Snickerdoodle Bread

I'm back! I took a little blog vacation while we worked on some wedding details. We've been busy the past couple months meeting with photographers, DJ's, florists, etc. Now that all of the big stuff is out of the way, I hope to be better about blogging, and cooking (dinners have been pretty boring lately).

Each year I look forward to holiday baking. This year, I made Christmas cookies with a few of my students who won a holiday baking date with me at a school auction. We made sugar cookies, spritz cookies, and dipped pretzels. After 2 hours of baking with three 7 year olds I decided that was enough holiday baking for me. Then I came across a recipe on Pinterest for Snickerdoodle Bread. How could bread that tastes like a Snickerdoodle not be amazing??? Turns out it is just as amazing as it sounds plus it makes the kitchen smell awesome!

The bread isn't moldy I promise, it's just lots of cinnamon sugar goodness!

Snickerdoodle Bread
* Makes two loaves

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. nonfat Greek yogurt
1 pkg Hershey's Cinnamon Chips
3 T. sugar
3 tsp cinnamon

In a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Add vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add the flour and baking powder slowly and mix well. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Set aside.

Spoon batter into 2  loaf pans until about 2/3 full. Mix 3 T. sugar and 3 t. cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over the batter in each loaf pan (I only used about half of this mixture). Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan.

Pecan Topped Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread is one of my favorite things to make over the holidays. I started using the below recipe about 4 years ago and haven't bothered to look for a new one. This recipe is so simple and it tastes great. Back in my roommate days, my friend Lesley and I would make loaves and loaves for coworkers, bosses and friends. Now I just double the below recipe so I can have a few loaves to give as gifts and then a leftover loaf for myself. The bread freezes great, just cover tightly with plastic wrap and then a sheet of aluminum foil. Chances are good though that the bread will never end up making it to your freezer!

No, my photography skills did not dramatically improve over the holidays. The picture is courtesy of Cooking Light.

Pecan Topped Pumpkin Bread

** from Cooking Light

Makes two 9x5 loaves
Prep/Cook Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup fat free plain yogurt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through allspice) in a large mixing bowl.

Place sugar, egg substitute, oil, buttermilk, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add 2/3 cup water and pumpkin, beating at low speed until blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Spoon batter into 2 (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle pecans evenly over batter. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

** Check the bread after 45 minutes of baking--you may need to cover the loaves with aluminum foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning.

Rosemary Focaccia

It's hard to beat homemade bread. It tastes good and makes the house smell amazing. The thing about bread is it really isn't that difficult and it's incredibly cheap, it's just a little time consuming. Like it or not, time is something that I have a lot of right now. I am momentarily at a standstill in the job application process so I thought why not make homemade focaccia bread for our Friday night pasta dinner. I thought the bread turned out well, it could have been a little softer (I may have over kneaded the dough), but I loved the addition of the rosemary and it went great with the pasta.

Rosemary Focaccia
** from www.sweetpeaskitchen.com

Prep/Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Serves: 8

1 1/4 c. boiling water
4 T. chopped fresh rosemary, divided
1 T. honey
1 T. garlic, minced
1 package dry yeast
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp water
1 egg yolk
1 tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves, chopped

In a glass measuring cup, combine boiling water, 2 tsp rosemary, honey, and minced garlic; cool to 100-110 degrees. Pour mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle yeast over the mixture; let stand 5 minutes. Add flour, 2 T. oil, and 1 tsp salt to the mixer. Attach a dough hook to the stand mixer and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a stand mixer or a dough hook, knead bread by hand. If dough is sticky, add 1 T. of flour at a time until smooth.

Transfer dough to a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch dough down. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and pat dough into a 9x12 rectangle on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rise 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine 1 T. olive water, water, and egg yolk; set aside. Uncover dough. Make indentations in the top of the dough using the handle of a wooden spoon or just use your fingers. Brush egg mixture over dough. You don't need to use all of the egg and oil mixture, just enough to coat the top of the bread. Sprinkle bread with remaining rosemary, sea salt and chopped garlic.

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.

Pretzel Rolls

I am a huge fan of pretzel rolls.  I honestly deem some restaurants as better solely on the fact that they have pretzel rolls on the menu (having sweet potato fries is also a huge plus). Jerry's, my favorite sandwich shop here in Chicago, serves over 100 different types of sandwiches, all of which can be made on a pretzel roll and they have sweet potato fries, can't beat that!

Last year I came across a recipe for pretzel rolls on Smitten Kitchen and knew I had to give them a shot.  The first time I made the recipe I was pretty certain it would be a failure, everyone talks about how hard it is to work with yeast, my expectations were definitely very low.  I was pleasantly surprised when they worked and tasted exactly the way they were supposed to.  Plus they were incredibly easy and require only basic baking ingredients. I have made these about a half dozen times since then and every time they work. I am going to make a very bold statement and say this is a no-fail recipe, if you follow the directions, you will end up with perfect pretzel rolls!

Pretzel Rolls
** found on Smitten Kitchen, originally posted in Bon Appetite
print recipe

Serves 8
Prep/Bake Time: 1 hour 30 mins

2 3/4 c. bread flour
1 envelope quick-rising yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 c. plus 2 T. hot water (125 to 130 degrees)
cornmeal
8 c. water
1/4 c. baking soda
2 T. sugar
1 egg white, beaten
Coarse salt

Combine bread flour, envelope of yeast, teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of sugar in food processor and blend. With machine running, gradually pour hot water through feed slot, adding enough water to form smooth elastic dough. Process one minute to knead. Grease a medium size bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a towel. Let dough rise in warm area until doubled in volume, about 35 minutes.

Clear area of counter and sprinkle with flour. Lightly kneed dough on floured surface until smooth. Divide into 8 pieces. Form each piece of dough into a ball. Place dough on baking sheet, flattening each slightly, and then use a serrated knife to cute X in top center of each dough ball. Cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes. While you are waiting for dough to rise, boil 8 cups of water in a large saucepan.

Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Once dough as risen, add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up) to the boiling water. Add 4 rolls and cook 30 seconds per side. Use a slotted spoon to flip and then transfer the rolls to the prepared baking sheet, arranging X side up. Repeat with remaining 4 rolls.

Brush rolls with egg white glaze and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes.