Jamie’s Recipes

Dinner rolls are not high on my priority list when I am cooking dinner, truth be told they are more likely an after thought. For example, after I set the food on the table I think to myself, hmm some dinner rolls or fresh bread would really round out this meal. Unfortunately if you do not have any of those “heat to serve” dinner rolls sitting around there is no way to enjoy them with your dinner that night. Like most yeast breads dinner rolls need (I really had to resist typing KNEAD –I love a good pun!) to be a forethought since you have to knead, then let double in size, then shape, then let double in size again, and finally you are able to bake them, all which take plenty of time.

Luckily for me and for you since I am sharing it, I found a recipe which allows you to have piping hot dinner rolls on your dinner table in about one hour from start to finish. This recipe is awesome because I just start it a little bit before I would normally start prepping for dinner. For me it was not a huge change in my cooking routine.

I found this recipe months ago from Holly at Phe/MOM/enon (congratulations on the new babe). She adapted a recipe from My Kitchen Cafe and posted about it in November and I marked it as a recipe that I wanted to try. This is a daily habit of mine. I sit down and read my Google Reader and star all the recipes I want to try some day. Currently I have hundreds of “want to try” recipes marked. I have maybe tried a handful (a small handful) of these recipes. It is such a shame. To fix this problem I have decided that a couple times a month I am actually going to try some of these recipes and share them with you. After all, I would like it if people would try my recipes instead of saying “that sounds good, I will have to try that some day” and some day never comes.

That being said, a recipe from the famous Ree at The Pioneer Woman was also starred. She had made some delicious Buttered Rosemary Rolls using frozen bread dough. Well Ree recently posted about these Rosemary Rolls again which jogged my memory and I knew I had to make them soon. First I tried Holly’s recipe a couple weeks ago only I substituted half of the AP flour for whole wheat flour. My family loved the dinner rolls, and I was happy how quickly they came together. They were so light and fluffy. Fast forward to this week, when we were going to have spaghetti for dinner and didn’t have any frozen garlic bread around. The solution was to combine Holly’s recipe with Ree’s recipe and throw in my own touch. My family really enjoyed the soft, subtly garlic herb dinner rolls with our spaghetti. The garlic flavor didn’t come through as much as I hoped it would, next time I make these I will try doubling the garlic amount or adding roasted garlic instead of minced.

PERFECT DINNER ROLLS
I first saw it at Phe/MOM/enon
1 1/2 cups warm water (11o degrees F)
1 T instant yeast
2 T granulated sugar
2 T vegetable oil (I used Olive Oil)
1 tsp sea salt (I used Kosher salt)
4 c AP flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup & leveled off

HERE ARE HOLLY’S INSTRUCTIONS:

In your mixing bowl stir together water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes until creamy.

Add oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat on low speed with the paddle attachment. While still on low speed add 1 additional cup of flour stir until incorporated. Switch to dough hook and add the final cup of flour. Mix until dough pulls away from the bowl, then turn speed up to medium and knead for 5 minutes –or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place until dough doubles in size –about 20-30 minutes.

Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate and press dough into a rectangle. Cut dough in half vertically, then vertically again into thirds so there are 6 equal strips of dough. Cut each strip into fourths so there are 24 equal pieces of dough. Pick up each piece and lightly cup it under your palm on a clean surface. Press lightly and rotate and roll the dough quickly so it forms a ball. If you’re really good you can do one with each hand, thus speeding up the process.

Place each dough ball into a greased 9×13 baking pan in rows of 4 (about 1/2 inch apart). Cover the rolls with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let double in size while the oven is preheating to 400 degrees F –about 20 minutes. Brush rolls with melted butter before placing in the oven for a nice golden brown color. Bake for 15 minutes.

HERE IS WHAT I DID:
Since I do not have a dough hook for my mixer, I used my bread machine on the dough setting.

In addition to Holly’s ingredient list I added in 1 T minced garlic. Next time I would add more. The garlic flavor wasn’t as strong as I hoped.

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order your machine recommends. Turn the machine on the dough setting, but do not walk away. Allow the dough to knead for about 5 minutes after all the ingredients are incorporated. Once the dough is smooth place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and put in a warm area until the dough doubles in size –about 20-30 minutes.

