Random 5 Friday - 01/31/2014

1.  YAY!! I did it! I made bagels and they turned out great! :) I used this recipe with the brown sugar option.

2.  The weather has been unseasonably warm here for the past few weeks while most of you have been dealing with Polar Vortexes.

3.  As a result, my fruit trees are trying to bud out. This does not bode well for the fruit harvest this summer.

4.  On the other hand though, my winter garden is doing great! Spinach, radishes, carrots, kale, beets, turnips, rutabagas and snow peas are all coming along nicely.

5.  It's time to get the outdoor cats, Bert and Ernie, "fixed." Somekitty sprayed in Jerry's shop yesterday.

Hmmm...pretty random ramblings today. Linking up with Nancy for Random 5 Friday.

Pretzel Rolls

I was looking at the King Arthur Flour website the other day and came across this recipe. I know pretzel buns and rolls are all the rage right now but I haven't had one. I have looked at different recipes for making them but they all seemed a bit fussy, until I found this one! These babies are fabulous; crusty on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside! Jerry told me that this may be the best bread I have ever made! ;)

Pretzel Rolls               **Click here to print this recipe**

Dough
     1 3/4 cups warm water
     2 tablespoons unsalted butter
     3/4 teaspoon salt
     4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
     1/4 cut nonfat dry milk
     2 teaspoons instant yeast

Topping
     coarse sea salt or Kosher salt

Water Bath
     2 quarts water
     1 tablespoon salt
     1/4 cup baking soda

Directions
     Mix and knead the dough ingredients - by hand, mixer or bread machine - to make a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Allow the dough to rise in a lightly greased bowl, covered, for about one hour, until doubled. Gently deflate the dough and transfer to a lightly greased work surface. With lightly greased hands, divide the dough into 8 pieces for sandwich rolls or 12 pieces for dinner rolls and shape each piece into a smooth ball. Place the balls on a lightly greased piece of parchment paper placed on a baking sheet, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Prepare the water bath: Bring the water, salt and baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Drop 3 dough balls at a time into the water bath. (I should have used a deeper pot) Cook for 30 seconds, flip over and cook for 30 seconds longer.

Using a slotted spoon, return the rolls to the baking sheet. Using scissors or a sharp knife, cut 1/2" deep crosses into the center of each roll. Sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Bake for 20 to 24 minutes or until the rolls are a deep, dark brown. Cover loosely with foil after 10 minutes if necessary so they don't get too brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

The only problem I have is that after being in a bag overnight, the salt on the tops kind of melted away. Jerry dearly loves bagels and now that I have gotten past the whole fear of boiling bread dough thingy, I think I'll have to give them a try! :)

Linking up with the Rurality Blog Hop and Farmgirl Friday.

Garlic Chive Soda Bread

I posted my favorite recipe for Irish Soda Bread a couple of years ago and I have seen many recipes that go for a sweeter version by adding raisins or currants but that doesn't always work well for serving with supper. In the December MaryJanesFarm Sister Issue, MaryJane talked about adding rosemary to her Irish Soda Bread which got me to thinking...

I have made savory beer bread before using garlic and chives and we really enjoy it but, today, I wasn't in the mood for a beer-y bread. I figured why not try jazzing up the Irish Soda Bread? I also thought it would be fun to bake it in a bread pan instead of making the traditional round loaf for a change. I love the extra crispy crust that the cast-iron bread pan gives it!

Garlic Chive Soda Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour *(see note below)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried chives
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine the flours, salt, garlic powder, chives and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk all at once. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. (Do not overmix.) Scrape the dough into a well-greased bread pan leveling out the top. Brush with the beaten egg. Bake until the bread is golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cover loosely with foil after 25 to 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 to 10 minutes on a wire rack.

I really like the texture that the whole wheat and oat flours give to this bread! :)

*To make oat flour, I just grind some regular or quick-cooking oats in my mini food processor until very fine.

Have you made soda bread before and if so, what are your favorite additions?

Oatmeal Honey Wheat Bread

This is my absolute favorite sandwich bread! It's just a little bit sweet from the honey and the oats add a nice texture. Because it's half whole wheat flour and half bread flour, it's not real heavy either.

What really made it extra special this week was my new cast iron Camp Chef bread pan that I found at the C-A-L Ranch Store in Flagstaff this past weekend. I love cooking and baking in cast iron and I have been wanting a cast iron bread pan. Now that I'm baking just for us, I figured why not! It's even pretty with the decorative handles. :)

This one came pre-seasoned but I washed it before using it and seasoned it again. The way I care for all of my cast iron pans is to rinse with hot water and scrub with a nylon scrubbie as needed after using. I then apply a thin coating of olive oil on the inside of the pan and put it in the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Then, I turn off the oven and leave the pan in until cool, usually overnight. All of my cast iron pans now have an awesome "nonstick" finish! I thought the bread might stick just a bit because the pan was new but the loaf fell right out.

