(SRC) Nutella Peanut Butter Braid

Every. Single. Morning.  My beloved youngest daughter, Colette has Nutella and peanut butter on whole wheat bread. On one half of the bread I spread the Nutella and on the other is the PB and then I gently fold over the bread and (kindly) cut off the crust.  I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Hey, if it's going to make my morning that much calmer and smoother I will cut off those silly crusts any day! Needless to say we go through a LOT of Nutella and peanut butter in our house.  I wonder if I could buy stock in Nutella?? 

When I came across this recipe for Nutella Peanut Butter Bread Bread on sweet Stephanie's blog, Dessert Before Dinner I was smitten right away.  I really tried to pick a different recipe for my Secret Recipe Club assignment but I kept coming back to this one.  I even tried to convince myself to make Stephanie's delicious looking recipe Breakfast Crescent Roll and her Sand Dollar Almond Cookies - but nope, my self-c0ntrol for Nutella and peanut butter together as one was very low.  I had to do it.  If not for me for my youngest daughter for all of you. Yes, I strive to bring all my precious followers only the best.  And Nutella is truly only the best.

I loved the technique and process that it took to create this bread.  It starts with a simple sweet dough along with making a sheet of Nutella and peanut butter.  The two are brought together after the dough rose and the sheet froze (goodness, that could be a song!!).  The sheet of N and pb is placed in the center of the rolled out dough.   The dough is folded over the chocolate sheet and then gently rolled to be repeated multiple times to create this marriage of amazing-ness. After feeling satisfied with the layers of Nutella, PB and sweet dough all as one,  then you divide the dough into three equal pieces and braid them together.  Viola! - a masterpiece! A sweet, beautiful and delicious masterpiece.

I thank you, Stephanie for sharing such a treasure of a recipe with me.   And now I pass along this gem to all of you.  Enjoy! 

 Nutella Peanut Butter Braid  
          (recipe from Dessert Before Dinner) 

Ingredients:
1 packet of yeast (2 1/4 tsps)
1/2 cup milk, room temperature or heat in microwave for 25 seconds
2 TBSP butter, melted
2 TBSP sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour 
2 TBSP Nutella
2 TBSP peanut butter

Directions:
 In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, melted butter, sugar and vanilla.  Sprinkle yeast over this mixture and stir together gently.  Allow for mixture to sit for about 10 minutes and then pour into a large bowl.

Add in flour to wet mixture 1/4 cup at a time until a soft dough forms.  Set dough in a warm draft-free location and let rise for at least 45 minutes.  

While dough is rising spread Nutella and peanut butter on a sheet of parchment paper into a rectangle of about 9x5.  Place into freezer while dough is rising - at least 45 minutes.

Roll out dough into a 11x7 rectangle and then flip the N and PB sheet into center of dough.  Fold sides of dough over N and PB pinching the ends.  Fold dough into 3rds starting at each end making a square.  Gently roll out your square and then repeat folding dough into 3rds on top of one another to form a square.  Do this sequence as many times as you can - the more layers you make the flakier your bread will be. 

Roll dough into  12-16" long strip and then cut into three long strips, keeping one end in tack. Braid the strips together.  

Allow braid to rise for 45 minutes before baking in a 350 degrees F oven. Bake for 30 minutes.  Cool slightly and dig in! 

 
 

 Happy Nutella Peanut Butter Braid Baking!

An InLinkz Link-up

(EASY) Rustic Homemade Bread

 

2015 has officially arrived.  With this arrival I feel that it is important to enter into the NEW year with a really good recipe for homemade, made from scratch, delicious bread.  Who can't use such a thing? I guess those that are living a gluten free life-style might fall into such a category - but for those bakers and gluten eating people out there, this recipe that I share with you today will be greatly and fully appreciated.  

 

It is a super simple recipe.  It makes TWO large loaves and uses only 4 ingredients (yeast, flour, salt and water).  And the best part is that it is mixed, risen, shaped, risen again, baked and placed into your mouth all within a 3-4 hour period of time. You really can't go wrong by making this recipe.  It is completely the best thing since sliced bread in my opinion.  And yes, it does even slice well.

