My Best White Bread - Craving Baking

I think I am a die hard

carboholic,

especially when it is cold outside.

There is something about the cold

that makes me want to start baking.

And we have had our share of

cold and snow this winter.

(My back deck earlier this winter!)

Give me the oven and let me start baking.

I don't know about you, but for me

a fresh baked loaf is a dangerous

situation.  One slice, just to taste,

another slice with butter, better

have two more in a sandwich

(Mayo, tomato, and fresh basil - killer!)

and soon half the loaf is gone

and I don't have anyone to blame it on!

So this recipe makes three loaves and 

I am going to have to give away

two to the neighbors!

LUCKY THEM!!

Best White Bread Recipe

11 C. all purpose flour

1 1/2 T. SAF yeast (bread yeast)

3/4 C. vegetable oil

3 T. honey

1 1/4 C. powdered milk

1 T. salt

4 C. warm water

In large Kitchenaid or bread mixer

place all of the ingredients and mix with the

kneading hook for 5-10 minutes or until smooth

and elastic.  (With the bread yeast you don't have

to dissolve the yeast in the warm water.)  If

you don't have bread yeast, place the yeast and

water in the bowl first. 

Remove the bread dough hook.

Spray the dough with Pam and cover it

with plastic wrap and let it rise until 

double, usually about one hour.

Divide the dough into three equal parts.  I like

to weigh mine so they really are equal.

This will make 3 - 2 lb loaves.

I  roll mine out into an oblong on a lightly

flour counter just

using my hands and I keep tucking the

ends in and pinching the back seam

together until I have a loaf about the

length of my pan.

Place the bread in three pans sprayed

with Pam.

I love these pans I got at 

the Bosch store.

Cover the loaves lightly

with a towel or paper towel

and let rise until the loaves are

1 1/2 - 2 inches above the pans.

Get down on eye level and check that.  

It usually takes less time for the second

rise, about 40 minutes, but make sure they

are that far above the pan to get a nice tall loaf.

Place in a preheated oven at 

325 for 30-35 minutes.

Remove from pan and let cool.

Click here for printable recipe.

Now, just be careful to not eat

the whole loaf.  I know it is hard

but try!

Bloomin' Bacon Cheddar Ranch Bread

Unlike me, you have probably already

been making these bloomin' loaves

in all flavors and varieties!

I have been pinning them, but until my

friend Rachel made a couple, I hadn't

done anything but drool over the pictures.

She had seen the recipe on 

a local TV show 

(the one I got to appear on, Studio Five)

and had saved the recipe.

When we decided to have a dinner party

 she wanted to know

what I wanted her to make, 

I suggested this

Bloomin' Bacon Cheddar Ranch Bread

from

Christy Denney

at

The Girl Who Ate Everything

(Don't you love that blog name?)

I am just wondering if her

blog name reflects the nature of this

bread, because we sure ate up 

every bit of two loaves and were

scraping for crumbs!!!

EVERYTHING!

It is that good!  And it is so easy too.

Bloomin' Bacon Cheddar Ranch Bread

1 round unsliced loaf of sourdough bread

(Can I just say. if you are like us you 

had better start right now and double

this recipe?!!)

8-12 slices cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 rounded Tablespoon dry Ranch Dressing Mix

2 Tablespoons chopped green onions

Prepared Ranch Dressing for dipping if desired

Preheat the oven to 350.

Using a serrated knife slice the bread lengthwise

and widthwise being careful not to cut through

the bottom crust.  Place the bread on a foil-lined

baking sheet.  Insert the cheese slices between cuts

and sprinkle the bacon between cuts and on top

of the bread.  

Mix the melted butter and the dry Ranch Dressing

mix and drizzle between cuts and on top of

the bread.  Wrap the bread up completely

in another piece of foil.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

Unwrap the bread and bake another 5-10 minutes

or until the cheese is melted.

Eat while hot and melty!!  

Super Yum.

Serve with prepared Ranch Dressing if desired.

This makes one loaf,

but I am warning you, you

might want two!

Click here for a printable recipe.

So if you have been like me and have

just been drooling over pictures

of the various Bloomin' Breads

get to the store and make one this week!

This will be a family favorite.

Thanks Rachel!

Dutch Oven Potato Rolls

Fall is here and the colors are vibrant.  Each

fall we head up the canyon and do a dutch oven

dinner and enjoy the leaves.  This is just 10 minutes from my home.

These wonderful rolls are always on the menu.  They are 

so soft, they just melt in your mouth.  We usually have to make

two pans of these.  Couldn't you just live on hot rolls?

Of course you could make them in a pan in the oven too.

Dutch Oven Potato Rolls

1 C. warm water

1/2 C. sugar

1 T. yeast

Mix the above and set aside to let soften.

