Best whole wheat bread EVER!!

     Right before I got my fantastic new kitchen aid I decided to venture into bread making. I wanted to make all of our bread and stop spending so much on store bought. I tried two or three different recipes, and they were all ok, but not amazing. When I tried this one I was sold!
     It's 100% whole wheat, but still light and fluffy. It's dense enough that I can cut it thin, but not so heavy that it feels like a stone in your stomach like some of the other ones I tried! It has a lot of ingredients, but one of the things she does is when she makes one batch, she then mixes all the dry ingredients for a few more batches into Ziploc bags. Then when your ready to make more you just get your yeast ready, add the vinegar and butter and dump the mix in. Easy peasy! I've been making this for about a month now and I still think it's worth all the effort. I'll link to her video too so you can see how she makes it if your not familiar with bread baking. It helped me a ton! Also I usually double this because my family goes through two loaves of bread in a week.
     Making it by hand was tough, but not impossible. However, with a mixer to do all the work for you this recipe is down right simple! Just one more reason to love my hubby! :)

Easy whole wheat bread (1 loaf)

slightly adapted from everydayfoodstorage.net

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 Tbs active dry yeast
1/4 C 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs nonfat non instant dry milk
1 Tbs butter
1 Tblsp vinegar
1/4 C potato flakes (NOT potato pearls)

1. Mix ingredients in order listed in mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook attachment (like kitchen-aid) for 12-15 minutes.
2. Let rise until double, 1-1 1/2 hours.
3. Punch down, roll out into a rectangle. Roll up like a jelly roll and tuck under the ends. Place in lightly greased bread pan and let rise again until double.
4. *Place in cold oven, turn to 350 and bake for 38 minutes. If your not sure if its done, turn onto wire rack and tap the bottom. It should sound hollow.

Here's the video link.

*I don't follow her baking time and temp. I got this from another blog. Melony from melskitchencafe.com has a ton of tips and tricks on her blog. She hasn't failed me yet. She said that no matter what bread recipe she used she always bakes it this way and its always perfect. I've done it the way the recipe calls for and the way Melony suggests and I like the latter much better.

Home Made Hot Pockets

This recipe came from http://everydayfoodstorage.net/. She's all about building and using your food storage on a daily basis so it's being rotated properly and nothing is being wasted. She has some pretty good ideas so if you have some time to kill you should head over and browse her site for a while. This recipe is pretty easy and very versatile. You can make it a family affair and let everyone fill their own, or just try different fillings each time you make them. I had hamburger thawed so I decided to get creative and make cheese burger hot pockets. They turned out really yummy, even Melody ate some!

Hot Pockets

1 C. Luke Warm Water2 T. Olive Oil or Canola Oil 1 t. Sugar 1/2 t. Salt 3 C. Flour (I usually do Half all-purpose and half whole wheat or all whole wheat flour) 1 1/2 t. Yeast

Dough by Hand: Dissolve Yeast in warm water. Add Oil, Sugar, and salt. Slowly mix in flour and knead. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Dough in Bread Machine: (I imagine this would be a ton easier in a bread machine, but for those of us without one it's still a pretty quick and simple recipe)Add ingredients in order your bread machine specifies You don’t want your dough to raise for more than one hour. Most bread machine dough cycles will “beat” down the dough and you’ll want to take the dough out before it does that. Consult your users manual for timing and instructions on how to put the ingredients in.

1. Pre-heat oven to 375

2. When dough is ready, separate it in to 6 portions. 3. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/8" inch thick circles.

4. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

5. Put 1/4-1/2 cup worth of filling. If you’re making all the same kind of hot pockets mix all your filling items together and use a scoop to fill the pockets.

6. Fold dough in half over the filling and clamp edges with fork or you can roll the edges over (this is what I usually do)

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 on a greased baking sheet.

