Grain Milling and Bread Making Demo!

About a month ago, I hosted several mom friends from my children's school over for a little grain milling/ bread making demo! It was a fun morning watching the ladies sample all of the baked goods I had prepared, and I then enjoyed demo'ing my little hobby for them. I don't think there is a mom out there that doesn't want to learn new ways to bring healthier food to their families table, so most of these mom's were here for that very reason. There is a ton of information under the Health Benefits section of this blog explaining why in the world any normal person would care to mill their own grains.  If this is a new concept to you, that would be a great starting point!  Then take a look at my first post, "How I got started milling my own grains...." for additional background!

For the sampling, I prepared Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, Kamut Dinner Rolls, Ezekiel Muffins with Millet and Chocolate Chips, Honey Whole Wheat Bread, and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Flax Cookies.

Rachel over at Simple Girl is owed all photo credits for this post. Not only is she savvy with the camera, she also has some mad skills in the kitchen....most notably in making cupcakes! Check out her blog and you will surely be inspired, or at the least, drool a little. We are so very blessed to have a multi-talented mom like Rachel at our children's school as she is constantly using her baking and photography skills (to name a few!) for all types of school events.....and sometimes just to simply bless the teachers with cupcakes!

Here are several of Rachel's beautiful photographs from the demo:

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Kamut Dinner Rolls

Ezekiel Muffins with Millet and Chocolate Chips

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (not one of my "prettiest" loafs, but still delish)



Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Flax Cookies


Freshly Milled Hard Red Wheat Flour for use in a bread recipe

These are the 6 gallon grain buckets that I purchase from Breadbeckers. The green lid is Kamut, white lid is hard white wheat and the red lid is hard white wheat. I have more info listed under the Supplies tab on this blog detailing how to purchase the grains.

Hard Red Wheat

Ezekiel Blend of Grains and Beans (contains: hard red wheat, spelt, hulled barley, millet, green lentils, great northern beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans). I use this flour mostly for muffins, pancakes and waffles. However, you can also make a loaf of yeast bread with it, it will just be denser since the grain/bean combination lacks the gluten content necessary for a good rise.

Sucanat (this is your healthier alternative to refined brown sugar)

Sucanat with Honey or also called Honey Crystals (this is your healthier alternative to refined white sugar)

Maybe some day I'll charge a small fee to do classes like this? That's for sure a "maybe"........sometimes I just prefer to keep a hobby as a hobby and not as a business endeavor :) Thanks again to the ladies that joined us for the demo and sampling. A few of them have already decided this grain milling/ bread making from home is not at all as complicated or time consuming as they had imagined and have already purchased the goods to do it from their own homes!

Blackberry Bars

We went blackberry picking earlier this week and I now have 2 gallons of ripe, juicy and delicious blackberries to use for a multitude of purposes. We have been enjoying eating them all on their own, baking fabulous blackberry pies and now seeking out additional recipes before freezing the remaining for smoothies!

I was looking for a non-cobbler type recipe, but still a dessert recipe to make and ran across a decent sounding blackberry bar recipe. I changed a few ingredients to make it a bit healthier & more natural (e.g. used freshly milled soft white wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour and used sucanat instead of brown sugar). I also added a few ingredients to my tasting. (e.g. used almond extract instead of vanilla and added a few tsp. of cane sugar to toss with the blackberries). The finished product was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup freshly milled soft white wheat flour (NOTE: original recipe called for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, so to substitute with soft white wheat flour, add an additional 1/4 cup of flour for every 1 cup called for in recipe)
  
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (I prefer almond)
  
• 1 cup fresh blackberries (I used a heaping cup!)
  
• powdered sugar, sifted

Preparation:

Combine freshly milled flour and sucanat; cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press 1 1/3 cups of mixture in bottom of an greased 8-inch square pan.

Combine remaining crumb mixture, sour cream, egg, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla (or almond extract); blend well. Stir in blackberries. (optional: add a few tsp. of cane sugar) Spoon over crust, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool; cut into 2 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch bars. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 12 bars

Enjoy!

Crunchy Seed Bread

Wow -- I'm a bit behind on adding any new posts! I've definitely been very busy milling/baking and trying new recipes over the past several weeks. I even hosted a fun grain milling/ bread making demo for several interested mom friends from our children's school. I hope to share some photos from that event sometime soon!

