French Bread

Pin It

 

 

 

Well those of you who follow along with us at Our Old Homestead knows how much we love homemade bread.  I have had many posts with different bread recipes and will continue to do so.  I hope you don't get sick of them!

 

This time ..... French bread ..... and wow is this stuff good!

 

 

 

I found this recipe on Pinterest again.  I actually must have another 15 or so different bread recipes in queue to try.

 

Naomi over at Sugar and Spice is where this fabulous recipe originated.  It is delicious and EASY.

 

Easy French Bread

 

Makes two large loaves

Prep time: 3 hours, start to finish, including rising times

 

1/2 c. lukewarm water

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. or one packet of dry active yeast

2 c. lukewarm water

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. oil

Approx. 5+ cups of all purpose flour

1 egg mixed with 1 tsp. cold water to glaze

 

 

 

In a small bowl, combine the 1/2 c. lukewarm water, 1/2 tsp. sugar and 1 Tbsp. dry active yeast.  Stir to combine and let this rest about 10 minutes, until risen and bubbly.

 

Warning: do NOT use hot water ..... it will kill the yeast.

 

While the yeast is rising, combine the rest of the water, sugar, salt, and oil in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add the risen yeast mixture and about 2 cups of flour.  Stir to combine.  If you are mixing the bread by hand (as I did), continue adding flour in small amounts until the mixture is difficult to combine by stirring.

 

Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a work surface generously dusted with flour and knead, adding flour, until the mixture forms a smooth soft dough.  If using an electric mixer, add flour in small amounts, and scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl often.  When the dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl on its own, it should be ready.  The consistency should be stiff, spongy, and slightly sticky. 

 

Turn the dough into a greased mixing bowl and cover with plastic.  Let this rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in bulk.

 

Note:  you can test the dough by sticking your finger into it.  If the indentation bounces back, it needs to rise some more -- if it remains, it is done.

 

 

Grease your hands with a little oil, punch the dough down and divide into two sections.  Roll the dough into long loaves, folding the dough and pinching it underneath to make it smooth. 

 

 

Using a sharp knife ( I used a serrated knife ), score three slits in the dough about 1/4 inch deep.  Cover with a tea towel and let rise for another 35 minutes.

 

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Beat one egg with 1 tsp cold water and brush on top of the loaves. You can sprinkle black pepper, poppy seeds or sesame seeds on the top at this point if you wish ( I made one plain and one with sesame seeds ).  Let the loaves rise uncovered this time for another 10 minutes.

 

 

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden bread and the loaves sound hollow when tapped.  Cool on wire racks.

 

 

This bread is amazing.  Spread some butter and homemade jam and oh la la, you are in for a treat!  Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!



Lemon Wacky Cake

Pin It

 

 

I needed a lemon fix and we were out of eggs.  What do I do?  Head over to Pinterest where I found the recipe for Lemon Wacky Cake.   Now the idea behind this cake is that the chocolate version was popular during the depression.  Since eggs, milk and butter were in short supply and when a housewife could find some, they were usually too expensive to even think of using for a dessert.

 

 

Mary over at Sweet Little Bluebird not only mastered the original chocolate version but she also includes the lemon and spice version on her blog!  Imagine that?!  If only the housewives during the depression had Mary and the internet.

 

 

 

One pan, no bowl, no eggs, no butter, no milk and it is oh so perfect and moist.

 

Ingredients

 

1 1/2 cups of flour + 3 tablespoons

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

 

 

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup of water

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Directions

 

Mix the first 5 dry ingredients in an 8" square pan starting with the flour.  Mix well.  Make 3 depressions...2 small and one larger. 

 

 

Pour the vinegar in one small depression, the vanilla and lemon extracts in the other small depression and the vegetable oil in the larger depression.

 

 

Pour the water over the whole thing.  Mix until smooth.

 

 

Bake for 35 minutes. 

 

 

That's it!!!  I added a Key Lime icing on the top.  Easy peasy and yummy! 

 

 

 

Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug! 

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Pin It

 

My love for bread continues ...... but if you add cinnamon to the mix ..... well, my heart goes pitter pat.

 

 

 

I found the recipe on Pinterest and it comes from Liz over at A Whisk and a Prayer and it sounds as if she loves cinnamon bread about as much as I do!

 

Ingredients

 

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.  In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup white sugar.  Add egg, milk and vegetable oil to the mixture.  Stir just until moistened.  Pour 1/2 batter into the greased loaf pan.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and 1/3 cup of white sugar (I didn't measure out my cinnamon, I just sprinkled away and probably added quite a bit more since I love the taste of cinnamon so much!)

 

 

Now cover the cinnamon layer the with remaining batter.  Top with more cinnamon and sugar if you desire.

 

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.  Let it cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

 

 

Wrap in foil and let it sit overnight before slicing.....okay confession time. I didn't see this part and I just sliced away and enjoyed it warm.  It was DELICIOUS but I don't know how it would taste if you actually DID wrap it until the next morning.

 

 

Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

 

Mozza Bombs

Pin It

 

 

Cheese.  I LOVE cheese.  Any cheese but Blue and Limburger ..... too smelly for me.  Gouda is my all time favorite, sliced thin and served with hot, homemade bread. 

 

 

Browsing recipes the other day I came across a recipe from Pinterest .... unfortunately the link now does not work so I can't link back but I decided to give it a try.  I mixed mine up a little though.

 

I call them Mozza Bombs.

 

Ingredients

 

2 containers of Pillsbury Flaky dinner rolls

2 - 3 mozza string cheese

little olive oil for brushing the tops

Italian seasoning

parmesan cheese

 

 

                

 

Directions

 

Take apart the flaky dinner rolls and carefully separate each one.  Cut or tear the mozza string cheese into small pieces and lay in between dinner rolls.  Pinch the edges so each roll is sealed. 

 

 

Lightly brush to top of each dinner roll.  Sprinkle the Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese over the olive oil.

 

 

Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Cook according to the direction on the container of dinner rolls.  I watched them carefully and they only had to bake a little bit longer. 

 

                

 

These turned out DELICIOUS!!  So easy and quick.  Perfect for when I need something whipped up at the last minute for unexpected company .... or just when I need a cheese fix.

 

                    

 

Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!



Spring Cookies

Pin It

 

 

It's time for cookies!  Spring cookies at that.  Actually my Mom made these cookies quite a bit when I was growing up except she omitted the peanut butter.  Once they are made (either recipe) they are addicting and I have a difficult time passing by them without grabbing one or two. 

 

To make them look a little more like a 'spring' cookie, I added colored chocolate eggs to make them appear like a little bird's nest. 

 

 

Oh so easy and oh so tasty!

 

Now I could not find my original recipe so I turned to Pinterest and there it was .... first one that popped up after I hit the search button.  I do want to give credit to the website where I copied the recipe from and Morgan from One More Moore had the recipe I wanted.

 

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Spring Nest Cookies

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup butter

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 - 3 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

2 teaspoons vanilla

 

Add the first four ingredients in a saucepan. 

 

 

Bring to a rolling boil and boil for one minute.  Stir in the next three ingredients and drop onto wax paper.  Let cool until set.....now I dropped a tablespoon into little candy paper cups and added 2 candy coated chocolate eggs. 

 

 

They only take about 15 minutes to set enough to eat and eat we did! 

 

 

Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug! 

Two-Ingredient Lemon Bars

Pin It

 

 

 

Some of you know how much I love lemon and when I found a new recipe that involved lemon pie filling, well I just had to try it and it is oh so very easy!

 

 

I found the recipe through Pinterest of course and having the ingredients in the pantry, I set right to work.  The original pin was from Jessie over at Living Practically.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 box of angel food cake mix

1 can of lemon pie filling

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with cooking spray

 

Combine the angel food cake mix and the can of lemon pie filling in a large bowl.  Stir by hand just until moistened.  Do not over stir.