My family enjoyed it first straight out of the oven with a little smattering of salted butter along side a hot cup of tea.  We then moved onto lightly toasting the bread and layering on butter and jam.  Goodness was that just divine!

We also made big fat tuna melts on it and then delicious french toast.  The french toast was my favorite if you were wondering.  Although I do have to say that when I had the bread toasted and buttered it and then laid on some Bonne Maman mixed berry jam my heart did do a little pitter patter of happiness.  It was just SO good. 

So join me in my happiness over this Rrrrrustic Homemade Bread recipe and grab your yeast, flour, salt and water to mix up a beautiful dough.  You can thank me later.

Rustic Homemade Bread 

(recipe discovered on Somewhat Simple)  

makes 2 large loaves 

 

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water (not too hot as you don't want to kill the yeast)

1 1/2 tablespoon yeast - I used fast-acting but regular is fine too

6 1/2 cups flour 

1 tablespoon salt  

Directions:

1. In a large bowl sprinkle yeast over warm water and gently stir.  Let sit for 10 minutes so the yeast can really come alive and grow.

2.  Add in flour and then salt to the yeast and water mixture.  Stir all together until no remaining dry spots .  Cover bowl with a clean dish towel and then place bowl in a draft-free location.  All dough to rise for about 1-2 hours - it will double in size.  My dough only took 1 hour to full rise - it all depends on how warm your home is.  

3. Once dough has doubled in size divide in half and place each half on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper.  Gently form into a nice rounded bread shape.  Flouring your hands will help for this step.  Cover your breads and allow to rise again - about 30-45 minutes. With a serrated knife cut three slits across each bread.....

4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Place parchment paper and bread dough onto an upside down cookie sheet or pizza stone and then pop into the oven.  On the rack below the bread place a large roasting pan and fill with water about 1" high.  The steam from this water will give your bread a lovely crusty crust.  Yum! I baked the loaves of bread one at a time.

5. Bake bread for 24-28 minutes - until loaf of bread is a beautiful golden brown.  Cool, slice and enjoy! 

Happy Rustic Homemade Bread Baking!

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

Today I made bread.  TWO loaves of delicious beautiful bread in fact.  The bread feed my family which in turn feed my heart.  Sappy I know but the honest truth.  For the past two weeks I have been blessed with the presence of three family members that live in France. I am lucky if I see my French every couple of years.  Every minute of our time together has been filled with adventures, laughs, amazing food, lots of wonderful chats and beautiful memories to cherish of one another.  In an effort to comfort myself with their impending departure and to provide a delicious addition to our time together I decided to make bread.  Oatmeal Molasses Bread at that! A soft in the inside, crunchy crust on the outside,  full flavored bread.  A magical bread in fact and I have Renee from Kudos Kitchen by Renee

to thank for the recipe.

Kudos Kitchen By Renee has been my August assignment for the Secret Recipe Club.  I just love Renee!  I have been following her blog for quite some time now.  Not only does she create delicious recipes full of beautiful food but she is in amazing artist.  I have had my eye on her custom made mugs.  I may need to drop a hint to Santa for a special Christmas gift (wink, wink). 

I will leave you today with the gift of this recipe.  It is a generous recipe that makes 2 BIG beautiful and fragrant loaves.  Molasses, oats, whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flour and yeast are the simple ingredients that make up this treasure of a bread. It provides happiness to the tummy and comfort to the heart.  Merci Beaucoup Renee for sharing this recipe with me. You are a gem! In turn I pass on this recipe to all of you! Enjoy!

Oatmeal Molasses Bread  

(recipe from slightly adapted from Kudos Kitchen by Renee)

Ingredients:

2 packages of active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)

3/4 cup warm milk (I used almond milk as that was all I had on hand)

1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

2 cups oats (regular or quick is fine)

2 1/4 cup boiling water

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup molasses

1 TBSP salt

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, gently mix the yeast, room temperature milk and sugar all together.  Let this mixture set for a good 10 minutes to allow the yeast to proof (it will get nice and foamy).

2. In a large bowl pour boiling water over the oats and mix well.  Let sit for a bit as the water absorbs into the oats.  Then add in molasses, melted butter and salt.  Mix well all together.

