The Easiest (and most delicious) Drop Biscuits

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can't.  This is from America's Test Kitchen - I love that show. 

 

 

 

These biscuits are amazing.  Like, whoa.  They're so delicious and are great as-is or as a pot pie topper.  They take no time at all to whip up and pop in the oven.  The best part?  None of that boxed "baking mix" stuff in sight.  Trust me - you need to try these!

 

(Please excuse the photos - I didn't have my camera handy and had to use my phone :)

 

The Easiest Drop Biscuits

Makes approximately 1 dozen

 



Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp sugar 

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 cup cold buttermilk 

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 tbsp melted butter (optional)

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.  In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.  Set aside.  In a smaller bowl, combine the buttermilk and melted and cooled butter and mix until the butter begins to coagulate.  

 

 

2.  Add the buttermilk/butter mixture to the flour and mix until it all comes together to form a slightly lumpy dough.  Place large scoops of the dough onto parchment paper/silpat lined baking sheets or on top of a pot pie. 

 

 

3.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (they may take up to 20 minutes as a pot pie topper).  Remove from oven and brush with melted butter if desired.  Enjoy!

 

 Happy Eating!

 

~ Sara :)

Whole Grain Sandwich Bread

I love a good, seedy bread.  This one is perfect.  A soft, whole wheat bread with flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds throughout.  A great way to add some protein and fiber to your sandwiches.  Even better topped with homemade nut butter!

 

Whole Grain Sandwich Bread

Makes 1 -1 1/2 lb loaf

 

 

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tbsp butter, softened

3 tbsp honey (raw local honey if possible)

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 tsp active dry yeast

 

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in your bread machine per its instructions.  Select 1 1/2lb and Basic White cycle.  Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.  Enjoy!



 

Garlic Breadsticks

Phew, what a summer!  We've been super busy - we bought a new house!  It's definitely put a damper on my blogging, but hoping that will change as we continue to get settled in our new home.  The good great news!?  I have a much bigger kitchen to cook/bake/experiment in now.  Woo-hoo!!!

Now that fall is right around the corner here in Michigan, the urge to bake and make comfort food is creeping up on me.  Today was rainy, dark and dreary...perfect soup weather.  And, I don't know about y'all, but soup in our house just isn't complete without bread.

I already had everything for my Ravioli Soup so I figured I'd make that.  As for the bread, I wanted something different...garlic breadsticks to be exact!  I love my bread maker because of how simple it is to make a loaf of bread, but sometimes I don't mind using a little elbow grease.  The bread maker still does all the hard work ;)

These were great and the recipe can easily be doubled if need be.  I will definitely be making these again!

Garlic Breadsticks

Makes 10 breadsticks

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 tsp dried basil
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp yeast
2 tsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.  Place the water through yeast into your bread maker per its' instructions.  Select the dough cycle and let it do the hard work!

2.  Once the dough has finished, place it on a floured surface.  Divide the dough into ten equal portions and then roll each out into about 6 inch long sticks.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Cover and let rise for 30-40 minutes.

3.  Once they have finished rising, brush the breadsticks with the melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until just beginning to brown.  Enjoy!

 

Irish Soda Bread

I decided this St. Patrick's Day we needed an Irish-inspired dinner.  I made a Guinness Beef Stew and this Irish Soda Bread was perfect to go with it.  I admit though, I'm so spoiled with my breaker - I don't even know the last time I had to knead dough by hand.  It was tough work!!

I was torn between which recipe to use.  Whole milk or buttermilk?  Caraway seeds and/or raisins?  Sugar or no sugar?  I decided to take ideas from a couple different recipes and see what would happen.  It was dense, heavy and absolutely delicious!  I'm glad I skipped the raisins and sugar, but I might add caraway seeds next time.  

Irish Soda Bread

8 servings

 

 

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup low fat buttermilk

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Stir in the buttermilk until dough just comes together.  

2.  Put dough on a well floured surface and knead until a large dough ball forms. Place dough on a baking sheet and, with a sharp knife, make a large 'x' in the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Enjoy!

See, I wasn't the only one who thought it was great!
 

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

A great bread maker recipe and the perfect accompaniment to some delicious hummus!  These are so simple to make and so yummy!!

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Makes 10-12 pitas

 

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Directions:
1.  Add all ingredients into a bread maker and choose the "Dough" cycle.  Once the dough has finished, divide into 10-12 equally-sized dough balls and place them on a flour dusted surface.  Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest and rise for 20 minutes.

 

2.  While the dough is resting preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking stone or baking sheet in the oven to heat.  Once the dough has rested, roll each dough ball into a circle and place on a preheated baking sheet. 

3.  Bake for 5-6 minutes until pitas have begun to puff up.  Allow to cool before serving.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I have been obsessed with pumpkin bread this fall.  Obsessed!  I think I have made it five times in the past four weeks!  Be sure to have friends and family to share it with, because you won't be able to stop once you taste it!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Makes 2 loaves (10-12 slices per loaf)

 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp flax meal*

2 large eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup canola oil

1 can pumpkin purée

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 bag mini chocolate chips

2 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, combine the flax meal with 6 tbsp water.  Let sit for at least two minutes.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugars, applesauce, oil, pumpkin, vanilla and reserved flax/water mixture.  In batches, whisk (the batter will get thick - use your muscles!) in the flours, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.  Stir in the chocolate chips reserving 1/4 - 1/3 cup.

