French Loaves

I didn't think to take a picture of this until we'd already eaten half of it, but I guess that says how yummy this hot fresh bread was! It reminds me a lot of the English muffin bread my Mom made us as kids. It's pretty quick for yeast bread and makes two loaves. One for you and one for a neighbor! :)

Ingredients:
2Tbsp. active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2tsp. salt
1tsp sugar
4.5-5 cups bread flour
1tsp cornmeal

Directions:
In a large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the salt, sugar, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly flour surface; divide in half. Shape into 12-in long loaves.

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cornmeal. With a sharp knife, make four shallow slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I got this recipe of my friend Sydney's blog The Drinkwater Kitchen. She has some other yummy looking recipes on there you might want to check out! I made these tonight and they are super yummy!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. pumpkin puree
3 T. oil
1 1/4 t. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a 9″x9″ cake pan with nonstick spray.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add chocolate and remove from heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then stir until smooth.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3-4 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat until just combined.

Put about a third of the batter into another bowl and stir the pumpkin, oil, and cinnamon into it. Stir the chocolate mixture into the remaining batter and spread a little more than half of it into the prepared pan. Top with the pumpkin mixture, then drop large spoonfuls of the remaining chocolate mixture on top. Swirl a toothpick through both to create a swirled effect.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, until just set and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Makes 16 brownies.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Topping
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Cake
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, (1 stick) room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)

1. For the topping, combine flour, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until crumbly. Add chocolate chips and toss together. Set aside.

2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan. Sift 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup of butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar, beating until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Add vanilla extract and stir in entire can of pumpkin. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

3. Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle around half of the topping mixture and spread the remaining batter on top. Distribute the leftover topping evenly over batter. Bake until tester inserted into center comes and clean and topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool cake. Serve room temperature.

Tara's Dinner Rolls

These are really convenient because you can make them ahead of time and then bake them when you're ready. They have come out perfectly every time I've done them. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1c warm water
1 package active dry yeast (2.5tsp)
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
4-4.5c flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Combine water and yeast and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in butter, sugar, eggs, and salt. Beat in flour one cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours up to 4 days.

Grease a 9x13 pan. Roll dough out and shape into 24 balls. Cover and let dough rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

The Results are In....

I have to say I was underwhelmed with the results of the tortilla recipe below. Maybe it was me, the humidity in the air, the pan I used, or maybe just a bad recipe. Anyone have a good recipe for tortillas? Something tried and true? I'm open to suggestions.

Homemade Tortillas

I found this in the June/July issue of Taste of Home Magazine. They're on my menu for this week to try.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
3 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. Turn ont a floured surface; kneat 5-6 times. Divide dough into 8 portions. On a lightly floured surface roll each portion into a 7-in circle.

In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Keep warm

Makes 8 tortillas