Zupfa Bread

This is always a hit. The recipe makes 6 loaves.

3/4 C Butter
2 C Milk (melt butter w/ milk on low in the microwave)
1 TBS Salt
3/4 C Sugar
5 eggs hand whipped
3 TBS yeast in 1 C warm water (an additional 3TBS of the sugar in)
11 C (approx) White Flour (until dough becomes sticky and satiny)

Raise covered, punch down and divide into 6 equal balls
Divide each ball into 4 equal parts, roll into strands and braid left to right (over under over under), repeat.

Bake 350 for about 25-30 minutes

Zucchini Bread... or Muffins ~

We have had a lot of success this year gardening our zucchini.

It's become a family favorite (as a vegetable and a treat)!

3 Eggs

2 C Sugar

1 C Vegetable Oil

2 tsp Vanilla

2 C Zucchini, grated

3 C Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until flight and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat until well blended. Stir in oil (1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce if you want to lower the calories and make it a bit healthier), vanilla and zucchini. Sift together the dry ingredients and stir into zucchini mixture. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes for muffins (longer for loaves - until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

* My kids loved adding 1 cup chocolate chips.

* Samson and I prefer adding 1 cup chopped walnuts!

Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

Basic Dough
1 1/2 Cups warm water
2-3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon yeast
Let yeast dissolve.

Stir and add:
2 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon salt

Stir and add:
1/4 Cup oil

Stir and add:
2 Cups flour

Mix all together well until dough ball forms. Let raise if desired.

Bake at 425 for 10-15 min.

This is my favorite dough recipe! You can turn it into just about any type of bread you can imagine. I use it for pizza crust, cinnamon rolls (with a little extra sugar in the mix), and bread for my M since it has no milk in it. The gal I got it from would make hamburger and hot dog buns as well as dinner rolls out of it too. So play with it a bit and make it your own. Enjoy!

Chicken Rolls

I have made these twice in the past week... I guess I must like them!

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 1/2 C. cooked chicken, cubed
• 6 oz. cream cheese
• small diced celery (as much as you want)
• crushed corn flakes

Combine and stir until moistened. Place spoonful of chicken in the center of each roll and pinch shut. Roll each roll in melted buter and then roll in crushed corn flakes. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes until browned.

Irish Soda Bread

I know today is St. Patrick's Day...but you could make this next year! My family has celebrated this holiday heartily since I can remember. Maybe it's because my great-grandparents both hail from the beautiful isle of Ireland. We make Irish stew or corn beef, with a veggie tray that looks like the Irish flag (carrots, cauliflower & broccoli or cucumbers), steamed fresh string beans, boiled new potatoes with butter & fresh chopped parsley on top. My family looks forward to this yummy treat each year. Hopefully, yours will too. This bread is really moist and is delightful served warm with butter. Enjoy!!

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. caraway seeds (I usually omit these for the kiddos)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

2 c. (16 oz) sour cream

3/4 c. raisins

In a lg. bowl, combine the flour, sugar, caraway seeds, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a sm. bowl, whisk eggs and sour cream. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raisins.

Spoon into a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cook on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing sides of pan. Cut into wedges & serve warm.

Bran Muffins

this is my moms recipe and my favorite muffin!

2 cups All Bran
2 cups boiling water

Pour boiling water over all bran and let set

2 cups sugar
1 heaping cup shortening

cream together well in a very large mixing bowl.

4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 qt. buttermilk
4 cups all bran

Add to creamed sugar and shortening. Mix thoroughly. Add all bran mixture (bran and water). Mix well.

5 cups flour
4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Add to preceding and stir together well. Fill greased muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 11 minutes for small muffins or 14 minutes for larger muffins. This recopied makes one gallon of batter, which makes about 7 dozen muffins. This stores really well in a container in the refrigerator for up to six weeks! I sometimes make a batch and pull it out and bake a few at a time. Super good with butter on warm muffins or jam! Hope you enjoy!

Foolproof Bread

A couple of you have asked for my bread recipe. It is one of the easiest and yummiest recipes I know of for whole wheat bread (or rolls or bread sticks or pizza dough or cinnimin rolls). I have a Bosch Universal mixer and can make five loaves at a time. It cost about $2.50 for the whole five loaves. If I have my wheat already ground into flour, I can do it, start to finish, in an hour and a half--roughly 15 minutes of actual work time, 10 minutes of kneading in the mixer, 5 minutes to put dough in pans, 30 minutes to rise, 30 minutes to cook.

I think two things are key to a moist bread: (1) use half apple sauce, half oil and (2) try to use fresh (or as recently as possible) ground flour. Take several cups of wheat berries (the unground stuff you get from the cannery or, if you live in Utah, the grocery store) to a friends house and borrow her wheat grinder and then store it in your freezer to keep it fresh. I have a Nutrimill wheat grinder, also made by Bosch, in which I am happy to grind wheat for anyone who lives near by.

