Bread Challenge #4 Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil

Time for another Challenge from the HBin5 Bread Making Group.

This is the bread that I make more often than any other bread - weekly in fact. Every Friday night is PIZZA NIGHT. Pizza night started out about 15 years ago with our friends who would come over and we would make pizza on a Boboli. I cringe now that I write that because I can't imagine eating those crusts again after making my own crust. From that I moved up to using pre-made pizza dough from various locations. My favorite was from a local Artisan Bread Store where I paid $5 for two balls of pizza dough. It was yummy dough, but once I got ABin5 and then HBin5, I was hooked on making my own pizza crust. It not only was easier and cheaper but tasted great too.

So every Friday we make a cheese or pepperoni pizza and what I call "left-over" pizza. Left-over pizza is just as it sounds. I look in the fridge and see what's there and put it on top of a pizza. Our favorite combos lately are roasted grape tomatoes, spinach, garlic, onions, and chicken. I also make a fajita pizza if we have left-over fajitas. I have also been topping it lately with goat cheese which I really love.

I was reading the recipe about the aloo paratha and thought that was a great way to make a calzone. So I looked in the fridge and saw mushrooms, spinach and left over apple/chicken sausages. So I sautéed it all up,

put it in the dough as the aloo describes, sealed it up, and baked. I made two individual calzones. I had a bit of a problem with the first one sticking badly to the pizza peel so it came out a little lopsided. The second one I used more flour and cornmeal and it slid off just fine. I used a little pasta sauce for dipping and it was delicious. This is definitely going to be added to Pizza Night from now on.

This was the lopsided one as you can see. Still tasted good. Didn't get a picture of the one that came out nicely but my husband said it was great when he ate it.

Happy Baking and Eating!

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HBin5 Bread Challenge #3 - Red Beet Buns and Chocolate Tangerine Bars

First, I have to brag. My son spontaneously asked as I was making dinner one night if he could make some bread for cinnamon rolls. I said sure thing so he mixed up a batch of Cranberry Orange Bread that we made into yummy rolls for morning. His sister of course had to help too. This bread is so easy a 12 year old can do it!

It is that time again - time to try some new breads. I was a little hesitant this time and as I was procrastinating I made the bread from the last challenge again. This time I made the apple strudel in the loaf pan and it turned out fabulous. I made it at night and let it rise in the fridge overnight and baked it early the next morning. I think that helped seal it up so it didn't leak at all when baked. Yummy.

But eventually I had to try these breads. I love chocolate so I don't know why I was so afraid - maybe it was the fear I would eat the whole thing by myself. So after getting the right kind of chocolate I made the bars.

They were pretty good - my son said they were in between cake and brownies so I consider that a success. I made the whole recipe which probably was a mistake since this dough only lasts 5 days. I have a hard time using up dough that fast - especially something like this chocolate one. So after a few days I just made cupcakes as the book describes (except no sugar on top) and you can see them below in the muffin pan. My kids didn't really like them though - not as chocolatey as they appear. My husband on the other hand really loved these. So instead of eating these in one day, I froze them in the freezer so he can enjoy them over a longer time.

And then the beet buns. As a I already mentioned I made the previous bread again so I also made more hamburger buns and actually made hot dog buns (see below) this time and they turned out great. I love that bread! But back to the beet buns, after one unsuccessful attempt to buy beets my husband found some. I don't think I have ever even touched a beet before. I just couldn't bring myself to make them before the bread challenge link was up so I might add it at a later time. And it will be nice to see what everyone else did for these buns.

Enjoy your bread!

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