Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

The recipe is easily doubled, and it would probably be easier to mix that way. It could do with more cinnamon flavor, so maybe double that or incorporate into the dough somehow.

Make this for Easter breakfast. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Ingredients

Dough
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 10 1/3 oz bread flour
• 1 3/8 oz nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/6 cup sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon yeast
• 6 oz warm water (110 degrees)
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
Filling
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
Egg Wash
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• a pinch of salt

Cooking Directions

1. Cut butter into 16 pieces and toss with 1/2 tablespoon flour; set aside to soften while mixing dough.
2. Whisk remaining flour, milk powder, sugar, and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, add water and 1/2 an egg and mix on medium-low speed until cohesive mass forms, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for 20 minutes.
3. Adjust oven rack to middle position and place metal loaf or cake pan on bottom of oven.
4. Remove plastic from mixer bowl, add salt, and mix on medium-low speed until dough is smooth and elastic and clears sides of bowl, 7 to 15 minutes. With mixer running, add butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to knead until butter is fully incorporated and dough is smooth and elastic and clears side of bowl, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Add raisins and mix until incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Transfer dough to large greased bowl, and using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula, fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees and fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 6 more times (for a total of 8 folds). Cover tightly with plastic and transfer to middle rack of oven. Pour 3 cups of boiling water into loaf pan in oven, close oven door, and allow dough to rise for 45 minutes.
6. Remove bowl from oven and gently press down on center of dough to deflate. Repeat folding step (making total of 8 folds), re-cover, and return to oven until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
7. Whisk filling ingredients together until well combined. Set aside. Grease a loaf pan.
8. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Pat into a 6 x 11 inch rectangle. With short side facing you, fold long sides in like a business letter to form a 3 x 11 inch rectangle. Roll dough away from you into a ball. Dust with flour and flatten with rolling pin into 7 x 18 inch rectangle with 1/4 inch thickness.
9. Using a spray bottle, spray dough lightly with water. Sprinkle half of filling mixture evenly over dough, leaving 1/4 inch border on 18 inch sides and 3/4 inch border on 7 inch sides. Spray filling lightly with water. With short side facing you, roll dough away from you into a firm cylinder. Turn loaf seam side up and pinch closed, then pinch ends closed. Dust loaf lightly on all side with flour and let rest for 10 minutes.
10. Cut loaf in half lengthwise and turn halves so cut sides are facing up. Gently stretch each half into 14 inch length. Line up pieces of dough and pinch 2 ends of strips together. Take the piece on the left and lay over the piece on the right. Repeat, keeping cut side up, until pieces of dough are tightly twisted. Pinch ends together.
11. Transfer loaf, cut side up, to prepared loaf pan; pushing any exposed raising into the seams. Cover loosely with plastic, return to oven, and allow to rise for 45 minutes.
12. Remove loaf and water pan from oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Allow to rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes longer. The top of the loaf should rise about 1 inch over lip of pan.
13. Brush loaf with egg mixture. Bake until crust is well browned, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, tent loaf with aluminum foil, and continue to bake about 20 minutes more (until internal temperature reaches 200 degrees).
14. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove loaf from pan, return to rack, and cool to room temperature before slicing, about 2 hours.

Spent Grain Sandwich Bread

When you have leftover spent grains from that wonderful batch of home brew, here's exactly what you should do with it. Sure, you could throw it out, feed it to your pets, add it to your fertilizer, or make porridge with it. But that's not as much fun. So take a little time and make the tastiest spent grain bread ever. Enjoy!

Spent Grain Sandwich Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Ingredients

• 1 cup spent grain, drained
• 300 g warm water
• 200 g white flour
• 200 g whole wheat flour
• 25 g canola oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast

Cooking Directions

1. In a stand mixer or large bowl, mix the water, spent grain, canola oil, and yeast.
2. Let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Add the salt and mix.
4. Add the flour and mix until uniform. (The dough will be too wet to knead by hand.)
5. Cover with a kitchen towel, plastic wrap, or foil for 2 hours. The dough will rise considerably and then flatten on top.
6. Oil a loaf pan. Using either wet hands or by flouring the surface of the dough and your hands, fold the dough under itself inwards two to four times and place in the pan.
7. Let rise until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
8. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.
9. Remove from oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes before removing from pan and let it cool on a rack. Do not cut into it until it has cooled completely.

Belgian White Ale (Wit) - Boil in a Bag

For all you Boil in a Bag (BIAB) fanatics, here's a recipe I adapted from various others. BIAB is currently my favorite way to brew, and I can't recommend it enough. This Belgian white ale is delicious, probably the best beer I've ever brewed. As you can see, it's got great color and that thick head and long retention is due to the wheat.

