Fall is Upon Us

I know I'm not ready for Fall to be here. I know the choices are not there and it's here regarless of whether I want it or not. Summer always seems to fly by so fast...too fast for my liking. This year was no exception. We didn't have much heat this year. I think the temperature made it up to 92*F the day we went to see the Elk herd, but that was it. Temperatures didn't climb to that point again. It got up to 88*F a few more times, but honestly nothing else. We've had a very wet, very cool summer this year.

With Fall being upon us, baking season has begun. Everything from quickbreads, to cookies, rolls and yeast breads are coming out of my oven. It's working overtime for me and I'm so blessed to have it. We're using up our stock of white flour slowly, but honestly if we hadn't had the stock, we probably would not have been able to pear down the food budget like we have. Yes, I use white flour. I know I need to use more wheat flour, but I believe I've made it to a point were if I used more wheat flour in my baking, my husband may not like it all that much. I've adjusted recipes and I believe I've attained the point at which his comfort zone is most likely to enjoy the higher fiber without compromising his taste.

Here is an example~ I love baking banana bread. When bananas get a little too brown, we toss them in the freezer for use in breads. I have taken my basic Betty Crocker banana bread recipe and looked at the white flour usage in it. I split the amount of white flour in to a little bit of oatmeal, mostly whole wheat flour and just enough white flour to keep things "ok" and not too heavy. I'll post it below to show you what I mean.

Banana Bread

1 Cup Sugar

5 1/3 TBSP [unsalted]butter, softened (No substitutions)

2 eggs

1 ½ cups or 3 Bananas

1/3 Cup Water

2/3 Cup All Purpose Flour

¼ Cup Oatmeal (Quick Oats)

¾ Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Salt

¼ tsp baking powder

½ cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350* F. Spray loaf pan with non stick canola oil spray. Cream sugar and butter together. Stir in eggs until blended. Add bananas & water; beat 30 seconds. Stir in remaining ingredients expect nuts just until moistened; stir in nuts. Pour into pans or muffin tins. Bake until wooden pick inserted comes out clean, loaf pans 45-75 minutes, muffins 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

Apple Sauce Bread

Use above recipe, but add 1 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups apple sauce.

Originally the recipe called for 1 2/3 cups of white flour. I split the 1 cup up between the oatmeal and whole wheat flour to give the recipe more fiber and B vitamins.

I recently made Pumpkin Bread too. I didn't have to do much at all to it because it already had whole wheat flour in it.

Pumpkin Bread

1 ½ Cups Wheat Flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp nutmeg

1 Cup Pumpkin (I used pumpkin I processed myself)

¾ Cup Honey

2 egg whites

2 TBSP Apple Sauce or Apple Juice (I used juice)

1 TBSP Canola Oil

1 TBSP Vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl. Then mix everything together until just moistened with a wire whisk. Bake 1 hour @ 350*F.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1C. vegetable oil
2 C. sugar
2C. shredded zucchini

Mix above together.

Add:

1 t. salt
3C. flour
1 t. baking soda
3 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. baking powder
3 t. vanilla
1 C. milk

Mix thoroughly. Pour into 2 loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs.

Yield: 2 loaves

Very moist and delicious!

Of course, none of this would be complete without my Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe. This is the recipe that I have the most fun with.

Earlier this week, I made one loaf of Whole Wheat Italian Herb bread in the bread machine. While that was going, I made my Honey Whole Wheat bread. By far, this is the most versatile bread recipe I've tried to date.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup Honey

½ Cup Coconut Oil (or Shortening)

1 ½ TBSP Salt

4 TBSP Yeast

6-8 Cups All-Purpose Flour

4 ½ Cups Warm Water (120-130*F)

Using DOUGH HOOK-Mix Whole Wheat Flour, honey, coconut oil (or shortening), salt & yeast in Bosche Mixer; Add warm water. Beat on low speed scraping bowl frequently. Add All-Purpose Flour one cup at a time, mixing between additions. Allow Boshe Mixer to knead dough for 10 minutes on high speed. Dough should be soft to the touch, but not stick to your finger when touched.

If it is still sticky, turn dough out on counter and knead in flour ½ cup at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

Spray Large metal bowl and place dough in it and turn dough around inside the bowl to coat the dough with the spray. Turn dough over and repeat. Place in warm oven (one that has been preheated to 200*F and turned off, but kept shut) for 1 hour to rise. Keep covered with a clean damp dishtowel.

After 1 hour, punch dough down. Knead about 10 times. For hamburger buns, weigh out 3 ounces of dough on the scale. Roll in to balls, place on baking stone or cookie sheet and flatten. Allow to rise until double in size. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown at 350*F.

For hot dog buns, weigh out 4 ounces of dough on the scale. Roll in to “snakes” about 6 to 8 inches long. Place “snakes” close together, but not touching. Allow to rise until double in size. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown at 350*F.

For bread loaves, spray loaf pans and place dough measured in to 4 equal parts in to loaf pan. Allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown at 350*F.

For dinner rolls, weigh 2 ounces of dough and place in muffin tin. Cut decorative top in to dough just barely in to the top in the form of an X. Allow to rise until double in size. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Well, it's time to go tend to my portion of the pizza the children are making for dinner. Enjoy!