KEEPING HOME BAKED BREAD FRESH

During the summer it is hard to keep bread from getting too hot and molding quickly, especially when it is home made or with out preservatives.

To help try to keep the bread fresh a bit longer, wrap any leftovers in wax paper, then an airtight storage bag and store in the refrigerator.

This will only extend the life for a day or two, so make sure that you eat any fresh bread as soon as possible to minimize waste.

If you don't think that you are going to be able to eat all of the bread before it goes bad, using a knife or a pizza cutter cut the bread into 1/2 inch cubes and set out to dry for a day or two in a well ventilated area. You can then place them into an airtight storage container. Now when a recipe asks for breadcrumbs all you have to do is crush the bread and add to your recipe. You can also use the bread cubes for croutons or stuffing.

PIPIN' HOT MUFFINS

If you want your muffins to be nice and hot when you serve your meal, just make up the muffin recipe and fill the cups according to the directions.

Place the prepared muffins in the tin into the refrigerator.

Take a look at the muffin recipe and determine how long the muffins need to cook before serving, calculate about when you need to pop them in the oven.

Place the muffins in the oven and bake them so that they are done when the rest of the meal is ready.

Serve in a bowl that has been lined and covered with a towell or cloth napkin.

SOFTER BREAD

If you are having problems with keeping your bread soft. You have tried all the fancy breadboxes and quick fixes, but nothing really seems to be working. Try this quick tip to keep it moister.

When I get my bread home, I remove the plastic or wire clip that is keeping the bag closed with a tightly closing kitchen clip. This will help keep your bread fresh for at least 3-4 days.

If you don't use bread very often and want it to stay soft for about a week or so, try placing a cleaned and dried stalk of celery into the bag with the bread and tightly seal it. The bread will remain softer because the celery provides just a bit of moisture.

When keeping bread for longer than 4-5 days, spot check before each use for any mold that might be forming.

POTATO BREAD

The next time that you boil potatoes for dinner, save the water after to potatoes are cooked.

Cool the water and store it in tightly sealed containers in the refrigerator or the freezer.

Now when you make yeast bread, use the potato water instead of regular water.

The potato water will help keep the bread fresh for a longer period of time after it has baked and it will increase the volume while giving the bread a coarse texture.

CHERRY BROWNIES

If you want to jazz up a regular old brownie mix, break out the cherry cola.

Using a regular box for chocolate cake mix, make it up as per the instructions, except replace the water with Cherry Cola.

If you don’t have any Cherry Cola, add Maraschino Cherry Juice to the water.

Easy Garlic Bread

You have just made a wonderful dinner, but found that you forgot to prepare some rolls.

To make quick and easy garlic bread, use any bread that you might have lying around the kitchen.

Hamburger buns, hotdog buns and bread work great.

Cut them in half down the middle if not already split.

Butter each strip, sprinkle with garlic powder, and shredded cheese.

Toast in a toaster oven for 4-5 minutes or Broil in a regular oven (watching closely) for 1-2 minutes until cheese melts, and just starts to brown.

Your family will love the change.

MUFFIN MAGIC

When making muffins or bread there is a quick and easy way to chop nuts coarsely.

Place the desired quantity of nuts into a plastic zip lock bag and place on the counter, using firm pressure crush the nuts with a rolling pin.

Now just dump the nuts into the batter and toss the bag.

BREAD CLEANUP

The hardest part of cleaning up after making bread is cleaning the bowls and the mixer or bread machine paddles.

To expedite cleaning, once you have completed using the utensils, place them in a warm bowl of water to soak for 15 or 20 minutes.

This will soften up all of the dried on flour, and now you can rinse extra dough off and clean as normal.

PANCAKE/WAFFLE TIPS

When making pancakes or waffles, combine all of the ingredients into a blender and puree until mixed. Now you can pour the batter onto the hot Waffle Iron or Griddle and have less to cleanup after the meal as well as a lump free breakfast.

