Artisan Sourdough Bread ~ No-Knead Method

This is a simple method for making delicious sourdough bread without kneading. It requires very little effort, but it does require a little pre-planning to have the bread ready when you want it.

The day before you want to bake, remove the starter from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Then feed it with ½ cup of flour and 1/3 cup of water and let it sit at room temperature for several hours. If you have an active starter, it should double or triple in size. Do not put the lid on too tight, the gases need room to expand. I usually take the starter out of the refrigerator around 7 AM, and then feed it about 10 AM.

In the evening I mix the dough and let it proof overnight.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (5 oz. by weight) whole wheat flour and 2½ cups (11 oz. by weight) white bread flour, or
• 3 ½ cups of white bread flour, or
• (3 ½ cups of all purpose flour with 1/3 cup of vital wheat gluten, or)
• (1 ¾ cups of bread flour + 1 ¾ cups of whole wheat)
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• 1½ cups purified water
• ¼ cup sourdough starter (The starter will have risen considerably, so stir it down before measuring. 

Directions:

• Mix together the dry ingredients.
• Dissolve 1/4 cup starter into the purified water
• Add water / starter to dry ingredients and stir until the water is incorporated.
• Cover with plastic and let sit 12-16 hours.
• Gently dump the dough out onto a floured board or counter top.
• Gently stretch the dough out into a rectangle about 12” by 9” in size. Fold 1/3 of the dough in on itself, and then fold the other 1/3 on top. Then fold it in half.

• Cover loosely with plastic and rest for 15 minutes.
• Gently transfer the dough to well floured towel or proofing basket or bowl. (I use parchment paper in the bowl to make it easy to transfer to La Cloche, or Dutch Oven.)
• Cover with towel and let rise about 1½ - 2 hours. NOTE: If you prefer to bake in a loaf pan, skip the proofing basket or bowl, and gently transfer the dough to the loaf pan, cover with a towel and let it rise 1½ - 2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 500°F about 30 minutes before baking. (If you use a loaf pan, place a small oven safe pan or crock in the oven and add water for steam just before you bake.
• Bake in covered La Cloche or Dutch Oven preheated to 500 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Remove cover; REDUCE heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 25 minutes.
• Let cool completely on rack.

Eat bread, be happy!

Don’t forget to return the starter to the refrigerator with a loose lid. Starter needs to be feed every 2 weeks if not baking regularly.

Sourdough

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Flour and Corn Tortillas ~ The best of both types of tortillas!

This past month we spent a week in Texas visiting friends and family. The friends we stayed with offered us some of the new Flour & Corn Tortillas that are now being sold at our favorite grocery store chain, H.E.B. Wow, this blends the best of the soft flour tortillas with the great corn taste found in a corn masa tortilla!

One of my kitchen challenges in Costa Rica has been to make decent Enchiladas without breaking the corn tortillas sold here. This would be the ultimate solution, a tortilla that tastes just like corn tortilla, yet it is moist and soft enough to roll without breaking. Thus began my quest to develop the perfect recipe for my own Flour & Corn Tortillas.

I began reviewing the basic recipe for corn tortillas and decided it probably needed a mixture of 1½ cups of white flour and 2 cups of the corn masa harina (corn flour) to start. After just a few tweaks , I now have a recipe to share with you.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose white flour
2 cups corn flour (masa harina, maseca)
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (manteca vegetal in Costa Rica, not oil, think Crisco)
1 ½ cups lukewarm water approximately

Directions:
Combine the flours and salt in a medium sized bowl. I use a fork to thoroughly mix the flours. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter until the masa is well blended and resembles damp sand. Now, gradually add the water, starting with about a half a cup. Stir it with a spoon or fork, and keep adding a little more water. At this point you will need to start kneading the masa by hand. Keep adding small amounts of water and kneading until the masa is pliable, about the consistency of Play-Doh clay, but not too wet.
Cover the bowl of masa with a damp towel and let it rest for about 20 minutes. After the masa has rested, sprinkle a little flour over the surface and knead the masa for a minute or so. Now, divide the masa into 16 small ball of dough, about an 1¼ in diameter. The easy way is to divide the large ball of masa in half, then divide each of these into 2 more balls, then divide the 4 balls into 8, and finally divide the 8 in half to give you 16.