Oatmeal Honey Wheat Bread          **Click here to print this recipe**

1 cup lukewarm milk
2 tablespoons softened butter
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Shape dough into a loaf, put it in a greased pan, cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes, cover loosely with foil after 10 minutes to prevent over-browning. Remove from pan immediately and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Jerry commented that he thought this loaf even tasted better than usual...hmmm, must be the cast iron bread pan!

Disclaimer: I did NOT receive anything from anyone for this post, I just wanted to show off my new pan. ;)

Joining Farmgirl Friday, What I Am Eating, the From The Farm Blog Hop and Food On Friday the Bread Edition.

Kolaches

Kolaches are an Eastern European sweet yeast roll. They are tradtionally shaped into a circle as a symbol of good luck, prosperity and eternity. Our Farmer's Market manager is from the Hill Country of Texas and it seems Kolaches are quite common in that area. She asked me last month if I had ever heard of them and if I could make them. I had actually heard of them and remembered seeing a recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Old-Fashioned Home Baking cookbook.

I used that recipe as a starting point and tweaked it quite a bit after looking at other recipes on the internet.

Kolaches
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups bread flour
2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)
Solo brand Cake & Pastry filling in flavor of choice. (I used Poppy Seed and Apricot this time)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Divide dough in half and divide each half into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Flatten each ball to 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Cover; let rise until nearly double. Using your thumb or two fingers, make an indentation in the center of each dough circle. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of filling into each indentation.. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. Remove rolls from baking sheets and cool on a wire rack. If desired, lightly sift powdered sugar over the tops. Makes 24 Kolaches.

I don't normally like using canned anything but in looking at the different recipes on the internet, I came across several comments that trying to use jam didn't work because it melts and runs off, so I broke down and used the canned stuff. If I was making them just for us, I would try making my own fillings but that would be a bit much to add to my already busy weekly baking schedule!

I made a batch with the poppy seed filling for our last Farmer's Market before Christmas and they were well received so I decided to make them again for this Saturday. I hope they all sell! :)

Linking up with the Down Home Blog Hop at Tilly's Nest, The Country Homemaker Hop and Farmgirl Friday.

Bread Making Tips

For something a little different today, I thought I would share some of the tips and tricks I've learned baking bread for the last several years for the Farmer's Market. If my loyal, repeat customers are any indication, I must be doing something right! :)
I do have to admit to another reason for doing this. Last week, I was checking some settings on my blog for a fellow blogger and happened to look at my blog's stats. It isn't something I normally do but it is sometimes interesting to see where people are "coming from" when they visit my blog. One of the traffic sources was Pinterest. I don't do Pinterest because I have a hard enough time keeping up with all the blogs I follow and, yeah, I know there is a LOT of really good "stuff" on there that I'm probably missing out on! Anyway, someone made a comment on a "Pin" of my Buttermilk Wheat Dinner Rolls that the dry/wet ratio seemed a little off. That got me to thinking of all the variables encountered when making bread: quality of ingredients, moisture content in butter, type of liquid used, humidity, altitude, temperature in the house, etc., so I thought I would do a post.

I use King Arthur Flour for all my baking. I have found it to be high quality and it produces consistent results. I also believe it helps make my baked goods just a little better than the competition so it's worth the extra money to me. If I was baking just for Jerry and I, I would use organic King Arthur flour or grind my own but that is cost/time prohibitive for my little business. The brand, and consequently the protein content, of the flour used can make a huge difference in how your bread turns out. Even something as simple as the moisture content in the brand of butter used or whole milk versus skim milk will make a difference. One thing that a bread baker has to learn is what the dough should look and feel like. I personally like my dough a little on the soft side, especially for rolls.

Sweet Potato Rolls

You can see in the above picture that the dough is very soft. I find that this makes for lighter, fluffier rolls. I also check the consistency of my dough a few minutes into the mixing/kneading cycle Every. Single. Time. I don't care if I just made a batch of Oatmeal Wheat Bread an hour ago and am starting another, I still check the consistency of the dough. If it seems a little dry, I add a tablespoon or so of water. If it is too wet and sticky, I add a little flour, one tablespoon at a time. I have found that I will need to adjust the amount of liquid (usually whole milk) in my recipes by almost 1/4 cup from summer to winter. The dough below is a little dry.