3. In another large bowl (Renee suggests using the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook or a regular bowl with a wooden spoon) combine flours.

4. Add in oats/molasses mixture to the flour.  Stir by hand or with dough hook to combine slightly.  Add in yeast mixture.  This will call for a little extra time as you knead all of the ingredients together.  The dough will be heavy and dense but well worth all the work.  Make sure it is well combined. 

5. Transfer dough into a oiled bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm location without any drafts.  Allow dough to double - this will take about 1 hour. Once dough has doubled, punch down and then divide in half.  Shape gently in loaves and place into greased loaf pans.  Again, allow breads to rise in a warm location without any drafts - about 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

6. Bake breads in an oven of 350 for 45-55 minutes.  Breads will be done when they sound hallow when tapped. Cool breads for 15 minutes before taking out of pans.  Cool completely before slicing to enjoy. 

Happy Oatmeal Molasses Bread Baking!

Danger Dog Yumminess....Homemade French Bread

Yes, this is a serious "Danger Dog Yumminess" situation - Homemade French Bread.  And even more serious.....it is EASY to make.  It does take a little time to get to the finale result of this delicious bread but over all it is a VERY easy bread to make.  The grand prize gives you TWO loaves.  Yes, TWO! - sooooo exciting!!!!

And where did I come up with this lovely little recipe you ask?  The answer I say is, "Where I find SO MANY super amazing recipes.....Tasty Kitchen".  Yup, after getting it in my head that I wanted to make French Bread this past weekend I let my fingers do the walking and typed myself on over to TK to quickly find a recipe that began with the word, "EASY" and also contained  the words,  "Homemade French Bread" = Easy Homemade French Bread.  Then as I read the reviews and comments of this recipe by the lovely member of TK named, grammydenise I found that EVERYONE gave rave reviews with excitement and delicious happiness. Yahoo, I had found my recipe and went for it!  Do you want to go for it and make this bread? Good....I thought you'd say so!

Just a little note...because I was making this bread and a wonderful soup (recipe to come soon) I kinda had my hands full and didn't take my usually step-by-step photos.  If you have any questions please do ask....I am here for you. :-)

Easy Homemade French Bread

(recipe from grammydenise on TK)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup WARM water

2 packages (7g packet) dry active yeast

2 cups HOT water

1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

6 cups all-purpose flour - divided

1 egg white (for brushing on bread just before baking)

Directions:

1.  Combine the WARM water and the yeast in a bowl.   Set this bowl aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, HOT water, oil, sugar and salt.  Stir with

a wooden spoon.

3. Add in yeast mixture and stir.

4. Add in remaining 3 cups of flour and stir.  At this point you may need to your use hands to combine the flour completely. 

5. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.  Set a timer.  Your timer will be your close friend for the rest of this recipe.

6. Stir dough again and let rest again for another 10 minutes.

7. Repeat this process (stir and rest) 3 more times - for a total of 5 times.  I found that by making a check mark for each time of "stir and rest" it helped me keep track of each cycle.

8.  At the end of the 5th "stir and rest" cycle divide dough in half. 

9. Take each half and place on a well floured surface.  Press out each half into a rectangle.  Roll up individual rectangles starting on the longest side (just like you are rolling dough for cinnamon rolls).  Set each roll of bread dough on a greased cookie sheet.

10.  Let bread rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F half way through the rising time.

11. With a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal slashes across each loaf.  Brush with egg white.

12. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes. Bread will be a gorgeous golden brown when done.  Remove breads from baking sheet to a cooling rack.  Slice and serve with proud happiness!

 Jam and butter are wonderful accompaniments to this bread fresh out of the oven.....

Or a delicious soup! (I can't wait to share with you the Italian Tomato Tortellini Soup I made to go with this bread!!!!.....patience Darlin', patience.)
Happy Easy Homemade French Bread Baking!

Cheesy "Bloomin' Onion" Bread and the WINNER

Remember these two lovely items?  Well, the WINNER of this little duo is....

