Sing For Your Supper » Breads

Cheesy Pepperoni Bread…

amy — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:11:46 +0000

Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football is in full swing, so naturally we’re watching every single game on tv (the ones we don’t go to in person). I don’t know about you, but I need something yummy to snack on while I watch a football game, otherwise I get….bored. In fact, usually once the food is gone I pretty much lose interest in any sporting event. I know…I guess that makes me what Joel calls a “2 percent-er”. Oh well. A few weeks ago when we were enjoying one of the (few) particularly good Aggie games on tv, I whipped up this cheesy pepperoni bread and BOY did we gobble it down! It’s perfect football food! I used a store-bought can of bread dough, so it really saved a ton of time and came together lightening quick. We loved it dipped in marinara sauce- overall, a totally yummy snack that I’m sure I’ll be making over and over again every football season!

Cheesy Pepperoni Bread

1 can store-bought Pillsbury Italian or French bread (you could absolutely make your own dough- I was just short on time)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
sliced pepperoni
marinara sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the bread dough so that it makes a large rectangle. Sprinkle generously with the mozzarella cheese, then top with desired amount of pepperoni. Carefully roll the dough jellyroll style into a loaf and place seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Recipe source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

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Banana Bran Muffins…

amy — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:00:08 +0000

Believe it or not, every now and then I like a healthy treat. Although I mostly crave baked goods of the gooey, chocolaty variety, it’s nice to take a break from all that and bake up something that’s actually good for me. For some reason, the other day I had a serious craving for bran muffins….how odd. Who craves bran muffins?! Anyway, I remembered I had a box of Bran Flakes cereal in the pantry and thought I’d try making a bran muffin with it. These were actually very light and fluffy (you can thank the banana for that) and not heavy or overly “bran-y”. We really enjoyed them with a little butter and honey. My coworkers loved them too! Next time you need a good, quick, healthy muffin, gives these a try- they’re highly satisfying and actually good for you!

Banana Bran Muffins

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups bran flakes cereal
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine bran cereal and milk. Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens. Add honey, egg and oil. Beat well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Stir in the banana. Spoon evenly into 12 muffin pan cups fit with cupcake liners.

Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Recipe source: adapted from Kellogg’s.com

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Lemon-Blueberry Buttermilk Scones…

amy — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:20:01 +0000

For some strange reason, scones are something I don’t often make. I really have no idea why, because I actually love them. They’re like biscuits, but slightly sweeter and you can add any number of ingredients to customize them however you like! Chocolate chip, strawberry, cinnamon, ginger….anything you want! I chose to make lemon blueberry because I had a couple of big, beautiful lemons and a pint of fresh blueberries just begging to be used. These were SO good! Light and tender, just bursting with fresh lemony flavor and full of big, juicy blueberries – a perfectly delicious breakfast (I really need to make scones more often!)! Believe it or not, I’m not one of those people who love overly sweet, heavy foods at breakfast – sure, I’ll indulge in a stack of chocolate chip pancakes every now and then, but really, I prefer more subtle breakfast foods, like scones. They’re ever-so-slightly sweet and light enough that I can have more than one.

I started with Dorie Greenspan’s Basic Cream Scones recipe, made a few changes and came up with a truly delicious scone that I know I’ll be making many, many times. If you’re looking for an easy, delicious breakfast recipe, this one won’t fail! Oh! And an exciting tidbit about this post- I’m guest posting over at Beantown Baker today as part of her Friday Favs series! How fun! Head over to Jen’s site and check out my post and be sure to check out all her other fabulous recipes as well! Thanks again, Jen, for inviting me to participate!

Lemon-Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of 2 large lemons
1/2 pint fresh blueberries
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash.
sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Beat egg, buttermilk and lemon zest together and set aside.

In large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter and using a pastry cutter, fork or your fingers (Dorie prefers using her fingers best) cut it into the flour until you have a pebbly mixture the size of peas.

Pour the egg and cream into the flour/butter mixture and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. Very gently, fold the blueberries into the dough, being careful not to crush them. When the mixture is totally incorporated, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat out until it is 1 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out circles and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; alternatively you can just cut the dough into squares or triangles.

Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, then sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the are nicely browned. Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. Makes approximately 10 scones.