Black Pepper Parmesan Rolls

After adding about a tablespoon of water, it comes together and is nice and soft.

 

Black Pepper Parmesan Rolls

 

I have also learned that the recipes that use water instead of milk are stickier. When I go to shape a dough that is a little on the sticky side into rolls or bread, rather than adding more flour, I grease my hands and the counter just a tiny bit to prevent sticking and that way, the rolls or bread is still nice and light. My Pumpernickel Rye Bread dough always comes out sticky.

Another thing I have learned is to not let the dough overproof after shaping. It should only rise about one inch above the top of the pan.

Honey Wheat Bread

If it rises too much, it will collapse as it cools after baking and you will be left with a "wrinkly" top, like the one below. ;) It doesn't affect the taste and it usually doesn't affect how it sells but it just isn't as pretty. (sigh)

Onion Dill Rye Bread

Almost all of my bread recipes I have developed myself by taking other recipes and tweaking them to suit my needs, the ingredients I use and my altitude and humidity (mostly lack thereof!). So, the next time you are making bread, I hope you can use some of these tips to make the recipe your own and don't hesitate to adjust the amount of liquid and/or flour to make it work for you! Oh, and don't forget to take notes on any changes you make, they will come in handy later; you should see all the scribbles on some of my recipe cards! LOL!! Okay, gotta run, it's time to get back to the Onion Cheddar Rolls. It's cheese bread day here at The Home Bakery.
Linking up with The Country Homemaker Hop, Rural Thursday and Farmgirl Friday. I'm also featured on Dolly Is Cooking, thanks Dolly!!

Extreme Makeover - PB&J Edition

I know what ya'll are thinking...how in the world can you possibly have an extreme makeover of something as ubiquitous as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Why, make all the components from scratch, of course! :)
I started with a lovely piece of lightly toasted 100% Whole Wheat bread, then I added a layer of homemade Peanut Butter, crunchy for me please, finally, I topped it all off with some of our favorite Carrot Cake jam/conserve (thanks, Michelle, for the recipe). To complete this lovely breakfast, just add a glass of icy cold, fresh, raw goat milk! YUM!!

Toasting the bread is optional but doing so makes the peanut butter all melty good. :) Talk about comfort food!
Linking up with Rural Thursday, Farmgirl Friday and Farm Fresh Friday.

Parmesan Herb Bread

This is a lovely bread to serve with pasta! The herbs and cheese really make the kitchen smell good while it's baking too! :) I use the Real Parmesan cheese in the shaker container for the dough and then add freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the top before baking. If you don't have bread flour, this recipe will work using just all-purpose flour. I think the bread flour makes for a lighter bread though. Also, feel free to add more water if necessary to get your dough to the right consistency. I prefer a softer dough; again, I think it makes for a lighter bread.

Parmesan Herb Bread

1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil (I use the light tasting)
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm water before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a long loaf, slash tops with a sharp knife and sprinkle with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You could also shape and bake the bread in a 9 x 5 x 3-inch bread pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes, 30 minutes if using a standard loaf pan, or until golden brown.

Linking up with Heidi and Dolly for The Country Homemaker Hop.

Irish Soda Bread

Just in time for St. Patrick's day, here is a recipe for the best Irish Soda Bread you will ever eat!! This recipe is from the Feb-Mar 2010 issue of MaryJanesFarm magazine. I think it's so good because of the addition of the whole-wheat and oat flours. I made my oat flour by taking old-fashioned rolled oats and processing them in my mini food processor until fine. I did make one change from the original recipe, it called for 2 cups of buttermilk but that was waaay too much and I only use 1 1/2 cups. Maybe they measure their dry ingredients differently than I do! ;-)

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour               **Click here to print this recipe**
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine flours, salt and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk all at once. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir. (Do not overmix.) Dust dough with additional flour and form into a round loaf. Resist the temptation to knead. (It is kind of wet so make sure to flour your hands well.) Place dough in a greased cast-iron skillet or on a baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, cut a cross into the top of the dough, about 1-inch deep. Brush top with beaten egg. Bake until the bread is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cover loosely with foil after 25 to 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Remove from oven and cool for 5 to 10 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter.

I'm linking up with Lisa at Two Bears Farm and Nancy at A Rural Journal for Rural Thursday, Mira at Crisp PhotoWorks for Weekly Photo Stew and Food Photography and Deb at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House for Farmgirl Friday.

Artisan Bread

I have been seeing recipes all over the place for making quick and easy artisan breads but haven't tried any of them...until now. Mother Earth News had an article awhile back by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François on their method and book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My blogging friend, Mary Beth from Oklahoma Pastry Cloth, did a post recently about how much she liked this method and how easy it was, so I finally gave it a try. What have I been waiting for?!?