It tastes like a better Hoegaarden or Blue Moon and a less-spiced Allagash White. Mellow and completely drinkable on any day of the year, especially a warm summer day. Next time, I may increase the ginger to give it a bit more kick. It's the kind of beer you dream of to quench your thirst and just want to relax. Enjoy!

Belgian White Ale (Wit) - Boil in a Bag

Yield: 5 gallons
Ingredients

• 5 lbs Belgian pilsner 2-row
• 3 lbs flaked wheat (unmalted)
• 1 lb wheat malt
• 0.6 oz Saaz hops (8.2% AA)
• 3/4 oz coriander, broken with a rolling pin
• 1/2 oz dried sweet orange
• 1/4 oz dried bitter orange
• 1 g ground ginger
• 1 packet Belgian Witbier Yeast (Wyeast 3944)
• 113 g corn sugar, for priming

Cooking Directions

1. Line the kettle with the mesh bag. Heat 3 gallons of water to 160 F. Turn off burner.
2. Slowly add the grist (crushed grain) to the mesh bag, immersed in the water. Stir well to mix, breaking up any clumps of grist.
3. Mash at 152 °F for 75 minutes. Cover and let rest.
4. While stirring, raise to 168 F. Hold for 10 minutes. Drain bag in fermenter bucket.
5. Boil for 60 mins. Add all but 2 or 3 hops pellets at 60 mins, then the 2 or 3 pellets at knockout. Add coriander and orange peel at knockout.
6. Cool the wort in ice bath in the sink to approximately 100 F.
7. While the wort cools, sanitize the fermenting equipment – fermenter, lid, fermentation lock, hydrometer, etc – along with the yeast pack and a pair of scissors.
8. Pour the cooled wort into your fermenter. Leave any thick sludge in the bottom of the kettle.
9. Add cold water as needed to bring the volume to 5 gallons. Aerate the wort.
10. Measure specific gravity of the wort with a hydrometer and record.
11. Add yeast once the temperature of the wort is 78°F or lower (not warm to the touch). Use the sanitized scissors to cut off a corner of the yeast pack, and carefully pour the yeast into the primary fermenter.
12. Seal the fermenter. Add approximately 1 tablespoon of water to the sanitized fermentation lock. Insert the lock into rubber stopper or lid, and seal the fermenter.
13. Hold in primary fermenter for 14 days at 69 °F (21 °C).
14. Bottling
15. Boil corn sugar in 16 oz water. Pour into fermenter and gently mix. Wait 15 minutes then fill and cap bottles.
16. Allow to carbonate and age for 14 days.

Folded Steamed Bao Recipe

Now you too can be a fancy schmancy gourmet chef at home with these homemade folded steamed buns (or baos). Made with more or less the same dough as traditional baos, the folded style allows for cramming in a lot more pulled pork or, as is popular right now, crispy pork belly. Enjoy!

Folded Steamed Bao Recipe

Yield: 16 medium buns
Ingredients

• 3 cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Cooking Directions

1. Put the yeast in a small bowl, add the lukewarm water and set aside for 1 minute to soften. Whisk in the oil to blend and dissolve the yeast. Set aside.
2. Combine the sugar, baking powder, and flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Slowly stir with a wooden spoon, moving from the center toward the rim, to work in all the flour. Add lukewarm water by the teaspoon if this doesn't happen with relative ease.
3. Keep stirring as a ragged, soft mass forms. Then use your fingers to gather and pat the dough together into a ball.
4. Transfer to a work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until smooth, fingertip-soft and slightly elastic.
5. Lightly oil a clean bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm, draft-free place to rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes. The dough is now ready to use.
6. Roll into two logs, and cut into 16 pieces.
7. Flatten each piece with a rolling pin into a slightly oval shape.
8. Lightly oil one side and fold in on itself. Place on a cut piece of parchment or wax paper.
9. Steam the buns for 10 minutes.

Homemade Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Best homemade thin pizza crust yet. Light and crispy on the outside. Soft and airy on the inside. The trick is...well, follow the instructions and you'll see. Really, it's absolutely delicious. And there are a few easy tricks to it. Enjoy!