Once the dough has doubled in size, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate while carefully pressing into a rectangle.  I followed the instructions from Holly’s recipe for shaping the rolls. Cut dough in half vertically, then vertically again into thirds so there are 6 equal strips of dough. Cut each strip into fourths so there are 24 equal pieces of dough. Pick up each piece and lightly cup it under your palm on a clean surface. Press lightly and rotate and roll the dough quickly so it forms a ball. If you’re really good you can do one with each hand, thus speeding up the process.

Like the Pioneer Woman’s recipe I greased my cast iron skillet with melted butter and placed six rolls in the pan (the other rolls I baked on a regular baking sheet) cover them with a dish towel and let rise for about 20-30 more minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

While the rolls are rising gather:

2T butter, melted
1-2 tsp dried rosemary
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried basil
generous pinch of Kosher salt

Mix together the herbs and salt. Paint the melted butter on each roll. Sprinkle a generous pinch of the herb and salt mixture over every roll.

Bake rolls for about 15 minutes until nice and golden brown. Enjoy!

*Sorry for the funky coloring in my pictures. It was dark outside by the time I finished baking, and I don’t have any of that fancy photo editing software.

My children love helping me in the kitchen. They both like to help with the cleaning and the cooking, I’m lucky. Sasha has started figuring out that certain foods combined together can make a specific dish. When I grab celery, carrots, and onions she asks if I am making soup. If I put a big pot of water on to boil she asks if I am making pasta. One day I picked up a few browned bananas off the counter, and Sasha asked if I was making chocolate banana cake. I have never heard of chocolate banana cake before, but this continued all summer long whenever she would see browned bananas she would ask about chocolate banana cake. I finally have given in. I made her chocolate banana cake while she was taking “quiet time”. When she woke up, she came out of her room saying, “What is that great smell coming from.” I told her I made a surprise for her, and cut her a slice of the cake. Without telling her what it was I gave it to her.  She took a bite, and said the chocolate banana cake was delicious. I’m not quite sure how she knew that is was chocolate banana cake, but it made me so happy to hear her say how much she liked it.

I found my recipe on a delicious site called Baking Bites. Head over there to check out what other tasty treats Nichole is baking up.

MARBLED CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE
from Baking Bites
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe, medium bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream (*I used light mayo)
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 12-cup bundt pan (12-inch diameter).
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one by one, waiting until each has been incorporated to add the next. Beat in vanilla extract and mashed bananas.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and stir to combine. Add in the sour cream (or mayo), followed by the remaining flour mixture.
Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter into a small bowl and stir in cocoa powder.
Pour 2/3 of the plain batter into the prepared bundt pan, top with cocoa batter and spoon the rest of the plain batter on top. Run a knife through the batter gently to swirl.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Serve plain, or dusted with powdered sugar.

*Mayo provides a slight tanginess, and can be found in other chocolate cake recipes.

Is it Autumn yet? Lately I have been craving food that makes me feel warm and cozy. Usually soups and homemade bread seems “too hot” for August, but lucky for me August in Omaha has yielded some wacky weather. This wacky weather has produced days that top out in the high 90s and other days that top out in the lower 70s. It is on these cooler days that I start yearning for Fall. I like living in the Midwest and enjoy the changing of the seasons. Soon we will say goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall. I love Fall. I love wearing flip-flops, jeans, and a hoodie. I love the first bowl of chili. I love turning off the A/C, opening the windows, and cranking on the oven without worrying about over heating my apartment (soon to be house!). I love homemade soup and fresh baked bread.

We have had some thunderstorms roll in the past couple days, and with the rain came cooler temperatures. I have baked six loaves of bread in the last week. I am done buying store bought bread. Before I completely skip the bakery aisle, I need to learn how to make hamburger/hot dog buns and bagels. Earlier this year I made English muffins, which were surprisingly easy. As soon as we get settled into a new house I want to get a sourdough starter going. I am going looking forward to sourdough bread bowls this winter.

Like I said earlier I have baked six loaves of bread in the last week. Three loafs were a dense and delicious white sandwich bread, the other three were a softer honey wheat/flax bread, delicious in its own right. I used both breads for my favorite summer sandwich -the BLT. The white bread recipe came from Susan from A Year in Bread.