I have a cast iron griddle that stretches across two burners on my stove, so I can fry 2 tortillas at once. Set your temperature to medium/high heat (if you don’t have cast iron, use a skillet that can take the high heat with NO oil.)

Take a large plastic food storage bag and cut off the top section with the zipper/closer, and discard it. Slit it along both sides, leaving the fold at the bottom intact. The plastic will need to measure about 7” inches from the fold to the top and the width need to be at least the same, or greater.

Add a heaping tablespoon of flour to a small bowl for dusting each ball of masa.

If you have a tortilla press, place the folded edge of the plastic next to the hinge when you are ready to press. Now lightly dust a ball of masa in the flour and place it between the plastic, about an inch from the hinge, close the tortilla press, and push down on the handle until you have a nice thin rounded tortilla.

Gently peel the tortilla off the plastic and fry it on the hot griddle, or hot skillet, for 35-45 seconds on each side. As you are frying one tortilla, you can dust the next ball of masa and press it. Stack the finished tortillas onto a platter, or covered tortilla dish, to keep them warm.

Note: If you don’t have a tortilla press you can still press out the balls of masa between the plastic by hand, or by using a rolling pin. It will be a little harder to keep them round, but it is a technique Latin women have mastered for generations.

Servings: 16 tortillas

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Tex Mex

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7-UP Sour Cream Biscuits

These biscuits are melt in your mouth goodness!

Ingredient:
2 cups bisquick (click to see recipe for Homemade Bisquick Mix)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-up
1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:
Melt butter and pour it into a baking pan/cast iron skillet. Cut sour cream into the Bisquick with a fork, and then add the 7-up. Mix together and dump the dough onto a surface that has been generously floured with additional Bisquick mix. (Parchment paper will make clean up easy.) Pat out dough by hand or roll it out about 1 inch thick. The dough will be very soft. Divide the dough into about 8 or 9 pieces by hand, and gently shape them into round biscuits. As the biscuits are shaped, add them to the baking pan with the melted butter.

Bake at 450°F for about 12-15 minutes, until golden brown and enjoy.

Yield: 8-9 biscuits

Note: I have used any clear soda I happen to have on hand: 7-Up, Ginger Ale, Sprite, Fresca, etc.

Breakfast

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Mango Coconut Bread Pudding

Ingredients
FOR BREAD PUDDING:
3 whole Eggs
3 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
2 Tablespoons Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup Coconut Milk
2 cups Half-'n-half, or Milk
2 cups Raw or "Turbinado" Sugar
2 cups Fresh Mango, Diced
1 pound Sourdough Bread, 1" Cubed
_____
FOR RUM SAUCE
½ cup Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 whole Egg
3 Tablespoons Rum, or To Taste

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325° degrees F.

In a large bowl beat 3 eggs, add 3 tablespoons melted butter, 2 tablespoons vanilla, 1 cup of coconut milk, and 2 cups half and half, or milk. Slowly add 2 cups raw sugar, mixing until it is all dissolved. Add diced mango and bread cubes, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate about an hour so the bread can soak up the custard mixture. Grease a 9x13x2" baking disk with butter or margarine. Pour in the bread mixture and bake uncovered for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

For rum sauce:
In a small saucepan, cream the butter with the brown sugar. Add vanilla, stir in the egg, then add the rum. Stir constantly over low heat for about 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. An immersion blender works well for this step. Serve warm over individual servings of pudding.

MakeItAgain

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Corny Jalapeño Skillet Corn Bread

Lately I've been hungry for some good old fashioned corn bread.  Before we moved to Costa Rica, I would cheat and make Corny Jalapeño Corn Bread in my cast iron skillet with 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix, some Jalapeño peppers and canned corn.  Guess what.... there is no Jiffy Corn Bread Mix on the grocery store shelves in Costa Rica.  I searched for recipes on the internet and finally found a couple of recipes I could use as a base.  I cobbled them together and this is the final recipe I came up with.  John loves it, says it's the best yet, and I'm happy to share it with you.