Homemade Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Yield: 1 large pizza
Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups (448g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• optional: 1 tablespoon sugar or honey

Cooking Directions

1. Mix yeast with water and sugar or honey, if using. Let sit for a few minutes.
2. Mix in oil and salt.
3. Mix in flour until just mixed together. Do not knead.
4. Right before kneading, let rest for 15 minutes to allow the gluten to form and moisture to spread throughout.
5. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cut into two. Store one in the fridge or freezer for another time.
6. Let rise until doubled (about an hour).
7. Preheat oven to highest temperature and place a pizza stone or upside down baking sheet on the highest rack.
8. Stretch dough into pizza shape by hand.
9. Let dough relax for 5 minutes before placing in the oven.
10. Add toppings and immediately put in the oven.
11. Bake until browned and crispy (about 8-12 minutes).

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

A lovely Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread is the perfect way to lighten up your day.

With soft swirls of cinnamon, a light and springy interior, and raisins throughout, what more could you ask for?

The absolute true beauty of this is that it's not sugared down. You can taste the subtleties of the different ingredients, which compliments a nice spot of tea. Use in your own Croatian Easter Breakfast or any which way. Enjoy!

Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients

1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 egg
1/6 cup white sugar
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/6 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup raisins
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Let milk warm to room temp.

2. Dissolve yeast in warm water, and set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in milk. Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.

3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.

4. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons water. Mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. roll up tightly; the Roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Tuck under ends and place loaf into well greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Lightly grease tops of loaf. Let rise again for 1 hour.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 minutes, or until loaf is lightly browned and sounds hollow. Remove loaf from pan. Let cool before slicing.

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

A lovely Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread is the perfect way to lighten up your day.

With soft swirls of cinnamon, a light and springy interior, and raisins throughout, what more could you ask for?

The absolute true beauty of this is that it's not sugared down. You can taste the subtleties of the different ingredients, which compliments a nice spot of tea. Use in your own Croatian Easter Breakfast or any which way. Enjoy!

Challah Bread: 4 Ways

Doesn't that just look delicious? 4 ways of doing light, fluffy, eggy challah bread. All of these recipes are from the same basic Challah Bread recipe from a while back.

Above are the two sweet varieties: raisin and chocolate chip. I'll let you guess which is which. Personally, I liked the raisin one more, and a certain someone really liked the chocolate chip challah bread. In either case, I would add more raisins and chips.

The two above are the savory ones. A plain one like we made before and a rosemary and olive oil one with sea salt on top. Out of all four the rosemary one was my favorite. It went with everything at any time of day. It was perfect.

Use the basic recipe below for each loaf and follow the substitutions and extra ingredients for each type.

Raisin:
Add 1/4-1/2 cup soaked raisins when kneading during step 3.

Chocolate Chip:
Add 1/4-1/2 cup chips when kneading during step 3.

Rosemary Olive Oil:
Use olive oil instead of canola oil. Add 1-2 tablespoons dried rosemary when kneading during step 3. Sprinkle extra sea salt or kosher salt on top before baking.

Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients

3/4 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
3 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
7/8 cup water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 tablespoon sugar in the lukewarm water.

2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour 1/2 cup at a time. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading (you may not end up using all the flour).

3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Grease the bowl, then return dough. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another 30 minutes.

4. Form the dough into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of all 6 strands together. Then:

Move the outside right strand over 2 strands.
Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right.
Take the outside left strand and move it over 2.
Move the second strand from the right over to the far left.
Start over with the outside right strand.

Continue this until all strands are braided, then tuck ends underneath. Place braided loaf on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.

5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaf. Let rise another hour.

6. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaf again.

7. Bake in the middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. Cool loaves on a rack before enjoying.

Burger Buns

There's something truly satisfying about making things from scratch. Things just seem to taste better and you're happier with the results. Such is the case for these burger buns.

They may feel heavy and dense in your hand, but cut them open and splay your burger upon it, and you will realize these are the perfect burger buns. They do exactly what you would want a bun to do, AND they taste amazing. Enjoy!

Challah Bread

A wonderful, light, soft, and beautiful challah bread. You will not be able to get enough of this bread. Try it with peanut butter and banana or as french toast.

Challah is easier to braid than you think, and it's even fun! Your mouth will water as it's baking. Enjoy!

Pita Bread (Complete with Pockets!)

These must be the simplest, quickest, healthiest, tastiest bread we've made yet. And look at those puffs! There's a lot of pocket in that thing - great for stuffing full of hummus and falafel and veggies.

Once pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months. Enjoy!

Homemade Sandwich Bread

Giant loaves of soft, delicate, made-from-scratch sandwich bread. Half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour blend to create a healthy, delicious slice of bread, ready for sandwiches or toasting with your favorite nut spread and banana in the morning.

