Our Daily Bread!

My favorite "brown" bread to make.

It is easy, tasty and healthy.

Hope you like it too!

1 1/2 C. Boiling Water

1 C. Steal Cut Oats

3/4 C. Honey or Agave

3 T. Real Butter

1 C. Multi-grain Cereal (I used Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain with Flax seed.)

2 t. Salt

2 T. Yeast

2 T. Gluten flour (optional)

2 C. Lukewarm water

3 C. Whole wheat flour

4 C. White flour

In a large mixing bowl, pour boiling water over steal cut oats and 5-grain cereal. Let stand about 20 minutes. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add soft butter, honey and salt to softened cereal. Stir in yeast mixture. Add the whole wheat flour and gluten flour if using. Mix well.

I transferred mine to the Kitchen Aid bowl for mixing in the 3 1/2 C. white flour. (about 10 min.)

Then I kneaded in by hand the last 1/2 C. white flour till smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a greased bowl. Grease top and cover with a towel to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled.

Turn out of bowl and kneed again to remove air. Roll out into a rectangle and divide dough into 3 equal sized portions. Place in 3 greased loaf pans. Cover with a towel and let rise about another hour.

Bake 350* for 30 minutes or until nicely browned and bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

Turn out of pans and cool on racks. Brush tops with butter.

Yummy with fresh homemade butter!

Peanut Butter Kisses!

Here's a quick treat to let that *certain someone*

know just how much you love them!

Mix up a bowl of your favorite Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

and top them off with a Hershey's Kiss when removing

them from the cookie sheet!

Here's my recipe ~

Mix together;

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup natural peanut butter

Add:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 3/4 cup flour mixed with

1 teaspoon soda and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 Tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a small scoop, place dough about 2 inches apart

on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350* oven

for approximately 10 minutes or until set and

very lightly browned. Top each cookie with a

Cherry Cordial Kiss (or whatever YOUR favorite

flavor Kiss). Cool.

Present to your Valentine with

the sweetest smile ever! ;~P

~*~

Linking up to Lisa's

Sweets for a Saturday!

Green Eggs and Ham!

Breakfast for Gentleman Farmer!

:>

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake on a vintage plate

Here's a recipe from Taste of Home

to use up some of my buttermilk ~

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake.

I put my test piece on a

vintage Homer Laughlin

Pastoral plate.

It. Was. Good.

Ingredients~
1 cup butter, cubed
1 cup water
2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs



Frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream



Directions

• In a saucepan, bring butter, water and cocoa to a boil. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add cocoa mixture; mix well. Combine buttermilk and vanilla; add to batter and mix well. Beat in eggs. Pour into a greased 9X13in. baking pan. Bake at 350* for 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.


• In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir butter and cocoa until smooth. Remove from the heat. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt. Add cocoa mixture and enough milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost cake. Yield: 12-16 servings

I thought this was a very good cake. Almost like my Auntie's German Chocolate Cake. The only thing I would do different next time is make Auntie's fabulous Fudge Frosting or Boiled Icing instead of the Buttercream.

Buttermilk Bread and Butter!

Fresh homemade butter and Buttermilk Bread.

(Bread recipe from allrecipes.com)

~*~

To use up the buttermilk after making a fresh batch of

butter, I used this recipe for Buttermilk Bread.

The bread isn't pretty, but it tastes great!

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup warm water (110*)

1/2 butter (I used homemade)

1/4 cup white sugar (I used honey)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (I used 4 1/2 teaspoons, I don't have packages of yeast)

2 teaspoons salt

5 1/2 cups bread flour

1. Proof yeast in warm water.

2. Place the butter and buttermilk in a small saucepan. Heat slowly until butter has melted. Cool to lukewarm.

3. Place sugar (honey), salt, baking soda, buttermilk mixture, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add 3 cups flour (one cup at a time) and mix with the dough hook attachment of an electric mixer. (I mix by hand with a wooden spoon). Gradually add the remaining flour while continuing to mix. When dough is not sticky, turn out on a lightly floured surface. Knead for several minutes, until the dough is soft and smooth. Place in a greased bowl, and turn once. Allow to rise until doubled in size.