I sampled some yummy crunchy seed bread at the Farmer's Market last weekend and I just loved it!! It was about time that I experimented with adding some seeds to my basic whole wheat bread recipe! Seeds are an excellent source of healthy fats like monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. Adding seeds to breads will provide extra flavor and texture.

To prepare, you make your basic bread recipe and then during the kneading cycle, you add the seed combination of your choice. I added 2 TBS of each of the following to my dough: Sunflower Seeds, Flax Seed, Poppy Seed and Millet.
(kind of resembles bird food, huh?!?)

Here's a photo of the seeds as I dump them directly into the Zoji during the kneading cycle. (just look at the times on your settings to know the window of time to do this)


Next, I just closed the lid and let it finish it's kneading and rise/bake cycles. Here is the finished product!


I just love the taste and texture with the assortment of healthy seeds! I can't wait to try other seeds, especially pumpkin!

Good Friday Tradition: Hot Cross Buns

In celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ following his crucifixion on the cross, Hot Cross Buns have been an Easter tradition dating back to the nineteenth century in England. I thought there was absolutely no excuse for me not to attempt these on my own, so this morning I found a few recipes on the Internet. I then created my own version that I adapted to work closely with my basic dinner roll recipe.

The only changes I made to the dinner roll recipe were the following:

• Substituted 1 1/2 cups of warm milk for the 1 1/2 cups of warm water.
  
• Used slightly less than 1/3 cup olive oil and then added 1 Tbsp. butter.
  
• Used 1 tsp (not 2 tsp.) of sea salt.
• For the flour, you can use any combination of grains you desire. I used 1 cup hard white wheat and 2 cups of Kamut to yield the required 4 1/2 cups of flour needed.
• During the quick dough cycle, when the Zoji starts beeping with 20 minutes remaining in the 45 minute cycle with the word "ADD" flashing, I added 1 heaping cup of raisins mixed with 1 tsp. cinnamon.
  
• The only other change was the temperature I baked the Hot Cross Buns at compared to the dinner rolls. I lowered the temperature to 375 degrees and baked for 18 minutes.
  

Here is what your liquids will look like in your bread pan prior to adding the dry ingredients:


You will then add your 4 1/2 cups of flour directly on top of the liquids, along with the lecithin, gluten and yeast before hitting start on the 45 minute quick dough cycle on your Zoji.


While the dough is kneading, I went ahead and prepared the raisins and cinnamon to add during the dough cycle when the "ADD" button starts flashing. I stirred the cinnamon in with the raisins. The original Hot Cross Buns recipe actually calls for currents along with various other spices (nutmeg, etc) and other optional dried fruits. Most Americans have adopted a similar version to this one using the raisins and cinnamon. I did look for some dried currents at Whole Foods this week only I wasn't about to pay $7 for a cup of dried fruit for one recipe....raisins would have to do!
This is what the Zoji will look like when it's time to add the raisins and cinnamon to the dough:


And this is what the dough will look like after you have dumped the cinnamon and raisins into it:

After the dough completes the remaining 20 minutes of kneading and then a short rise, it will look like this:

The dough is now ready to break off and shaped into fist size (or whatever size you wish) balls. I wanted mine to have that break apart appearance, so I placed them close enough together that they'd touch when they baked and pull apart for serving. I used a basic casserole dish, but I suppose you could use a cookie sheet or whatever you fancy.

I let them rise for only about 20 minutes (since I was pressed for time with a 10:30 hair appointment this morning to get to!) This is what they looked like after 20 minutes....good enough as far as I'm concerned. I did brush the tops of each roll with a mixture of an egg yolk and 2 Tbsp. of water to give them a glossy/ golden brown appearance.


And after 18 minutes of baking at 375 degrees, this is what they looked like:

After letting them cool, I added the symbolic cross with a white icing (1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. Vanilla and 2 TBS. milk).

I was actually really pleased with how these turned out and how easy it was to adapt this recipe to work with the Zoji and an existing tried and true recipe I had for yeast dinner rolls.

We enjoyed a wonderful Good Friday together as a family and enjoyed reading a few different accounts of the Crucifixion from the bible with the kids. We also did an activity courtesy of KidStuf at our church where they supplied each family with a blank canvas and instructions for each family member to graffiti the canvas with words describing areas they struggle with or get in trouble with often. It was interesting to see what our kids chose for the their words, but I'm at least pleased to see that they did agree that whining and disobedience should be on there!! We then hung the canvas on a wall in our kitchen and then on Easter, each family member will take some of the supplied spackling and essentially wash away the words with the white spackling to symbolize how Jesus's death on the cross and then resurrection washed away our sins.