EASY BASIC WHITE SANDWICH BREAD
Makes three loaves, about 1 1/2 pounds each

click on the recipe title to go to Susan’s recipe with her more technical directions

4 c AP flour
2 T dry active yeast
2 T white sugar
2 T canola oil
4 c warm milk
6 c bread flour
1 1/2 T salt

Mix together AP flour, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Make a small well in the middle and pour in oil and milk. Mix in 1 c of bread flour at a time, until about 5 c are added. Once the dough became tough to stir I dusted the counter with flour, and dumped the dough out. I began the process of kneading the rest of the flour into the dough for 6 or 7 minutes.

Place the dough back into the bowl to rise for 20 minutes. Turn the dough back onto the counter top, flatten, and knead in the salt for about 5 minutes or until completely combined.

Sprinkle the bowl with flour and place dough in the bowl. Dust dough with flour and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour or so). My favorite place to let dough rise is in the oven with the light on.

When the dough is ready to be divided and shaped, you should be able to stick your finger into the dough and leave an indention.

Turn the dough out onto your counter top once more. I dimpled the dough to get all the air bubbles out.

Divide dough into three equal pieces. Shape into loaves, place into greased bread pan (I used a 8 1/2 inchs x 4 1/2 inches like Susan recommended) and dust with flour.  Cover with damp tea towel and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes.

Bake for 35 minutes in a 375 degree F oven. You want your loaves to be a lovely golden brown. Turn out onto wire racks to cool –bread isn’t done baking once it is removed from the oven –so try to resist the temptation to slice into it immediately, wait until it has come to room temperature. This bread can be put into a freezer bags and frozen for later use. But honestly it is so good, I doubt your family will let any of it go to waste. We turned ours into delicious BLTs.

I like my BLT with a slice of Munster cheese. What a wonderful summer sandwich. Thanks for the great recipe Susan!

Earlier this summer my husband started a new job at What Cheer. One morning the What Cheer crew went into work early, I mean at the office before the birds were chirping early. I knew they were working hard and wanted to make sure they had a breakfast treat to help fuel their morning. I’m a sucker for cinnamon rolls, especially when they are homemade and fresh from the oven. I think I have the best recipe with pudding in the mix. I couldn’t whip up a batch of my cinnamon rolls to share with the What Cheer gang, because they contain gluten.

If I were to deliver a batch of freshly made cinnamon rolls that everyone could eat they would have to be gluten free. Google led me to a gluten free forum that had a promising recipe in one of its discussions.  The recipe is from the cookbook Eating Gluten Free. These cinnamon/sticky buns tasted so wonderful you would never know that they gluten free. JH had lived 27-ish years without ever knowing the joy of tasting a warm cinnamon roll. I was so happy to bring these to What Cheer -still warm from the oven. He asked if this is what “real” cinnamon rolls tasted like, and everyone said “YES!” If you have gluten intolerant friends, I beg you to please make these for them. They are wonderful!

I love my cinnamon rolls smeared in with a cream cheese frosting, and planned to do the same with these rolls. That was until I checked in the fridge and alas there was no cream cheese. I improvised with a brown sugar/honey syrup and chopped walnuts. Lucky for me it worked out.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls/Sticky Buns
Recipe from Eating Gluten Free

1 T yeast
3 T warm water
1 cup Sorghum flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 T Xanthan gum
4 T oil (I used canola)
3 T honey
1/2 cup soy milk (I used regular milk)
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 T cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sorghum flour (reserve this for kneading)

optional additions:
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

STICKY BUN TOPPING
3 T butter
1/2 c honey
1/2 c brown sugar
1 c chopped walnuts

Combine the yeast and warm (NOT HOT!) water in your mixing bowl. Set aside to let it do its magic. In a separate bowl, combine the 1 c sorghum flour, cornstarch, tapioca and Xanthan, stir to combine. In a small bowl, combine the oil, honey and milk. Stir into the yeast. Add the salt and the egg.

Turn on the mixer, and gradually add the flour mixture. Once it is all added, mix vigorously for 10 seconds. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. It doesn’t rise a whole lot, like with traditional cinnamon rolls, but you should notice some rise in the dough.

Combine your butter, sugar, and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

After the dough has risen, dust your work surface, hands and the dough with the reserved sorghum flour. Knead the dough several times until it is all combined. It seems like a lot to be adding, but it really does soak it all up. If the dough is still really sticky, you may need to add more sorghum flour.

