Zucchini Bread

This was the most delicious zucchini bread ever--I've now found a way that I like zucchini :)

Zucchini Bread (adapted from Joy of Baking)

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded raw zucchini (1-2 zucchini)
1/2 cup peeled and grated raw apple, (about 1 large apple)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup safflower, corn, or canola oil
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)[****I omitted this out of preference]

Garnish:

Toasted coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

Zucchini Bread: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium grater, and then peel and grate the apple.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Beat in the grated zucchini and apple. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the nuts and coconut.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan (at this point I generously sprinkled sugar in the raw to give the top a nice texture once it came out of the oven.) Bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan.

Well wrapped, this bread will keep for several days at room temperature (if unfrosted) or for several days in the refrigerator (if frosted). This bread can be frozen.

Makes one - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Frosting: Beat the butter and cream cheese until very smooth with no lumps. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Spread over the top of the cooled zucchini bread. Garnish with toasted coconut, if desired.

(Note: To toast coconut - Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree F (177 degree C) oven for a few minutes until lightly browned. Watch carefully.)

Soft White Sandwich Bread

After the new year a goal of mine was to make more bread from scratch around our house, and to rely less on premade store bought packages. I ordered Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day. It's a lovely book and such wonderful things had been mentioned about this individual that I thought this would be a great place to start. Up until recently I, by my own admittance, have been fearful of yeast. It's such a fussy product when you first begin to work with it. Especially given that there are different kinds of yeast also, as in bread machine yeast can also be known as Instant Yeast. There are different kinds known as Rapid Rise, Active Dry Rapid Rise, this brand and that brand and not to mention the different kind of flours-Yikes. Each flour has something unique about them and gratefully each kind of bread is named for what it's better for e.g. cake flour, bread flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour etc.

So in my journey in bread making there have been a number of failures as well as successes, as in any baker might concede to. I thought I was following everything in this recipe to a 'T.' I used exactly enough this, and kneaded it for exactly this many minutes and-Argh! Something would go wrong, often times my end result would look similar to banana bread in shape and density, not a soft sandwich-y white bread!

I learned from a friend of mine that when you add yeast to a liquid (warmed to 110 degrees of course) you have to really whisk it to get that yeast going. Before I was merely giving a quick stir with a spoon. Once I discovered that, all systems were a go! I also knew from other readings that sugar is the fuel and food for yeast to become active, and I really wanted this to work. I wasn't reliant solely on the sugars in the milk, so I added a quarter teaspoon of granulated sugar to the milk before adding the yeast. Maybe it's not necessary, but none-the-less, it worked.

Lesson learned with the most applicable quote: "The Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

White Sandwich Bread (Artisans Bread Every Day, page 105)

1 Tbsp Instant yeast (aka Bread Machine Yeast)

1 3/4 cups, plus 2 Tbsp milk (any kind) warmed to 110 degrees F.

6 1/4 cup unbleached bread flour

2 tsp salt

5 1/2 Tbsp white or 1/4 cup honey or agave nectar

6 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter

1 egg

Do Ahead:

Whisk the yeast into the warmed milk (110 deg F) until dissolved and set aside for about five minutes or until foamy.

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, oil and egg in a mixing bowl (I used the bowl from my stand mixer.) Then slowly add in the milk and yeast mixture. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and mix for two minutes. The dough should be coarse and sticky.

If using a mixer, break out that dough hook that's been stashed away, attach that to the mixer and mix on medium low speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or knead by hand on a floured work surface until soft and supple, but and tacky, but not sticky. **Note: Tacky should be defined as the texture that could stick to your hand and easily be removed like a post-it note. Sticky textures are difficult to remove from your hand, tacky is not.

Whichever mixing method you should use, knead by hand for one minute and then tuck the sides under and smooth it into a ball. Place the dough it a clean, lightly oiled large mixing bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to four days. If you plan to bake the dough in batches, over different days, you can portion the dough and place into two or more oiled bowls at this stage.

On Baking Day:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 1/2 hours before baking, and divide in half. Shape into sandwich loaves by rolling each half out into roughly a 5"x9" rectangle, and starting with the short side, roll away from you. Once your roll is complete, gently rock your fists on top of the loaf to form a evenly formed rectangular like shape (for further illustrations you'll have to refer to the book p.23)

Place each loaf in a greased 5"x9" loaf pan. Mist the tops of the loaves with cooking spray and wrap with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 2 1/2 hours until it domes about 1" above the rim.

