NEWBORN BREAD

Ok, I'll admit it: I'm a bread snob. I really am not a snob about many things, but this is one topic that I find myself quite particular about. I'm not talking about those fancy-schmancy breads that you find in your local bakery, although many of those are very good. I'm talking about the Ultimate, Quintessential, Best Bread Ever. Yes, Homemade Bread. It's my mother's fault I'm this picky :0). Let me explain.

While I was growing up, my mother made homemade bread. I think it was mostly because there were 8 kids in my family and we went through tons of bread, so there was a major financial incentive, since homemade bread, besides being infinitely tastier and healthier, is also way less expensive. Of course, being the typical I-want-what-I-don't-have kind of child, I loved the store-bought white bread (uggh! So nasty to me now, but I loved it then) and didn't appreciate the gold mine I had.

It wasn't until I was married and on my own that I really appreciated Homemade Bread. I was forced to buy the store-bought whole wheat bread which didn't compare in any way, and only then (after the fact, of course) did I realize what a great bread heritage my mother had given us. And it wasn't until I actually started making bread myself that I really realized the effort that she went to each week for us (now I really appreciate it, since when I make bread every week and a half, I'm making 12 loaves (three batches). We go through A LOT of bread. My boys can easily finish off a whole loaf in one sitting if I let them).

So during my first few years of marriage, I made bread in my Kitchenaid, but it seemed like a lot of work to go to for two loaves that we were getting through in just a few days. It wasn't until my husband's parents gave us a Bosch mixer one Christmas and a wheat grinder the next Christmas that I really came into my own on the bread-making scene.

Now my children beg for white bread (poetic justice, isn't it?), and I put in a few cups of white flour in my mostly whole wheat bread just to keep them happy. But we all love the absolute culinary joy that is Newborn Bread. That is, Freshly Baked Bread. Hot out the oven. In all of it's steamy, moist, delicious goodness. Just check out that gorgeous specimen of breadliness in the picture.

So, where did that name come from? My second son came into the house after school one day when he was about seven or eight, inhaled deeply through his nose, exhaled and said with closed eyes and a gratified smile, "Mmmmm...Newborn Bread!" So that is what we call it.

So I guess this post is about gratitude for homemade bread itself and for my mother, who instilled in me a love for it.

Here's the recipe I use (my mother-in-laws recipe--it's a bit easier and just as tasty as the one I grew up on)

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
Note: this recipe makes 4 loaves, which is great if you have a big mixer like a Bosch, but you will need to half it for your smaller mixer.
In your mixing bowl, combine:
5 1/3 c. hot water
2 T. salt
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. honey

5 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. powdered milk
2 T. yeast (Saf-instant is THE BEST yeast ever, in my opinion)
3-4 T. gluten

In a separate container, mix dry ingredients and add slowly to wet ingredients while mixing in your mixer. When incorporated, add another approximately 9 c. flour, until the dough is still very moist but doesn't stick to your finger. You can add all whole wheat flour, or some white. I add 2 c. white to appease my children, and my mother-in-law does half white and half wheat and hers turns out a bit lighter, but even if you use all whole wheat, it still turns out really good.

If your mixer can handle it, mix the dough for about 10 minutes (this helps work the gluten in and cuts one rise time out). Transfer into a large bowl and rise for about 30 minutes (if you didn't mix in your mixer, you will need to do this twice). Punch down, and separate into four equal pieces.

Shape your loaves (I learned a great trick from my MIL: roll each piece out into a long oval, flip it over and roll it tightly, pinching the ends if you need to, then put it seam side down in the pan. Rolling seems to create a better shaped loaf, I think because it adds structure.)

Rise in pans until about 1-2 inches above rim of the pans, then bake in 350 degree oven for 35 minutes (you may have to play with the temp and time, depending on how your oven cooks and what kind of pans you use).

Let cool just long enough so it doesn't burn your hand to hold them to slice. Enjoy your newborn bread! I like mine with butter and honey.

What about you? What's your favorite kind of bread and how do you like it? (I promise not to mock or look down on you if you really like store-bought white bread!)

MINI APPLE PIES

Ok, I love and am grateful for this recipe (THE BEST apple pie ever, other than my Grandma's) and I am so thankful when I try something new and it works well, especially when I am planning on taking it somewhere and sharing it :0). Does anyone else do this? When I think about it realistically, it's not really a smart thing to do (taking something you've never made before when you have to bring food to a public function), but I do it on a regular basis. Why do I do this?

I guess I do it because I think it's fun to try a new recipe, and then if it's awful, my family and I don't have to eat the whole thing :0), and if it is good, then I have a new recipe to add to my stack. Works pretty well and actually, I've never had a food bomb so bad that I couldn't take it (at least not that I remember--maybe I've blocked it out).

But I am grateful when I try something new and it turns out well. And so cute!! Actually this isn't a brand new recipe, but I've only made a full pie from this recipe, never these cute little guys. This is seriously in my opinion the best and easiest apple pie recipe. You may not love it, but as far as pies go, it really is easy. So easy, in fact, that my friend used it with my son's scout group: I dropped my oldest off at her house for scouts one day (several years ago) and saw pie paraphernalia all over the place. I asked her what they were doing and she said, "Oh, we're going to make pies." (this is a very ambitious woman--you are awesome, Wendy!) Pies? With 7 eight-year-old boys? Wow! Then she explained that they are so easy (use this tool to cut the apples, dump them in the crust (I think she used store-bought) pour cinnamon sugar over, and put the topping on & bake), but I still don't think I would ever dare try it with scouts :0)

So here is the regular recipe and my adjustments for the minis:

Apple Crumb Pie--original recipe from Wendy Busacker
5-7 tart apples (she suggested Pink Lady, but we have used Granny Smith and Fuji, so just use your favorite baking apple.)
Slice apples & place in unbaked crust--the apples should be heaped up into a mound
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix these together and sprinkle over apples

1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
Mix these until crumbly & sprinkle over the top of the apples

Bake at 400 for 40-45 minutes (may need to cover last 5-10 minutes if the topping ends up getting too dark).