Ingredients: (makes 1 large 9”-10” skillet)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1+1/3 cups cornmeal, preferably stone-ground (you can use Polenta in Costa Rica)
• 1 or 2 fresh Jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely minced. (If you use pickled Jalapeños you will need more, and they should be finely chopped)
• 1 cup canned corn kernels
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1+1/4 cups milk (a little bit more or less; enough to make cake like batter)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted or any good cooking oil

A cast iron skillet (if you do not have one, use a thick bottomed oven proof skillet

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, sift the all purpose flour with baking powder, black pepper and salt. Stir in the cornmeal.

In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, butter, honey and eggs. Add the melted butter and stir just until blended. Add the corn and jalapeño peppers.

Gradually stir in the dry flour mixture.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the cast iron skillet and heat the skillet over the stove top or in the oven until the oil shimmers and is really hot. Remove skillet from the stove top or the oven and pour the batter into the hot skillet. When the batter is added to the hot skillet, it will sizzle loudly.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 25-35 minutes, or until the center springs back when gently pressed and a toothpick comes out clean. The cornbread should be golden brown and crispy on the edges.

Cooking Time: Approx. 30 minutes

Side Dish

1

Sourdough Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

INGREDIENTS
2 ½ cups sourdough starter sponge
(See this post for info on starter: Sourdough Bread)
1 Tbsp. raw cane sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tsp. fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. vital wheat gluten
1 cup bread flour (more or less) + extra for kneading
1 egg, whisked + 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash
dried rosemary, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sourdough sponge, salt, rosemary, seasonings, olive oil, vital wheat gluten and whole wheat flour. Using the paddle attachment, mix the dough on low until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 30 to 90 minutes.

2. Add the white flour and stir with the dough hook for about 5 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Knead, by hand, on a lightly floured surface for about 2 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking, until the dough is smooth.

3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl; cover; and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.

4. Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf by gently rounding the dough on your board. This is done by slowly rotating the dough in a circle, while stretching the dough from side to side, so that it forms a smooth surface all the way around. Place the dough on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or parchment paper; cover; and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 to 90 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, preheat oven (and pizza stone) to 400 F. Once the dough has risen, gently slash the top diagonally in a couple of places, about ¼” deep, taking care to not disinflate the dough, brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with dried rosemary.

6. Bake on preheated stone for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. The internal temperature should reach 195° F. to 205° F. Let it rest for 30 minutes before slicing.

Makes 1 large round loaf.

Sourdough

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Bekah's Zucchini Bread

Our granddaughter Rebekah, raised her own money to go to summer camp this year by selling baked goods. Here is her delicious recipe for Zucchini bread

Ingredients:
2 cups Zucchini, peeled and grated
3 eggs beaten until foamy
2 cups sugar (or 1 cup Splenda & 1 cup sugar)
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
-----
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Direction:
Mix the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl, then add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Pour into 2 greased and floured bread pans. Bake for 1 hour at 325°.

Snacks

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Pan de Yuca (Yucca Bread)

This recipe is was given to me by my friend Maritza in Costa Rica. It is a wonderful bread to serve with coffee.

Ingredients:
2 pounds of shredded yucca
1 pound of shredded semi-soft white cheese (queso fresco, Monterrey jack, or provolone works well)
4 large eggs
1.5 cups of sugar (I substitute Splenda sweetener)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 stick softened butter or margarine (4 ounces)
1 cup chopped raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven the 350°. Grease a 9"x12" cake pan and dust it with flour. Peel and shred the yucca into a large bowl. Blend the yucca with the butter, Splenda and eggs. Add the baking powder, salt, vanilla and raisins and mix well. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Costa Rica

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Whole Wheat Oat Pumpkin Muffins *WP*

Ingredients:
1 egg
2/3 cup Splenda Granular or equivalent sweetener of your choice
1 can (1 3/4 cups) pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup nonfat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 12-serving muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper baking cups and spray insides with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, splenda, vanilla, milk and stir well. Sift in flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Fill prepared muffin cups equally, sprinkle tops with extra cinnamon. Bake 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Added note: if you can't find oat flour then try putting quick cook oats (not instant) in your blender and pulverizing, shaking, pulverizing, shaking the container until it all grinds down to a flour. Should work just fine! Also...be sure to spray your muffin pan or cups with nonstick spray or yes, they will stick.

