Buttermilk Biscuits

I had ham and scalloped potatoes (recipe to come) on the menu last night so I decided to make some yummy biscuits to go with it. I searched for recipes similar to cracker barrel biscuits (even though I've never had them before) and found this one. I changed it a bit, adding some whole wheat flour, and they were delicious. Sorry that the pictures are all sideways and that I didn't get pictures of all the steps - I am out of the swing of things, I guess!
Buttermilk Biscuits - modified from here
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 T sugar
1/s tsp salt
1/3 cup Crisco shortening
1/8 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk*

**Don't have buttermilk? Just add a drop of vinegar into regular milk and let it stand for at least 10 minutes.

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and criso until crumbly.

2. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk.

3. Add to flour mixture and mix until well combined.

4. Roll out to one inch thickness.

5. Cut into biscuits and arrange close together on baking stone.

6. Bake at 425 for 18-22 minutes, until brown.

Makes 10-12 biscuits.

Country Grain Bread

This bread is so full of yummy grains and is pretty light if you are sure to let it rise long enough.

Country Grain Bread - adapted from America's Best Bread Machine Baking Recipes
1 1/4 c warm water
1 tsp salt
3 T brown sugar
2 T oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1/4 cup cracked wheat
1/4 cup 7-grain cereal
2 T flax seeds
2 T wheat bran
2 T wheat germ
2 tsp yeast

1. Measure ingredients into bread pan in the order listed. Select dough cycle.

2. When cycle is complete, remove dough. Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.

3. Knead gently, form and place in greased loaf pan.

4. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes until doubled.

5. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

And of course, like always, I forgot to take a picture of it when it came out of the oven.

Makes one loaf.

Italian Herb Crackers

In preparation for a visit from Little H this weekend, I decided to make some snacks. I used SnoWhite's base recipe for whole wheat crackers and added some spices to it. These are super easy and yummy with soup, cheese, or just on their own.

Italian Herb Crackers - adapted from SnoWhite
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C white wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
2 T butter, melted/softened
2/3 C milk
Salt for sprinkling

1. Mix together flours, salt, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.

2. Add butter and milk.

3. Knead gently for 2-3 minutes until dough forms together like this...

4. Remove from bowl and incorporate any dough that did not mix in.

5. Break dough into two pieces and roll out as thin as possible.

6. Transfer to a baking stone and cut using a pizza cutter. Clearly, mine are not nearly as nicely shaped as SnoWhite's!

7. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, until browned and crispy.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

These muffins made regular appearances in our home growing up and now, I hope they will start to make regular appearances in my home. They are delicious and packed full of goodness! I almost always have all of the ingredients on hand to make these muffins, so they don't take much fore thought. If I don't have blueberries, I would add raisins, cherries or nuts.

Blueberry Bran Muffins - from Mumma

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 T molasses

1 cup bran

1 cup wholewheat flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 heaping cup frozen blueberries**

**you can substitute a combination of fruit, raisins and/or nuts if desired.

Combine milk and soda and set aside (make sure the soda dissolves)

Cream butter and sugar thoroughly.

Add eggs and beat well.


Add milk and soda.


Stir in molasses and bran.

Stir in flour and salt. Do not over mix.

Fold in blueberries.

Scoop into 12 greased or lined muffin tins.

Bake @ 375 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes one dozen muffins.

This recipe is being linked at The Ultimate Recipe Swap and The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Whole Grain Bread

This is a very important post! Why? Because this bread is officially the first thing that I used my kitchenaid stand mixer to make!

This is the first bread recipe I've found that uses entirely whole wheat flour and it is great! I was expecting it to be extremely dense and while I wouldn't exactly say it was light and fluffy - it definitely wasn't too dense.

Whole Grain Wheat Bread - from KitchenAid Stand Mixer Recipe Booklet
1/3 cup, plus 1 T brown sugar, divided
2 cups warm water
4 1/2 tsp yeast (2 pkg)
5-6 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup powdered milk
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil

1. Dissolve 1 T brown sugar in water. Add yeast and let mixture stand.

2. Place 4 C flour, powdered milk, remaining brown sugar, and salt in mixer. Mix for about 2 minutes on low speed (2). Gradually add yeast mixture and oil to flour mixture and mix about 1 1/2 minutes longer. Stop and scrape bowl, if necessary.

3. Continuing on low speed, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans side of bowl, about two minutes. **I ended up using about 5 3/4 cups flour, all together. Knead on low (2) for about 2 more minutes.

4. Place dough in a large greased bowl, tuning to grease top. Cover. Let rise for about an hour, until doubled.

5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape and place into two greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise for another hour, until doubled.

6. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and continue baking for 30 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on wire cooling rack.

Makes 2 loaves.

This recipe is being linked at Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Tuesday's at the Table, and the Ultimate Recipe Swap

English Muffins

I'm not sure why it took me so long into my bread making bonanza to give English Muffins a try. We both love them and the FD, especially, loves having egg sandwiches for breakfast. I have had this recipe bookmarked for ages but finally got around to making it a few weeks ago. However, although the recipe says to cut them in 3'' circles, I found that the dough was elasticky, causing them to shrink down after being cut so we were left with about 50 mini English muffins. They still tasted good but you had to eat like three to get the effect of one and they didn't work so well for egg sandwiches. We still ate them, of course, and once they were gone, I decided to give it a try and learn from the past.

English Muffins - adapted from America's Best Breadmachine Baking Recipes
1 C milk
2 eggs
just under 1 tsp salt
2 T sugar
2 T oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour (or bread flour)
1 1/4 tsp yeast
Cornmeal for topping

1. Place all ingredients, EXCEPT CORNMEAL, in the breadpan in the order suggested by your manufacturer. Select dough cycle. When dough is complete, turn out onto a floured surface, knead gently and cover for 10-15 minutes.

2. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure it is thin enough or else your English muffins may not cook through before burning.

3. Cut dough into 4 inch circles (again the recipe says 3 inch but when I used a smaller circle, I found they bounced down and became VERY tiny).

4. Place English muffins on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle cornmeal over tops as well. I need to practice this because I did a terrible job getting the cornmeal to spread evenly.

5. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes. This is what the recipe says although I had to let them rise for more than an hour, in a warm oven in order to get them to do anything. Next time, I think I'm going to experiment with adding a bit more yeast.

6. Heat an electric griddle to 350-400 (the recipe says 500 but mine only goes to 400 and even at this heat, they started to burn). Place English muffins on griddle and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, until browned. Flip and continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes. English muffins are done when they are browned on either side.

Makes 24 English Muffins.

This recipe is being linked at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday.

Sub Buns

Submarine Buns - modified from America's Best Breadmaking Recipes
1 cup water
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 2/3 cups all purpose or bread flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

1. Add all ingredients into to bread pan. Select dough cycle. When cycle is complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

2. Divide dough into 6-12 equal portions, depending on the size of bun you want. 6 if you want footlongs, 12 if you want 6 inches. I got really crazy and divided the dough into 8.

3. Shape dough into flat, long buns. Place on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes, until doubled.

4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until browned and hollow sounding.

Sesame and Flax Crackers

This recipe is quite similar to my sesame and flax flat bread recipe. In fact, I basically just cut it in half and cut it into the shape of crackers. However, I thought I'd share it so you can see how easy it is to make your own crackers. I made this last week because I knew we'd be making roasted tomatoes, salsa and red pepper relish. I needed something to put all of those good things on!

Sesame and Flax Crackers
3/4 (plus some) water
1/8 cup milk powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup all purpose or bread flour
3/4 (plus some) whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds

1. Place all ingredients in bread pan. Select dough cycle.

2. When cycle is complete, turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

3. Split dough into to equal sections. One at a time, roll the sections as thinly as possible.

4. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into desired shapes/sizes. Place on baking stone. (If your baking stone is the right size - you may want to move the entire sheet of dough onto and it cut it on there - it will make it easier for you).

5. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until brown and crispy.

They turned out really good. Some are crunchier than others. Some are kind of chewy, but still tasty! Next time I will try passing the dough through my pasta maker to get it even thinner.