Recipe source: heavily adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours

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Sourdough Stuffing with Caramelized Onions and Apples…

amy — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:29:04 +0000

WOOO! It’s Thanksgiving food time! Now is the time everyone is planning menus, gathering delicious new recipes to try and calling their grandmas for the old tried and true recipes they just HAVE to have. So in honor of all that, I’ve decided to share a couple of excellent, easy Thanksgiving recipes with you this week. Starting with stuffing. Now, let’s get one thing straight- I am a Southerner. We don’t do ‘stuffing’; we do ‘dressing’. Made with cornbread. And we don’t put anything snooty in it, either. None of this Yankee-fied “chestnuts and sausage” business. Very straight-forward and very, very delicious. BUT, that doesn’t mean I can’t experiment with some delicious ideas before Thanksgiving! I do realize that the majority of my reader enjoy what my family calls “Yankee Stuffing”, and I need to stretch my boundaries a little, SO I made you some Yankee stuffing. It’s pretty good, too….for Yankee stuffing.

Sourdough Stuffing with Caramelized Onions, Apples and Cranberries
-by me
(this only makes one 9 inch pan- you may want to double or triple it for a large crowd)

1 loaf sourdough bread, crusts removed and cut into cubes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced into thin rings
1 small green apple, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 teaspoons dried, ground sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 cups chicken broth

In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in a little olive oil for about 15-20 minutes, or until soft and caramelized. Stir in the apples and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes (you don’t want the apples to get mushy- just fairly soft).
In a large bowl, combine the bread, onion/apple mixture, cranberries, sage and salt and pepper. Pour into a greased 9×9 baking dish then pour the chicken broth over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

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Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Bread…

amy — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:27:47 +0000

I think as food bloggers, sometimes we tend to try to improve everything. Put our own spin on it. “How can I make this recipe even better?” or “what can I substitute to make this even more delicious?” And that’s just fine! That’s why we have readers, of course- because we take things and make them our own. But sometimes, we tend to forget that some recipes are simply perfect as is. Like this recipe for pumpkin bread. It’s one of the most popular recipes on allrecipes.com; everyone makes it. And for good reason! It’s perfectly moist, has just the right amount of spice, the pumpkin flavor really comes out and….it’s always, always perfect! It’s the only recipe I use for pumpkin bread. So naturally, I had to stop myself when the normal urge hit to start substituting and adding (think butterscotch, caramel, crushed gingersnaps…). In the end, the only things I added were a few chopped walnuts and some fresh cranberries. No substitutions. And it was perfectly, wonderfully delicious. This bread always reminds what I love most about Autumn – baking. There’s just something magical about baking up a golden brown loaf of warm, spicy pumpkin bread. Your entire house smells warm and welcoming!

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Bread
-recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com (originally named “Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread”)

1/2 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
3/4 cup fresh cranberries (frozen is fine too- no need to thaw)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Gently stir in the chopped walnuts and cranberries. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaf is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Strawberry Orange Sunrise Muffins…

amy — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:34:31 +0000

Good mornin’, good moooornin’! It’s great to stay up late, good mornin’, good mornin’ to you! Sorry. Hope you don’t mind if I hit you with a little Debbie Reynolds this morning! A personal favorite of mine…Anyway, I’m particularly excited about these muffins- they’re the perfect way to wake up in the morning! They’re cheery, colorful and full of tons of juicy, delicious fruit – who wouldn’t want to have one of these first thing in the morning?! I got the idea for these from my favorite kind of yogurt – Yoplait makes a strawberry-orange-banana yogurt called “Strawberry Orange Sunrise” and it’s super delicious! I thought it would be fun to create a muffin based on these flavors, and while I’m at it, go ahead and add in a little fresh peach (YUM!). So I got in the kitchen with my Michael Jackson blaring (yes, there was indeed some booty-shaking involved…not gonna lie) and whipped these little babies up. They’re moist, fruity and just perfect with a cup of hot coffee bright and early in the morning! Enjoy!

Strawberry Orange Sunrise Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 medium-sized peach, peeled and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a small bowl, mash the bananas. Add the strawberries, orange juice and peach. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, cooled butter, eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined (you’ll have a very thick batter). Gently stir in the fruit mixture. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes about 18 muffins.

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Tri-Berry Muffins…

amy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:22:06 +0000

There’s a store near our house that sells locally grown fresh fruits, vegetables and grains (and organic groceries) and every summer they’re literally bursting with ripe, delicious summer fruits and veggies. I go all the time and stock up on berries, peaches, corn on the cob, watermelons, etc. Every summer, I’m up to my ears in fresh berries and I love it! Luckily, I just happen to have some delicious blueberries, raspberries and blackberries and immediately, Ina Garten’s recipe for Tri-Berry Muffins pop into my head. What a fantastic way to use all three berries!