Number of Servings: 12

Nutritional Info

• Fat: 0.9g
• Carbohydrates: 13.6g
• Calories: 70.4
• Protein: 3.1g

WP

2

Sourdough Pizza Dough *WP*

Ingredients:
2 cups of sourdough starter
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Add starter to mixer set with dough hook. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Knead with the mixer for about 5 minutes until the dough is a cohesive mass. Allow dough to rest in an oiled bowl for an hour or two. Do not expect this dough to rise much.

Preheat oven to 500.

Divide dough in half and roll out two pizza shells. Bake on a pizza stone for 8 minutes. Remove from oven. At this point the pizza shells can be frozen, when cooled, for later use, or they can be topped as desired and baked in the oven until browned and cheese is melted.

Number of Servings: 8

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 5.8g
Carbohydrates: 39.1g
Calories: 207.8
Protein: 5.7g

WP

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Sourdough Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons of butter
2 cups of whole wheat flour or half white, half wheat
2 cups of sourdough starter
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
Melted butter for brushing tops

Direction:
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Melt butter. Combine remaining ingredients with the butter and stir together in mixing bowl. With floured hands, pinch off walnut-size balls of dough and place in 9-10 inch skillet. Let rise in warm place for 15 minutes. Bake 25-30 minutes. Brush with melted butter. Watch to make sure they don't burn. Variation: Add chopped apples, mashed cooked sweet potatoes, raisins or minced onion to the dough. Makes 1 1/2-2 dozen.

Sourdough

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Sourdough English Muffins

Another recipe found online and modified. I found the original recipe on the Sourdough Home web site and then I modified it somewhat to use whole wheat. If you don't have whole wheat, you can just use all bread flour, and they will still be delicious. John says they are the best he has ever tasted, even better than store bought Bays or Thomas!

Sponge Ingredients:
3/4 cup sourdough starter
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups milk, skim
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

Dough:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons cornmeal

The Night Before:
Prepare the sponge. Mix sour starter, honey and milk in mixing bowl until smooth. Mix the dry flours together. Add the 4 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time, and mix in until all the flour thoroughly wet. Cover with clean towel and leave at room temperature in a draft free place overnight. I let the sponge develop in the oven with the light turned on. Just be sure the oven is at room temperature when you put it in the oven. I put a dish towel in the door to prop it open because the light bulb alone can raise the temperature to close to 90° degrees and this will kill the natural bacteria sourdough needs to grow.

The Next Morning:
Make the dough. Stir down the sponge (it will have risen considerably). If it has risen too high and fallen, no problem, just stir down the rest of the way. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of sea salt over the surface of the dough and work it in. Mix the 3/4 cup of white & 3/4 cup of wheat flours together. Flour your board with half of this flour mixture or more (up to 2 cups), until dough is medium stiff - enough to roll out. Once you have enough flour in (I go by feel-never too dry and always moist) and the dough longer sticks to your hands, give it a 5 minute kneading.

Get 2 baking sheets or jelly roll pans and line with waxed paper-sprinkle corn meal over both.

Flour board again and lightly roll dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Take a 3 inch round cutter (a bit larger diameter, different shapes, OK) and cut as many rounds as you can-rolling the left over dough out and cutting more until all the dough is used. Try to keep them very uniform in thickness and diameter. As you cut each round, place on cornmeal wax paper-don't allow raw muffins to touch--they will stick. When all rounds are cut, sprinkle corn meal over tops
of muffins.

Allow to rise in warm place, covered, for about an hour or until risen again (I have left them to rise for as much as 3 hours. The time really depends on your environment). Again, I let them rise in a cool oven, with the light turned on and a dish towel wedged in the door to prop it open and prevent anyone from closing it. Remember, just the light bulb can raise the temperature to close to 90° degrees, much too warm for the final rise.

