Sunday, November 21, 2010

More Great Recipes

Yesterday was Alea's birthday party, I got many compliments on the menu, so I thought I would share.  I have been baking bread quite a lot lately so I decided to make sub sandwiches, pico de gallo & of course cupcakes. I also bought a few more things, veggies with dip and more chips.

I had been wanting to make bread for a really long time but for some reason I thought I either needed a bread machine or some special something and I didn't have either. I got a new cook book a couple of weeks ago and it had several bread recipes and once I read through them I realized that I didn't need anything special and it was super easy. The only thing I needed that I didn't always keep on hand was yeast.

White Bread

1/2 cup warm water (105- 115 degrees) + 1 teaspoon + 1/4 cup warm water for high altitude, I used 1% milk
1/2 cup warm milk (105- 115 degrees)

4 teaspoons sugar
1 envelope dry yeast (I found that rapid rise works best for high altitude)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

Combine the yeast, 1/2 cup milk,water and sugar. Let sit until foamy. This takes about 10 minutes.

FYI, I did all mine by hand.  I just put a Kitchen Aid mixer on my Christmas list, even though this is easy I can't imagine how much easier it would be with a nice mixer! Add the flour and salt and stir until doughy. I added the additional 1/4 cup of warm water here for high altitude. Sprinkle flour on your work surface and cover your hands in flour. Lay out your dough and knead for 5-10 minutes until well mixed, smooth and no longer sticky.
Spray a bowl with cooking spray and put your ball of dough in your bowl. Spray the top of your dough with cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
 Let sit for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
Sprinkle work surface with flour and punch down the dough (yep I literally punch!). Now decide what you want your bread to look like. For the sub sandwiches, I just used a cookie sheet but use a bread pan or whatever you want. If you want small individual sandwich bread cut your dough accordingly. I left mine and just made it into a long rectangle for the subs. This pic was taken a different day when I made a bakery loaf and sandwich bread. Spray your pan with cooking spray as well as spray the top of the dough. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
Let sit about an hour or until or doubles in size. Remove plastic wrap and brush with the teaspoon of milk. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. This is high altitude baking time. Just watch it and once it browns, remove and tap, if it sounds hollow, it is probably done. The outside will be hard but will soften once it is removed.
Eat Up, so yummy!

I sliced my bread length wise. I made with turkey and swiss and ham and american subs with tomato and lettuce. They must have been good since we didn't bring any home!

I also did a Honey Wheat Bread.

1 cup warm water + 1/4 cup warm water
4 teaspoons honey
1 envelope yeast
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt

Combine the yeast, water and honey. Let sit until foamy about 10 minutes. See pics above.
-Add both flours, salt and additional 1/4 cup water if at high altitude. Stir until doughy.
-Sprinkle flour on your work surface and cover your hands in flour. Lay out your dough and knead for 5-10 minutes until well mixed, smooth and no longer sticky.
-Spray a bowl with cooking spray and put your ball of dough in your bowl. Spray the top of your dough with cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
-Let sit for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

-Sprinkle work surface with flour and punch down the dough.  Decide what you want your bread to look like. For the sub sandwiches, I just used a cookie sheet and made a rectangle but you can use a bread pan or whatever you want.
-Spray your pan with cooking spray as well as spray the top of the dough. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
-Let sit about an hour or until or doubles in size. Remove plastic wrap and brush with the teaspoon of milk. --Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. This is high altitude baking time. Just watch it and once it browns, remove and tap, if it counds hollow, it is probably done. The outside will be hard but will soften once it is removed.
-Enjoy!

Pico-de-Gallo

Diced onions, I used about half of a white or yellow onion but you can use more or less depending on how much you like
Diced tomatoes, I use approximately 3 medium size any kind is good
Chopped Cilantro, again use as much as you like
Lime, I squeeze about half of a super juicy one or all if it is not so juicy

Salt, pepper, coriander, garlic salt or powder
2 teaspoons Canola oil

Stir everything until combined. This only is good for about 24 hours. Perfect with chips. It is great on any type of tacos, I especially love it on fish or shrimp tacos. Enjoy! So incredibly delicious and healthy too!

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 cup softened butter
8 oz package of cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar (use can use the whole bag if you like, I prefer almost the whole bag.
food coloring in your kids favorite color

Mix it all up and adjust the color as the birthday girl sees fit. I also have a icing bag to apply the icing. It makes it look soooo much nicer than just using a knife.
I didn't take any pics of the whole spread, actually I didn't take many pics at all but here are a couple.

Hope you like these easy recipes. I am all about easy! Happy Sunday!

And don't forget to enter our giveaway!

No comments:

Post a Comment