Our Favorite Sandwich Bread

I've baked LOTS of bread over the past 4 years and tried multiple recipes.

There are so many different breads for different occasions and when deciding to replace store bought breads with homemade, the biggest challenge was sandwich bread.

I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this Soft Sandwich Oatmeal Bread for bread machines by Melanie Cooks. SO, So good! I've adapted the recipe for us and bake it in the oven after letting my bread machine do all the dough work because I don't like the thick crust on my bread baked in the machine.

Here's my adapted version of Soft Sandwich Oatmeal Bread:

1 1/4 cups plain almond milk (warmed to body temp)
2 tbsp olive oil, melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 cups flour (1 1/2 cups of King Arthur bread flour and 1 1/2 cups of stone ground whole wheat)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order of manufacturer's directions and set to 1.5lb dough cycle. If you are doing it by hand, knead until you have a smooth dough and let rise until doubled in size. Shape into a loaf and let rise for 30 minutes more. I take the dough out of the bread machine, shape into a loaf and place in my loaf pan and cover w/ lightly greased plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, maybe longer if you have a slow oven. Or maybe mine is fast? I start checking at 20 minutes. I think this loaf took 22.

Straight out of the oven, I brush the top with melted butter or olive oil and top with more oatmeal for the rustic look and because Tripp will magically eat bread crusts with oats on it.

 Cool on a wire rack, et Voila!

The best homemade sandwich bread!

Our Spring Equinox Feast

I was almost hesitant to plan a large Spring meal today.

Last year, we didn't do too much and the year before, we went all out celebrating the arrival of Spring.

And Spring is historically and physically associated with fertility.

It is the time of the year that new life is everywhere.

After our first, big Vernal Equinox celebration 2 years ago, I got pregnant with Charlie not long afterwards.

And BOY, was that a surprise!!

Seriously.

A big surprise.

I didn't want to dare tempt the Universe with too much attention towards fertility at this very moment, but we were travelling home on Will's birthday, I was sick the following day, and so we never had our big meal and cake to celebrate his 32nd year of life.

So, I thought...well, what the heck?

Let's do it big...

but hopefully, all that fertility energy of spring will manifest itself in other ways in our life that need it.

The Menu:

Deviled Eggs

Honey Lime Couscous and Avocado Salad

Broiled Lamb Chops over Organic heirloom Lettuce w/ Sesame Mustard Sauce

Challah

Strawberry Cupcakes  

The deviled eggs are easy to make and need little explanation in regards to their significance. An egg is the essence of fertility and life. In fact, dying and decorating eggs in most common thought to be an Easter tradition, but actually it originates in pagan celebrations on the Vernal Equinox...Ostara or Eostre (which is the original word origin for easter). 

This quick and easy appetizer or snack can be made in a variety of ways. I went with a more classic approach. I took the yolks from 6 boiled eggs (they didn't all make it to the final plate thanks to my helpers) and mixed them with a tablespoon or so of mayo, 2 teaspoons of prepared mustard, 2 pinches of dill weed (my special twist), salt/pepper to taste and then, filled the centers of the eggs. To serve, I sprinkled the tops with paprika. Tripp wanted his eggs plain as you can see in the pic above :)

The honey-lime couscous and avocado salad was meant to be this recipe with quinoa, but I didn't realize I was out of it, so I just made a pot of couscous instead. We pretended the couscous were tiny seeds and the presence of avocado is not only delicious, but also is an in-season food and adds a nice springy green coloring. This was YUMMY!

The lamb was my version of PF Chang's wok-seared lamb that they serve on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I broiled the lamb chops with a touch of sesame oil and salt & pepper. Then, I thinly sliced it and served it on top of some beautiful and tasty organic lettuce from Isis Gardens in Tupelo, MS at the North MS Green Festival that a friend and I attended. On top of the slices of lamb and lettuce, I drizzled the oh-so-delicious  sesame mustard sauce. 
If there were actual good sources for lamb around here, I would eat it (this) more often.
So.Good.

Oh, and let's not forget the symbolism...
Lamb is a traditional Ostara/Easter food and the gorgeous green of the lettuce adds fantastic color to remind us of the life returning back to mother earth as well as a tasty representation of her bounty.


And the Challah...Oh my favorite bread on this planet.
A few years ago, I made this for the first time and have been hunting down the recipe ever since. I can NOT find it anywhere on this wide world of webs! And, ya know, that particular challah could have been so good because we were using the fresh eggs from our chickens.
Nonetheless, today's loaf was perfection.
And guess what?!
I didn't bookmark the recipe.
And, now I can't find it anywhere including my history.
I think there is a conspiracy against me and challah.