Hint: This works for me since we live in the upper Midwest where it gets pretty chilly in the winter. Use either a microwave safe breakfast size bowl of water or a good sized coffee mug and heat the water in the microwave for about 3 minutes or until boiling. Once that is complete and the microwave is turned off (no flying sparks here) immediately place your two loaf pans in the microwave with the steaming cup or bowl of water and close the door, try not to open it for close two 2 1/2 hours. This is a good warm, draft free way to let your baked goods rise and it also keeps the out of the way!

Before baking preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depends on the oven, then rotate the pans around and bake for another 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown. You are striving for an internal temperature of the bread to be at 185 degrees F and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack-Enjoy!

I wish I were a Cinnabon!

Cinnabons have long been a staple for many a malls' fast food court. I, and many others believe this to be pure marketing genius, as well as torture. Who can turn down a big cinnamon-y, perfectly baked Cinnamon roll, certainly not I, but I do most times for obvious reasons. Cinnabon's debuted in malls starting in 1985, from there on out I think their future was sealed.

With this recipe I thought I could make an adaptation. I have been trying to make our own bread at home and one of the methods of doing this is to make everything the night before, refrigerate it overnight to help develop the yeast flavors, and bake it the next day. So I made the rolls the night before, chilled them overnight, and when there were supposed to be rising the next morning before baking, I think the room temperature was too low. It Minnesota, it gets chilly here. If there were kept in a warmer environment I think their second rise would have been more successful. I think that's why they did not big and puffy like the stores version, hence the name wannabe Cinnabons (and because it's a copy-cat recipe!)

Almost Famous Cinnamon Buns (From Food Network Magazine, November 2009)

For the dough

1 cup whole milk

1 packet active dry yeast (3/4 oz)

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

4 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

For the Filling

All purpose flour for dusting

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened. Plus more for the pan

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3+ Tbsp ground Cinnamon

For the Glaze

2 cups of Confectioners Sugar

1/3 cup of heavy cream

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

**or cream cheese frosting from a canister

For the Dough

Warm the milk in the microwave until a thermometer measures the temperature to be 110 degrees F. Once heated, sprinkle in the 1/4 tsp sugar and the yeast packet, and do not stir. Set aside until foamy (about 5 minutes.) Whisk in the melted butter, egg yolk, and vanilla into the yeast mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Fitted with the dough hook attachment and set on a low speed, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Mix on low until the dough is slightly sticky and thick. Knead the dough on medium low speed for about 6 minutes, until the dough gathers around the hook ( add up to 2 Tbsp of flour only if needed.)

Remove the dough to a working surface and form into a ball. Spray a large bowl with nonstick cooking spray and add the dough to the bowl. Spray the surface of the dough lightly with the nonstick cooking spray and wrap bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Roll out the dough into a 12"x14" rectangle on a floured working surface, with the longer side facing you. Spread the softened butter over the dough, leaving a 1/2" border on the far long edge. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle evenly over the butter. Brush the unbuttered edge with water.

Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder, press on the long edge to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut the cylinder into six evenly shaped rolls. Butter a 9"x13" baking pan, place the rolls cut side down in the pan, leaving room between the rolls for rising. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, non-drafty space and allow to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake the rolls until golden brown and the house smells like heaven. Meanwhile, make the glaze, whisk the ingredients together. Or, if using, give the premade frosting a good stir to loosen it up.

Once pan has been removed from the oven, drizzle on as much of the icing as your little heart wants-Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

In the quest for all things pumpkin related-this has been my favorite pumpkin bread so far. The delicious bread we enjoy each fall, now has a delicious swirl of cream cheese, makes this even better. These days there are pumpkin lattes, pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ale, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin soup-I could go on and on, but enjoy this versatile fall fruit at it's finest.

Note: I had some left over pumpkin cream cheese from the local bagel shop so I opted to use that instead.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread (from Joy of Baking)

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Pumpkin Bread:
1 cup) pecans or walnuts
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 - 15 ounce can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350° F and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter and lightly flour two - 9 by 5 x 3 inch loaf pans. Set aside.

To toast nuts: Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until brown and fragrant. Cool completely and then chop coarsely. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling: In your food processor or with a hand mixer, process the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

Pumpkin Bread: In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar and melted butter and whisk until blended. Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, milk, vanilla extract, and nuts.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. (A few streaks of flour is fine.) Do not over mix as it will make the bread tough.

Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it evenly between the two prepared pans. Divide the cream cheese filling in half and place each half of filling on top the two pans of batter, smoothing the tops. Top with the remaining half of batter. Bake the breads for about 50 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Place pans on a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing breads from pans. Can serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or else freeze for later use.