Made too much? Not a problem! Just cool the extra pancakes and waffles on a wire rack. When cool, place in plastic freezer bags and freeze. Now when you want a hot breakfast in a rush, just pop into the toaster or a toaster oven to re-heat.

Risen Enough??

You are making bread and it has to raise before baking. So how do you know if it has risen enough?

There is a simple little test that you can do that will determine if it is done rising.

Take 2 fingers and press into the top of the dough about 1/2 inch. Pull your fingers out and take a look at the holes.

If the indent remains your dough should be ready for shaping and baking.

Raising Yeast

You need to let some dough rise, but the house is too cold and it will not rise in time for dinner.

If you have a dishwasher that is clean and empty, you can set your cycle to dry. When it warms up inside, place the dough in a large bowl inside.

Close the door and turn off the heat. You can check on it after the alotted time and it should have raised to perfection.

Raising Yeast Bread

You need to raise your bread, but you don't really have a warm spot that you can use right now. Here is a tip for people who have a cooking stone.

While you are making your bread, preheat your oven to 350. When you have your bread ready to rise, turn off your oven and remove the stone. Place the stone on a rack or a pad and cover with a thick towel.

Now place your pan of bread onto the stone and let rise as normal. The heat from the stone will continue to radiate to rise your bread.

Square Biscuits

You love to make biscuits, but when you are making them round, toward the end they are fairly tough because you had to rework the dough so many times to make all the little circles.

You can easily make biscuits perfect every time by patting your dough out as normal, except grab a pizza cutter or a sharp knife.

Cut your biscuits into squares and transfer to your baking sheet and bake as normal.

Savory Pancakes

When you are making breakfast for your family, have a little bit of fun.

Fry up some bacon and break into small pieces.

Now just before adding your pancake batter to the griddle, drop on some bacon bits.

Pour on your batter and cook according to your recipe.

These make a savory treat in the morning for even the pickiest of eaters.

When is it Doubled

When you are preparing your recipe, you see that it tells you to let the bread double in bulk.

How can you tell when it is doubled?

Find a large translucent container and drop your dough into it.

Using a grease pencil or a rubber band, indicate where the top of the dough is in the container right after placing it in.

Now after an hour or so, check on it and you should be able to easily tell when it is twice as bag as it was when you started.

Pizza Crust Creation

Your family loves pizza, and it is actually one of the healthier things that you can bake for dinner, but what can you do to make it tastier and healthier?

When making your own homemade pizza crust, try substituting one cup of wheat flour for your regular flour.

This will add a great texture and taste to your crust.

Your family will love it!

HOMEMADE FRUIT BREADS

Ahhh, we all know and love the smell of fresh baked fruit bread. It does taste fabulous fresh out of the oven, but there is a better way to serve it! After you make your bread, let it cool on the counter. Once it is room temperature, wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap or foil and let it sit overnight. The next morning when you open it and slice it, you will have a nice firm loaf that tastes fabulous. By letting it sit overnight the flavors will fully develop for a great loaf of bread.

After you make your bread, let it cool on the counter.

Once it is room temperature, wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap or foil and let it sit overnight.

The next morning when you open it and slice it, you will have a nice firm loaf that tastes fabulous.

By letting it sit overnight the flavors will fully develop for a great loaf of bread.

EASY BREAD CRUMBS

Not everyone likes the heels of bread, this is an easy way to use them up.

Take the heels of the bread or any extra slices that might be a bit stale and place them into a large ziplock bag into the freezer.

When you have a recipe that askes for bread crumbs, grab your bag out of the freezer.

Break the bread into pieces and drop into your food processor or blender.

Process and now you have instant bread crumbs.

CROUTONS

You are making up a fabulous salad and you want to throw on some croutons. Don't go out to the store and buy the stale ol' box of croutons, make your own fresh, it is really simple.

Take out a few pieces of fresh bread, and using your pizza cutter or a sharp knife cut it into 1/2 inch cubes.