Anyways, I think I remember everything, so here goes:

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

3 2/3 flour

1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar 

2 t yeast

I added the ingredients in this order to my bread machine and turned on the dough cycle. When it was all done, I divided my dough into thirds and braided it. It rose for about 45 minutes and then, I brushed it with and egg wash, sprinkled on the poppy seeds and baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Y'all...this loaf was amazing!
My braiding skills have really improved as well.

My mom calls challah, egg bread, so in that, you can see the connection to our Spring feast. We also topped it with the poppy seeds for an added equinox bonus.

For dessert, I went with my favorite strawberry cupcake recipe.
You can't go wrong with these.
Seriously.
Yum.
Strawberries ripen in the spring and the color is a nice pastel for the season as well.
I thought they'd be a nice addition since I didn't get to bake my hubby a birthday cake this week.
We didn't stick candles in and sing "happy birthday" to Will, but I'm sure he didn't mind.

So, we welcomed Spring with a lovely meal and enjoyed this gorgeous, albeit more like Summer Solstice with regards to weather, first day of Spring.

Stay tuned for more to come as we welcome Spring with our Spring Nature Table, do a little Spring gardening and more!

Homemade King Cake

This Mardi Gras season, I've seen King Cakes in all the grocery stores and while the basic recipe appeals to me, the ones from the grocer's bakery does not. 

They never taste like they should.

So, I decided a few weeks ago, I'd try my hand at a homemade one.

After recipe researching, I came up with an easy to make King Cake.
Basically, it's similar to a brioche or challah dough and I made the dough in my bread machine.

It would easily be made in the Kitchenaid stand mixer or by hand as well.

Oh, but I love having my bread machine make my dough for me while I do a billion and eighty-five other things.

delicioso!

King Cake

2 1/4 tsp yeast
¼ cup water
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup milk (or dairy free subsitute like almond milk), scalded
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp lemon juice (and i added a little zest as well)
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
3½ to 4 cups flour

2 sticks of cold butter in thin slices 


Filling:

softened package of cream cheese
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts
1 Tb of cinnamon

Glaze:
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
approx. 3 TB of milk or water (almond milk works fine as well)



Add ingredient according to manufacturer's directions and turn on the dough cycle. For me, I add all the wet ingredients first, next the dry ones and then, the yeast goes on top. If you are doing this in a stand mixer or by hand, mix yeast, sugar and water and set aside. Combine milk, butter and eggs until blended. Next, add in remaining ingredients reserving the last cup of flour. Mix until well blended and soft dough is formed. Slowly, add in remaining flour until dough is soft, but easy to handle and not too wet. Cover with a clean, damp towel and let rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled. 


After the dough cycle is complete or after your dough has risen, roll out a large rectangle. On one side, place enough pats of butter to cover half of the dough. Fold the other side over and repeat the process on the smaller rectangle of dough to cover half of it in pats of butter. Fold the remaining dough over again and roll it out flat back into a large rectangle. 

 Don't use the butter your 1 year old is munching on...

This creates flaky, pastry layers while the cake is cooking. This is optional but it makes it SO much better! I wouldn't make this without doing the layers. After rolling back out into a larger rectangle, cut the dough into 3 fairly equal strips. Blend together the filling ingredients (you don't have to use cream cheese but it's SO good. you can instead sub with a half a cup of melted butter) and spread across your 3 strips of dough. Roll up the and place in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill (makes the dough easier to handle for the braiding).

To braid, roll the 3 pieces of dough out into long snakes. I find it's most effective using my hands rolling and gently stretching, allowing each piece to rest for a few minutes and then, stretching it a second time. Next, you just braid the dough like you would hair, but with this filling, go slow and gently stretching and forming the circle with the dough as you go. To end, I just pinch the ends together and tuck them under the bottom. Transfer to a well greased baking sheet and cover with a towel to allow it to rise for another 45 minutes.

Before the final rise...the filling makes it more difficult to braid the King Cake compared with braiding Challah, but it's still doable. You can just skip the braid and do it this way. But, it's definitely not as pretty.

*A little trick...grease a ramekin or a clean old coffee can and place in the center to keep the perfect circle and prevent the dough from spreading and baking together in the oven. *

After it rises, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (though I started checking 5 minutes early and would advise the same as ovens vary).

Mmmm...right out of the oven.

After it cools, then you ice it. I couldn't find purple sprinkles that didn't cost an arm and a leg, so i decided to color my icing instead of using colored sprinkles. The icing is a simple glaze (just mix it all together) and I separated it into three bowls and added a little bit of natural food coloring until I got the desired colors. Pour it on top and then, Tripp sprinkles sparkling sugars on top for the finishing touch.

Voila!