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and milk on the side (my favorite). Enjoy!


Mini Apple Pies--adjustments by me

Make a pie crust for a top and bottom. Roll out pretty thin. Use a 3 inch circle cutter (I used a cup) to cut out as many as you can--I ended up getting 16 circles from a one-crust batch, but it will totally depend on how thin you roll your crust.

Fit the circles into mini muffin tins, shaping them so there are no cracks and the crust goes up to the top of the tins and the pastry is tight against the sides.

Cut your apples with the slicer-cutter-peeler-dealie, then cut the slices into little 1-inch pieces and put them into the tins, fitting as many in as you can.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon sugar and top with about 2 tsp. crumb topping.

Bake 375 for about 45 minutes. Let cool and remove very carefully (I didn't really figure out a great way of doing this, so if you do, let me know).

APPLES

We love apples at our house. In fact, we buy them by the box. Yes, the big, 40 pound box. And the amazing thing is--we actually eat them all before they go yucky.

A good apple is almost the perfect food: they are sweet, crunchy, juicy, nutritious, and you can eat the outsides, (or the insides, if you are my Grandmother. She takes the stem off and eats them from the top down, all but the very bottom yucky part. I guess when you lived through the Depression, an apple was a pretty good treat and you didn't want to waste any).

What an awesome food! We love Fujis (pictured) and Jonagolds at our house, and my boys love Granny Smiths as well, although they create a bit too much of a pucker in my mouth :0). I especially love apples when I get the major munchies while I'm making dinner and after I put my kids to bed (anyone else have this problem?).

This is our favorite way to eat them lately--

the boys like apple stars made with this tool.

They think it's pretty cool (you see my 2-year-old

trying to grab one--he seems to want whatever

food I'm trying to take a picture of).

I'm so grateful for such an awesome food!!

What's your favorite kind of apple and how do you eat them?

WHOLE WHEAT PANCAKES

Ok, so this isn't a food blog, per se. However, what would a blog about gratitude be without food? Just so you know, I LOVE FOOD and am exceedingly grateful for good food! So...grateful for food blog post#1: Pancakes (yes, I realize these pancakes are naked. Bear with me and I'll explain why).

When I was growing up, we pretty much just had cereal for breakfast. And I was pretty much starving by 10:00 every day at school (although I totally understand that cereal is, by far, the easiest breakfast so it makes sense that in a family of 8 children we would have cereal every day). Occasionally on Saturdays we would have Bisquick pancakes, which we all loved, but that was the only type of pancake I knew.

When I was about nine years old, I went to a sleepover and my friend's mom made us pancakes with chocolate chips in them. Wow! I had never conceived such a wonderful thing!

Now that I'm an adult, my love of pancakes has just expanded and I have found all sorts of amazing pancake recipes: Cottage cheese pancakes, white pancakes (as opposed to whole wheat pancakes), blueberry pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, oatmeal pancakes, cornbread pancakes, apple cinnamon pancakes. All of them: yum!

This one, however, is our standard school morning pancake. It's all whole wheat, and sometimes I throw some ground flax in, just to boost the nutrition. It doesn't take that long to make and cook them, and they are quite filling.

Our favorite topping is applesauce and maple syrup or cinnamon-sugar (I know--weird, but yummy).

These are pictured plain just because a) they are pretty this way (look at that golden brown, unadulterated by any toppings! :0) and b) the eater of these particular pancakes wasn't quite ready to eat them and I didn't want to get them all ready for my picture and then have them all soggy for eating after sitting too long (these were the last of the pancakes) and c) these are both just excuses: I was busy dealing with a cranky 2-year-old and chose not to. There you have it.

My kids even like them plain or if any are left over, toasted with butter and sugar for an after-school snack. You see my 2-year-old trying to take a pinch.

Whole Wheat Pancakes (this was originally a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, but I've changed it a bit)
2 c. milk
2 T. vinegar
(This just makes a nice sour milk to start out with, which seems to make the pancakes lighter. I never seem to have buttermilk around and this is a good shortcut)
Let the milk sit for a minute, maybe while you get the dry ingredients together.
2 eggs
3 T. oil
Mix all these wet ingredients together well

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix all these together and add to the wet ingredients

Add flour or milk to get your desired consistency and mix with a whisk until blended, but don't overdo the mixing. Pour on hot griddle (about 325 degrees) and flip when you see bubbles, or when the underside is golden brown. Makes about 20 six-inch pancakes.

Here's a yummy but not-so-nutritious variation: sometimes (usually on a weekend) I will make these with whole milk and part or all white flour (my boys beg for these pancakes! they call them "white pancakes") and they turn out so fluffy and delicious.

Ok, if you insist: here is a picture of whole wheat pancakes in the double-decker way we like to eat them. Start with pancake, then applesauce, another pancake, topped with butter and syrup. Yum!



I am so grateful for whole wheat pancakes!