1/2 C. instant potatoes

1/2 C. warm water

Mix the above and add to the yeast mixture.

1 tsp. salt

1/2 C. shortening

2 eggs, well beaten

2 C. flour

Add the above and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Add 3 C. additional flour and knead for 5 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl and cover and let rise until

double, usually about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and shape into 12 balls.

Grease 10-12 inch dutch oven or line with parchment paper, or you

could use a 9x12 inch pan. 

Cover and let rise until double.  

Prepare coals about 30-45 minutes before you are ready to bake

the  rolls.  Place 10 hot coals on the bottom of the pan and 12

on the top of the pan.  Bake about 15 -20 minutes.  Check for over

browning especially on the bottom.  If they are getting brown on the

bottom too quickly remove them from the bottom coals and just

let the top coals finish baking them.
(If you are baking them in the oven, bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.)

When done baking, butter the tops.

I usually drive up the canyon ahead of time
just to make sure the colors are perfect as I did today.

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful colors of fall.

I will be posting a few more dutch oven dishes as we

continue to enjoy this short wonderful season.

Homemade Burger Buns and Deep Fried Pickles

Is your family big on summer grilling?  We are and

we love burgers at our home.  I really like a great 

bun on a great burger.  The white fluff you buy at the store

doesn't really hold up to a hefty hand formed patty.

I had a recipe for hamburger buns years ago and lost it.  

 Last summer I tried several

recipes and didn't like them.  Then when I was making

my Homemade White Bread one time I decided to

try the dough for buns.  Click on the above for the complete

recipe and instructions.

We loved it.  

The nice thing was they were perfect fresh that day 

but they froze well too.

The perfect size for a hamburger bun is the wide mouth

jar lid.  Roll the dough out about 1/2 inch thick.

I do all my baking on parchment paper.  It really helps to keep

the baked goods from browning too much on the bottom and 

you don't want your buns overbaked!

Let them rise about 20-30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake about 15 minutes or until just pale golden.

I brushed mine with an egg wash and topped some with

poppy seeds and some with sesame seeds and left some plain.

Build a better burger with a homemade bun.

(This burger is also topped with a fried egg - it was my son's creation.)

My son Marcus loves to cook and he makes us fried pickles.

I asked him for his recipe and he said, "No, it is a family secret!"

But..... he relented and gave me his recipe.

Deep Fried Pickles

1 jar dill pickle slices - drained and dried off

Set the pickles aside.

Make an egg wash with

 1 egg, 2 T. milk and 1 T. flour

Stir the wash with a whisk until the lumps are gone.

Make seasoned flour by mixing

flour

salt and pepper

garlic powder

Bring 2 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees.

Dip the dried pickles in the egg wash and then

into the seasoned flour.  Fry about 8-10 at a time

until golden.  Drain on paper towel.  

He says he likes to taste the dill so he doesn't use a lot

of seasoning in the flour.

I told him I had never heard of mixing flour into an egg wash

and he said that he had read somewhere that if you add the 

flour then the seasoned flour sticks to it and he is right

Give these a try for a BBQ.  They are always a hit and we

use up a whole jar every time.

(He uses this same recipe on his chicken fingers - yum!)

(See how amazing the coating is?)

I will be posting with

Foodie Friday

On The Menu Monday

Best Homemade White Bread Loaf and My First Tomato

Ahhh..... the aroma of homemade bread - what could be better?

I will tell you - fresh bread with my first fresh tomato from the garden!

My first tomato is always celebrated

and I honor the occasion by making a tomato sandwich with it.

Nobody in my family loves the homegrown tomatoes the way I do.

It is one of those childhood things!

In the past I have always tried buying one of the big tomato

plants in the gallon containers but they don't produce

tomatoes any quicker than the little ones.  

This year I kept the plant in the house in my big

curved kitchen window and it was like having it

in a greenhouse.

I had my first tomatoes in the second week of June.

Now for some of you that isn't early but for us, that

is at least a month if not six weeks early.

Fresh tomatoes have to have homemade white bread, so I had to

make up a batch in honor of my tomatoes.  

Speaking of childhood memories - 

This is what I used to bring to school for my lunch

in the fall.  I would bring a knife and cut my fresh tomato

at school.  Of course now I would have to bring a

 plastic knife.  

I didn't want the bread to get soggy so I cut it there at school.

It is still my favorite lunch in the summer but I have upped

the flavor with basil mayonnaise.  Wow, what a difference

a little basil makes.

Basil Mayonaise

Just put through your food processor 1/2 C. mayo and

2 T. fresh basil and grind until the basil is blended in.

Now for the recipe for the best homemade white bread I have ever had.

Best White Bread

(I received this recipe from a friend when our church youth were

going on a pioneer trek.  She was to make it in a dutch oven.  She 

didn't make bread so wanted me to show her how.  I told her there

was no way you could make this much bread in one dutch oven. 

