Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread (from allrecipes.com)

Jessi made a crock pot of chili tonight (Quick as Lightening Chili from Janet Fletcher) and it was fantastic (what we call, "Thowin' it down!") To accompany, we experienced Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread (if you don't use allrecipes.com, you're missing out - thanks to Megan Okimoto, we are not found wanting). It only has 2,870 reviews to the tune of a 5 star rating. It was good enough to bring this blog to mind and share it with all who enjoy cornbread. It has some of the classic crumble without the dryness. I hope I'm not committing any crimes by cutting and pasting from the website, but it would definitely be a crime if I didn't share it. Enjoy! (~Buck)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pretzels

I found this recipe in a book called Mitten Strings for God, by Katrina Kenison. I love these pretzels because they take about an hour from start to finish, they are a perfect activity for the children, and they taste really, really good!

In a large bowl, dissolve 2-3 T yeast in 1 1/2 C warm water.

Add: 1 T honey

1 T salt

4 1/2 C flour

Give a wooden spoon to the kiddos and let them have a go until they are pooped. Then take over and mix until you can gather the dough to kneed a bit. Then cut up into however many pieces you want. Give the dough balls to the kids to roll into pretzel shapes, letter shapes, hearts, etc. Place on baking sheet.

For salty pretzels: Brush tops with egg and sprinkle with sea salt, or kosher salt

For sweet pretzels: Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or sugar in the raw.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Orange Cranberry Bread

This is a delicious quick bread, perfect for this time of year.

In a mixer, beat on high 2-3 minutes:

6 T butter

2/3 C sugar

Gradually beat in:

2 eggs

In a different bowl, mix:

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Combine in another bowl:

1/4 C milk

1/4 C orange juice

Grated zest of one lemon

Grated zest of one orange

Now, add the dry mixture alternating with the liquid mixture on low speed to the butter mixture, just to combined.

Fold in:

2/3 C chopped pecans

1/3 C dried cranberries

Bake in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan (I just use my 9 x 5 bread loaf pan) for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Corn Bread

Here are two corn bread recipes that I always go back to. For Katie's birthday dinner I combined the two and was asked for the recipe. So I will explain at the end how I did that.

This first corn bread is the recipe I make all year round.

1 C milk

1/4 C melted butter

1 egg

1 1/4 C cornmeal

1 C flour

1/2 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat milk, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until moistened. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. If making into muffins decrease the time.

This next recipe is my favorite fall corn bread. I got it from my Autumn cookbook by Susan Branch.

Iowa Corn Bread

1 egg

1 C whole milk

1 T finely grated orange zest

3 T melted butter

1 1/4 C flour

3/4 C cornmeal

1/4 C sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

Whisk egg, stir in milk and zest. Set aside. Sift together dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in milk mixture and melted butter. Pour into a greased 8x8. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve with "Bee Butter"

1 stick of butter whipped with 2 T honey

Okay, so I made the first recipe (doubled it) and added 1 T orange juice concentrate, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ginger.

Delicous Whole Grain Bread

This is a soaked wheat bread recipe from Sue Gregg's website, www.suegregg.com :

1. Blend well in mixing bowl (dough should not be too stiff); lay plastic wrap over top of dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover bowl with damp cloth. Let stand 12-24 hours:
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I use unpasteurized apple cider vinegar)
4-6 cups whole wheat flour (I soak 4 1/2 to 5 cups the night before and knead in more flour as needed in the morning)

2. Blend together and allow to stand 5-10 minutes until it bubbles up:
1/4 cup very warm (but not hot) water
2 teaspoons- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3. Blend following ingredients and work into dough with yeast mixture until well blended:
1/3 cup coconut oil (melt if hard), melted butter, or olive oil (I use butter)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt

4. Knead 20 minutes, adding flour as needed. (I use my Kitchen Aid for this, and it takes about 10 minutes to knead until it feels right. Also, I tend to need the full 6 cups of flour, but I don't measure exactly. I just add the flour as a I see the dough needs it. I always start and finish kneading the dough by hand so that I can feel it with my bare hands. The majority of the time it's in the mixer though.) Knead until smooth and resistant to kneading action.

5. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, oil top of dough lightly, cover with damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until double, about 1- 1 1/2 hours. If indentation remains in dough when poked with finger, it is ready. (Another tip: I always save my empty butter wrappers to grease pans and bowls etc., so use the butter wrapper that you just took the butter out of for the recipe to oil your bowl and the top of your dough.)

6. Punch dough down gently, turn it over; cover and let rise until double, about 45 minutes. (I will often skip this rising if I am pressed for time.)

7. Divide dough in half; shape into 2 loaves; cover; let rise until almost double, about 20-25 minutes. (Don't forget to grease your loaf pan!)

8. Bake 35-45 minutes until golden brown on the bottom. Turn loaves out on sides on a rack to cool. Brush with butter, if desired; cool completely before slicing.

*Note: the recipe also says that you can use spelt or Kamut flour although I have never tried this.

Braided Swiss Bread

I made this bread for Easter because it is less daunting than the challah bread I usually make, and this year I needed to simplify. This is delicious and beautiful. I also make this recipe when I am responsible for communion bread, so you may find it familiar.

makes 2 loaves

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 C warmed milk (110-115 degrees)

1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 C olive oil

4 1/2 C flour

Sprinkle yeast on warm milk, add sugar and salt. Let bubble about five min. 

Add oil and half of the flour. Beat until smooth, add remaining flour. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary.

Turn into greased bowl and cover with a clean dish cloth. Let rise about an hour.

Divide dough in half. Cut each half into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth rope. Make 2 braids using 3 ropes for each braid. Place one braid on top of the other, tuck in ends. Repeat procedure for second loaf.* 

Place on a greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until double in size. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Now, here are some additions~ 

Right before baking, use a pastry brush to brush on : 

egg yoke, if you want it to have a beautiful dark golden color

egg whites, if you want it to have a gloss

or a whole egg for both color and gloss

*The loaves can be shaped however you want. Sometimes I just roll them and slash them like french bread. This Easter I braided 4 ropes for each loaf and did no stacking. 

Bread-Machine Pizza Dough

Combine the ingredients in a bread machine and process as directed. The recipe makes enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (105*-115*)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat & 1 cup white)
1 Tbs. active dry yeast

Directions:

In the bread pan of an electric bread machine, combine (in this order) the warm water, olive oil, salt, flour and yeast. Set the machine for Pizza Dough according to the manufacturer's instructions and process through the cycle.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Form each half into a ball and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 12-inch rounds.

Kitchen Tip from Meg: You can freeze your pizza dough by wrapping in plastic wrap and then flatten a bit to store in freezer till your ready to use. Thaw on counter for most of the day.

Whole Wheat Bread

I have been making our sandwich bread for quite awhile now, and this recipe is our favorite. 

Makes 2 loaves

2 C whole wheat flour

2 C bread flour (if you are using freshly ground flour you can grind it extra fine for this)

2 T honey

2 packages of yeast

2 1/2 tsp salt

Dump all these things in a mixer. Mix on low and add:

2 C warm water (115 degrees)

4 T melted butter

At this point I like to add in about 1/2 C cooked oatmeal (at Rachel J.'s suggestion). It really helps make the bread moist.

Then, as the mixer mixes, add 1-2 C bread flour until the dough cleans from the bowl. You can let the machine kneed the dough for about 8 minutes, or kneed by hand for 10 minutes. I have found that when I kneed by hand it turns out better, lighter. 

Turn it out into a greased bowl, cover with a dish towel and let rise about and hour, or until doubled. Next, punch down, divide, form into two loaves and place in two greased 9x5 loaf pans. Cover and let rise until the dough rises above the top of the pan. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 for 30 minutes. Remove bread from pans and let cool on a rack. Don't be too anxious to cut into it, let it cool a bit or else it will colapse as you slice. Have a warm piece with butter and honey. The rest I usually slice and put in a ziplock and freeze until needed.