BREAD Challenge #14 - Mixed Berry Bread and Banana Bread

Time for another challenge with my HBin5 Bread group. Thanks again to Michelle of Big Black Dog for putting this challenge together. This time we were to make Mixed Berry Bread and Whole Wheat Banana Bread.

I have to confess that I jumped ahead a few weeks ago and made the Mixed Berry Bread. I was trying to think of way to make blueberry bagels for my son and tried this recipe. Instead of making bagels which I have not had much success at, I turned them into english muffins. My english muffin rings (from King Arthur) helped to make perfect muffins. The first time I made them though I forgot to defrost the blueberries (I only had frozen) so when I added them to the dough it was way to dry and way to cold. I was afraid I had destroyed the whole batch. So instead of throwing it out, I just left it in the fridge and when I went to look the next day, it had actually risen and I could make muffins out of it. These are a hit and I cannot make them fast enough. I have ended up making the entire batch and freezing the muffins so the kids can take them out and eat whenever they want.

I am also going to make the Banana Bread but haven't had time yet - although I do have the bananas rotting (softening) on the counter right now. I am hoping to add those pictures soon. I am anxious to try this recipe as it has no sugar (except honey) unlike regular banana bread which is loaded with cups of white sugar.

I did want to add one last thing. As anyone that has been reading this blog realizes, we are big into pizza at our house. Sometimes believe it or not I actually have dough leftover when pizza day comes around. You know that last chunk in the bottom that looks kind of gooey and not quite right. Well, instead of throwing it out (or using it which is still okay) I have been adding it to a new batch. I add the water for the new recipe into the old bucket and use my hand blender to mush it all up into a liquid and then I just add all the other ingredients as normal. Just remember that you can't do this with enriched doughs. I usually only do it with the Whole Wheat with Olive Oil dough.

This picture is after blending. Nice and ready for flour! And then pizza toppings.

To see the other blogs for this challenge just click here!

Happy Baking and Eating!

Bread Challenge #13 - Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil

I have been bad about blogging and making bread. It must be the hot weather that has started - over 105. I am just not that motivated to turn on the oven or to go outside and use the BBQ instead. I did make pizza last night for our weekly pizza night - it just wasn't anything that exciting to take a picture of.

A couple of months ago, I used the BBQ to make pizza and it was great. The high heat and thin crust makes for a nice crispy pizza. You have to be pretty organized though to make pizza on the grill as it cooks really fast. Yummy!

One last thought about HBin5 - I just have to say that the revolutionary thing about this method is really the bread dough storage. I know many others (including the HBin5 website) have stated this before but for some reason it finally dawned on me. I was having a really busy day on Friday and wasn't able to make any dough but I had dough left over from a week ago that was in the fridge. I just pulled it out and made pizza - just as delicious as if I had made the dough that day. Amazing!

Happy Baking and Eating! (and to looking forward to cooler weather some day...)

To see other blogs in our Bread Challenge just click here!