Homemade pita bread

Inspired by this recipe...

You can buy cardboard circles from the store...

or you can make delicious soft, puffy pockets...

But trust me...you will want to make the delicious, soft puffy pockets we call, the pita. :)

Homemade Pita bread

1 1/8 cups Warm Water (you may have to add a little more)

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

3 cups All-purpose Flour (I did half white, half whole wheat)

1 tsp. Olive Oil, plus more for coating bowl

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

In a bowl stir sugar into warm water. Sprinkle the active yeast over top and let sit to proof for 10 minutes. Next, stir in flour, salt and olive oil. Knead until soft and barely sticky. Coat a bowl with olive oil, place the dough in the bowl and cover with a warm damp towel. Move to a warm place to rise and double in size.

Once raised, remove dough and preheat oven to 500 degrees. I used my pizza stone for cooking these, so it went in the oven when I preheated it. You could use a cookie sheet placed upside down as well--

 On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a 12 inch rope. Cut into eight pieces. (I like to weigh mine so they are all approximately the same size) Roll into balls and cover with a damp towel while rolling one dough ball at time to approximately six-seven inches in diameter. 

Set on a cookie sheet or counter space that has been sprinkled with a little cornmeal. Let sit for about 15 minutes to rise.
Place 1 to 2 pitas on baking sheet or pizza stone . Bake for 4-5 minutes or until puffed in center and golden around the edges. Take out and put on a plate or cooling rack. Let them cool before stacking! 

(I learned the hard way!!)

Repeat with remaining pitas. 

Once cool store in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a couple days or freeze up to two months or cut in half and fill! Enjoy!

Makes 8 whole pitas or 16 halves.

4 pt+ per whole pita

Pizza Dough

• 2 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (or 5 tsp. if you are using bagged yeast)
• 2 teaspoon white sugar
• 2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5-6 cups bread flour (though I used All purpose and had no problems)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix oil with italian seasonings and garlic powder (this will aid in equal distribution)
3. Stir in flour, salt and oil mixture (a mixer works great for this, but you can do by hand if you don't have one. Just be sure to knead your dough long enough). Beat until smooth (I let mine knead for about 4-5 minutes in the mixer). Let rest for 10-15 minutes--the original recipe stated you could just let it sit for 5...I left mine a few minutes longer, and loved it. (flour amounts will vary---start with 5 and keep adding small amounts until it's smooth and not too sticky.)
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round ball. Divide into equal parts (you can make 2-3 medium pizzas with this recipe, so divide according to how many you would like) Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or a wooden paddle dusted with cornmeal (and then transfer to your pizza stone). Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

***substitution for italian seasonings...1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, and 1/2 tsp onion powder.

Be sure to cook long enough. The first pizza I made I cooked a little longer than the 2nd pizza, yet the first was PERFECT. Slightly crisp on the outside, and chewy (NOT DOUGHY...) on the inside.

Bread bowl

This isn't really a recipe, per se, but a method I love and use every Easter for our rolls.

I made our favorite potato rolls to put inside, and while you can definitely use your roll dough for the bread bowl, I knew we wouldn't eat that part and decided to keep all the yummy rolls for us to eat, and make the bread bowl out of a quick pizza crust recipe. I used my friens Mindy's, which can be found here. (I halved this recipe because I knew I didn't need bigger than that for my size of bowl)

Take a smaller glass bowl (Pyrex or another oven safe bowl) and place upside down on a cookie sheet. Spray bowl with non-stick spray, and then press your dough around the bowl, making sure it's pressed evenly around.

Bake according to recipe--(mine I baked for about 13 minutes at 450) Remove from oven and let cool. (while cooling, I suggest rubbing butter out the dough, because it will give it a nice golden tone)

Flip bowl back the right way, and use a knife to gently loosen the bread from the glass bowl. Slowly take the glass bowl out, and voila! You have yourself a bread bowl!

I love the look of green rim, because it looks springy! To achieve this, I dabbed corn syrup along the entire rim, and then sprinkled it with parsley.

Such a fun centerpiece!!

Resurrection Rolls

This is one of our favorite Easter recipes--and also is a great teaching method for helping kids understand the religious side to Easter...HOWEVER, these are also SUPER tasty and would be great any time of the year.

But for the sake of Easter and teaching, here's how we do it in our house.

INGREDIENTS:

-cinnamon/sugar mixture

- 1/2 c melted butter

- refrigerator rolls (or crescents) or homemade dough

-large marshmallows

(the amount of the marshmallows and dough will depend on how many you are making--)

We always let the kids help with this part...

Dip your marshmallows in the butter and then in the cinn/sug mix. This represents Christ's body after he died, and when his disciples put oil and spices on his body.

