Kitchen Confections

I love to eat and I love to cook. Due to the unseasonal weather, mid 40's in the South in May, I felt an urge to bake. The weather was stormy and cold and some baked goodies really warmed the soul as well as the kitchen. Nothing else was accomplished, but I enjoyed some quality time with my little ones.

The Spread (obviously my photography skills need work)

Banana Bread

The 3 small loaves are Banana Banana Bread and the larger one is Gluten Free Banana Bread, both from Allrecipes.com. For the Banana Banana bread the only change I made to the recipe

was to add a teaspoon of cinnamon and substituted half the brown sugar for honey. I really liked the added flavor of the honey. I made several adjustments to the Gluten Free version. Instead of sweetening the batter with turbinado sugar and maple syrup I used 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup honey, I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, finally, I ran out of butter so I canola oil instead. I found that I prefer to cream the bananas with the butter and sugar rather than mashing them myself.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Soooo good! I used this recipe, also from Allrecipes.com. Changes I made: I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter, exchanged white sugar for brown (in both the batter and the filling), and added a 1/4 cup of honey. I find that the bread part of cinnamon bread is usually lacking in flavor, but with these changes the bread was just as good as the filling. For the filling, due to my lack of reading instructions thoroughly, I combined the butter, sugar, and cinnamon, which caused it to be a little goopy as I rolled the bread, but it still came out well. I also added a handful of raisins to one loaf.

Renee's Whole Wheat Bread

First off, I have no reason why the picture appears in this direction, that is how blogger uploaded it, and I am powerless to do anything about it. Second, I have never met Renee, although I hear fabulous things about her from my mother-in-law. But, if her recipe is delicious and I hope she won't mind me sharing it here. I follow the recipe exactly every time and it always turns out wonderful.

The Recipe

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup sweetener (I prefer honey)

1 tablespoon yeast

2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

2-4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten

6 cup flour (depending on the humidity and mixer I use I will use either slightly less or more than this)

Combine oil, sweetener, yeast and water and let proof for 10 minutes.

To the yeast mixture add, salt, gluten, and 2 cups of flour, mix. Continue to add flour in 1/2 cup increments until the dough is smooth. Knead for 8 minutes.

Oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball and place into bowl. Cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour. Grease 2 loaf pans. After dough has risen, punch down and divide loaves into prepared pans. Let rise until double (no more than 2 hours). Bake at 325 degrees - DO NOT PREHEAT oven, 35 minutes or until brown on top. To make sure bread is done, lightly tap the top of loaf with knuckles, if you hear a hollow sound, the bread is done.

This is the method I use with my kitchenaid mixer.

The 3 remaining loaves will be featured in the next post. So goodnight for now, and may all the carbs stick to your bread pans and not your thighs. And maybe when I wake up blogger will make sense.