I told her to cut it in half and bake two loaves.  She did and she

was the only one with successful bread on the trek. 

 Everyone else's was burned on the top and bottom and gooey in the middle.

  It pays to practice.  I thought it was the most amazing white bread

I had ever had and we have been making it since.)

11 C. all purpose flour

1 1/4 C. powdered milk (a great way to use up your food storage

of powdered milk)

1 1/2 T. SAF yeast (bread yeast)

3/4 C. vegetable oil

3 T. honey

1 T. salt

4 C. warm water

Place all of the above in the large mixing bowl of your Kitchenaid

or other mixer with a dough hook.  Let the dough mix and knead for

10 minutes.  Remove the dough hook and place in a large bowl lightly

sprayed with cooking spray.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 

until double - usually about 1- 1 1/2 hours.  Punch down and divide

into three equal portions.  Shape into loaves and place in greased

one pound bread loaf pans - 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches.

  Let rise until double - I like to get down on eye level and

make sure the bread is at least 1 1/2 inches above the top of the pan.

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake about 30-35 minutes.

Take it out of the pan and let it cool on a rack.  If you bottom seems underdone,

put it back in the pan and bake it another 5 minutes or so.

Makes 3 loaves of bread.

Garden fresh tomatoes + homemade bread = a match made in Heaven.

I bought this handy Presto Bread Slicing Guide years ago.  Using an electric

knife, I can slice even slices of homemade bread quickly.  It makes for much

nicer sandwich bread. You can find these online by clicking on the above link.

(I think there are cheaper variations out there, but this is the one I have had for years.

I was surprised at the price.  Feel free to choose a different one.  It is a perfect 

gadget if you make your own bread.) 

 If you don't make your own bread, give it a try

it really is easy.  Yes, it takes a little time but fit the steps in between doing other things.

Tips:

Make sure your water is warm, not cold or hot by running it over the inside of your wrist.

Let the dough be sticky.  It should pull away from the bowl but don't put in

so much flour that it leaves the bowl clean.  The softer the dough, the softer the bread.

Take the time to let it rise.  If it over-rises, just punch it down.  It is fine.

Use a one pound bread pan to get a nice shaped loaf. A one pound measures about

8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4.  Many loaf pans are one pound and a half and if you use

those, make only 2 loaves with this bread recipe.  You will probably need to bake 

it longer.

Take the time to let it rise in the pan.  Get down to eye level with the

bread and be sure it has risen above the pan a good inch and a half.

I think this is where most people fail and they get a small loaf.

Don't underbake.  You want it baked all the way through.

I will be posting with

Foodie Friday

On The Menu Monday

Macaroni Grill Bread

(No, I didn't sign my name backwards like they do

at the restaurant - I am lucky to be able to sign it

 at all using more than 1 crayon at a time!)

Doesn't the warm, aromatic bread at 

Macaroni Grill make you throw all

low carb intentions aside?  It does that to me!

I am a confessed breadaholic and I

have seen recipes around the web for this

wonderful Macaroni Grill Bread

which is stuffed full of dried rosemary,

crisp on the outside and

 light and fluffy on the inside. 

After reading several, I tried this one

from Fresh Loaf.

Macaroni Grill Bread

1 C. warm water

1 1/2 tsp. dried yeast

3 T. olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 T. dried rosemary

2 1/2 C. flour

Place water and yeast in the bottom of your

mixer bowl and add all of the other ingredients.

Mix with the dough hook for about 5 minutes.

Oil bowl and then cover and let raise until

double, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

I wanted somewhat square loaves like

they serve, so I shaped the entire dough

into an oblong and cut it in half and then cut off

the opposite ends to make it the shape I wanted.

Brush the top of the loaves with olive oil and

then sprinkle with kosher salt and dried rosemary.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for

20-25 minutes. 

It was perfect!  I was afraid of that much

dried rosemary, but the texture, the flavor,

everything was wonderful.

Serve it with great olive oil that you add

a little cracked pepper to, and a little balsamic

vinegar if you want.

My niece dropped by and had some and

she fell in love with it too.  It is so 

quick and easy to make and you could

keep one loaf and take one to a neighbor!

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

Whole Wheat Bread - Debbiedoos Magazine Copy Cat Challenge

(Magazine covered created by Jacqueline -

no affiliation with Southern Living Magazine.)

Debbie at Debbiedoos is having a magazine

copy cat challenge.

This entry comes from a photo class I

took to improve my food photography

skills.  (I am still working on that!)  The

photo class was from Nicole Hill Gerulat.

Nicole does some online classes and also

travels and does classes.  Last year she offered

a photo class in France (alas I couldn't go!)

