Banana Bread

My oh my, this was very good! To make it even better- it used whole wheat flour!

A must for those bananas that have overstayed their welcome....

Find the recipe here: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/banana

_bread.html

Oatmeal Pancakes

Saturday = Pancakes
Okay, today I was creative. I made my own oat flour by taking quick oats and grinding them in my blender. The pancakes were not as light and fluffy as when you use white flour, but they were just pretty good!

1/4 cup oat flour (1/4 oats ground in the blender)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 egg white
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup skim milk

Mix all ingredients and fry on hot griddle. Enjoy!

Bread Baking!

I have a bread machine. It is a good little machine, and I have used it to make bread before, but I don't like the way the bread comes out when it's finished. For some reason, even though the machine does all the work and I measure the ingredients carefully, my bread never comes out the way I think it should. So, I prefer to make bread the old fashioned way: with my hands. Today I tried a very basic bread recipe from The James Beard Cook Book. The dough was beautiful and it was nice to work with. And, the top didn't sink in.
I halved the recipe so it would only make 1 loaf. The full recipe was for 2 loaves.

Basic White Bread (makes 1 loaf)
1-1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water + 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons butter


Put the lukewarm liquid in a large bowl and add yeast. Add sugar and salt and stir well (until yeast dissolves).
Add the flour 1 cup at a time and stir in with a wooden spoon. As soon as you have a smooth dough, melt the butter and mix it into the dough. Then add the rest of the flour. Continue stirring or mixing until the dough is blended.
Turn the dough out onto a floured board, cover it with an inverted bowl and let it rest 10 minutes. Knead until smooth and satiny.
Allow the bread to rise in a bowl until doubled (1-1/2 to 2 hours). Then punch the dough 2 or 3 times to deflate the dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes. Shape into a loaf and put into a well greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake in a 375 degree oven until nicely browned and done (40 - 45 minutes).

Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

Well, it's not Saturday, but it's pancakes nonetheless. To enjoy these, you really have to like cinnamon, as they are very spicy. You can't tell very well from the picture, but the pancakes are a nice brown color from the cinnamon.
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg white
1 teaspoon olive oil

Mix all ingredients and fry on hot griddle.

Tuesdays with Dorie Post Number 3: Apple Cheddar Scones

This week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron. The recipe is Apple Cheddar Scones, which made me happy because there are many wonderful scone recipes in Baking: From My Home to Yours and I have been eager to try them.
This recipe was also perfect for another reason. A good friend of mine recently returned from a trip to England, and brought me a scone cutter from Greenwich, England. I was so excited about the scone cutter, and then when the next recipe ended up being scones....well...the happy dance was in order.
The dough came together very well, and the scones baked up nicely. I loved the flavors from the apples and cheese, and the cornmeal in the recipe gave the scones a nice crunch. I made these over the weekend, and had a wonderful lunch and breakfast.
I do think I will need to go back to cutting the recipes in half again though....I made the full batch and ate too many of them :)

Banana Pancakes

Yay! It's Saturday and that means.....pancakes!!!! Today I tried banana pancakes. They turned out beautifully!1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoons salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon oil
1 banana
1/4 vanilla pod, scraped
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients and fry on a hot griddle.

Variation: (7/01/08) Tried subbing 1/4 cup buttermilk instead of milk. Really Good!

Peanut Butter Pancakes

Ah, if it is Saturday, it must be pancake day! Today, I decided to play a little with my pancake recipe. I substituted a Tablespoon of peanut butter, added 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and increased the sugar by 1/4 teaspoon. Delicious pancakes!

1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients. Fry on griddle. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I'm beginning to think that I need to rethink the premise of my blog....I have again another post on pancakes....maybe that should be the focus :)
Anyway, I went to a movie this evening, and had too much cola and too much buttery popcorn. When I got home, I thought perhaps eating something more substantial then greasy and sugary movie theater fare would help settle my stomach. So of course, I turned to: pancakes. This evening, chocolate chips seemed to fit the bill perfectly, adding a nice gooey sweetness to the plain bread of the pancake. I also added a pinch of cinnamon to the pancake batter while mixing the dry ingredients. After ladling spoonfuls of the batter onto my griddle, I sprinkled the semi-sweet chocolate chips on each pancake. And yes, it did help my stomach.