Unfortunately, my sweet hubby has been in Miami for two days training for a new software. Big time bummer (thank heavens he comes home tonight! Yippee!!). I had been planning all week to bake him something delicious to take on the plane (besides his travel-size bag of mini-Oreos), and these muffins were the perfect thing! Great for a snack and breakfast!

Tri-Berry Muffins
-adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups milk
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries, sliced in half
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir with your hand (or a whisk) to be sure the ingredients are combined. In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs and melted butter.

Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined. There will be some lumps but don’t overmix the batter. Add the blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and sugar and stir gently to combine (*be really careful when you do this, otherwise the batter will turn blue!)

Using a large spoon or scoop, spoon batter into the muffin cups to fill the liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.

Yield: 16 to 18 muffins

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Fresh Strawberry-Peach Bread…

amy — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:04:31 +0000

It seems like I’ve been posting a lot of quick bread recipes lately- I just couldn’t help myself, though. There have been so many fantastic recipes floating around! Especially this one- fresh strawberry bread, courtesy of Jamie of My Baking Addiction. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had just found the perfect recipe for my stash of fresh strawberries. I also had 2 ripe peaches just begging to be used, so I threw those in too. Merciful heavens, this was some delicious bread! So moist and full of bright, fresh flavors- the strawberries and peaches were really prominent. This was just delightful; and so quick and easy to throw together. Thank goodness too, because this past weekend I dessert catered my first party (woot, woot!), so things were pretty insane for a while around here! I’m really glad I took the extra time to make this- it was a much welcomed snack amidst all the craziness!

About to pack everything up and deliver 3 kinds of goodies to a party!

Fresh Strawberry-Peach Bread
-adapted from My baking addiction

1/4 cup butter (half a stick), softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup strawberries, chopped
3/4 cup fresh peaches, chopped

Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.
Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

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Browned Butter Banana Bread…

amy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:59:34 +0000

Boy, just try to say that title 5 times fast! Maybe we ought to just call it ‘B4′ instead…..ok, maybe not. Sorry, don’t know where that came from, exactly. Anyway, a mere 3.2 seconds after I saw this on Julia’s blog, Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body, I immediately printed it out and set out to make it. Frankly, I get tired of the same old banana bread recipes; I needed something new. And browned butter?? Um, yes, please! I love the stuff so much I could pour it over my cereal in the morning! It’s that good. You can’t imagine the beautiful, glorious aromas wafting through the house while this is baking- it’s enough to drive a girl crazy! I can’t wait to find other great recipes that use browned butter…especially since I don’t think people will take too kindly to browned butter over Cheerios. Don’t think the public is quite ready for that one yet….

Browned Butter Banana Bread
-Fat Girl Trapped In A Skinny Body

1 stick butter
2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch loaf pan.

In a medium saucepan over high melt the butter. Once it is melted lower the heat to medium and swirl the butter around the pan instead of stirring it. It will take about 5 minutes for it to brown. Occasionally swirl it. You will notice when it turns brown because it literally, turns brown. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool while getting everything else ready.

In a large bowl sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl whisk the eggs then add the mashed bananas, vanilla and the semi-cooled butter.
Add the liquid to the dry mixture. Mix just until incorporated, don’t over mix. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, until it is browned on top and a fork inserted comes out clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan before cutting and serving.

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread…

amy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:39 +0000

I recently saw this bread on Memoria’s blog, Mangio da Sola and knew immediately I wanted needed to try it. And boy am I glad I did – I found a winner! I actually ended up making this two weeks in a row we liked it so well! After making it twice, I discovered I had actually been doing it wrong (oops); instead of doing two layers of cinnamon/sugar, I just dumped it all in the middle. Well, I actually think I like it better that way – it makes for a nice, thick layer of gooey “cinnamony-ness”…mmmm, cinnamony-ness. Anyway, the bread part is actually more like a buttery, soft pound cake, and the layer of cinnamon/sugar adds the perfect amount of sweetness and flavor. We really loved this one…it will most definitely be in the regular rotation from now on! Great for company, too – absolutely perfect with morning coffee!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread
-adapted from Mangio da Sola

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cooking oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Combine the 1 cup of white sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl or mixer bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla and oil. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the egg/buttermilk mixture. Stir just until mixed. Do not over-mix.
Pour half of the batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon mixture. Repeat (obviously I didn’t do this and it turned out great). With a wide rubber scraper or spatula, swirl mixtures together with a down and up circular motion.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Look, it’s smiling at us!

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