Our Weekly Bread: 19 of 36

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Puff pastry filled with savory delicacies like spinach and cheese or veggie meat crumbles? Yes, please! I use frozen puff pastry from the store. The cheese and spinach quickly come together if you have frozen spinach and shredded cheese. The veggie meat also comes together quickly, whether you use dry TVP or frozen Morning Star crumbles.

Veggie meat pie

Puff pastry filled with veggie meat

You see, you have to wait about 40 minutes for the pastry to thaw. That gives you time to prepare your filling. For the spinach, you need to also thaw it, then drain it well. I have noticed that block cheese you shred is much tastier that the cheese that comes already shredded. So, take your pick. Do you have more time (to shred cheese) or more desire for convenience (and can compromise on taste a little)?

I made the “meat” puff pastry this week – shall we call it “meat pie?” It was so good, it was gone in one meal. Everybody ate their fill and then some. The kids have requested we put this one on a regular rotation.


Our Weekly Bread: 16 of 36

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Last week, I made cinnamon rolls from scratch. My KitchenAid stand-up mixer comes in handy for this particular recipe. Be forewarned, there are typos and grammatical errors in this recipe. However, they will not mess you up. It’s just a warning for people like me, who are sensitive to such things.

Cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon rolls

My family loved these rolls so much, they asked me why I do not make them more often. Not sure what the answer should be. Not even sure what the answer is. I suppose I will put cinnamon rolls on the imaginary cooking schedule in my head – about once a week, like pancakes. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 15 of 36

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This week, we made dinner rolls. Just like that, I got tired of buying dinner rolls from the frozen section. We do not usually get them anyway. But for a big celebration like Thanksgiving or Christmas, we like to have dinner rolls on the table. We buy wheat rolls, which makes us feel like we make an effort towards health. However, I feel like we should step it up a notch.

Dinner Rolls

Dinner rolls, fresh out of the oven

Enter this recipe for dinner rolls I shall tell you about. I have had this recipe in a cookbook somebody gave me when I graduated from college. Ah, the good old days when people gave me cookbooks for a graduation gift. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 14 of 36

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For this baking project, I went back to gluten free baking. I have to stay away from gluten as much as possible, you see. And I found this amazing website with great recipes that are both vegan and gluten free. It belongs to a friend of a friend.

Gluten free bread

Gluten free bread

Check out this gluten free bread recipe. Mine did not look exactly like it when cut, but it looked and tasted great. Of course, there could be many reasons why you don’t get something to look exactly like the picture in the recipe. For one, I replaced guar gum with xanthan gum.

Bread Pans

One large bread pan, one medium

Not sure if that had anything to do with it. Then, oven temperatures vary. Gluten free baking is very fiddly. You keep something in the oven five minutes too long and the result can be disastrous. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 11 of 36

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This week, we used the sourdough starter to make sourdough bread. When you have a bread machine, you skip all the kneading. It only took ten minutes to measure ingredients into the machine and push start. Three hours later, we had this amazing bread loaf which everybody loved. I tried a little piece to see if I will react to the gluten. Since I did not, the next day I had a bigger piece. So far, so good.

Sourdough bread

The kids and I made this sourdough bread.

Next time I make it, I will use bread flour, just to see the difference. This first time, I used all-purpose flour. The recipe allows for either, or. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 8 of 36

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The kids cannot get enough of focaccia bread. Finally, they were ready to sprinkle cheese, rosemary, and Italian seasoning on their focaccia dough before baking it. This is their third time making it. Third time’s a charm indeed.

Focaccia

Focaccia with sharp cheddar cheese, rosemary, and Italian seasoning

I also suggested that, when the bread is ready, they dip it in marinara sauce, warm or cold. They loved it. See? Taste buds can be trained and educated. When we hear so many parents complain their children will not eat vegetables or whole wheat bread or fruit, it’s a matter of patient education. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 5 of 36

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This week, we made pizza. Is there a better skill in the kitchen than knowing how to make pizza crust? I think not.

Kids with Pizza

They are proud of their pizza.

We used the bread machine, because it is easy. Why complicate things? The recipe came in the book that accompanied the bread machine. Remember, this is my $5 bread machine, which I purchased from a neighbor at a yard sale. He said he had used it maybe five times.

 

Pizza Crust Recipe

1 1/2 c warm water

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. yeast

Select Dough-Only on your bread machine and watch it work for you. Well, you might not want to watch it for the full 90 minutes it takes for it to do its thing. This will produce a double crust. We roll it out on two different pans, because we do not want it to get too thick (like deep-dish pizza crust).

Heart-shaped pizza

We shaped one as a heart because why not?

The kids learned that “floured board” means just a little flour, not a whole lot of flour. The edges of their crusts got a little too tough, because they kept adding flour to the crust as they “played” with it. But those are the edges they do not usually eat anyway, so it worked out.

Measuring flour

Measuring flour

We added marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. They did not want any veggie toppings for their very first pizzas. We made salad and decided this counted as a healthy enough meal.

The pizza was delicious, by the way. I have not tried it, because of gluten intolerance, but they said they loved it. We had some leftovers for the next day, too.


Our Weekly Bread: 4 of 36

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As you know, our weekly bread features a new bread-making experience every week. We chose to make socca this week. If you have never heard of socca, just know that it is a gluten-free flat bread that cooks in 10 minutes. The main ingredient is garbanzo flour. It originated in Provence and Italy.

Making socca

Making socca

To be clear, I am the only one in my family who must avoid gluten. As such, I will be the only one eating this bread. My children have no interest in even trying it. Like most people, they have a mental block when they hear “gluten-free.” Even though I make gluten-free pasta dishes or gluten-free pancakes and they love them, they have some reticence about other gluten-free recipes. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 3 of 36

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This week, my son became the baker in the family by himself. My daughter came to watch and inspect. To clarify, that counts, too. We decided to make another easy bread recipe, Dutch-oven bread. Some people call it no-knead bread. I have blogged about this recipe before here: Dutch-oven bread.

Boy makes bread

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients

My son loved mixing the dough and expressed regret that he was not supposed to knead the bread. I suppose we are gearing up for full-on kneading bread recipes. At least he seems to be eager and ready to do it. Continue reading »