....is #7, April from Abby Sweets!  Congrats to you April!  I will be contacting you to find out your mailing address so that I can send you your little prize bundle.   I had so much fun with my first giveaway....I can't wait to do another one! :-)

After all that excitement I have a VERY d'lish appetizer recipe to share.   And WOW is it serious YUM!  Easy to make.  Lots of melted cheese.  And it disappears FAST so don't even think of walking away too far once you bring it out of the oven.

Cheesy "Bloomin' Onion" Bread

(recipe discovered on Your Homebased Mom's blog - Thank you Leigh Anne!)

Ingredients:

*Round Sourdough Bread - unsliced with a good hardy crust  (I used 2 small  round sourdough breads from Panera)

*8 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese - thinly sliced (I also added some horseradish cheddar which wonderful addition to the M.J. cheese flavor)

*1/2 cup butter - melted

*1/2 cup finely diced green onions, including the white part

*2-3 tsp Poppy Seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Take your bread and carefully cut into bread (DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH BREAD TO THE BOTTOM CRUST) with a sharp bread knife going in both directions....

...place bread on a foil covered cookie sheet.

3. Place slices of cheese between cuts in bread.  Sprinkle with green onions....

....pour melted butter all over top of bread (I used 1 stick for 2 small breads)....

....and then sprinkle with poppy seeds....

(Leigh Anne suggests wrapping whole bread in tin foil before placing in the oven - I did not do this step (guess I got too excited for the whole recipe that I didn't read the directions very well) - only had tin foil on the bottom of the cookie sheet.  You are welcome to do what feels best to you.)

....pop bread in the oven for 15 minutes - or until cheese is nicely melted.

Take out of oven.....

(Oh HAPPINESS!!!)

 ...and let cool for a couple of minutes (if you can stand it) before you place bread/breads in front of your crowd and it is is devoured!!!

Happy Cheesy "Bloomin' Onion" Bread Making!

This post has been linked up to...

Siggy Spice's Thanksgiving Extravaganza (Appetizers)

Homemade Bread made with Cottage Cheese

Is there seriously anything better than homemade bread?!  Well, for the moment homemade bread is one item of food (of many) that is on the top of my "favorite food" list.  To me the fact that I am able to actually make bread means that I have the time and energy to do so....which is precious these days as I am in the tail end of my 2nd trimester of pregnancy.  I usually make bread when it is sunny outside....something about having it sunny outside is always inviting for me to make bread...who knows why.  Maybe because when it is sunny outside it allows the "rising" process of the bread to be more successful in my eyes?? Could be. 

I am always looking for new and different recipes so when I came across this recipe for homemade bread that included cottage cheese in the ingredients list I was very intrigued.  Especially when Rhonda from

Our Treasured Home expressed that the cottage cheese gave the bread a special moistness and a wonderful flavor.  I was immediately hooked and printed out the recipe to make ASAP. For those of you that have a bread maker Rhonda also shares this recipe to make in the bread maker along with by hand.

I was not disappointed by this recipe.  You will not be disappointed either!  This bread is VERY easy to make and sooooo yummy and yes, moist!  Go ahead, pick a sunny day and make this bread. 

Homemade Bread made with Cottage Cheese

(recipe discovered on Our Treasured Home)

Ingredients:

1 package Dry Yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup cottage cheese

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 whole egg, slightly beaten

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Heat butter and cottage cheese until warm and butter is completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add in sugar, salt, baking soda and beaten egg.  Mix well and blend in yeast mixture.

3. Pour mixture into bowl of Kitchen Aid and then add flour.  Mix using dough hook or by hand until dough is completely mixed together. 

4. Place dough on a floured surface.  Fold dough over several times.  Cover dough (leaving on floured surface) with a clean dish towel and let rise until doubled in size....at least 45-60 minutes.

Look how beautiful it will look once it has doubled in size....

5.  Fold over again a couple of times and then place in a well greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.....

....let rise again until doubled....

....preheat oven to 350 degrees F and then bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Cool for a couple of minutes before removing from pan.

Homemade bread....it is such a beautiful creation!!!

Enjoy!

Happy Homemade Bread made with Cottage Cheese Baking!

Siggy's Bread Sticks

I recently shared with you my homemade sauce recipe - these little bread sticks go lovely with that sauce! And they can be easy whipped up within just a short period of time. 