There is no kneading required and once you make up a batch of the dough, it will last in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. There are many variations of the method floating around on different blogs so I would like to refer you back to the article from Mother Earth News for the original recipe, method and some good information and tips, you can find it here: Five Minutes a Day for Fresh Baked Bread. The only change I made was to substitute 2 cups of whole wheat flour for 2 cups of the all-purpose flour called for.

To me, this bread is reminiscent of sourdough without the need to fuss with a starter. The crust is crunchy, the interior is chewy and there is a nice artisan bread texture. The dough is supposed to develop more flavor as it ages and you use it too. I made two small loaves yesterday and we have already completely devoured one, the second one will be eaten with our bean soup for supper tonight. Jerry told me "You get an A+!"

I'm linking up with Heidi at My Simple Country Living for The Country Homemaker Hop, Mira for Crisp PhotoWorks' Food Photography Challenge and the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop.

Country Herb Beer Bread

I haven't posted a recipe using my Baking Mix in awhile. The Baking Mix is so versatile, you can use it for everything from Monster Cookies (my new favorite cookie!) to Buttermilk Biscuits to a Cobbler Topping  to Cheesy Biscuit Sticks and don't miss the Onion Caraway Rye Beer Bread recipe! If you do a "search" for Baking Mix at the top of the blog you will find even more recipes! :)

I love making beer breads, they go together very quickly and you can get a wonderful loaf of homemade bread on the table in under an hour! This isn't your standard beer bread with cheese, this one has cornmeal, oregano, thyme and basil in it. If by chance you have any left over, it toasts up nicely and also makes wonderful croutons! I use a light tasting beer when I make this beer bread, I don't want the flavor of the beer to overpower the herbs. You can also use unflavored seltzer water if you don't want to use beer.

Country Herb Beer Bread

3 cups Baking Mix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
12 ounces beer
1 egg

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add beer and egg; beat vigorously. The batter will be "shaggy."

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan; cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm.

I'm linking up with The Country Homemaker Hop hosted by Heidi at My Simple Country Living. Check out all the entries for this week! :)

Rye Bread - Three Ways

We love rye bread here at the Lazy J Bar C and eat it often! I make at least six different types of rye bread to sell at the Farmer's Market. This is my basic rye bread recipe that I can "change up" to get different varieties. The picture below shows Onion Rye on the left, Caraway Rye in the back and Dill Rye in the front. These three are very consistent sellers and the Onion Rye makes for a killer patty melt!

Rye Bread

1 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups medium rye flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Now here is where you can vary the type of rye bread you are making.
Add 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
OR 3 tablespoons dried chopped onion
OR 1 tablespoon dried dill weed and 1 tablespoon dried dill seed

For today's post, I'm featuring the Dill Rye shaped into half loaves. The half loaves have become very popular at the Farmer's Market, people like being able to mix and match two types of bread or just buy a small loaf if they are single or have a smaller family. I have found that when most people say they don't like rye bread it's really the caraway seeds that they don't like. This Dill Rye has no caraway seeds just lots of lovely dill flavor.

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Shape into a loaf and place in a greased 9 x 5 x 3-inch bread pan. I love the "feel" the rye flour gives to the dough, totally different than using all wheat flour.

Let the dough rise in a warm place until nearly doubled.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until done. Cover loosely with foil after about 10 minutes to prevent over browning.

No matter which version you make, this bread has a lovely light texture and slices beautifully. It's funny, living here in the desert southwest, I can find Masa flour all day long but I have to buy my rye flour at a health food store! LOL!!

One of these days, I will post the recipe for the dark Pumpernickel Rye and Jerry's favorite, the Scandinavian Rye with fennel, caraway, dried orange peel, molasses and buttermilk! :) I'm linking up to The Country Homemaker Hop with Heidi at My Simple Country Living.

New Baking Sheet

Jerry's mom gave me a gift certificate to Bed, Bath & Beyond for Christmas and I knew one of the things I wanted to get was a new baking sheet for my bread business so that I would have two nice ones. I wanted another Chicago Metallic 12 x 18-inch heavy duty baking sheet. I bought one last year at a different Bed, Bath & Beyond. Of course, they didn't have any when I went looking! I wasn't too sure about the USA Pans, what with the corrugated bottom and the silicon coating, but it was the heaviest weight 12 x 18-inch baking sheet they had so I figured, what the heck! When I was checking out, the cashier told me how much she loved her pans like this so I thought maybe it would be okay.

