Modern Sponge White Bread

THIS RECIPE MAKES 2 LOAVES

Yield: 24 Slices

Ingredients:

1 cup Water
2+1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
6+1/2 to 7 cups Bread Flour
1+1/2 cups Milk
3 TBSP, plus 1 tsp, separated Sugar
1 TBSP Salt
2 TBSP Shortening

Instructions:

In large mixer bowl, combine warm water (110-115°F), 1 tsp sugar and yeast; stir, let stand 5 minutes. Add 3 cups flour. In saucepan or microwave, heat milk until warm (110-115°F). Add to flour mixture.

Beat until smooth, about 100 strokes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and foil. Let stand at room temperature for 6 to 24 hours. Add sugar, salt and shortening. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.                    

Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover; let rise until dough tests ripe.

Punch down dough. Divide into 2 parts. On lightly floured surface, roll or pat each half to a 14x7-inch rectangle.

Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal. Place in greased 8x4- or 9x5-inch bread pans. Cover; let rise until indentation remains after lightly touching.                

Bake at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pans; cool.

You can substitute Instant (fast-rising) yeast for Active Dry Yeast. Traditional methods- replace 1:1. Expect your dough to rise faster; always let your dough rise until ‘ripe’.                        

Bread Machines- use ½ tsp Instant yeast (or ¾ tsp Active Dry yeast) per cup of flour in your recipe.

Red Star Yeast

Chocolate Pudding

No mix ever gave you the rich fudgy taste of this Eagle Brand pudding!  (Makes 7 servings--1/2 cup each.)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups (15-oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
3 squares (3 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  Put Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, salt and water in top of double boiler.  Stir until well mixed.  Add chocolate.

2.  Cook over rapidly boiling water, stirring often, until chocolate is melted.

3.  Add a little chocolate mixture to cornstarch to make a thin paste.

4.  Cook 15 minutes longer or until thick, stirring constantly.

5.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla.

6.  Pour into serving dishes.  Chill.

Awesome Spanish Style Rice

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. hot Italian Sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 pablano pepper, minced (opt.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. chili powder
2 14.5oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 jar Heinz chili sauce
1 1/2 cups brown rice
1 1/2 cups water or chicken stock (reduced sodium)

In the largest skillet you have with a lid, over medium heat, brown beef and sausagein hot oil until no longer pink and crumbled.


Add onion, bell pepper, and pablano pepper and saute until soft, about 10 minutes.
Add garlicand chilipowder and saute for about 4 minutes.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, chili sauce, rice, and water or chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionaly, until rice is tender. Remove from heat and uncover. Let stand for 10 minutes.


This dish is great on its own or you can stuff your peppers or tomatoes with it then bake at 350 degrees F. for about 20 minutes then sprinke with cheese.                                      

I love to make burritos with the rice, just add some sour cream, cheese, lettuce for crunch, and roll up in a large flour torilla.

Cybersoup

Open-Face Hamburgers

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
3 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. finely grated onion
6 slices white bread

Beat eggs until light. Add ground beef, salt, pepper and onion.                              

Toast bread on one side, spread hamburger mixture on untoasted side.              

Place under broiler and broil until bubbly and brown.

Serve with pickles and olives.

Note:

The hamburger mixture should be spread evenly,  (divide meat into six portions), to ensure that it cooks through.    Spread all the way to edges, as the hamburger will shrink.

*Watch closely because these
broil up fast.

Recipe Courtesy of Sweetmilk and Tea Cakes©

Pancakes

Ingredients:

Pancake Recipe:

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (240 ml) milk

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Plus extra melted butter for greasing the pan.


Instructions:

Pancake Recipe: In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and melted butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and then pour in the egg mixture, all at once, and stir (with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon) just until combined. The batter should have some small lumps. (Do not over mix the batter or the pancakes will be tough.)
Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium high heat until a few sprinkles of water dropped on the pan or griddle splatter. Adjust the temperature as needed. Can also use an electric griddle with the temperature set at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Using a piece of paper towel or a pastry brush, lightly brush the pan with melted butter or oil (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray.)

Using a small ladle or scoop, pour about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of pancake batter onto the hot pan, spacing the pancakes a few inches apart. When the bottoms of the pancakes are brown and bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes (2-3 minutes), turn over. Cook until lightly browned (about 1-2 minutes).

Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with melted butter or oil between batches.

Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.

Makes about 8 - 4 inch (10 cm) pancakes. Serves 3-4 people.

For Blueberry Pancakes: Sprinkle fresh or frozen blueberries (prefer wild blueberries) on the tops of the pancakes just as bubbles start to appear on the top surface of the frying batter. Preparation time 15 minutes.


Description:

My idea of the perfect weekend breakfast is a stack of Pancakes with butter and maple syrup dripping down its sides. I love how Pancakes use the most basic of ingredients. Just flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, an egg, a little butter, and milk. Like a muffin batter, just two bowls are needed. One for the dry ingredients, and one for the wet ingredients. Then the two are simply stirred together and the pancake batter is ready to be ladled onto a hot skillet.

Pancakes can be made in any size and shape, ranging from the size of a silver dollar to a round as large as your pan. You will know it is time to turn your pancake when the top surface begins to form small craters. Continue to cook the pancake until both sides have turned golden brown and it is cooked all the way through. Some say you should only flip a pancake once, but that is an old wives' tales. If you are not serving the pancakes immediately, place them in a warm oven (175 degrees F (80 degrees C)) directly on the wire rack. I do not like to stack the pancakes until serving as this will make them soggy, which will never do. While butter and maple syrup are the proverbial favorite, pancakes are also good with jam, fresh berries and whipped cream, or with just a dusting of icing sugar.

What is interesting about a pancake batter is that by changing the proportions of dry to wet ingredients you can change the thickness of the batter. Pancakes are known around the world by different names. If we make a thin pancake batter they are known in different countries as French crepes, blintz, Chinese pancakes (Bao bing) and a Hungarian palacsinta. A thicker batter makes an American pancake (also known as griddle cakes or flapjacks (meaning "to flip")), an Australian pikelet, a Scotch pancake or a drop scone. Both types of batters produce a pancake that is light and fluffy with a soft crust and spongy texture.

Although pancakes are mainly served for breakfast they take center stage on Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), when they are served for supper. The ingredients used to make pancake (flour, sugar, butter, milk and eggs) are forbidden during Lent so this is considered a 'feast' before a 'fast'. It is interesting to note that the word 'Shrove' comes from the word 'shrive' which is the Tuesday before Lent and the day on which parishioners shrive, or confess, their sins.

JoyofBaking.com

Basic Buttermilk Pancakes

Whisk together in a large bowl:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Whisk together in another bowl:

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently whisk them together, mixing just until combined.

Spoon 1/3 cup batter onto the preheated griddle for each pancake, nudging the batter into rounds.                      

Cook until the top of each pancake is speckled with bubbles and some bubbles have popped open, then turn and cook until the underside is lightly browned.

Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree oven while you finish cooking the rest.

Joy of Cooking