Roll dough out into an 8 x 12 rectangle. Spread the reserved butter mixture over the dough. Roll into a long tube. Slice tube into 1 in individual rolls. Place rolls on a parchment lined jelly roll pan. Cover and allow to sit and rise for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Make sticky bun topping. In a sauce pan over medium heat melt butter, honey, and sugar until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Pour topping into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the mixture.

Once cinnamon rolls have risen, place in 9 x 13 pan and bake for 15 minutes. Eat them while they are hot. ENJOY!

*I turned the rolls over on a platter and spooned on any left over walnuts and honey syrup.

There is something about buttery cinnamon and sugar encased in a warm dough, slathered with cream cheese that makes you say “AHHHH”. The smell of cinnamon evokes a warm homey feeling for me –and I don’t think I am alone here. Romans used to use cinnamon in their love potions, Egyptians in their embalming rituals, and I used it in the World’s Best Cinnamon Rolls.

I have made several different recipes for cinnamon rolls for the years, all were good, but when I made these I knew I found the recipe that I hope to become famous for –at least in my family. My great grandma Dorothy makes a mean cinnamon roll(I don’t have her recipe, yet), but I would totally take this recipe and do a Bobby Flay style throwdown against her. I mixed the dough and let it rise in my bread machine, before I rolled it out and filled it. These cinnamon rolls are as big as your head and incredibly delicious. I looked through the cupboard and realized I was out of vanilla extract, so I added some vanilla instant pudding and skipped the additional sugar.

THE BEST CINNAMON ROLLS EVER
1/4 c warm water
1/2 c milk, room temp.
1/2 c half & half, room temp.
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c butter, softened -divided
1/2 tsp salt
4 c AP flour
1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
1 T rapid rise yeast
1 c brown sugar
2 T cinnamon

You may want to look at your owners manual for your breadmachine, but this is how I did it for mine.

Add the ingredients through yeast in the order listed, use 1/4 c of the butter. I used the dough cycle. Once it was done kneading and rising, roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 18×30 inch rectangle. Mix together remaining 1/4 c butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread this mix over the rolled out dough. Starting at the long edge of the dough, roll up tightly, pinching to seal. Using plain dental floss, slide it under the dough log and slice your rolls every 2 inches.

Line a jelly roll pan with greased parchment paper. Place rolls 2 inches apart. Cover and let rise in a warm place (the oven with the light on is perfect) until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Rolls should be touching each other after rising, if not push them together so they are touching.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla

Mix until smooth and well combined.

Spread on warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy immediately! ENJOY!

Scone, apparently the correct pronunciation rhymes with John, is a biscuit like bread served with tea in England. I think most people in the US know what a scone is because they can find them in the pastry case at Starbucks. Accompanied with a hot cup of coffee or tea, scones make a delicious breakfast. However, if you prefer something super sweet with your coffee, you better opt for a muffin instead (or increase the sugar to 1/2 c). Scones are not super sweet, but with the addition of blueberries and almond extract they do pack a lot of flavor. Start brewing your coffee or tea and enjoy a tasty scone for a quick on-the-go breakfast or a nice sit down brunch.

BLUEBERRY SCONES
Yield: 12 scones

2 3/4 c AP Flour
1/3 c sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 T baking powder
8 T cold butter
1 pint blueberries, dusted with flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract(I think lemon would be good too)
2/3 c half & half

Stir together all dry ingredients. With a pastry blender cut in cold butter, it is alright  if some chunks remain. Stir in blueberries. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, being careful not to “pop” any blueberries. On a parchment lined cookie sheet divide dough into two rounds. About 6 inches across, 1 inch thick. Moisten the tops of the rounds with a little brushed on milk, and sprinkle with a little sugar. Using a cold knife cut each round into 6 triangles.  Carefully pull the triangles apart, so there is a 1/2 inch space between each. Put cookie sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, bake scones for 25 minutes, or until baked all the way through.  They are delicious served warm. ENJOY!

