bread

Eating the Bible: To the Manna Born

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

And the house of Israel named it manna, and it was like a white coriander seed, and its taste was like a wafer of honey. Exodus 16:31

Manna was a gift from heaven, but it required some work to turn it into something edible. The Torah provided instructions regarding how much manna could be gathered per person per day. Including the limitation that manna could not be kept overnight. This means that you could only gather what was needed for a day.

I think this is where “…Give us this day our daily bread…” comes from in the Our Father prayer. In this prayer we are asking the Lord for only that which we need. We must remember that “this day” refers only to our time on Earth. After reaching the afterlife we won’t need Earthly sustenance.

Honey Coriander Manna Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1 C warm water
  • pinch of sugar
  • 1 tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 C honey
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 C whole wheat flour
  • 3-4 C all-purpose flour

Steps:

  1. Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Allow to sit 5 minutes.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine egg, honey, spices, salt, and butter. Add in the yeast mixture.
  3. Stir in flours 1 C at a time.
  4. Using the dough hook of stand mixer knead the dough until smooth.
  5. Transfer dough to a large greased bowl. Cover and let rise 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
  6. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Knead each loaf again and place in separate loaf pans, or on baking sheets. Cover and let rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
  7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  8. Bake 30-40 minutes until golden.

*This recipe is adapted from Eating the Bible by Rena Rossner*

Honey Coriander Manna Bread

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

CIC: Broccoli & Pumpkin Puree

~ lk529 ~ 11 Comments

CIC-header

As expected, October’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge involved pumpkin. But I never dreamed that broccoli would be the costar! At first reaction I thought – gross. But then I surprised myself with many different ideas:

  • Pumpkin Hummus w/ Broccoli Pesto Swirl
  • Pizza with Pumpkin Cream sauce and Roasted Broccoli and Sausage
  • Broccoli Salad with Pumpkin Dressing and Pumpkin Seeds
  • Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Roasted Brocolli
  • Pumpkin Broccoli Bread

I decided to make the last option because my in-laws were in town over the long Columbus Day weekend. Having a bread available seemed like the smartest option.

I took a Banana Zucchini Bread recipe and substituted pumpkin puree for the banana and broccoli for the zucchini. I purchased a bag of broccoli slaw from the grocery store so that I wouldn’t have to shred the broccoli myself. (If you can find a bag of just shredded broccoli I’d suggest that instead of having to pick out the red cabbage and carrot.) Zucchini has a higher moisture content than broccoli so I boiled it prior to incorporating it into the batter.

Pumpkin Broccoli Bread

Ingredients:

  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 C sugar
  • 1 C vegetable oil
  • 1 C pumpkin puree
  • 3 C flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 C shredded broccoli
  • 1/2 C slivered almonds

Steps:

  1. In a pot of boiling water, cook broccoli for 4 minutes. Drain and pat dry between paper towels. Set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and add in the sugar and oil. Add pumpkin. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. Fold in broccoli and almonds.
  4. Pour batter into two loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes, until a knife come out cleanly. Note: This will make 24 muffins.

Pumpkin Broccoli Bread 1Pumpkin Broccoli Bread 2

To see other bloggers who participated in this month’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge, click on the link below!

 

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Portuguese Hawaiian Sweet Bread

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve admitted before that I’m not much of a baker but this blog has helped me expand my kitchen skills. One thing I’d never even attempted to do before is bake bread! The thought of blooming yeast and rising dough frightened me.

Leave it to a Hawaiian vacation to get me to enter the world of bread making. I wanted to try making the sweet bread we had half of our mornings. The amount of steps looked daunting, but I had my husband in the kitchen with me acting as my safety blanket. I am so proud and excited to tell you that our first attempt was successful!

We enjoyed fresh toast every morning before work our first week back on the mainland. Now if only there were a way to get the bread faster I’d do it every weekend! Now though I won’t be as timid when I come across a fresh bread recipe.

Prep 1 Prep 2

Portuguese Hawaiian Sweet Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 C milk
  • 4 tbsp butter, cubed
  • 1/3 C sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 1/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp active-dry yeast
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg, whites reserved
  • 2 tsp vanilla

Steps:

  1. In a microwave safe bowl heat milk, butter, sugar, and salt until warm. Stir to soften the butter.
  2. In a stand mixer, combine flour, yeast, and zest. Add the warm milk mixture (stir before adding if mixture separated). Mix to combine. Add in the two whole eggs and 1 egg yolk along with the vanilla. Use the paddle to mix until smooth for 3 minutes and then switch to the dough hook for an additional 5 minutes. Note: The dough will be sticky.
  3. Form the dough into a ball and place in a large greased bowl to rise for 2 hours.
  4. Gently punch the dough to deflate it and roll it back into a ball. Put the dough in a greased 9″ round cake pan. Cover the dough with a clean shower cap (or you can use plastic wrap). Allow dough to rise for another 2 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Mix 1 tbsp of water with the reserved egg white and brush onto the dough.
  7. Bake bread for 15 minutes. Cover it lightly with aluminum foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Note: The bread should reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees.
  8. Let the bread cool on a cooling rack before breaking into it.

*This recipe is modified from the King Arthur Flour test kitchens at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/portuguese-sweet-bread-recipe*

Portuguese Hawaiian Sweet Bread 1 Portuguese Hawaiian Sweet Bread 2

French Toast

~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

Now, before you open this blog post with a preconceived notion of French Toast, I must warn you, Alton Brown would probably smack me silly for calling this breakfast dish French Toast. But, this is the French Toast that I grew up on, and so did Stuart! French Toast

You do not need fresh stale bread (oxymoron much?), you do not need to make it the night before, and you do not need to turn on the oven! What you do need are eggs, milk, vanilla, and sandwich bread. I like to sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top before eating too.

Before getting married, we had to go through Pre-Cana. One of the workbooks they had us talk through included a chart for chores. We’d agreed that Stuart would always make breakfast and I would tackle dinner. But then I became a “semi-professional chef” (Stuart’s words) and I knew I had to learn the breakfast world too. I haven’t tackled eggs yet, but I am a pro at waffles (our friends little boys have indicated they are the best they’ve ever had) and pancakes. I typically leave the French Toast to Stuart, as his father is the French Toast maker in their family too, but last weekend I stood at the griddle while he went on a run.

*Note: These amounts are all eyeballed. I prefer to use more milk in the egg mixture than my husband does. 

French Toast

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 C milk
  • pinch of salt
  • 8 slices sandwich bread
  • butter for greasing

Steps

  1. In a bowl wide enough to fit a slice of bread whisk together eggs, vanilla, milk, and salt.
  2. Melt butter over a hot griddle, or in a skillet over the stove.
  3. Dip bread in egg mixture, flipping to coat both sides. Place on griddle and cook until browned.

French Toast We always argue about syrup – my family and I like to keep our syrup in the fridge while Stuart and his like to heat it up. What’s your preference?