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isaiah 1:18

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Last month we celebrated my oldest daughter, Aubrey, turning 7 on the 17th and my middle child, Faith, turning 5 on the 29th. For the past several years as January rolled around, I'd promptly email my favorite cake lady, Gretchen, to get on her schedule for our spring birthdays. If you have ever tasted or looked at one of her cakes, you know what I'm talking about...they are amazing!! Unfortunately, she has decided to suspend operations of her business , so I'm now on my own. And, since I have a slight aversion to grocery store cakes (not that they taste bad, they just tend to lack the originality that I like to mark special events with), I decided that until I find a replacement for my much loved cake lady, that I'd have to attempt something on my own. I asked my girls what kind of cake they'd like for their birthdays this year and they both begged for cookie cakes. I was quite relieved considering it seemed much less complicated than a fancy cake, as free hand decorating and hand writing is not my strength.

I decided to go ahead and purchase a reliable 16" Wilton cake pan from Michael's (using my 40% off coupon, of course!). The pizza pan I had was too small and wouldn't create a cookie that was the size of one of those giant ones you can get from Great American Cookie Company.....which is what I was going for.

I used my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe from Bread Becker's and simply pressed all of the dough the recipe makes into a the greased (sprayed with Pam) pan, leaving about a half an inch space around the edges for the dough to expand as it bakes.


Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake:
(adapted from Bread Beckers Recipe Collection)

1 cup butter
1 cup Sucanat w/honey
1 cup Sucanat
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups freshly milled soft white wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2-2 cups chocolate chips (I used half jumbo semi-sweet chocolate chips and half regular)

Cream butter and Sucanat making a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Mix dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips. Press all of dough into large round or rectangle pizza pan, leaving about 1/2 inch space between edge of pan to allow dough to spread while baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

For the icing, instead of experimenting with a sucanat based icing (which I'm sure is fabulous), I decided to go with a tried and true icing recipe. I tried two different recipes, both were delish, but I'm probably a bit partial to the old-fashioned butter cream and the combo of chocolate and vanilla butter cream on Faith's cake was really tasty!

For Aubrey's cookie cake, I made this frosting I found on the Pioneer Woman's website.

For Faith's cookie cake, I made Wilton's Classic Butter Cream and Chocolate Butter Cream Icing.

The options are endless for decorating a cookie cake from dying the icing different colors to using a variety of sprinkles. This area is not my expertise, so I'll limit any more suggestions!


The cookie cake ended up being a big hit with both girls classes at school and one cookie cake recipe easily feeds a generous slice for about 15-20 people.

I will DEFINITELY be repeating this for many birthdays to come!

One last thing, having nothing to do with baking cookie cakes, but everything to do with birthday sweets!! I also had a fun time making a festive cupcake tower for both of my girls birthday parties. I experimented with a few cupcake recipes using my soft white wheat flour and while they tasted great, I kept getting a crumbly consistency. So, I committed what's a bit of a sin in the world of freshly milled baking and used store bought flour for the cupcakes and used a classic and reliable Martha Recipe for them. For the icing, I used the same Wilton Butter Cream Icing as I used in Faith's cookie cake above. I have a friend that has mastered the cupcakes using her soft white wheat, so I'll experiment more with that later on.


















*P.S. I made the cupcake toppers using designs I made in PowerPoint, then printed them out on card stock and used a round scallop punch. I then just taped lollipop sticks to the back of each. Now, I have a mini-break before round 3 of the spring birthdays when my sweet little guy turns three at the end of May.

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

Okay -- I do realize this is a bit late to post about St. Patrick's day, but this month has been a wee bit busy around here, so it's time to catch up on a few posts I'd like to share.

Every since I became a mom for the first time on St. Patrick's day in 2004, this Irish holiday has carried an extra special meaning to me. Over the past 7 years, we have had so much fun celebrating with plenty of green and Irish cheer.

This year, I had signed up to bring in rolls for the St. Patrick's day themed teacher appreciation luncheon at my children's school. It was pretty simple and straight forward to take my basic and delish Kamut Dinner Roll recipe and simple dye them green!

Since I had that hard to mix gel version of the green food coloring, I went ahead and mixed it in with the 1 1/2 cups of warm water called for in the dinner roll/ bread recipe and then added it to the pan.