Now the FUN part!
Preheat a griddle (I used a non stick electric griddle, or skillet, with the temperature set to just under 300° with a TINY bit of butter, until butter sizzles. Use a low flame or heat setting so the inside of the muffin bakes and outside does not burn. Pan bake one side for about 4-5 minutes and turn. Squish down a bit with spatula and pan bake other side for about 4-5 minutes. Turn only once so be sure the one side is cooked before turning. While you can skip the butter if you have a non-stick skillet, they won't taste as good without it! If you want bigger holes and crevices in the muffins, let them rise a bit longer (2 or 3 hours).

Yield: 24 Muffins
1 Muffin Per Serving: 131 Calories; 1g Fat (4.3% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 221mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Non-Fat Milk; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Sourdough

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Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

This recipe will make 6 small muffins (2-inch diameter)

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup oil
1 cup sourdough starter
(See this post for info on starter: Sourdough Bread)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour (whole wheat or all-purpose white)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar or Splenda sweetner
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425F. Generously grease muffin pan with vegetable oil or PAM spray, butter. You can use also use cupcake/muffin paper cup inserts if you prefer.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside. Mix the sourdough starter with all the wet ingredients in a larger bowl. Fold in the dry ingredients and the blueberries. Mix the batter quickly and spoon it into 6 muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes. Let them rest for a couple of minutes before removing them from the muffin pan or they will stick.

Sourdough

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Sourdough Bread

My all time favorite bread has always been sourdough, preferably San Francisco Sourdough. I became curious recently about sourdough and the whole bread making process, so I started to research on the internet and found the basic sourdough is a simple process of allowing equal parts of flour and water to ferment. Flour naturally contains wild yeasts and bacteria spores. When mixed with water and left at room temperature the naturally-occurring enzymes break down the starch into complex sugars. The sugars convert into glucose and fructose that yeast can metabolize. The bacteria then feed on the metabolism products from the yeast. This process creates the sourdough starter.

UPDATE: Since living in Costa Rica for several years, I found I needed a fresh sourdough starter. I found this procedure online, and it resulted with the best starter I have every used. Sourdough Starter

I tried creating my own starter and it did turn sour, but the loaf of bread was extremely dense and not at all what I was hoping to achieve. I wound up pitching it in the trash. I really wanted something more along the lines of a true San Francisco sourdough, so I went back to the internet and discovered Linda Wilbourne's web site with a true San Francisco Sourdough Bread Starter.

A little over a week ago, I purchased the San Francisco sour dough starter that is made up of a tiny amount of flour, the live wild yeast organisms, and another live organism called a lactobacillus, which is what creates the sour flavor in sourdough bread.

I followed Linda's instructions to the letter to create my starter and the results are amazing. I spent 72 hours getting the starter to the point it was ready to be used to bake a loaf of bread. I didn't have much experience baking bread, but John does, so this past Monday, after John came home from work, he helped me with the first loaf. I needed to get a feel of how the dough should look and feel and John is a great teacher. Our first loaf came out of the oven about 12:30 AM (Tuesday morning). We let it cool for about 15 minutes before we sliced the first piece and had a taste. Oh my, this is really good stuff!

That same Tuesday, after a little sleep, I went about the process of creating more starter and I made two more loaves, you know, just to get some practice in.

One was a round of white and the other a sandwich loaf using 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flours. Both were absolutely delicious!

I now have a couple of sourdough starters safely stored in the fridge. The starter "stash" needs to be fed about once a month to keep the population of hungry micro organisms alive. It's pretty easy to do and this will give me a never ending supply of sourdough yeast for baking.

Sourdough

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Mayan Banana Bread

Banana Bread - Pan de Banano

Ingredients:
1/4 pound (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 pound ripe bananas (2 or 3 large)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg, well beaten
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder


Directions:
Soften the butter at room temperature and cream it with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mash the bananas and add to the butter and sugar mixture. Add the salt, cinnamon, lemon juice, and egg. Sift the flour with the baking powder and fold it into the liquid mixture. Pour the batter into a greased (9 by 5-inch) loaf pan. Bake in a preheated moderate (350 F.) oven for 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Serve with honey as a cake bread, or as a pudding with cream or ice cream.

