My first loaf from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day" !!!

My brother, Matthew, and sister-in law, Kathy (both at A Good Appetite), turned my Mom onto this book called "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day". My mother then turned me onto it, and my husband picked me up a copy a few weeks ago. All I can say is "WOW" this system makes it so easy to have fresh bread whenever I want it! Make enough dough for a few loaves, and keep it in the fridge! No kneading, no long rising, no big mess! I made my first batch of the "Master Recipe" dough this morning, and baked my first loaf tonight before dinner! It had a great crust, and a light chewy center. (I had to show off a picture of my first loaf- above- I am proud of it). I would definitely suggest this book- for all you people who don't think they can make bread (me)! I've never had the greatest luck at bread baking (besides banana bread, which doesn't require the kneading and rising). In the past trying to make my own bread seemed to take up most of my day (which is very hard having a 6 year old and a 1 year old...), and it never turned out quite right.

Now I won't have to hear the "a nice piece of crusty bread would be GREAT with this...." anymore.... the dough will be there- no fuss!

Thanks Matthew, Kathy, and Mom for the great suggestion!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I had some bananas that turned overripe very quickly on me this week- so what else to do but make banana bread! I used Alton Brown's Recipe from his baking cookbook, but adapted it a bit because my husband is allergic to nuts.



Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

3-4 overipe bananas
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted then cooled
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup oat flour (I used whole wheat graham flour instead)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350, and prepare a loaf pan, or muffin tin
1. mash bananas with the sugar
2. mix butter, eggs, and vanilla together, then add to bananas
3. sift flours, and baking powder, and salt together
4. mix in the wet ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips
5. spread batter into pan, then bake for 50 min to an hour for a loaf, or about 30 minutes for muffins.
6. remove from oven, let rest 15 minutes, then slide out onto a rack to cool.

This was our dessert- although I meant it to be for breakfast! Even my 10 month old was begging for more!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls (Alton Brown's)

We had Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast this morning! I watched the episode of Good Eats in which he made them a while back and finally gave them a try myself! Link to his original recipe Food Network
I made half of his recipe, and do not own a stand mixer yet, so used the hand mixer and then the food processor- which actually works pretty well to mix up dough! My halved recipe version follows:

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
2 egg yolks at room temperature
1/2 whole egg room temperature (kind of hard to do...)
1/8 cup sugar
3 ozs buttermilk
1/2 pkg instant dry yeast
3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter melted

Icing:
1/8 cup cream cheese softened
1 1/2 tbsp milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Add yeast to 1/8 cup of warm water (100-115 degrees) with 1 tsp. of sugar set aside
2. Whisk eggs, sugar, melted butter, and buttermilk until well mixed.
3. Add 1 cup of flour
4. Transfer to food processor (or use your stand mixer with dough hook) add 1 more cup of flour, and pulse until all flour is mixed in and dough is a moist ball that is not sticky. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead for a couple minutes. lightly oil a bowl, transfer dough to it, lightly oil top of dough, cover, and let double in volume (this took about 2 1/2 hrs.)

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and set aside

Butter a glass baking dish. turn dough onto lightly floured surface, and shape dough into a rectangle, roll out. brush dough with melted butter, and sprinkle filling over dough, lightly pressing it into the dough. Firmly pinch the seam, and cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls (should make six, but mine made 8) arrange rolls in dish, and cover with plastic wrap. refrigerate overnight or up to 16 hours.

In the morning, place rolls in the oven turned OFF. fill a shallow pan with boiling water under the rolls, and let rolls rise for 30 minutes.

Remove rolls and water, and preheat oven to 350.
Bake rolls for about 30 minutes, until they are golden brown (Alton wants the interior temperature to be 190.)

While rolls are cooling, mix cream cheese until creamy. add the milk and mix until combined, then add your sugar and mix. Drizzle over your rolls and serve.

These were yummy, although I prefer a bit more cinnamon sugar filling, and may add some vanilla extract next time.