The smell of bread baking fills the entire home with such a warm, immeasurably comforting feeling that you'll want to instantly slice into this loaf. But don't! Let it cool completely so it sets properly and finishes baking. Hope you love this as much as we do. Enjoy!

Disneyland's Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

Blue Ribbon Bakery

Ingredients

1/2 c. warm water
2 packages yeast
2 T. sugar
1 (3 1/2 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding
2 c. milk
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
1 t. salt
8 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. unsalted butter, melted
2 c. brown sugar
2 T. cinnamon

Directions

In small bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set
aside.

In large bowl, mix pudding according to package instructions with milk. To
this add 1/2 cup melted butter, egg and salt. Mix well, then add yeast
mixture and blend well. Gradually add flour and knead until smooth. Place in
a very large greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double
in size. Punch down and let rise again for second time.

Roll dough on a very large floured surface. Dough should roll out to a long
rectangle, about 34 x 21 inches in size. Take the 1 cup of melted butter and
spread over entire dough surface, using a pastry brush.

In small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over top
of buttered dough. Roll dough up like a jelly roll.

Measure dough every 2 inches and cut with a knife. Take each roll into the
palm of your hand and gently pack the roll (this keeps it from coming apart
during baking).

Place each roll in a buttered baking pan and allow to rise in a warm place
for about 20 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until golden brown in
color, about 15-20 minutes. Frost rolls while still warm.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (room temperature)
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 t. pure vanilla extract
3 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk

In mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. Spread on the
very warm rolls.

Spent Grain Bread

Love bread? (Heck yeah!) Love a really hearty bread? (You know it!)

Love beer? (Are you kidding me!) Homebrew? (I've dabbled.)

Want to use those spent grains instead of just throwing them out? I mean you could feed them to livestock or grow mushrooms or even make a kind of spent grain granola. But forget that! Let's make the best damn homemade bread ever with it!

Homemade bread. Is there anything more wholesome? Is there anything that gives you such a feeling of accomplishment? And it feeds you for days!

One of the most important things is to make sure you have enough yeast and that it's still alive. And let the dough rise and double completely - even if it takes 4 hours. This will make for a lighter, airier bread. Enjoy!

Spent Grain Bread

Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients

• 3 cups spent grain, wet
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3-5 cups flour (as needed)
• dash salt

Cooking Directions

1. Proof yeast in mixture of water and sugar (make a starter) for 45 minutes to one hour.
2. Put spent grain in large mixer bowl and add salt. Mix in starter, and start adding flour one cup at a time to start.
3. Keep adding flour until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky (very important).
4. Place dough in a large bowl, cover with a clean towel, and let rise until doubled. Then punch down dough.
5. Form into a round or oblong loaf and place on cookie sheet with a thin layer of corn meal under the loaf.
6. Allow loaf to double in size, bake in 375 F oven 50 to 60 minutes until browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
7. Let cool before cutting.
8. Another option is to separate the dough into two loaves after it is smooth and no longer sticky. It can be baked in bread pans more easily this way.

Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread

Another day, another wonderful homemade bread. This one is even better than our other favorite, the Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Bread.

This difference isn't so much in the taste. It's in the texture, the softness of the bread (perfect for sandwiches and toast alike), and in the rise.

So fire up that oven, and get ready to enjoy some delicious bread made in your very own home in no time. You can't beat the smell of bread baking!

Roman Flatbread

I have wanted to try this Roman Flatbread for about a year. Finally, I got around to it. I've been in a bread making mode for around a month, and it is awesome. Baking bread at home is such a comforting feeling.

Why is it Roman? It hails from Rome, of course! Ancient Rome? Maybe. I hope so because that would make it even more awesome.

Lightly touched with salt and rosemary on top with a little olive oil to give it a glisten. Toast it for extra yumminess.

Add more olive oil to the top if you want it to glisten more. This bread can be eaten warm out of the oven since it isn't a loaf. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Bread

I love making bread, especially wholesome, hearty bread. It's downright delicious.

This is my first bread with whole wheat flour, and it came out great. It may not have risen as well as I thought it would, but it tastes fantastic. It's also exactly what we wanted: a loaf of sandwich-style bread that's perfect for lunches. It's almost too good to put anything between though!

The oats gave this bread a great crunch, and helped add to the whole grain profile as well. More whole grain = more wholesome. I'm particularly impressed, as you may be able to tell.

A few notes: It is very important to let the dough double in size each time. It will need a warm place for this, so try a low-heated oven if you need to. Also, take out of the pan (used a 9x5, but size doesn't matter too much) and tap the bottom after baking. If it sounds hollow, it's done! Let cool before devouring.