few days ago, I tackled the menu plan, dropping some meals and adding some others, and changing crockpot day to Tuesdays.



Another thing that's made this system work for me is my recipe card file. I find there's no better way to keep my recipes organized. I have all the regular categories (Cookies, Cakes, Playdough, etc.), but I added 7 dividers at the beginning of the card file, one for each day of the week. In Monday's, I put the four cards for my Monday meals, Tuesdays hold my four Tuesday meals, and so on. When it's time to make dinner, I can either consult my calendar posted in the pantry or I can just grab the first card for that day's meals. When I'm done making the meal, I put the card to the back so the next week's meal is first in rotation.



So here's my new schedule. I ended up adding an extra week of meals because as I discussed the plan with DH, we kept coming up with meals we just couldn't do without. So later this week, I will be writing down a few new recipes and re-arranging my card files.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Salad Seasonal Fruit Bread	Green Beans Peaches Rolls	Corn Seasonal Fruit Bread	Carrots Pears Bread
Pizza 1 Hour	Sweet & Sour Chicken Crockpot/1 Hour	Mexican Salad 30 Minutes	Spaghetti & Sausages 25 Minutes
Herbed Chicken & Potatoes 50 Minutes	Tater Tot Casserole Crockpot	Fettuccine Alfredo 25 Minutes	Tortilla Soup 25 Minutes
Lasagna 1 Hour 15 Minutes	Taco Soup Crockpot	Company Chicken 60 minutes	Stroganoff 30 Minutes
Porcupine Balls 1 Hour	Creamy Cooker Chicken Crockpot	Rice & Sausage Casserole 1 hour 30 minutes	Enchiladas or Tacos 30-60 Minutes
Chicken Curry with Rice 45 Minutes	Cowboy Casserole Crockpot	Baked Potato Bar 60 minutes	Grilled Cheese & Soup 30 minutes

What have you found to make menu planning easier?



Edited to Add: Friday night is (*supposed to be*) date night, so either we have leftovers or something simple the babysitter can feed the kids. When DH & I don't go out, we'll either do leftovers, or DH will cook. I'll try to post my recipes later.

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On My Own . . .

(pretending he's beside me)

DH is gone to Virginia this weekend on a business trip, leaving me alone with seven kids. For some reason, I keep thinking of that line from the Incredibles that says, "You left Jack-Jack ALONE?!?" though I know the comparison is flawed. He started a new job a year ago that will require him to travel every few months to conferences, but this is his first one. He left Wednesday morning and comes home Saturday night. This will take some getting used to. I've been on my own before, but usually, it's because my crazy DH has taken a trip with three or four of the kids. In those cases, it's been a break. This time, I've missed him, and yes, all the work he does around here.

Not that I don't spoil myself when DH is gone. I've never liked cooking much, so it's the first thing to go when life gets stressful. Usually, if I don't get around to cooking something for dinner, DH will step in and make something wonderful. He likes to cook and I'm more than happy to let him. This time, we've had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner twice and Chinese take-out once.

Bedtime is a bit trying, but at least it's only the younger four that need bedtime help. I love that I can just tell the 9, 7 and 6 year old to just "go to bed," and they do it. And I love that Joey and Lillian both like to help the twins to bed. They'll set up secret book hunts and have the twins search for the books they will then read to them. Lillian is much better at calming them down, mostly because Joey's a bit over-enthusiastic in his reading and ends up having the twins shrieking and jumping around instead of quietly lying down when he leaves the room.

Eliza is an awesome sleeper. Put her in her crib, hand her a pacifier and a stuffed animal, and she's out. It's a beautiful thing, especially since I remember the twins at this age climbing out of their cribs and bouncing off the walls instead of sleeping.

Harmony has not made up her mind whether to sleep at night or during the day yet, so I don't know what to expect. Last night was fairly good; I was up twice to feed her and she went back to sleep, but other nights she's been up for hours at a time and won't go back to sleep without a lot of trouble.

It's funny how much of a young mother's life revolves around sleep, isn't it?

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