Spread them out onto a shallow baking pan and bake in a 350º preheated oven for 30 minutes or so until they are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool on wire racks.

If you want to spice it up a bit, melt a tablespoon of butter for each slice of bread and toss your bread cubes in it before baking.

Then toss in 1/4 tsp garlic powder and a dash of salt for each slice of bread.

Bake in a preheated 300º oven for about 30 minutes.

Let cool on wire racks and store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.

To perk up a bit before each use, reheat in a preheated 300º oven for 5-8 minutes until crisp again.

I allow about 2/3 piece of bread for each serving because I just love croutons!

PERFECT MUFFINS

When making cupcakes or muffins, you can make them all the same size by using an ice cream scoop to fill your cups.

If you don’t end up using all of the holes in the pan it can warp your pans if you cook with empty cups.

Fill any unused cups half full of water, or buy some baking pebbles and place in the empty cups. These can be found in cooking specialty stores near the pie supplies.

BUTTERING BREAD FAST

If you are having a large get together and you need to make a large amount of bread that needs to be buttered you may not want to spend the whole afternoon buttering each piece.

Instead you can microwave the butter for about 20 seconds, stir it and if necessary microwave again at 10 second incriments until melted.

Now all you have to do is pick up a pastry brush and paint the bread!

YEAST BREAD CRUST OPTIONS

When you are making home made yeast bread you can try this if you want soft, evenly browned, but not shiny crust.

Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter just after the second raising and just before baking. This will give your bread a golden matte look.

If you want a shiny crust, combine 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of milk in a small bowl. Just after the second raising, and just before baking, brush the top of the bread with the mixture. When you bread is done baking you will have shiney evenly browned crust.

EXTENDING BREAD LIFE

If you are like me, you are always trying to think economically, and sometimes you will have bread that goes bad before you get a chance to use it all.

Most purchased breads can be stored in the refrigerator past the expiration date that they have printed on the package.

Seal the bread tightly in an air proof plastic bag.

Your bread will be a bit firmer when serving, therefore will still be good for sandwiches and snacks and it will still taste fresh.

Once you notice that you are 5 days past expiration, monitor it closely for any mold or decay.

SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST

It is time for another great sourdough recipe to use with your starter. This is a great change from your normal pizza, but read the instructions carefully first as the prep is a little different.

Preheat your oven to 500º f. In a large non-reactive bowl, combine 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 teaspoon Salt, 1 ½ cup Flour and 1 ½ cup Sourdough Starter. Mix well with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combined and the dough forms into a ball.

Set the bowl aside and let the dough sit for about 20 minutes. You are not waiting for it to rise; you are just letting it rest so that it is easier to work with.

Lightly flour a surface and place the dough in the center. Sprinkle the dough with more flour and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to the size of your pan.

Lightly oil the pan and sprinkle on a light amount of corn meal. Fold the dough in half, then in half again and place on one quarter on the pan. Unfold the dough onto your baking pan.

Place the crust in the oven and bake for about 7 minutes. The crust will be slightly puffy and a touch of light browning will occur. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

While the crust is still warm, brush the crust with some olive oil or melted garlic butter.

Place your sauce and toppings on the pizza now as you usually would.

Now bake your creation for about 9-11 minutes, just until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Serve hot.

After dinner, don’t forget to refresh your starter with 1 ½ cup flour and 1 ½ cup water. Let sit out overnight loosely covered. Once the mixture is lightly bubbly, cover tightly and refrigerate until you use again.

INTERRUPTED BREAD RISING

If you are interrupted while making bread you can place the bread dough in the refrigerator for the first raising.

Cover the bread in it’s rising bowl tightly with plastic wrap.

You can let it sit for up to 8-10 hours.

The cool rising will help develop more texture and flavor than the standard rise.

When you are ready to bake the bread, simply remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch down the dough.

Shape into the pans that you have prepared and let rise again for at least an hour, or until the dough has risen again and it back to room temperature.

Bake per recipe.

