Monday, December 31, 2012

A Baking Bonanza!

I was a baking fiend this weekend!  I started out with a batch of Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs.  They were so moist and the cinnamon sugar coating was so tasty...but DBF and I learned an important thing about ourselves.  Neither of us likes nutmeg.  I'll definitely be making those again, minus the nutmeg.  I bet they'd be good if I sub'd the nutmeg with cinnamon...

Next I moved on to these amazingly tasty loaves of white bread.  Made from scratch and hand-kneaded, they were definitely worth the work.  This recipe made four loaves.  This bread is so good that it makes me want to not bother buying store-bought bread anymore.  But my loaf pans are tiny and a bit small for sandwich bread.  Does anyone know of a place that sells loaf pans that are more like the size of loaves of bread you'd buy in a store?
DBF and I took a trip over to Target to look for organizational racks so I can make my cabinets look more like this.  I ended up finding the upright racks she stores her muffins tins and cutting boards in at Walmart for about $5.  Now my muffin tins are all in order and easy to grab - I love it!  But anyway, back to Target.  My store had tons of holiday clearance, but just the usual stuff - wrapping paper, candy, ugly decorations, etc.  I wasn't impressed...until I spotted this Nordic Ware mini-loaf pan.  I just couldn't resist.  Nordic Ware makes the cutest stuff!  They had a bunch of cute muffins too for around $6.
Nothing fancy here, just a store bought cake mix with some funfetti icing - but doesn't it look like a huge donut?  
Now for our favorite new treat - Georgian Cheese Bread.  It doesn't look like much, but boy was it good.  The dough was super sticky and didn't rise very much (it was a bit cold in the house) so I wasn't expecting much when I put it in the oven to bake.  I think next time I'll double the recipe since the loaf came out on the small side.  DBF has already put in a request for me to make this one again ASAP.
Inside - light, fluffy dough and delicious cheese!  Two of my most favorite things, all merged into one.  I didn't have any Havarti cheese in the house, so I used mozzarella and a mexican blend and it came out great. Next weekend I'm going to give these Pepperoni Muffins a try.

6 comments:

Thrifty T said...

Suzanne,
Your bread looks so yummy (I can smell the yeast and the rising bread now). I'm adding the cheese bread to my want to make list!

Thanks for sharing!
Tshanina

debbielynne said...

That bread looks sooooooo good!

Mary said...

My mom always raised her bread and rolls in the oven with the light on. It is just enough heat from the bulb to make bread raise perfectly!

Bonnie said...

Here is the pan I "splurged" on this a couple of weeks ago. I LOVE the pan and if you look right now they have the pan "used-like new" for almost 50% less...if I didn't already have mine I'd go for the "like new" pan in a heart beat... http://www.amazon.com/Parrish-Magic-Line-Inch-Medium/dp/B001TH8YU6/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1357082220&sr=1-1 (choose 12.5"x5"). By the way I made this in my new pan (I doubled the recipe and filled the pan 2/3 and then pad enough batter left for muffins too...amazing! http://www.portuguesegirlcooks.com/2012/11/dark-chocolate-espresso-pumpkin-bread/
I made her bread pudding out of it too...big hit!!! But took a while to complete all the steps. http://www.portuguesegirlcooks.com/2012/11/dark-chocolate-espresso-pumpkin-bread-pudding-with-salted-caramel-sauce/
Happy new year!

Hunie said...

Wow! this all looks fantastic!

frugalsuz said...

Thanks all, they were all really tasty!

Mary - great tip, I'll have to try that the next time I make bread.

Bonnie - thanks for the link, that looks like exactly what I'm looking for!