After pouring in the green water, I added the other liquid ingredients.

After 45 minute "Quick Dough" cycle completed, it was time to check out my green dough.....

Next, I shaped the dough into about 2 dozen dinner sized rolls.

I then let the rolls rise and roughly double in size for about 20 minutes before baking them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 min.

I can't say they look quite as appetizing colored GREEN, however, paired with some Irish Herb and Garlic butter, they were fantastic!

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls



Right out of the oven (before the icing)



Earlier this week in my weight watcher's meeting, someone mentioned how adding cinnamon to your diet has been proven to boost your metabolism. Since then, I could not get the thought of cinnamon out of my mind.  Somehow, I don't think taking cinnamon and mixing it with butter, sugar and dough is doing anything positive for my metabolism.  Surely I could show some restraint and only eat half of one and feed the remaining to my kids and husband.  Bad idea......I showed no restraint and it was love at first bite.  I have now fed them to my kids for both breakfast and afternoon snack today in hopes of getting them out of my house immediately. I've promised the remaining to a neighbor later today, so now I have no choice but to stay away.  So......in a nutshell, this recipe from Bread Becker's is simply Ooey Gooey Awesomeness!!!!  Now, if I could just show a little self control with them in my kitchen, my family could enjoy this treat more often!  Before I share the recipe, I should note that there are a few redeeming qualities to this version of homemade cinnamon rolls compared to the standard.  First, since you are using freshly milled flour, you get all the nutritional benefits that come from that, in addition to using Sucanat (pure dried sugar cane juice) instead of refined brown sugar.  And, this recipe yielded 15 cinnamon rolls and called for 6 Tbs. of butter, so really, that is not a crazy amount of butter per serving (if you can only eat a serving of these!!!)

These were easier to make than what I was expecting since I have never attempted making a cinnamon roll that did not pop right out of a cardboard cylinder shaped tin (and full of who knows what mystery ingredients)

Recipe for "Ooey Gooey" Cinnamon Rolls   
(From Bread Becker's Recipe Collection)

1.  You start with making your basic bread dough recipe using your choice of grain (I used all Hard White Wheat) and put the ingredients in the Zoji for the "Quick Dough" (45 minute) cycle.

2.  When your dough is ready, take it out of the pan and put it on a floured surface:

3.  Roll all of dough out into a 10x15 inch rectangle.  (trimming off any excess dough)

4.  Spread the Ooey Gooey Filling over all the the dough and roll up jelly roll style. (sorry, forgot to photo the filling going on it)  Recipe for Ooey Gooey Filling: Combine 1 1/2 cups Sucanat, 1 Tbs. cinnamon, dash of nutmeg (as desired) and mix with 6 Tbs. of melted butter.

5.  Cut into 1 inch slices.

6.  Place cut side up in a 9x13 greased pan with sides touching and allow to rise to double size. (20-30 min.)

7.  Once they have (roughly) doubled in size, Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

8.  Remove from the oven after baking is complete:  (I baked mine 25 minutes and might try closer to 23-24 min. next time)

9.  Prepare Icing.  I made the BB's Cream Cheese Icing Recipe:  8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1-2 Tbs. honey and 1 tsp. vanilla.

10.  Whip cream cheese adding honey and vanilla to taste until smooth.

11.  Add icing to the cinnamon rolls and enjoy!  (I put my icing in a zip lock bag and clipped a corner off to give it the swirled look)

Note:  Since the icing is cream cheese based, store it in the refrigerator while storing the cinnamon rolls at room temperature.  I think next time I'll try the powdered sugar/ glaze style icing.  Here is that recipe: 

Sucanat with Honey Glaze:

1 cup Sucanat with Honey (this is the white sugar version of the Sucanat)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1-2 Tbs. Butter, melted

Powder Sucanat w/ honey in a blender.  Add to melted butter.  Add vanilla, and enough milk to thin to desired consistency.  Whisk until smooth.  Drizzle over Cinnamon Rolls.

Variations to Cinnamon Roll Recipe:

The Bread Becker's Recipe Collection has several variations to this recipe so I won't list them all here.  Mainly I wanted to note that you could adjust the size of your rolls by creating a different sized rectangle and cutting either thicker or thinner slices from the roll.  You could cut slices 3/4 inch thick and place in 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans.  These can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator overnight and ready to pop in the oven in the morning.

Enjoy!