Cheese Burger Filling

1 lb hamburger

1 bell pepper diced

1 onion diced

1 can diced tomatoes drained ( I drained it because I didn't want it to get too saucy, but you don't have to)

1 can tomato sauce

mushrooms

cheese

Brown hamburger for about 5 minutes with onions, peppers, and mushrooms (use as many or as few mushrooms as you like. I really like them s I added lots). Add diced tomatoes and sauce, allow to simmer until burger is cooked through. Turn off heat and add shredded cheese to taste. You can use any kind of cheese, I used mozzarella, and make sure you start with a small amount because a little goes a long way and you can always add more, but it's tough to take it back out! I let this cool for a few minutes before putting it in the pockets so it would be easier to work with.

She also says that these freeze well so I think I may make a batch just for snacks or quick lunches for Jared. We'll see how well that works out!

EDIT: I made a double batch of these and when they were cool I wrapped them in saran wrap and then again in foil. When I needed to cook them. I took off the foil and zapped it for 1 min. The saran wrap keeps it from getting dry so they turn out moist and yummy! I also made smaller ones for my girls so they wouldn't waste any. It worked out great!

lion house dinner rolls

These are not an easy one to make if you don't have a stand mixer, which I don't! I used my hand mixer until the last two cups of flower and then the dough was too sticky and I had to knead in the last of the flower. It's not easy, but it's possible and so worth it!

Lion House Dinner Rolls

2 tablespoons active-dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter or shortening

1 egg

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup nonfat dry milk

5-6 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, shortening (or butter), salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add remaining flour gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) until a soft but not sticky dough is formed. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until it is smooth and satiny (Be prepared, if you don't have a mixer to knead for you this will be a workout!). Return dough to an oiled bowl and cover to let rise until doubled. (I think I let mine rise 3-4 hours)

Separate dough into seven or eight pieces. Roll out each portion into a circle (I tried to get mine about 1/8" thick) and cut into 8 pie-shaped pieces. (I used a pizza cutter) Roll up crescent-style and place on baking sheet. Cover with saran wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes - until nicely browned. Makes about 5 dozen rolls.

If you go to the link it'll take you to the my kitchen cafe blog and she has lots of good tips in her comments. People will leave questions in the comments and she always answers them. Usually the questions other people ask are the same ones I have so it works out well for me!

Yummy Pancakes

I love having breakfast for dinner, but Jared's not a fan. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. If it makes Jared agree to have them for dinner once in a while I'm all for it! They are really easy, but I don't usually have heavy cream and butter milk on hand so these are kinda a once in a while thing. Once again this came from my kitchen cafe.

Zephyr Pancakes

2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tablespoons (1 3/4 ounces) sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large egg yolks

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) heavy cream

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) buttermilk

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cream, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry, just until combined - it's okay if there are a few lumps.

Preheat and lightly grease (I didn't grease my griddle and they didn't stick) a heavy skillet or griddle. Scoop the batter onto the griddle with a 1/4 cup measure or a large spoon. Make sure the heat is slightly less than medium. The pancakes will puff up very high. When the first side is golden brown and the edges start to look dry, turn the pancakes over to finish cooking the second side. Remove the pancakes from the griddle and keep them in a warm serving dish until you have enough to feed everyone.

These are so thick and fluffy that I made them really big! Mellie thought it was pretty cool.

AMAZING bread sticks!

I found the easiest, most amazing recipe for breadsticks. I've been trying to figure out the whole bread thing without a whole lot of luck, but then I tried these and they turned out great! I found it on the blog my kitchen cafe she has great bread recipes and lots of tips for people like me who are bread retarded!

Divine Breadsticks

1 ½ cup warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

3 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

Butter for the pan

Mix all ingredients (except butter) and knead for three minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt desired amount of butter on baking pan (the original recipe called for 1 entire stick of butter - that was way too much for my taste - I use a couple tablespoons). Roll out dough about 1/8-inch thick and cut into strips. Place in butter and put close together. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

I usually make half with parmesan and garlic and the other half with cinnamon and sugar. So Yummy!