Others who are talking about scones:

Pinch My Salt: Buttermilk Cranberry Scones
Karina’s Kitchen: Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Scones (Gluten Free & Vegan)
Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Cranberry Scones
Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy: Apple Cheddar Scones Sounds Yummy!
Vegan Eats!: Hungry Girl’s Snazzy Blueberry Scones
101 Cookbooks: Raspberry Mega Scones

Up until a couple weeks ago, I thought English muffins were a magical bread product that could only be produced in commercial bakerys, that the recipe was a secret and baking them would be an impossible task for the amateur baker. I was extremely happy to find out how wrong I had been. Baking or rather cooking English muffins in your home is an attainable goal. Like me, you may be surprised to learn that you do not bake English muffins, instead you cook them on a griddle. I now have no need to purchase store bought English muffins EVER again.  You mix the dough in your bread machine, roll it and cut out the muffins, allow to rest for 20 minutes, and finally cook for about 10 minutes. Can you believe how easy it is? I found my recipe at the home baker’s Mecca… King Arthur Flour.

I love my English muffins twice toasted with butter and jam, or as a breakfast sandwich with egg, ham (sausage or bacon will do) and cheese, or as Eggs Benedict. Mc Donald’s has nothing on me!

ENGLISH MUFFINS
from King Arthur Flour
Makes about 16 muffins

1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) milk, warm
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/4 cups (17 to 18 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place the ingredients in the pan of your bread machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. Use the “dough” or “manual” setting. After the cycle is complete, transfer the dough to a cornmeal-sprinkled surface and roll it out until it’s about 1/2-inch thick. Cut out circles with a floured 3-inch cutter. Re-roll and cut out the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let rest for about 20 minutes.

Heat a frying pan or griddle to very low heat. Do not grease, but sprinkle with cornmeal. Cook four muffins at a time, cornmeal side down first, for about 7 minutes a side. * Warning: the cornmeal can burn, causing your kitchen to get a little smokie. Make sure to use your exhaust fan if you have a highly senstive smoke alarm.

Check after about 3 to 4 minutes to see that the muffins are browning gently and are neither too dark nor too light; if they seem to be cooking either too fast or too slowly, adjust the temperature of your pan or griddle.

When the muffins are brown on both sides, transfer them to a wire rack to cool, and proceed with the rest. If you have two frying pans (or a large griddle), you’ll be better able to keep up with your rising

I love homemade pizza. My husband got me a pizza stone awhile back, and I love it. I find more ways to use it almost every time I bake. Hands down though, my favorite way to use my pizza stone is to bake pizza. We love homemade pizza at our house. When we first started making pizza I would buy either the pre-made pizza crusts or the pizza dough packets (where you add water and stir). Both of these yielded good pizzas. Awhile back a Daring Bakers challenge was pizza dough. This was a great recipe, but it took planning, since the dough had to sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

I knew there had to be a pizza dough recipe that was instant. After all, those dough packets I got at the store called for only a 5-10 minute rise time. I wish I could take credit for developing this recipe that has become my “go-to” when we get the hankering for pizza. Erin from Lee Lou  Ann had the perfect recipe I had been searching for. It takes 10 minutes of knead time and 10 minutes of rise time. This allows you 20 minutes to shred your cheese, brown your meat, mix your sauce, preheat your oven, have a beer or a glass of wine, whatever you need to do to get ready for pizza time.

Easy Pizza Dough
(from Always in Season)
4 to 4 1/2 c. flour
2 envelopes fast-rising dry yeast
1 t. sugar
2 t. olive oil
1 3/4 c. warm water (110 degrees)
1 t. salt

Put water in mixer bowl. Add yeast and sugar, stir with fork and let sit until creamy. Add oil and half flour and mix with kneader hook. Add remaining flour and salt, knead for 8-10 minutes. Let rest, covered with towel for 10 minutes. The dough may be punched down, placed in a resealable plastic bag and stored in the refrigerator for 12 hours or frozen at this point; return to room temperature before proceeding.
Divide the dough into 8 portions for 6″ crusts or 2 portions for large crusts. Top with sauce, cheese and other toppings. Bake on pizza stone or cookie sheet at 450-500 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

TIPS FOR PERFECT PIZZA:
* Roll your crust thin and dock (poke wholes) with fork. Brush lightly with olive oil.
* Crank up the temp on your oven. I preheat my oven and pizza stone to 550 degrees F.
* Par-bake your crust for 5 minutes before topping.
* Limit your toppings to no more than four. Too many toppings will make your dough soggy.
* Use sauce lightly. I like to do cheese down first, then meat and veggies, sprinkle of Parmesan and pizza spices
* Once pizza is topped bake for another 8 minutes, or until cheese is melty and bubbly.

