Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Grease and flour an two 8 x 4 inch pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Note: I made this in a Pyrex/glass loaf dish and it took 75 minutes to cook properly.

Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/

Cinnamon Baked French Toast

Ingredients

•  FOR THE FRENCH TOAST:
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Whipping (heavy) Cream
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
•  FOR THE TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 pinch Nutmeg – Optional
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
•  Fresh Fruit (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.

In a medium sized bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 F. Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you’re using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.

Source: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/05/cinnamon-baked-french-toast/

Feta & Chive Sour Cream Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons cold water

3/4 cup sour cream, cold

1/3 cup chopped chives

3/4 cup big crumbles of feta cheese

1 egg beaten for egg wash

coarse sea salt, cracked black pepper, and smoky paprika for topping

Place rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and black pepper.  Cut in butter (using your fingers or a pastry cutter) until mixture resembles a coarse meal.  In another bowl, combine egg, sour cream, and water.  Beat lightly with a fork.  Add to flour mixture all at once, stirring enough to make a soft and shaggy dough.  Add the chives and feta and dump mixture on a clean counter to knead the dough together.  The mixture will come together in about 10 to 15 kneads.

Roll or pat out into a 1-inch thickness.  Cut into 2-inch rounds using a biscuit cutter or cut into 2×2-inch squares.  Reshape and roll dough to create more biscuits with excess scraps.    Place on prepared baking sheet, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and smoky paprika.   Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Serve warm.  These biscuits are best eaten the day they’re made, but will last up to 2 days.  

Source: http://joythebaker.com/2012/12/feta-and-chive-sour-cream-scones/

Basic No-Knead Bread

6 cups bread flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 t. instant or active-dry yeast
2 1/2 t. salt
2 2/3 c. cool water

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.
2. Lightly flour your hands and a work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and, using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a rough ball.
3. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with enough flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises; place dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with the edges or a second cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats. When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the crust is a deep chestnut brown. The internal temperature of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.
6. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Source: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/amazing-no-knead-bread-step-by-step-recipe/

Baked French Toast

Ingredients:
1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm, 1.5 pound loaf)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces (1/4 lb.)

1.  Grease a 9×13 pan with butter.  Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2.  Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (I put mine in overnight….it was about 12 hours).

3.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it all looks nice and crumbly (like small pebbles, according to P-Dub).  Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4.  When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge.  Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).

Notes:
Update:  IMPORTANT!!!!!!!  You must use a dense bread or this dish will turn out soggy.  After getting a few comments below about soggy outcomes, I figured I’d better make sure you understand that.  You can’t use regular ol’ sandwich bread because it will NOT soak up the egg mixture!  I highly recommend starting with the bread listed in the ingredients above as this has ALWAYS turned out perfectly for me.

• You can serve with syrup, but we made a quick glaze with powdered sugar and milk.  Delish!
• If you don’t have brown sugar, mix 1/2 Tbsp. molasses with 1/2 cup sugar until well blended.
• Like I said, you can bake it for less time if you like it softer, but I love how the top gets crispy when it’s baked for an hour.  The underneath part is still somewhat soft.  One hour in my 350-oven was just right.
• The directions said to scoop out, but I wanted to be able to control the portions so I cut it into 12 servings (they were large, and this is rich, so you could serve other breakfast dishes and use this as more of a side dish and get 24 servings).
• If you have a hot oven, cover the dish with foil for the last 15 minutes or so if you notice that it’s starting to get too brown (I have never had to do this, though).
• If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use two knives moving away from each other to cut in the butter for the topping.  Do NOT use a fork to mash!  It will be a globby mess!

Source: http://mormonmavens.blogspot.com/2011/11/baked-french-toast.html

Whole Wheat Bread

1 cup warm water

1 T. milk (i have also used almond milk)
2 T. coconut oil (i don’t melt mine, just throw it in cold)
2 T. molassas
2 T. honey (we buy raw honey by the gallon at the Farmer’s market every summer)
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup regular, unbleached flour
2 tsp yeast

Add all ingredients to your bread machine in the order listed above. Set to the dough setting. Remove, when finished, to a loaf pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes (or doubled, but mine doesn’t always fully double and it’s fine). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 27-30 minutes. Remove from loaf pan onto a cooling rack and let cool. Enjoy!

Source: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/costco-bobs-red-mill-organic-whole-wheat-flour-54lb-a-bread-recipe/