 

 

 

Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly.

 

Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes.  Mine took 25 minutes.

 

Remove from oven and lightly dust top of the lemon bars with powdered sugar.  Let cool, slice and serve.

 

 



 

The texture was that of an angel food cake, not gooey and juicy as I like my lemon bars to be.  It did have a wonderful subtle lemon flavor and I will definitely make it again when I need something quick for company.

 

 



Have fun baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

 

Mini Cheesecakes

Pin It


I am sure you have seen these everywhere and even made them yourself ..... mini cheesecakes!  I never have so craving something sweet sent me to the kitchen to whip up a batch!

I hunted around the fabulous place known as the web and although there were a ton of recipes, I wanted to use up some Nilla wafers that had been lying in the pantry for quite a while.

Mini Cheesecake Bites

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Nilla wafers

2 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (light if you want a lighter version)

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

large can of pie filling (the flavor is up to you!)

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 24 mini cupcake pan with paper liners.  ( I used a regular cupcake pan - now since I did that ...... the Nilla wafers weren't quite large enough to cover the bottom of the cupcake liner so I placed one whole wafer at the bottom and then crushed another wafer and sprinkled it around the whole wafer to fill in the holes and gaps - it worked well! )  If you do have a mini cupcake pan then just place a whole wafer at the bottom of each liner.

 

Using your mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time until well combined.  Stir in the vanilla.

 

Spoon the batter into each cup.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until the top is set.  Cool completely and then refrigerate for about 2 hours.  Top with pie filling ( I used blueberry ) and then you are ready to serve!  Refrigerate the leftovers .... if there are any!

 

These are so yummy, quick and easy to make ... you can see the original recipe here. I will definitely make these again when having company or for when I have to bring a dessert to a function. 

 

Have fun baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!



Amish Country Bread

Pin It

 

 

 

 

Homemade bread.  Nothing tastes or smells better than bread baking in the oven.  I remember my Grandma baking bread.  She always wore an apron.....I don't think I had ever seen her without one.  I remember her hands kneading the bread and making sure the loaves had risen just right. 

 

My Grandma wouldn't just bake a loaf or two.  Oh no!! When she made bread, she made sure it would last the week and with a ton of grandchildren running in and out every day between haying, feeding the chickens and playing in the barn ..... well let's just say there had to be a LOT of bread.  We would get hungry, you know! 

 

I am always on the lookout for new bread recipes.  I have tried many.  Some have failed and some have been a success.  I can't say there is just one I use consistently.  I like trying different recipes.  So .....

 

 

 

I found another one.  This link showed up on my Pinterest page and well, in memory of my Grandma, I donned my apron and I just had to give it a try. I was thankful I did.

 

 

 

Amish Country Bread

 

 

Ingredients:

 

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons butter

3 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups of hot water

2 tablespoons of rapid rise yeast

5 cups of flour

 

Directions:

 

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl (or in the KitchenAid mixer if you have one) and let it sit for a few minutes so, as Lindsey likes to say, "the yeast can do it's thing". 

 

Add the flour in small batches and mix with a wooden spoon until all flour is added, then turn onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or dough is smooth and elastic (or mix with a dough hook for 8 to 10 minutes if using a KitchenAid). 

 

Place dough in a well greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size (approximately 30 minutes if your kitchen is warm). 

 

Punch down and divide in half into 2 rounds and place on a well greased cookie sheet.  Cut decorative slits in top.  Let dough rise again. 

 

 

Rub an egg white wash (1 egg white + 1 tablespoon water) over the top and sprinkle with kosher salt.  I added parmesan sprinkled on the top at this point. You can also sprinkle dried rosemary. 

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 17 to 20 minutes.

 



 

It makes a flat(er) round loaf.  Ours did not last long.  In fact the two loaves did not make it to include it with dinner.

 

Delicious. 

 

Have fun baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!