The Glories of Rice Krispies & Bread Making
This afternoon I had yet another itch to bake something.
Yesterday I tried my hand at rice krispie squares, and reiterated the fact that I can NOT melt chocolate chips if my life depended on it. I was just pushing the krispies into the pan when my husband said, "You know what would be yummy? If you drizzled chocolate on them! Would it be very hard to do?" Nah, I thought. I've melted chocolate before. Once. And only after consulting my mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother Google after burning multiple attempts.
Well, suffice it to say I can't melt chocolate. That's why the Lord created sprinkles, I'm pretty sure. So when you can't drizzle delicious chocolate on your rice krispies, you can at least distract people from the fact with multicolored sprinkles.
So today I wasn't too sure I wanted to make anything 'sweet' since I still had a half sheet of rice krispies staring me in the face and a dozen cookies still in the cookie jar from a few days ago (my husband loves and hates me, let me tell ya). I settled on a new bread recipe.
It was surprisingly simple-- just yeast, milk, honey, butter, salt, flour. I threw that puppy in the bread maker to knead and rise (I cheated, I know... It was my first time cheating, though, I promise!) and then popped 'er in the oven. It turned out fairly good-- very moist and flavorful. The only problem? I baked it in a glass loaf pan and I'm not too sure it liked that much. The crust was very crispy (my hubby loved it, though, thank goodness). Then as we got closer to the middle, we soon realized that it was still slightly doughy. Dang.
Armed with quick fixes, I stand ready for round 2.
However, if anybody is looking for a DELICIOUS bread recipe, you should try this one on for size. It's slightly labor intensive, but the pay off is so very, very worth it.
Butternut Yeast Bread
3 packages active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 T. sugar
2 c. milk
2 1/2 c. mashed cooked buttercup/butternut squash
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. butter, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 t. salt
13 c. flour
In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar. Sit 5 minutes. Add squash, milk, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and salt. Mix. Add 6 c. flour. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until the dough becomes soft. Put on floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic (10 minutes). Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let raise until doubled (1 hour 15 minutes). Punch down down. Divide into 3; shape into loaves. Place in three 9x5 loaf pans. Cover and let raise until doubled (45 minutes).
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then move to wire rack.
A few tips/words of wisdom: If using dark metal pans, bake at 325 for 34 minutes. If you don't like squash, don't worry. Neither do I. To cook the squash, try cutting the sucker in half lengthwise (HA! That's where the hubby comes in handy) and place them face down on a plate. Microwave them for 10+ minutes until they become soft. Then just scoop it out and mash it up. This is the hardest part about this bread, so make sure you get the squash started cooking before you get too far into the recipe or your yeast will have a heyday with the water and sugar. =)
Also, good luck not getting about 10 out of the 13 cups of flour all over yourself and the kitchen floor. And speaking of, have fun "stirring" in the remaining flour... whoever originally wrote this recipe never tried what they're telling you to do. I usually end up kneading after adding the 6 cups (if not even sooner). "Turning once to grease the top" is easier said than done, so don't fret too much if your dough is like mine and refuses vehemently to "turn once" and grease its top.
Let me know if any of you try this recipe-- I want to know what you think!
Yesterday I tried my hand at rice krispie squares, and reiterated the fact that I can NOT melt chocolate chips if my life depended on it. I was just pushing the krispies into the pan when my husband said, "You know what would be yummy? If you drizzled chocolate on them! Would it be very hard to do?" Nah, I thought. I've melted chocolate before. Once. And only after consulting my mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother Google after burning multiple attempts.
Well, suffice it to say I can't melt chocolate. That's why the Lord created sprinkles, I'm pretty sure. So when you can't drizzle delicious chocolate on your rice krispies, you can at least distract people from the fact with multicolored sprinkles.
So today I wasn't too sure I wanted to make anything 'sweet' since I still had a half sheet of rice krispies staring me in the face and a dozen cookies still in the cookie jar from a few days ago (my husband loves and hates me, let me tell ya). I settled on a new bread recipe.
It was surprisingly simple-- just yeast, milk, honey, butter, salt, flour. I threw that puppy in the bread maker to knead and rise (I cheated, I know... It was my first time cheating, though, I promise!) and then popped 'er in the oven. It turned out fairly good-- very moist and flavorful. The only problem? I baked it in a glass loaf pan and I'm not too sure it liked that much. The crust was very crispy (my hubby loved it, though, thank goodness). Then as we got closer to the middle, we soon realized that it was still slightly doughy. Dang.
Armed with quick fixes, I stand ready for round 2.
However, if anybody is looking for a DELICIOUS bread recipe, you should try this one on for size. It's slightly labor intensive, but the pay off is so very, very worth it.
Butternut Yeast Bread
3 packages active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 T. sugar
2 c. milk
2 1/2 c. mashed cooked buttercup/butternut squash
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. butter, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 t. salt
13 c. flour
In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar. Sit 5 minutes. Add squash, milk, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and salt. Mix. Add 6 c. flour. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until the dough becomes soft. Put on floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic (10 minutes). Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let raise until doubled (1 hour 15 minutes). Punch down down. Divide into 3; shape into loaves. Place in three 9x5 loaf pans. Cover and let raise until doubled (45 minutes).
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then move to wire rack.
A few tips/words of wisdom: If using dark metal pans, bake at 325 for 34 minutes. If you don't like squash, don't worry. Neither do I. To cook the squash, try cutting the sucker in half lengthwise (HA! That's where the hubby comes in handy) and place them face down on a plate. Microwave them for 10+ minutes until they become soft. Then just scoop it out and mash it up. This is the hardest part about this bread, so make sure you get the squash started cooking before you get too far into the recipe or your yeast will have a heyday with the water and sugar. =)
Also, good luck not getting about 10 out of the 13 cups of flour all over yourself and the kitchen floor. And speaking of, have fun "stirring" in the remaining flour... whoever originally wrote this recipe never tried what they're telling you to do. I usually end up kneading after adding the 6 cups (if not even sooner). "Turning once to grease the top" is easier said than done, so don't fret too much if your dough is like mine and refuses vehemently to "turn once" and grease its top.
Let me know if any of you try this recipe-- I want to know what you think!
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