4 Punch down the dough. Divide, and shape into 2 loaves. Place in two well greased 8 X 4 inch bread pans. Allow to rise until dough has risen one inch above pans. (Mine rose but fell just before baking. A few of the reviewers had similar problems with this recipe)

5. Bake in a preheated oven 350* oven for 30-35 minutes. Loaves are done when nicely brown and hollow sounding when thumped.

Serve with homemade butter and enjoy!

(When making butter from fresh, raw milk, you get faster results

using cream that is a couple of days old ~ not fresh from the cow! In my

post on making butter, I say that it takes 30 minutes or so. Using a little older

cream, it only takes a few minutes!)

Oh! You can make butter from heavy cream bought at the store ~ organic would be best!

Pulla

Finnish Cardamom Bread (Pulla)

This delicious recipe was given to me by a dear, departed

friend many years ago.

I have not made it too often, but my visiting daughter

loves this recipe and requested that it be made during her stay.

I thought you might enjoy it, too!

It is perfect with a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Pulla

1 quart milk

2 sticks (1 cup) butter (real butter!)

1 teaspoon crushed cardamom

(I could not find whole cardamom to crush so I substituted 1 tsp. ground cardamom)

6 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3 pkgs. dry yeast (I use bulk yeast so...6 1/2 teaspoons?)

1/2 cup warm water

14/15 cups flour

~*~

Heat milk, butter and cardamom to just boiling. Cool to lukewarm.

Mix eggs, sugar & salt in separate bowl; set aside.

Combine yeast and warm water to a smooth paste.

After milk has cooled, add egg mixture.

Add 10 cups of the flour to make a thick batter.

Add yeast and continue to add more flour, mixing well.

Knead on a lightly floured surface about 10 minutes.

Place in a lightly greased bowl (butter or coconut oil).

Turn to grease top of dough.

Cover and let rise till double in bulk in a warm place.

Punch down to rise again.

Turn out on lightly floured board.

Cut into 5 even pieces (recipe makes 5 loaves ~ great for freezing or gift giving.)

From each piece, cut and shape 3 stripes approx. 16" long

by rolling dough between palm and board.

Braid, pinching ends together and tucking under.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Let rise until puffy but not doubled in size.

Brush with beaten egg; sprinkle with sugar and sliced almonds.

Bake 350* 25-30 minutes

Cool on wire rack.

Makes 5 braided loaves.

Chocolate Walnut Fruitcake

This is a very old recipe that I got from my mother~in~law.

She has been making it for years.

While not a big fan of fruitcake, I do enjoy a slice of this one

at this time of year.

Do you like fruitcake?

Mine ~ fresh from the oven

waiting to be sliced tomorrow

at our ladies Christmas Party!

I should have baked it last week

but didn't read thru the recipe.

I'll know next time!

Chocolate Walnut Fruitcake

2 1/4 C. flour

1 1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 1/2 C. coarsely chopped walnuts

2 C. diced mixed candied fruit

1 C. raisins

1 C thinly sliced pitted dates

2 eggs

1 C. sour cream

1 t. vanilla

1/4 C. melted butter

Generously grease a 9-inch tube pan

On waxed paper, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the walnuts, candied fruit, raisins and dates.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. Add butter, then flour mixture and blend well. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute or vigorously by hand until well blended. Add walnut/fruit mixture and fold in until well distributed. Turn into prepared pan.

Bake in a preheated 300* oven with a shallow pan of hot water on the floor of the oven until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean ~ about 1 3/4 hours.

Cool inn pan, placed on a wire rack for 10 minutes. With a small spatula, loosen edges and around tube.

Turn out on a wire rack and cool completely.

If cake is to be served shortly after baking, it will nave to be cut in thick slices and it will not have the traditional fruitcake texture. To have the cake change so the texture is beautifully moist and it may be cut in thin slices, wrap in transparent plastic wrap then place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a week or so before using; may be stored this way for weeks and even months.

Before serving, slice cake when it is taken from the refrigerator, and arrange on serving plate, then let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes or so before offering.

Makes a 3 pound fruitcake.

(NOTE: For the mixed candied fruit, we used candied cherries and pineapple and found this a delightful combination!)
~

My mother-in-law bakes hers a couple months before giving.

While it is 'ripening' in the refrigerator,

she lays a wine soaked cloth on the top and refreshes it weekly.