Blueberry Day!

Ah, I've decided that Saturdays are pancake days. There is something indulgent and comforting about starting a leisurely Saturday with warm pancakes and syrup. This morning, I used my basic pancake recipe, and dumped some frozen blueberries into the batter. Technically, this is not Kosher because it makes the batter turn an interesting purple/grey color. I love to mix all the juice etc. into the batter when I'm making pancakes though, so the color is just a bonus! I have to have my cup of coffee in the morning, and Saturday is no exception. This morning, I made a strong cup of coffee and added 1 Tablespoon of blueberry syrup and a little skim milk. The coffee complimented the pancakes beautifully. What a way to start the morning!

Washington All-Purpose Flour Biscuits

I was looking for something quick to throw together to have with corn chowder, and found that this recipe worked perfectly. These biscuits are nice and salty, and went well with the soup!

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Place in bowl. Stir to blend.

• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons shortening)

Add. Cut into flour until crumbly.

• Scant 2/3 cup milk

Add gradually; stir to make a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently 6 to 8 strokes. Roll or pat to one-half thickness desired in baking biscuits. Cut with floured cutter. Place on baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Strawberry Pancakes

I keep finding strawberries for a good price at the grocery store, and so I end up with several packages in the refrigerator. I've been eating them plain and with vanilla yogurt, but this morning I decided to try them in pancakes. Blueberries better beware, because strawberry pancakes are wonderful! I love to top mine with a little syrup, but I can only imagine what whipped cream would be like on these!
Pancakes:
1-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons salad oil
fresh strawberries, chopped

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine egg, milk, and salad oil; add to dry ingredients, stirring just till moistened. Stir in strawberries. Bake on hot griddle. Makes about 12 dollar-size, or eight 4-inch pancakes.
To make one serving, follow the instructions above, but use the following amounts:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoons salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup milk
1-1/2 teaspoon oil
fresh strawberries, chopped

I used whole wheat flour, and olive oil when I made them :) Yours humbly, Butterbur.

Biscuit Adventure

OK, I had some chicken salad in the refrigerator, and wanted something to eat it with that wasn't store bought bread. Here is the recipe that I found in The New Basic cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

Roasted Red Pepper Biscuits
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cold
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 red pepper, roasted and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and using two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add the half-and-half, and stir to blend well. Then incorporate the roasted pepper.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 30 seconds. Pat it out until it is 1 inch thick, and cut out rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter.
5. Arrange the biscuits on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake until puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and allow them to cool.
Yield: 6 biscuits

That is the base recipe, but of course, I had to play with it. Here are my changes to the recipe:

• cut the recipe down so that I was only making 1/4 of the dough. I ended up with 2 biscuits
• used whole wheat flour
• used skim milk instead of half-and-half
• used jarred roasted red pepper- next time I will cut it into smaller pieces then recommended
• used a hamburger patty shaper to make large, flat biscuits
• baked for 10 minutes

Once the biscuits had cooled, I topped one with chicken salad. Yum!

Yours humbly, Butterbur

Butterbur's Daily Grain

Health and Nutrition meet Ultimate Comfort

Makes 1 serving

• 1/4 cup steel cut oats
• 1/8 cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, pineapple, dates, mango etc.)
• 1 Tablespoon finely chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons flax (if you don't normally eat flax, you may want to start with 1 tsp or less)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  

1. Soak 1/4 cup steel cut oats in 3/4 cup water overnight.

2. Add fruit, walnuts, flax, cinnamon and ginger to bowl and stir.

3. Microwave for about a minute and a half. Stir.

4. Microwave for another minute and a half. Stir.

5. Add milk if desired. Enjoy.