7/28/2011 - Note:  This can be cooked in an electric skillet! Just pour the batter in the preheated skillet and baked it for 50 minutes @ 275° F. It will brown on top, but the sides and bottom will be nicely toasted, perfectly moist and delicious.

Fruit

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Christmas Buñuelos

Christmas Buñuelos


Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 t anise seed
1/4 t salt
1/8 t baking soda
1 1/4 cup sifted flour
5 eggs
Oil for frying

Glaze:
2 to 3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick

Directions:
In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the water, aniseed and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the baking soda and flour. Remove pan from heat and beat until flour is well mixed. Let the dough cool. Add eggs one by one, waiting until one egg has been completely mixed into the dough before adding the next. This process can be done by hand or with an electric mixer. Let the dough sit for at least one hour, covered with plastic or a cloth. Once the dough has set, heat enough oil in a saucepan so that small balls will be submerged for frying. Drop spoonfuls of the dough into hot oil. Do not crowd pan. Fry until golden brown.

Place on a paper towel to remove excess grease. In a small pot bring sugar, water and cinnamon stick to a boil, and simmer about 5 minutes. Add vanilla, liquor or other flavors to taste. Serve with syrup and enjoy!

Makes 15-20 buñuelos.

Dessert

0

John's Zephyr Buns

My Zephyr Buns “secret” was the result of a case of carelessness. I didn’t read the recipe instructions prior to starting the mixing. I slapped everything together and noticed immediately that the un-kneaded dough was WAY too wet. Went back to the book and finally read everything. Oh, drat … one of the 3 eggs was supposed to be ON the buns – not IN them! Rather than chunk the whole mess in the trash, I went ahead and kneaded it, baked it & served it to my favorite guinea pigs. That would be y’all .

WOW, everyone liked them!

After several batches, I figured out that there are some oddities of the recipe / soft dough that warrant passing along:

• The recipe is more successful with “Better For Bread” flour; or, hard red winter wheat flour, if you can find it. This is a trade off. Cake flour would make the crumb even softer but the higher gluten “hard red” gives the soft dough enough structure to rise better. Regardless, plain old all purpose flour will work O.K. if that’s all you can get.
• Be sure to use regular yeast – not one of the quickie versions now becoming popular. “Active” is fine. That doesn’t mean “quick”.
• Ingredients (especially eggs) should be at room temperature before starting.
• At first, the dough will be so sticky that you’ll think that you’ll never get it off your hands. Therefore, I usually start out using only one hand for kneading, keeping the other hand “clean” so that I can hold the bowl and reach for a little extra flour, etc., if I need it.
• Initially, kneading might amount to squeezing the dough between your fingers (like playing with mud) for a while, until enough gluten forms for the mess to pull together into a ball that you can knead in the regular way. I usually don’t take the ball out of the mixing bowl while kneading. Just smack it around where it lies.
• Do both the first rising in and especially the bun rise in a spot that is pleasantly warm, i.e., 75 to 95F (24-35C) and draft-free. This is structurally delicate dough. It can fall, like a cake. Watch out for cold counter tops, etc. My favorite method is to take the chill off of an oven by running it only until the metal walls and racks seem warm. Then shut it off and keep the door closed while waiting a few minutes for the oven temp to equalize out. Then put the dough into the your “rising oven” and close the door. There. Bet you didn’t know that you have one of those expensive dough conditioning “proofers”. Gas ovens are way better for this than electrics, if you’re lucky enough to have one.
• Handle the risen buns VERY carefully. They’ll collapse if you slam them around.
• With the buns out on the counter (obviously,) do a long pre-heat on your oven, before doing the baking. Even wait a few minutes after the first pre-heat cycle-off occurs (flame goes out or heating element goes off). Only then, put the buns in for baking.
• Follow the baking time but watch the buns for beautiful dark tan browning. The time is only a guideline.
• Immediately out of the oven, lightly brush the bun tops with butter. Don’t use soft “spreads” because they are very high in water content and may toughen the crust rather than soften it.
• Serve warm. Eat them all. Leftovers, especially if refrigerator-cold, are icky, because of the high egg content. The crumb goes from heavenly soft when warm to “toothy” when chilled.