Here is what USA Pans says about the coating on their website "AMERICOAT© Plus is a clear non-stick, environmentally friendly coating that is specifically formulated for superior baking and does not contain any PTFE’s or PFOA’s."

I have been using my new pan for a couple of weeks now and I absolutely LOVE it! It bakes evenly and nothing sticks! If you are in the market for new baking pans, I highly recommend USA Pans AND they are Made In America! :) I know I will be looking for some muffin pans, cake pans, loaf pans, a hearth bread pan, mini loaf pans, etc., etc...

Just so you know, nobody at USA Pans knows who I am (or cares!) and I was not compensated in any way, shape or form for this testimonial. I just love this pan and wanted to share with all of you! I'm linking up to The Country Homemaker Hop with Heidi over at My Simple Country Living.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

Let's talk about whole grains and the importance of adding whole grains to our daily diets. Whole grains contain complex carbohydrates, protein, and B vitamins and iron. They also contain fiber which is important in helping to feel satisfied when we eat.

This time of year, many people "resolve" to eat better in the coming year and the first thing they say is "No more bread, it's too fattening!" Well, this is true if you are eating the overprocessed, white bread fluff that is most supermarket bread! What we need to do is eat more whole grain breads made with the best quality ingredients we can afford to buy! If you pair your nutritious whole grain bread with a bowl of homemade soup or a nice salad made with garden fresh veggies you are doing your body a favor.

Making bread is incredibly easy, especially if you let your bread machine do the hard/tedious tasks of mixing and kneading the dough. While the bread machine is hard at work, you can be busy doing other stuff like feeding the chickens or milking the goat. ;-) One of the things that led me to baking bread and selling it at the Farmer's Market was my desire to feed Jerry and I better food and I realized that whole grain breads could and should be part of the plan.

This recipe makes a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf of bread or 12 rolls. I made these rolls to take to the Farmer's Market this week so, sadly, I won't be able to show you one cut open with butter on it! This is a 100% whole wheat bread without any white flour or white sugar. The egg adds lightness to the dough and the orange juice helps to cut the bitterness sometimes associated with 100% whole wheat bread.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread               **Click here to print this recipe**

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg, room temperature
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup raw wheat germ
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. This time, I divided the dough into 12 pieces and made rolls. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

I'm linking up to The Country Homemaker Hop hosted by Heidi at My Simple Country Living. This is a new blog hop that is just starting this week! Stop by and check it out and join in the fun! :)

Cranberry Walnut Artisan Bread

This is one of the special breads that I make for the Farmer's Market this time of year. I think it looks so festive done up as a braid with the dried cranberries! This recipe makes two braided loaves or one 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf.

Cranberry Walnut Bread
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Divide dough in half and then divide each half into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 15 inches long. Braid the three pieces together and pinch the ends together well. Tuck the ends underneath the braid and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

 Let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

Linking to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop over at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House! Make sure to go visit and see what all the other Farmgirls are up to! :)

Sweet Potato Rolls

Last week, I was trying to think of some type of bread or roll I could make for the Farmer's Market that was kind of "fallish." A couple of years ago, I was making a Fall Harvest roll that contained pumpkin puree, ginger and pumpkin seeds. I knew I had a can of pumpkin in the cupboard from last year but I didn't have any pumpkin seeds. A trip to town is not something to be taken lightly here in the country! ;-) Also, in our small town, finding shelled pumpkin seeds is a bit of a challenge! LOL!! Anyway, in front of the canned pumpkin was a can of sweet potatoes. Hmmm....wouldn't that make a nice fall roll! I started looking for recipes and found several. Most used cinnamon and similar spices but I didn't want to go that route. I finally found one at Pinch My Salt that used buttermilk that sounded interesting. Since I'm always looking for ways to use up my goat milk products I decided to adapt the recipe to fit my needs and give it a go! I'm getting pretty good at this, they actually came out right the first time! LOL!!

The sweet potato gives the finished rolls a lovely golden color. They are a bit sweet, which is how a dinner roll should be in my book. They are very tender since it is a potato bread, and they taste great! I used canned sweet potato because that is what I had on hand but you could also use fresh, cooked sweet potato. Wouldn't these make a nice addition to the table when the family gathers together for Thanksgiving!  

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast (If using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.)

Mix, knead and let your dough rise until doubled using your favorite method; bread machine, manual or stand mixer. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Place balls onto baking sheet seam side down.

Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled. Just before baking, dust tops lightly with flour (it's a potato bread thing).

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.

These have become one of our favorite rolls here at the Lazy J Bar C. We are having some tonight with homemade turkey noodle soup! YUM!!

Linking to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House! :)