In the recipe below I have listed two measurements for the ingredients. The first is from the original recipe, intended for a large (6 qt.) mixer. The second is for a smaller mixer (like a basic Kitchen Aid) that will make 2-3 loaves. If it is confusing I have a Word document with a nice table I can email to you. Just leave a post for me.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Warm Water: 6 c or 3 cups
Salt: 2 T or 1 T
Oil/Apple Sauce: ¼ cup each oil and apple sauce (large) or 2 T each oil and apple sauce (small)
Honey: 2/3 C or 1/3 C
Dough Enhance: 2 ½ T or 3 ¾ t (I can't find this in NY so I just leave it out)
Vital Wheat Gluten: 2 T or 1 T (buy in any grocery store probably in baking or health food)
Flour: Start with 8 ½ C (use 12-15 total) or Start with 4 ¼ C (use 6-7 ½ total)
Yeast: 2 ½ T or 3 ¾ t

MIXING INSTRUCTIONS:

Wheat: Combine 8-9 (or half that for smaller mixer) cups gresh wheat flour and warm water. Using the dough hook, mix to paste consistency. Mix in yeast and then add salt, honey, oil/apple sauce and gluten. Turn on mixer. As the motor bears down, turn up the speed. Add additional flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl (careful not to add too much flour). Let knead 7-8 minutes then add dough enhancer, knead 2 more minutes. (Total 10 minutes). Use shortening or oil on your hands to form loaves (not flour!). Take dough immediately from bowl. Fill non-stick loaf pans ½ to 2/3 full with shaped loaves. Cover with plastic wrap to keep moist. Let rise until doubled (approx. 1 ½ inches above top of pan--about 30 minutes). Place in cold oven. Turn oven to 350◦. Bake 30-40 minutes. Yields: 5-6 or 2-3 1 ½ lb loaves.

Cinnamon Rolls: Same mixing instructions as Wheat bread. Remove the dough once it’s kneaded, and roll it out on a lightly oiled surface into a large rectangle about 16X36 inches and approx. ¼ inch thick. Melt ¾ cube butter and spread it evenly over the dough. In a separate bowl mix 1 ½ cups brown sugar with 3 tsp. cinnamon. Spread mixture evenly over dough. Spread 1 cup shredded pecans and 1 ½ cups plumped raisins evenly over dough. Roll up dough to form a roll starting with the long side. Seal the seam by pinching dough together. With seam side down, cut into 1 inch slices using fish line or floss. (Slide string under the roll, cross it over the top, and pull apart.) Place rolls on a non-stick baking sheet. Let rise until double in size. Bake: 350◦ 13-18 minutes. Yield: 32 rolls (or more).

ROLLS!!!

OK, here is the roll recipe:

1 package yeast (1 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup milk, scalded (warm it up but take it off the heat when it is steaming but not boiling)
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups of flour (This is an estimate)


Dissolve yeast and 1 Tbsp sugar in 1/3 cups of warm water. (I use pretty warm water) Set aside. Scald milk and butter together and set aside to cool a bit. In a mixing bowl place 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and eggs. Add cooled milk mixture (It will still be a bit warm, just don't scramble the eggs!) and yeast. Add part of the flour and beat in until thick. Add additional flour to make a soft dough. (It will still be pretty sticky at this point). Let rise until double-usually about two hours depending on how warm the room is. Roll out dough on floured surface (I usually have to add quite a bit of flour here because the dough is so sticky. I actually add flour to the dough in the bowl and then dump it out on the counter and knead it in). Roll out and cut to the shape you want. I use a big cup/glass and cut the rolls into circles. I then dip half the roll in melted butter and fold it over on itself. If you do it this way you don't have to grease the pan since the rolls have butter on them. Let rise until light and the right size...use best judgement! Don't let them get too big. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I usually start checking mine around 12 or 13 minutes.

The flour isn't an exact measurement but just put in enough so it looks right! The secret to these rolls is not using a ton of flour. That way the rolls stay light and fluffy! Good luck and I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Let me know if you have any questions!

Zucchini Bread

I have been making tons of this, my husband and I are now addicted!
Mix:
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. apple butter OR apple sauce
2 c. grated Zucchini
1 tsp. vanilla
In another bowl mix:
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
*IF you are using apple sauce and NOT apple butter than add
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

Add dry ingredients to wet and stir well. You can add 1/2 c. nuts if you want.
Add to 2 greased bread loaf pans and bake 325 for 1 hour.

A good friend gave me the idea to make a dinner menu weekly and stick to it. So far its working and I'm hoping now that classes have started back up I'll be able to stay on top of dinner with this method! So every Sunday night I get input from the family and we make our choices for the week. This week we are having:
Mon-Chicken Alfredo
Tue- Homemade chili and cornbread
Wed- Am for Pm (pancakes, eggs, bacon)
Thurs- Spaghetti with maple sausage and garlic bread
Fri- Homemade pizzas, one with Hawaiian, another with the works
Sat- Chicken Chili
Sun- Lasagna and garlic bread