Dinner roll update

O.K., guys...this is how much I love you all. I've made 3 batches (yes, three) of whole wheat rolls this morning to make sure a half-batch will work and compare the results using dough enhancer vs gluten. The absolute best rolls were made with the gluten rather than dough enhancer, and with the yeast increased to 2-1/2 tsp. I cut the ingredient amounts in half, which would fit in the smallest bread machines. The half batch made exactly 12 medium-size rolls. The gluten gives the best rise and makes the lightest, largest rolls. Mmmmm...

The flatter roll was made with dough enhancer, the other with gluten.



Replacing the gluten with dough enhancer (1 Tbs for a half batch) also made a beautiful dough, but the rolls didn't rise as well as those with gluten. They didn't bake as high either. The texture isn't quite as tender or light as the others, but these would definitely pass if gluten isn't available.

For the absolute best results use gluten. If making only a dozen rolls, make a half batch and increase the yeast to 2-1/2 tsp whether using gluten or dough enhancer.

One of our esteemed judges concurs with our conclusions!

Heavenly Whole Wheat Breat

This one's for you, Tam! I don't have time to make a batch for pictures tonight, but will by the end of the week.

Whole Wheat Bread

Stir together and let sit for about 5 minutes:
2/3 C. hot water
1 Tbs. honey
2 Tbs. yeast

Place in a bread machine:
2 C. hot water
1/4 C. olive or canola oil
1/4 C. honey

Turn machine on "dough" cycle and blend in:
1/4 C. powdered milk or whey powder
1 Tbs. dough enhancer or 1 tsp. vitamin C crystals (from health food store)
1/2 Tbs. sea salt (or regular if you don't have sea)

After blended, dump in the yeast mixture and 3 C. of whole wheat flour. Add extra flour by tablespoons, if needed, just until the flour cleans the sides of the bowl. Let the machine finish the dough cycle, then dump dough onto a lightly oiled surface. With oiled hands, shape into loaves and place in greased pans. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 365. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a baking thermometer registers 190 degrees.

If using a Bosch or Viking mixer, let the machine do the kneading on low speed for 10 minutes after adding all the ingredients.

Delicious, light, dinner rolls for Thanksgiving

When I was visiting my sister in May, a friend of hers brought over a plate of dinner rolls. Being a pretty accomplished bread baker I was eager to try them, if only to secure my position as the "Possessor of the Best Bread Recipe". Wow! Those rolls were eye-rolling good! Amazing! Outstanding! Feather light, not too sweet, not too salty. My mom was also at Tammy's house that day and between the two of us we nearly finished off the whole plate!! 8-0! They were that good. I've worked up two batches in the past couple of days to make sure I could get them to turn out as perfectly as Tammy's friend did. The first time I used white flour (I know, I know...we're trying to get away from it, but the recipe called for it.). They were every bit as amazing as I'd remembered. Banana took a big bite of her first one and said "Wow, Mom! I'll be we'll be eating these in Heaven!" "M" came up to try one later and said "God's going to want you to cook for him, Mom!" Pretty lofty recommendations. These rolls turned out just as beautifully with whole wheat flour as they did with the white. We'll be having the whole wheat version from now on.

Simply Amazing Dinner Rolls

2 3/4 C. hot water
1/3 C. canola oil
1/3 C. honey
1/2 C. gluten (aka vital wheat gluten)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
5-6 C. whole wheat flour
1-1/2 Tbs. yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order given, using only 5 C. of flour to begin with. Start machine on the "dough" cycle. After the dough is well mixed, add additional flour 1/4C. at a time just until the dough forms a ball and comes clean from the sides of the bowl. The dough will still be very sticky, but it will travel around the bowl on the paddle without sticking to the sides when enough flour has been added. Too much flour makes a heavy, tough bread. When the "dough" cycle has finished, remove the dough and knead on a lightly oiled surface with lightly oiled hands. (Don't be tempted into adding more flour!) Shape the dough into whatever shape you prefer. I cut off clumps the size of a racquetball and shape them into nice little round balls. Place them in a greased 9x13" baking pan. 15 rolls of this size will fit nicely, if making slightly smaller balls, 20 will fit. The extra rolls can be placed in an additional pan, or frozen for future use. ** Cover the pan and let them rise until nearly doubled in size, ~30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 24 rolls.

**To freeze, roll into balls and place on parchment-lined baking tray. Immediately place in a deep freeze. Once frozen, the balls can be placed in Ziploc bags and kept frozen until needed. Let the frozen dough sit out at room temperature for about 2 hours or place in the frig to thaw overnight. After thawing, shape and place in greased pan to rise, then bake as usual.

Perfect Molasses Ginger Cookies

O.K., Mel - as requested, here's the recipe for one of our favorite Fall/Winter cookies. Not only do these fill the house with a wonderful aroma, but the slightly crispy edges contrast beautifully with a soft and slightly chewy center. Perfect with a cup of cider! (Matt and the kids send their thanks for this request since I had to make a batch in order to have a picture!) Going completely cold-turkey on sweets is just setting ourselves up for failure. We're limiting ourselves to one treat day a week and this was it!


Perfect Molasses Ginger Cookies

3/4 C. shortening 1C. granulated sugar
1/4 C. molasses 1 egg
2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. salt
2-1/2 C. flour

Preheat 375. Cream shortening, sugar, molasses, egg, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add to the bowl. Mix until well blended. Form walnut-sized balls, then roll each ball in additional sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until tops appear cracked and the cookies are puffed, ~8-10 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

*Try using non-transfat shortening, unrefined pure cane sugar, 2 Tbs. ground flax mixed with 3 Tbs. water in place of the egg, and barley flour for cookies that still taste great, but are a little less lethal.