If you are using refrig rolls, make sure they are flattened out to 4-5 inches wide--and then place your marshmallow in the center and pull the dough all the way around it, sealing tightly. If using crescents, roll up your marshmallow and tuck in the sides tightly. This represents Christ being placed in the tomb.

Bake as directed on the package (we talk about the 3 days during this time). Remove from oven and let cool briefly, then open. Your marshmallow will be melted, or as kids see it--GONE. This is where we talk about how the tomb was empty, and how Christ had risen!

French bread rolls

French Bread Rolls

adapted from allrecipes.com and found at http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2007/12/french-bread-rolls.html

*Makes about one dozen rolls

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth (or greased saran wrap), and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

*Can freeze the rolls after baking - microwave on high for 2 minutes before serving.

***If you want to make them crusty instead of soft, spray some water into the oven three times in the first five to six minutes of baking and brush them with an egg white/water mixture prior to baking. I personally love a soft roll, so I baked without doing the extra steps and then covered them in delicious butter after they were cooked. SO delicious!!!

Quick cheese bread

(this picture is courtesy of homebasedmom.com)

Want a quick, foolproof cheesy bread?? This is for you! I really wanted to make rolls for dinner last night, but didn't want the whole rise and roll mess. I stumbled across this on yourhomebasedmom.com, and DANG was it good! :) SO cheesy and EASY! Click here to see the original recipe.

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded on large holes of box grater (about 1 cup)
3 C (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
4-5 ounces sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 1/4 C milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1 large egg lightly beaten
3/4 C sour cream

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 5 by 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese evenly in bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper to combine. Using a rubber spatula, mix in cheddar cheese cubes, breaking up clumps, until cheese is coated with flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, egg, and sour cream. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (the batter will be heavy and thick). Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; spread to sides of pan and level surface with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly over surface.

Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes; invert loaf from pan and continue to cool until warm, about 45 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

****my notes to this...I put too much parm. cheese on mine, so it was a little hard to cut. Now I know, more cheese is not necessarily a better thing. :) I also didn't have cubed cheese, so I had to use the shredded I had on hand. It was still delicious, but I can't wait to make this again with yummy big pockets of cheese. I am sure it will top the charts with this!

Berry Muffins

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 25 Min
READY IN 40 Min

Original recipe yield 8 large muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries (or other berries) I used fresh raspberries for this pic.
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

***I TRIPLED this recipe and ended up with about 16 BIG muffins and a large pan on mini muffins--I wish I could say we froze them all, but they were so good we gobbled several up right there on the spot, fresh out of the oven. However, the remainder of them went in ziplock baggies and were stored for future breakfasts. These are super easy to heat and eat--15-30 seconds in the micro and they are ready to go!

Potato Rolls

These are soft and delicious!

1 C hot water

1 C instant potatoes



Combine above and let sit



1 T yeast in 1 ½ C warm water, let sit until yeast activates

In a mixer cream on low:
1/2 C sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
2/3 C butter
2 eggs

Then add:
3 C flour
Yeast mixture
Add: another 2-3 C flour, mix 6 minutes on low with dough hook. Rise (covered) 1 hour
Punch down.
Roll out and shape as you would like (I found a GREAT article for how to make many different roll shapes, You can see that here. I did mine in the crescent shape)

Bake at 375° 10-12 minutes

SERVING: 36 soft and delicious dinner rolls - 3 pt+ each

For an extra yummy treat:

Orange roll filling
¼ C butter
½ C sugar
1 T orange juice concentrate
1 tsp. McCormick orange peel

Orange glaze
1 C powdered sugar
3 T orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla

Parker House Rolls

1/2 C shortening, melted in 1 C boiling water
1 C cold milk
1 C warm water (in addition to the other water)
2 eggs
2 rounded TBSP yeast
3/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
8 C flour (more or less)

Mix all ingredients in order given in large mixer. Let rise once (dough is rather sticky). Roll out on flat floured surface and cut into circles. (if it is too sticky, I add a little more flour and knead it for a few minutes by hand) Brush with melted butter and fold in half. Place on greased cookie sheet and let rise again. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

***I use the instant yeast and so I don't proof mine, I just put it in with the flour. If you are using a different type of yeast, proof in the additional 1 C warm water***

Pizza Crust

Homemade french bread

This is a delicious recipe--makes 2 LARGE loaves. Yes, you CAN make french bread from scratch!

2 tbsp dry active yeast
4 C hot water
6 cups flour
1 1/4 tablespoon salt
1 /2 C white sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 egg white, beaten
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Put water, sugar, oil, and salt in a bowl. Add 6 C flour (your yeast should be included with the flour if you are using dry active yeast) and mix together until it makes a thick batter. Cover with a dish towel and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir down, and repeat this 4 more times. (every ten minutes)

WILL FINISH THIS ONE TOMORROW!