If you follow these tips you will have a delicious crispy crust pizza. My husband thinks that this is the best pizza ever! We are looking forward to giving it a try on my in-laws BGE!

My most recent trip to the library I brought home Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. After flipping through it several times I realized that this is a book I need for Christmas (hint, hint). I made only the Master Recipe, in two different shapes: Boule and Baguette. I have renewed the book several times, because there are so many other recipes I want to try. I know soon I will have to return it, it would be so nice to have a copy of my own (hint, hint).

The bread is truly easy to make. It is a wet dough that you store lightly covered in your refrigerator, you pull off a hunk of dough when you are ready to bake. Last month we went over to a friends house for dinner, when I asked what I could contribute to the dinner, I was asked to bring bread to eat with the chili. It was so easy, I grabbed a couple grapefruit-sized hunks of dough from the fridge, shaped into baguettes, let rise and bake. It really took no effort on my part. How wonderful is that? Homemade bread without all the effort. The authors say that the master recipe can be stored for up to 14 days and it will become more sourdough flavored the longer it sits. I can not tell you if this is true, because the bread is so good, I used up all my dough after two days (actually less than 48 hours).

The Master Recipe: Boule
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Makes four 1 lb loaves
3 c lukewarm (100 degrees F) water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast (I used dry active)
1 1/2 T kosher salt
6 1/2 c unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop-and-sweep method

Mixing and Storing the Dough
In a large, resealable food storage container, mix water, yeast and salt. Add in all the flour (no kneading required!). Mix together (I used a strong wooden spoon) until everything is moist. You should be able to mix the dough together relatively quickly. Allow dough to rise in bowl on the counter for 2 hours (up to 5 hours), you could use the dough after this rise if you wanted to. Refrigerated dough is less sticky, so, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Ready to Bake
Cover your pizza peal with cornmeal (I do not own a pizza peal, so instead I use parchment paper). Sprinkle your dough with a little flour. Pull up and pinch off a grapefruit sized (1 lb) blob of dough. Add a little more flour, so the dough won’t stick to your hands. Stretch the dough around to the bottom to make a ball shape, this will take a few seconds to achieve. The end result will be a smooth ball of dough.  Put your ball of dough on the pizza peal to rise for 40 minutes (does not need to be covered).  Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.  Place your baking stone in the lower third of your oven, and a empty boiler tray on the top shelf. Once the bread is ready to go into the oven, dust the top with flour and make 1/4 in. slash marks in the top with a bread knife.  Quickly transfer bread to pizza stone, and add 1 c hot water to boiler tray. Quickly close the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until bread looks brown and crusty. Cool completely before slicing.

As the weather gets cooler I begin to crave hearty foods, like homemade soups and breads. Awhile back I made Old-Time Beef Stew and with it I served some homemade focaccia bread. Sasha, now 2 1/2 loves to help in the kitchen, and I thought this focaccia would be the perfect opportunity for her to help.

I used Michael Chiarello’s Potato Foccacia recipe for the dough, and instead of topping it with potatoes I used dried thyme, rosemary and cheddar cheese. It was great for dunking into our stew.

For the Dough:

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup lukewarm whole milk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt, preferably gray salt

Combine the yeast, sugar, and milk in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add 1/2 cup of the flour. Stir well, cover with a towel, and let rest in a warm place for 25 minutes.

Mix in the olive oil, salt, and 1 cup of flour, until well incorporated. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough adheres to the hook. It should remain soft and slightly sticky. Continue mixing for about 6 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Remove from the bowl, shape the dough into a ball, flatten slightly, and put into an oiled bowl. Turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a towel and put in a warm place for about 1 hour, to let the dough rise until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Oil a baking sheet.

Lightly flour the dough and punch it down. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 12 by 10 inches. Brush off any excess flour and transfer to the oiled baking sheet. Brush the dough with olive oil and leave to rise for 30 minutes.

Dimple the dough by poking your fingers into it. Add dried herbs and cheese.

Please don’t lick your fingers until you are completely done dimpling the dough!

Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and the bread is crisp on the bottom. Let cool in the pan to room temperature. Cut into squares, “fingers,” or triangles to serve.

Here Sasha is enjoying all her hard work.