*Barley and oat flours are both good substitutes for all-purpose flour in baking. Both options produce a soft cookie with a mellow, slightly nutty flavor. Just blend uncooked barley or oats in a blender or food processor until the consistency of flour.

What does "green" taste like?

If anyone has read my brother Scott's blog, http://beanland.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/hmbg-recap-achieving-and-maintaining-a-healthy-body-weight/#more-383, you know he advocates green smoothies. I find the thought of drinking something green daunting. What does "green" taste like? Grass, earth, compost....I feel my leg and arm pit hair growing just thinking about it. Words like "groovy" and "far out" slip into my vocabulary. "Hey, guys? Has anyone seen my Birkenstocks?" But, I decided to give it a try. I tossed a banana, an orange (the inside of the granola rind), a few frozen strawberries, and a big handful of raw spinach into the Vitamix, added a splash of water and let 'er rip. The resulting concoction was the color of pond sludge, but smelled like banana and strawberry. It definitely confused the senses! But it was delicious!! Each of the kids tried it and attempted to finish off my glass without being caught. No earthy, grassy, or spinachy taste at all. Just yummy fruit loaded with vitamins and nutrients that I otherwise would have missed out on. 4 hours later I still wasn't hungry.

You can make granola in a crockpot, too!!

After the yogurt finished, I tried a new recipe for granola. (Another crockpot recipe) I tossed in a couple of cinnamon sticks and the rind from the orange I was peeling for my lunch smoothie and let it all toast together. Mmmmmmmm.....fresh Greek yogurt sprinkled with warm granola. Unbelievable! I've pigged out the kids have snacked on this all day!

Crockpot Granola

5 C. old-fashioned rolled oats 1/4 C. flax seeds or wheat germ
1/2 C. chopped nuts 1/3 C. coconut
1/4 C. sunflower seeds 1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. honey 1/2 C. dried fruit

Mix oats, flax, nuts, coconut, and sunflower seeds in crockpot. Whisk oil and honey to blend and pour over the granola. Stir to mix well. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, stirring whenever it smells like it's browning. When it's finished cooking, stir in the dried fruit.

Making yogurt in a crockpot??

Before moving to Germany we really weren't big yogurt enthusiasts. None of us like the tartness and artificial flavors of most American yogurt. Why is it that the American food industry seems to be intent on ruining "Americanizing" mind-blowingly delicious food from other countries? It never works. Unfortunately most Americans seldom have the opportunity to try these foods in all their intended glory; so we slog along consuming pitifully Americanized versions of German brats, Danish butter, Italian pizza, Mexican tacos, and European yogurt. So sad. One of our favorite things to eat by the near gallon is European yogurt. Greek is our favorite. The thick, creamy texture and mellow flavor is unforgettable. So is the price! But this week I found a blog that gave instructions for making yogurt in a crockpot and now there's no turning back. The recipe turned out a perfectly creamy, mellow yogurt. I wanted a super-thick, Greek consistency, though, so I poured it into a coffee filter-lined colander and let it sit for a couple of hours. We stirred in a little honey and homemade vanilla extract, grabbed spoons, and fought over the bowl. I'm trying another batch today using soymilk, which will make it even cheaper since we make our own soymilk. Let's hope it works! ;)

Crockpot Yogurt

8 C. (1/2 gallon) whole milk
1/2 C. yogurt with live/active cultures

Pour milk into crockpot and cook on low for 2-1/2 hours. Turn off and let milk cook for 3 hours. Remove 2 C. of the slightly warm milk and whisk into the yogurt. Return it all to the crockpot and stir to blend. If the crockpot or milk is cold, turn it back on for a few minutes just to warm up a little. Otherwise, wrap the whole thing up in two or three large, thick bath towels to insulate it. Let it sit 8 hours or overnight. When finished, sweeten and flavor as desired. Before sweetening/flavoring remove 1/2 C to serve as the starter for your next batch.

Why another food blog?

In my efforts to feed our large family of eight, I have three main struggles.

1. The first is our one-income military-pay budget. I allow myself a food budget of 9-9.5% of our monthly take home pay. With that money I buy all of our groceries, dog food, and cleaning supplies. We eat out as a family maybe twice a year. Subway is as "fast food" as we get, and that's a very rare treat.
2. My second challenge is providing healthy, balanced food with enough variety that we don't get bored. There's not much worse than a boring, predictable food repertoire. It's easy to fall into the trap of repeating the same quick meals for lack of time and ideas, but I try my best to avoid that pitfall. Quality fuel (nutrition) results in quality performance (health).
3. The last struggle I have in providing food for my family is rooted in my upbringing. I come from a family of really good cooks and grew up in a community of nearly equally good cooks. From the beginning I stood little chance of avoiding becoming a food snob. I want fresh, quick, delicious food, not sodium and preservative laden packaged crap food products.

I'm emptying our house of all the really good stuff that makes everything taste so greatthe dreaded "white stuff"... white sugar, white flour, white rice, corn syrup. Being the perennial tightwad that I am, that means we'll be using it up and replacing it with the healthier brown stuff as we go, rather than totally purging. We have a nearly vegetarian diet, eating a little chicken, turkey, or fish once or twice a week. And I'm a big believer in using herbs rather than synthetic chemicals to heal our bodies; athough synthetic chemicals certainly have their place and are sometimes the best option.

My prayer is that some of what we're doing might serve to encourage someone else out there to produce healthier bodies and happy tummies for their family.