Funny thing: I once did the James Beard recipe, exactly as written, and the result is O.K. They are more middle-of-the-road. The crumb is not quite as much of a head-turner when warm; but, they aren’t quite as yucky as leftovers. I guess it is a trade off that you’ll have to evaluate on your own.

Serving Size: 18

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoons warm water -- (100-115 degrees)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 whole eggs* (SEE IMPORTANT COMMENT BELOW)
2 cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon cool water

Soften the yeast in warm water and stir in the sugar and salt to dissolve. Proof the yeast and sugar before adding the salt.In a bowl, beat 2 of the eggs and blend in the flour. Use all 3 eggs. Then stir in the yeast mixture and melted butter. Cool the butter down below “hot” before stirring it in. Knead vigorously in the bowl with the hands, till the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and is elastic - 5minutes. Make into a ball, put in a buttered bowl, and cover with plasticwrap. Make sure the bowl is big enough that the risen dough won’t touch the plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours, or till doubled in bulk. Punch down and divide into 18 equal pieces. I pinch off “ping-pong ball” sized pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and arrange, well separated, on a buttered baking sheet. Let rise 30 minutes,or until doubled in size. Inside your new proofing cabinet. Bake in a preheated oven at 375F for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Brush with butter. Serve warm. Cool on a rack.

Buns

1

Unleavened Flat Bread

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup honey
5 cups wheat flour
3 tbsp oil
1 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 with baking stone inside. Blend flour and salt. Blend in oil. Add liquids. Knead well. Divide into 16 pieces. Roll out into flat rounds. Bake on stone 14 minutes.

Bread

0

Lara's Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3 large banana, mashed
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Mash bananas, add melted butter, egg & sugar, mix well. Add remaining dry ingredients. Bake in a loaf pan @ 325 for 50 - 55 minutes.

Fruit

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Fast Rising Bread/Cinnamon Twist

This bread recipe fell out of an old Betty Crocker cookbook my grandmother gave me more than 40 years ago. The recipe was given to me by an elderly American Woman when I lived in Costa Rica during the early 70's. I remember telling her (I think her name was Louise) about the things I missed from the States, one of which was the Van de Kamp bakery and the "Swedish Twist" coffee cake we frequently enjoyed as kids. She offered to teach me how to bake bread and attempt to re-create the "Swedish Twist". We have used her recipe to make delicious loaves of bread, dinner rolls and cinnamon twists. I have transcribed the recipe below, just as she wrote it out on what is now a torn sheet of paper, yellowed with age, with fading ink.

Enjoy!

(This recipe makes enough dough for 2 loaves of bread.)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water

2 teaspoons sugar

2 packages of yeast (1½ TBS)

2 cups of milk (or 1 cup water & 1 cup milk)

3 tablespoons shortening

1 teaspoon salt

6 to 7 cups of flour

2 or 3 eggs

Directions:

Mix 3/4 cup of warm water, sugar and yeast, set it aside and let it stand for 10 minutes. Heat 2 cups of milk and in a large bowl mix in the shortening and gradually add 2 cups of flour until you have a smooth batter and add in the salt. Add the eggs and yeast mixture gradually adding more flour and beat to a smooth batter. Keep adding flour until you have a soft dough that is well mixed and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Cover and let it rise to double in size. Punch it down and let it rise again. Form into bread loaves, buns, or roll it out for cinnamon rolls. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. You can baste the tops with butter after they come out of the oven.

If you want to make a cinnamon twist, flatten out part of the dough into a oblong about 15" x 6" x 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Cut into 3 strips lengthwise from one end almost to the other end. Leave about one inch at what will become the top of the braid. Liberally cover with cinnamon sugar and start braiding, adding pecans and raisins into each fold. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. You can baste the twist with butter, or a sugar glaze, when it comes out of the oven.

Rolls

0