Branching out- my OWN bread recipe!

Well, I have been fooling around with this whole homemade bread baking thing for about a year now and I have to say that for most of the year I really did make all of our bread. It has been fun trying different recipes and seeing what my family likes. In recent months however, I have been getting a little out of comfort zone and actually trying to come up with my own recipes. They are mostly combinations of other recipes that we have enjoyed, and luckily, we have been very happy with the results!

I am sure you can imagine the pleasure I gleaned from the look of shock on The Carpenter’s face when upon asking me which recipe I had used I told him my own!

Today I whipped our latest favorite and I even made a cinnamon roll loaf- which is already half gone!

What’s that? You want my recipe? Well, I suppose… 🙂

BOLD Bread

This recipe makes approximately 5 loaves and is intended to for heavy-duty home mixers, such as the BOSCH Universal Plus Mixer.

Add all these ingredients in the order listed:

3 Cups Warm Water (between 110-120 degrees)

2 Cups Warmed Milk

3 Eggs

1/2 Cup Melted Butter (I told you it was going to be good!)

2/3 cup Olive Oil

2/3 Cup Honey

1 1/2 TBSP Sea Salt

3 Cups Whole Wheat flour (preferably home-milled- I used Golden Wheat Montana Farms)

4 TBSP SAF Yeast

At this point you should turn the mixer on and begin adding another 5-7 cups of your whole wheat flour.  Now we are going to switch over to some white flour  to finish it off (I know, I know, I feel all you whole foodies cringing!) but make sure you get a high-quality white flour that isn’t bleached.  You could stick with your whole wheat at this point but you would need to add about 3 TBSP of dough enhancer and should expect an over-all more dense loaf that won’t rise as well after having been frozen.

Now, all of you you who aren’t very proficient in bread making are probably in a little tizzy thinking, “Well, how in the blazes am I supposed to know how much more flour to add!?  Why doesn’t she just make this easy and give me a number!?”  Well, if I did that you wouldn’t be learning anything, now would you? (Ya know- gotta teach a man to fish!).  Plus, the amounts really do vary with humidity and such, so I’m not just trying to be difficult!  So just settle your little self down for a second and listen to just how easy this is- Add flour one cup at a time (a good rule of thumb is to add the next cup as soon as the last one if fully incorporated).  Once your dough is clumping around your hook and not sticking to the edges of the bowl, you’re done!  That’s it!  See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?!  And always remember that you are better off not having enough flour than having too much.

Once you have all you flour incorporated let your mixer knead on a medium speed for about 6 minutes.  After that, turn off your mixer and let your dough rise for about 35-35 minutes.

When your dough is sufficiently popping out the top of your machine you can ready a large cutting board or other surface as well as your hands, by slathering them generously with olive oil.  Next dump your dough onto the board and divide into 5 loaves.  For the loaves that you want to bake immediately, simply throw them into greased pans, score the tops about a half an inch deep in whatever patter you like and let them rise for another 35-45 minutes.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and then slather with butter to give you a nice soft crust.

For the loaves that you don’t want to bake immediately, just wrap the dough (that you haven’t let rise for a second time) in freezer paper and chuck those babies in the ice box!  And note that they take a fairly good amount of time to thaw and rise, so you will probably want to take one out again, like… tomorrow!  This bread disappears fast!

Most importantly- enjoy & come back to tell me what you think!

I must say that I never would have come to this point if it weren’t for the tremendous confidence I acquired as a direct result of repeatedly using The Bread Basket Cookbook from Marmee’s Bread Market along with everything I learned from her DVD- Make it Special. She offers great products and knowledge, including Bosch Mixers and a wide variety of quality grain mills. You should check her out!

Manly Cupcakes

What do you think of when you hear the word “cupcake?” You think of cute things, right? Puffy clouds, rainbows, ponies, pixies dancing on raindrops-girly stuff.

Well “girly” and “cute” are two words that DO NOT fly in the BOLD household unless they are in direct reference to mama or a potential sister for the boys. Pretty much everything in our house is hyper-masculine.

Hunting.

Wrestling.

Sword fighting.

B-boying.

Hu! Ha! Grrrr!

So I knew that since Rhythm had requested cupcakes for his birthday this year I would have to take extra care to make them as anti-girl as possible!

Well nothing says manly like skulls, swords and sea chanties, does it? He had originally wanted a reprise of Lightning McQueen, but the cupcake version. Since I wasn’t quite up for that, we opted for the Pirates instead.

As luck would have it, that good old Pioneer Woman came through for me again. Just as I was contemplating the purchase of a boxed cake mix (gasp! The horror!), she posted this delightful little recipe for vanilla cupcakes with creamcheese frosting! I knew she was good, but this whole mind-reading thing took my love for her to a whole new level!

There is one bone I have to pick with you though, Ms. Drummond (or Ree-Ree as I affectionately refer to her in my daydreams where we are best friends). You said this recipe makes 18 cupcakes.

I believed you.

You lied!

Now look at this mess! The only hope these poor babies stood at this point was a healthy dose of frosting!

And yes, I know the frosting is terribly flat- I actually did that on purpose to stretch it though, since I knew I was covering it with cookies 'n cream sprinkles anyway!

And some distracting flags!

Dun da da da! Problem solved! Phew! That was a close one!

I wish I had a better picture of these dears to offer you, but… my camera sucks.  So, with wonky lighting and a point and shoot Sony, this was the best I could do.

And lastly, I must say, that even though I had to stay up ’til all hours of the night to get these babies done (since, ya know, I had that kind of week last week), and even had to frost them the morning of the party- they were worth it.  I don’t like cupcakes period, but everyone else loved them!  Oogled over them! Adored them!  They were a hit!

And I just may have removed the frosting off a few with a knife and licked it completely clean.

Just maybe.

🙂