3.  Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray.  Sprinkle one tbsp in each pan coating the sides and bottom.  Divide the batter between the two pans and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.  Bake for 60-75 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool - if you can wait that long! - and serve.  Cover any leftover bread with foil.  Enjoy!

*No flax meal?  Just use two more eggs instead of the flax/water mixture.

Pesto & Roasted Garlic Bread

As I posted a couple weeks ago, I'm the proud new owner of a bread maker. I've used it quite a bit and this is, by far, one of the best things I've made with it. It's so yummy and goes great with pasta (like my Lasagna Roll Ups!).

Pesto & Roasted Garlic Bread
Makes one 1 1/2lb loaf

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup water, room temperature
2 tbsp evoo
1/4 cup pesto
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 3/4 tsp yeast
1 head of garlic, roasted* and mashed

Directions:
1. Add the water through yeast into your bread machine. Choose 1 1/2lb loaf and medium crust. When the 'add-in' chime sounds, add in the garlic. Let your bread maker do its magic! Enjoy!!

*Roasting garlic is super easy! Cut the top 1/4 inch off a head of garlic, place on a small piece of foil and drizzle with a little evoo. Wrap the foil around the garlic and place in a 400 degree oven. Roast for 30-45 minutes (until cloves are super soft), remove and squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out. Easy peasy!

Spinach Pizza Dough

Someone had reposted this recipe over on Tumblr awhile ago.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make it (and follow the blog that posted it). The original recipe is posted on Dollar Friendly Meals - they have a lot of good looking recipes, but this is the first one I've tried.  I tweaked the recipe a little bit and it turned out great.  It was quite a hit with the family - Redmond even took 2 bites (the kid hasn't eaten anything other than yogurt, PB&J, eggs and fruit for the past 2 weeks)!

Spinach Pizza Dough
4-6 Servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water + 1/4-1/2 cup more
1 packet Active Dry yeast
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp sugar or honey
2 tbsp olive oil
1 10oz package chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + more for kneading
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 450° and place a pizza stone in the oven (a cookie sheet/pizza pan will work too).  In a large bowl, dissolve yeast, salt and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water - let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Place the thawed spinach in a colander or seive and, using the back of a spoon, push any excess liquid out of the spinach.  Add the spinach and olive oil to the yeast and stir to combine.  In another bowl, whisk together the flours, basil and oregano. 

2.  Add the flour mixture to the spinach and stir (I like using a wooden spoon), adding additional warm water if needed.  Once the dough has come together, plop it down on a floured surface, spray the inside of the bowl with cooking spray and knead until you have a stretchy, pliable dough.  Place the dough into the greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, place the bowl on top of the oven and allow to rise for 1-2 hours. 

3.  Once the dough has risen, you can either make one large pizza or personal pizzas.  Also, you can roll out the dough or, just do what I did, and shape them by hand and place on the hot pizza stone.  Obviously, I'm not that skilled in the pizza-shaping department :)

4.  Top your pizza(s) with whatever you desire and bake for 10-20 minutes (depending on how big your pizza is).  Let cool (if you can!) and enjoy!

Easy Peasy Artisan Bread

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, I really do.  But, I can't.  This is the easiest bread recipe ever!  Four ingredients, no kneading and the dough can last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator once it's made.  My sister told me about this recipe originally, her friend had found it on The Italian Dish (they have lots of other great recipes there too!).  The directions make it seem complicated, but believe me.  It's SO EASY!!!  I also have a whole wheat garlic version here.
*Please excuse the shape of the bread, I'm still learning how to perfect making a bread loaf :)*

Easy Peasy Artisan Bread
Makes approx 4 1lb loaves

Ingredients:
3 cups warm water
2 packets instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp Kosher salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Directions:
1.  In a large glass or plastic container or bowl, dissolve the yeast and salt in the warm water(I used a 6.5qt plastic container).  Mix in the flour with a wooden spoon.  Mix until the dough is thoroughly wet and loose, there should be no dry spots in the dough.  Cover with a lid (not on tight) or plastic wrap (with holes poked in it) and allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.  Once it has finished rising it is ready to be used, but will be very sticky.  For best results refrigerate dough at least 3 hours before shaping a loaf.

2.  Heat the oven to 450°.  Place pizza stone (for best results) or a unrimmed baking sheet on the top rack of the oven.  Put a metal pan on the bottom rack - when the bread is placed in the oven you will pour water into this pan and create steam which will aide in making a crispy crust on the bread.  Place a cup of water close to the oven to use later.  Place a piece of parchment paper on a rimless cookie sheet or the counter.

3.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator and sprinkle the top of the dough and your hands with flour.  Take about a 1/4 of the dough out of the container (it's easiest to cut it with a pair of kitchen shears) and begin to shape it.  You want to work fast, and basically you want a smooth top to the bread.  Do this by smoothing the top and tucking the bread under itself.  For a visual, check out this video. Once the loaf has been shaped, place on the parchment paper and allow to rest and rise for 30-40 minutes.  If your bread doesn't rise during this time, no big deal, it will in the oven.  Once the dough has rest and risen, sprinkle the loaf with a small amount of flour and, using a very sharp knife or razor blade, 'slash' the dough a few times - this allows gases to escape.

4.  Slide the bread (parchment included) onto the heated pizza stone.  Pour the cup of water into the heated metal pan and quickly close the oven door.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your loaf.  *I like to remove the parchment paper after the bread has been baking for 15-20 minutes to ensure I have a nice crispy crust.*  Remove the bread from the oven, and for best results, allow the bread to cool for 10-20 minutes before slicing it.  Which, as we all know is much easier said than done!