We had to produce a magazine cover

using our photography and make it

look just like one of their real magazines

using copy and style.  I decided to

make a recipe and turn it into a

magazine cover.

This is my whole wheat bread recipe that is my

very favorite.  My kids used to say,

  "Make the whole wheat

bread that tastes like white!"

My mother used to bake bread every Saturday

and we would stand by her side, practicing

kneading and make little loaves.

Let me tell you, her whole wheat bread

was never that great, but she didn't have

the incredible wheat mills and mixers

that are available today.  That is part of

the secret of this bread.

I have a Grain Master Whisper Mill  

that I bought

from Bosch.  I think they sell a different one

now, but their mills are amazing and you can

make 100% whole wheat bread that is as light

and fluffy as bread made with half white.

My Favorite Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

In heavy duty mixer bowl place

3 heaping C. whole wheat flour

2 T. bread yeast (I use SAF)

1 T. dough enhancer (gluten - if you

can't find that use 1 egg white)

2 T. sugar

2 T. oil

1 tsp. salt

Add

scant 1 1/2 C. warm water.  

Let the mix knead with the bread dough hook

for about 5-10 minutes.  Cover and let rise until

double - about 1 1/2 hours.  Shape into a loaf

and let rise in a greased pan.

TRICK TO BREAD - get down on the eye level

of the bread pan.  The bread should have risen

about 1 to 1 1/2 inches (the size of your knuckle)

above the top of the pan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from pan and let cool on a cooling rack.

I like to butter the top of the bread like my

mom used to.

 (Another shot without all of the pretend

magazine cover material.)

Can you tell the cool weather is here?  I am

baking breads again - my form of nesting!

I will be posting this at

Debbiedoos Magazine Challenge

Foodie Friday

On The Menu Monday

Pizza Factory Breadsticks

 Have you noticed that some restaurants

become famous for the breads they

serve and the bread is why you want

to go there again and again.

Pizza Factory here in Utah is

like that, they are famous for their twisted

breadsticks.

I have been wanting to make them

for years.  I knew they had to hang them

somehow as there is no flat side to

the twist.  What did I see one day

on Pinterest?  Yes, Pizza Factory Breadsticks.

Bits Of Everything

had posted a recipe for them using skewers

and hanging them on the edge of a 9x13 

cake pan.  Yup!  That sounded like a great

way to do them, so we gave them a try.

(They also used Rhodes rolls - 2 for each one.

I made them that way, then went to Pizza Factory

and decided to do mine with a homemade dough.

 I thought homemade tasted more authentic -

but do whichever you want!)

Pizza Factory Twisted Breadsticks

1 T. yeast

2 T. sugar

1 1/2 C. warm water

1 T. oil

1 tsp. salt

3 1/2 C. flour

3/4 C. melted butter - divided

3/8  tsp. granulated garlic

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary leaves

1/4 tsp. Season All

1 T. Parmesan cheese

8  - 1/4 inch wooden dowels

cut into 18 inch lengths (craft store)

or 8 - 12 inch skewers 

I tried them both ways and decided

I wanted the long wooden dowels like

Pizza Factory uses, but the skewers worked too.

Mix the yeast, sugar and water and

let sit for a couple of minutes to dissolve

the yeast.  Add the oil, salt and flour and

knead by hand or with your mixer with a

dough hook for about 5 minutes.

Cover and let rise until double.

Divide dough into 8 equal parts,

about 4 oz. each if you want to use

a kitchen scale.

Lightly flour your hands and roll

the dough into about an 16-18 inch

long "snake".  Moisten the top of your

dowel or skewer and begin wrapping

the dough around loosely.  Moisten a little where

the breadstick will end too.   Pinch to secure

the dough at the top and bottom.  Leave about

5 inches at the end of the dowel, if you are using

the longer dowels.

Hang over the edge of a 9x13 inch cake

pan with all of the dough inside the pan.

Let them rise until doubled.

Brush with 1/4 C. melted butter.

Heat oven to 375.  Bake at 375 for 

about 15- 20 minutes or until just golden.

Meanwhile mix the remaining 1/2 C. melted butter,

seasonings and parmesan cheese.

When the breadsticks come out of the

oven, brush them with the seasoned melted

butter mixture.

The butter just sizzled when I

brushed it on the hot from the oven breadsticks.

Printable Recipe

Aaaahhh.... best served hot and fresh.

I am such a bread addict!

Pizza Factory's breadsticks are all about

presentation - they place theirs standing

upright in a cute ceramic jar.  I placed

mine in a tin bucket lined with brown

parchment paper.

They definitely received oohs and aahs as

the family walked in for Sunday dinner.  I love
baking bread once the weather starts to cool down!

These will be a new family favorite and

we don't even have to go out to get them

I will be posting with

Foodie Friday

On The Menu Monday