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES

The sourdough recipes are back, sorry for the lapse! Hope you remembered to feed your starter even if you didn’t use it!

If you want to start out breakfast in a great way, make up some sourdough pancakes.

Grab a plastic or glass bowl, don’t forget, no metal for these guys.

Combine 1 cup of your sourdough starter, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 egg and 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix well with a wood or plastic spoon.

Add ¾ cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and a dash of salt. Mix until well combined.

You should see your batter beginning to rise in the bowl and bubble a bit. Let it sit while your griddle is preheating to 375º.

Grease your griddle well when it is hot and drop your batter onto the hot griddle with a small ladle, about 1/8 cup at a time.

When you see small bubbles appear all over the surface of you pancakes, flip over and cook for about 20-30 seconds.

If your pancakes are too thin, add a bit more flour. If they are too thick, add a bit of water or milk until you have reached the desired consistency.

When they are done cooking, place on a cookie sheet in a preheated oven set to 300º. When all the pancakes are made remove from the oven and serve to all.

This will serve 4-6 people depending on appetite.

SINKING NUTS IN BATTER

When you are making fresh bread and muffins with nuts or fruit in it, you will sometimes find that the nuts/fruit sink to the bottom before they set in the oven.

The next time that you are baking, take your nuts/fruit and roll them liberally in flour.

Mix up your batter per the recipe and just before baking fold in the nuts/fruit.

Pour directly into the baking dish and bake immediately.

The flour will help keep the fruit/nuts suspended so that they should not sink.

EASY BREAD RISING

When making yeast bread dough use nonstick cooking spray on the inside of the bowl that you will be using to raise the bread in.

Once the dough ball has been placed in the bowl, spray the top of the dough itself.

By doing this your bread will not be rising in a puddle of oil.

SOURDOUGH STARTER REVIVE

I was probably a bit vague on the last post for sourdough, so let me clarify a bit.

Whenever you use sourdough starter, you need to replenish what you use.

To replenish your mix, just figure out how much you used.

If you used 1 1/2 cups of mix, you will need to replenish the same amount.

In a non-reactive bowl, mix 3/4 cup flour with 3/4 cup water. (1 1/2 cups total)

Once this has been combined well, add it to your sourdough starter and combine them together well.

Let sit in a warm place loosley covered until you start to see bubbles appearing.

Usually 12-24 hours. At that time you can cover tightly and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use again.

SOURDOUGH BISCUITS

You have made up your sourdough starter last week and now it is time to use it! This is an easy way to make some impressive biscuits that taste great with any meal!

Don't forget to refresh your starter once you have made this recipe. Add 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour to your sourdough starter and mix well. Cover loosely with your lid and let sit in a warm place for up to 24 hours until the mixture is bubbly. Cover tightly and refrigerate again until ready for use.

Here is what you will need:
2 cups sour dough starter
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon of baking powder

This is how you will make them:
Place a large pan of water on medium-high heat so that it starts boiling.

In a large glass or plastic bowl, combine the Flour, Sugar, Soda, Salt, and Baking powder.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

Remove your sourdough starter from the refrigerator and mix well to combine if it has separated before measuring for your recipe.

Combine the milk and sourdough batter and mix well, then add to the dry ingredients and mix until it forms a ball.

Place the ball onto a heavily floured surface and knead gently until the dough is smooth, about 5 minutes.

Roll dough about 1 inch thick. Fold in half and roll again to 1 inch. Repeat this process for 3 or 4 more turns. This will give your biscuits a "flakey" texture. Flour your surface as needed to keep the dough from sticking.

Using a 2" circle cutter, or a juice glass, cut into circles.

Place about 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet or your favorite biscuit pan.

Place the pan of biscuits over the pot of boiling water and cover lightly with a soft clean towell and let rest for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 400º f.

Brush tops and sides of your biscuits lightly with some melted butter and bake for 15 minutes or until biscuits have puffed and are lightly brown.

Serves 4 - 6 depending on appetite!