 I was so sad when all the sauce was gone and along with these bread sticks.  I would warm up the sauce gently and then dip the sticks right into it....sooooo yummy!!!

For those of you that don't know Siggy (Siggy Spice that is), she has a great food blog full of delicious dishes, treats, creations and ideas.  And not only is she an amazing and creative cook but she is also absolutely adorable and extremely nice.  I've been so fortunate to get to know her through my experience of food blogging!  I really look forward to continuing our friendship in the future. :-)

Siggy's Bread Sticks

(recipe from Siggy Spice)

Ingredient's

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp instant (rapid rise) yeast from a jar - as Siggy so brilliantly points out, the yeast packets don't hold a full TBSP thus the jarred yeast is preferred.

2 Tbsp sugar

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

2-4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil - unfortunately, I was completely out of EVOO so I used Canola oil...which was OK but not the best

1 Tbsp garlic salt (love this stuff!!!)

1-2 tsp herbs/seasoning of your choice - I used parsley, basil and a little thyme - Les Herbs de Provence would be great for this recipe!

4 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Mix together water, yeast, sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl.....

....and knead for three minutes.

2. Let dough rest for ten minutes....

and then magically it will turn into this lovely risen dough....

3. Turn on oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly flour your hands....

...and place dough on a cookie sheet that has been coated with 1-2 Tbsp of EVOO.  Spread dough out to cover the surface of the cookie sheet.....

4. Brush dough with 1-2 Tbsp of EVOO to lightly cover.  Sprinkle with herbs and garlic salt.  With a pizza cutter cut dough into bread sticks.....

....then cover entire dough with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

5. Remove plastic wrap and place in preheated oven.  Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven and brush melted butter all over top.....

....and then sprinkle with parm cheese....

As Siggy says, "serve, eat and break out in a little diddy bread stick dance!"

YUM-O!!!

Happy Siggy's Bread sticks Baking!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Mmmmmmmmm so good.  This weekend was a rainy weekend - perfect for making bread.....Cinnamon Raisin Bread at that!  Jolie (my daughter) and I had so much fun making this recipe together.  Not only did she get to roll out the dough but as you can see above, she got to sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture and then raisins ontop of the dough. Lots of fun....yummy fun.

Peek-a-boo! This is one of my favorite parts of making bread - discovering that it has risen.  It's a beautiful beautiful thing.  As you see from the picture above this recipe makes 3 loaves of bread which is great - 1 or 2 to keep and the 3rd to give away.  It's a lovely thing!

I discovered this recipe from one of my newest cook-books, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I can't say enough about this book.  Easy to follow recipes along with a wealth of information for baking bread.  I highly recommend it.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups lukewarm water

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast (2 packs)

1 1/2 tbsp Kosher salt

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup raisins (more if needed)

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water)

Butter or neutral-tasting oil for greasing pans

Directions:

1. Mix the yeast, salt and sugar with the lukewarm water and buttermilk in a large bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid bowl and this worked fine)

2. Mix in the flour using either a spoon or the dough hook of your Kitchen Aid mixer.  If you are not using a mixer, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

3. Cover with a clean dish towel and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top) - this takes approximately 2 hours.

4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise or it can be refrigerated in a lidded (not airtight) container and used over the next 7 days. 

5. Grease your loaf pans and set aside.

6. Dust work surface with flour along with a 1 1/2 lb piece (cantelope size) of the dough and the rolling pin.

7.  Roll out into a 8x16-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.

8. With a pastry brush cover surface of dough with egg wash.  Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1/3 of the mixture over dough evenly.  Do the same with the raisins.

9. Starting from the short side, roll up dough "jelly-roll" style.  Pinch the edges and ends together, tucking the ends under.

10. Place loaf seam side down in prepared pan.  Allow to rest 40 minutes (if you are using refrigerated dough allow 1 hour and 40 minutes of rest time).

11.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

12. Bake for 35-40 minutes

13. Remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.

**I know this is a ton of steps but they are so easy and well worth it in the end I promise you that!

Happy Raisin Cinnamon Bread baking!

I had to include one last picture for it includes my cat, Lucy in the background.  Love her! :-)