PRESERVING YEAST

To extend the life of baking yeast, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 months past the expiration date.

If you do not use baking yeast very often, you can also keep it in the freezer for up to one year past the expiration date.

The expiration date is clearly marked on the packaging of the baking yeast when you buy it.

If you are going to freeze it, place the baking yeast in a tightly sealed plastic container.

Make sure that you bring it back to room temperature before using if you freeze it.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Sourdough is a cooks friend.

I you make up some starter, you will have a constant supply of good baking matereal.

Here is a quick and easy recipe to make up some starter along with some sourdough tips.

Find a large 2qt container that has a lid.

In a non-reative mixing bowl (plastic, glass, ceramic) combine 3 1/2 cups flour, 1pkg Active Dry Yeast and 2 cups warm water (105º-115º)

Using a wooden or plastic spoon, mix all ingredients well until there are no lumps.

Pour the mixture into your 2qt container and place the lid on with out sealing tightly.

Set in a warm place of your kitchen for 2-4 days.

Open it up and take a look, it is ready when you see bubbles.

Mix well with a wood or plastic spoon and cover tightly.

Now place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

It is ready to use this first day, but I usually refrigerate for an additional 2-3 days for convenience.

If I start the make the starter on a Sat, I use it on the following Sat.

Check for new posts each Saturday with new recipes and ideas for using your starter!

SWEETENED UP FRUIT BREAD

The next time that you are making up some fruit bread, try substituting the vanilla in your recipe with the same amount of maple syrup.

This will add a pleasant new flavor to your fruit bread.

STICKY RISING BREAD

When letting bread rise, most people will cover the bread with a clean cloth and place in a warm environment for the yeast to raise. When this is done, sometimes you will have problems with the dough rising to the cloth and sticking.

To help prevent this from happening, and to give your bread the best environment possible for raising, cover the bread first with a piece of plastic wrap that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray, then cover with your cloth and set in the warm enviroment to raise.

Now when the dough has doubled in bulk, simply remove the plastic wrap and towell and continue to prepare as the recipe requests.

STUFFING TIPS I

You want to make home made stuffing, so you go to the store and go to the bread aisle….. My oh my…. Lots of choices!

For starters, you don't want the cheapest bread that you can find. The more inexpensive breads lack the volume that is needed to make good firm stuffing.

You will want to pick sourdough, white, french, wheat, or sandwich bread. Give the bread a gentle squeeze. If it isn't real firm, but soft and squishy, you aren't going to want it for your stuffing.

Once you get it home grab the good ol pizza cutter or sharp knife and cut each piece of bread into about 3/4" cubes.

Let sit overnight uncovered on the counter, or you can bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes.

I prefer the overnight method as the bread has time to totally dry out letting it absorb all the moisture from your stuffing recipe.

You can prepare your stuffing at least 12 earlier than when you plan on baking your bird. Just prepare all of the dry ingredients and set aside, then prepare all of the wet ingredients and place in a covered container in your refrigerator. Just before you are ready to start cooking, just both the wet and the dry together.

STEWING OVER NO BEEF STEW MEAT?

You want to make a stew but you don’t have any beef stew meat ready to go.

You can sometimes save some money by making your own. The best cut for stew meat is usually a roast or round steak. When you go shopping browse the sales and see what is available.

When you get it home simply cut off any extra fat or marbling and cut the meat into 1 inch squares. I will place appropriate servings into tightly sealed bags and freeze. Now when I am ready to make up a stew, I just grab a bag and it is ready to go.

Fortunately you can use almost any cut of beef, chicken or pork for a stew. If you have unexpected company it is a great meal to serve as it tastes great and it extends supplies that you already have.

For an even more impressing meal, locate some bread bowls or "cannon ball" style bread. Cut out off the top 1/4 of the bread, hollow it out, serving the bread that you remove from the bowl with spinache dip as an appetizer. When ready to serve, just spoon stew into the bowl and serve piping hot.