Mmm... Is there anyone who does not like donuts?

I thought it would be rather difficult to make donuts, but after watching a few YouTube how-to videos I stood corrected.  Did you know you can make donuts out of biscuits?  SEE!

I made my donuts from a cinnamon roll mix.  Why not?  Cinnamon rolls are delicious...

The only thing that was different about making the donuts instead of bread was frying the dough instead of baking them.  I coated them in a cinnamon and powdered sugar mix. Check out the pictures for all of the details...

Well, I want to make donuts now - so this must be the end of this post.  YUM!

I love corn dogs!!!  So, I thought... "Why don't I make homemade corn dogs?!"  Yep - I did.

Truthfully, this batch of corn dogs is round two.  I'm not saying the first batch wasn't delicious - I actually made the first batch two weeks earlier and loved them enough to make them again!  (This time I made them for my parents - they refused to be in a picture).

A common theme keeps reappearing... it is not difficult to make these!  The recipe came from Alton Brown (can't go wrong with an Alton Brown recipe).  I left out a couple of the ingredients, just because; I'm sure they would have been as delicious or even more delicious with the full recipe.

You can check out most of the steps below, Alton's recipe here, and listen to the crunch of the dogs here.

Feeling hungry yet?  ...I am!

Rachel Pease... you wanted Nan bread?  You got it.  (Not literally.  It's in my freezer - I don't know how long it lasts either [whoops...])

What an interesting bread.  Who puts yogurt in bread?  Well, those who want Nan do.

It started like any other bread... yeast in water.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and throw in the wet.  And of course! ...add extra milk, because the recipe book doesn't have a clue.

The bread rests.

After proofing - a nice punch down and a 10 minute rest.

The best part!  Separate the dough into four pieces, then toss the dough into pieces about 1/4" thick and place on a baking sheet.  How long in the oven?  Not long at all!  Put the broiler on high and keep a close eye on the Nan until it turns as brown as you'd like it to be.  My preference: light/dark brown with more light than dark.

Finally... EAT!  Either by itself or with a meal.  I haven't made Indian food, so I ate it with chicken teriyaki... DELICIOUS!

Hint: After baking it, don't leave it sitting out for long.  It gets VERY dry.  Yep, experience.

Yes... that is a robe.  Yes... it does take that long to make bread.

OK . . . Maybe Oreo cupcakes aren't bread, but they look like fluffy bread.

I'm thinking about starting a section called "NOT BREAD" - what do you think?  Vote on the idea in the Suggestions page.

Back to cupcakes . . . I made banana sour cream cupcakes with a powdered sugar/cream cheese/butter/vanilla icing, topped with mixed nuts, coconut, and fresh strawberries for the Odyssey Bassline (OB) last week and they went over well.  So . . . more cupcakes!

Mission: Oreo cupcake from classic white box mix

Difficulty: Don't you just follow a recipe?  Well, you could . . . but if you want to make your own without a recipe you don't!

- - Pause - -

It never entered my mind to Google "Oreo cupcakes from box mix" . . . and for that - fail.

- - Back to Blog - -

I started with a couple of different Oreo cupcake from-scratch recipes.  I did a few calculations to change the proportions of a few dry and wet ingredients and began to add my flare from there.

The cupcakes turned out quite nice.  Very tasty - especially after being refrigerated AND of course . . . with a glass of milk.

What did I like most?  The frosting.  It is so light and airy.  It is magical to watch liquid to turn into such a delicate solid THEN go in my stomach.  What a delight.  I will be trying another box/scratch recipe soon.  I need to burn the calories off from this set!

This is Rachel Jean's favorite recipe . . .  It's now mine, too!

From the beginning, this recipe was far different than my usual box-mix recipe.  Milk, oil, and sugar in a saucepan - turn off the heat just before it boils - then let it sit to cool down. Throw in the yeast when the temperature is warm enough to make the yeast come alive but not too hot to kill it immediately . . .  

After letting the yeast sit for a few minutes, the flour went for a swim in the pot - it had lots of fun until it soaked up all of the liquid.  Time for the dough to rest for a while.

Did I mention this recipe had the correct amount of liquid/dry ratio?!  Yay for correct measurements!  This made me really happy . . .

The dough sat on the stovetop, covered with a towel, for an hour or so - then I put more dry ingredients on top of the dough (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt ), mixed it in and set the dough on the counter to roll out.  The dough was at the perfect consistency; I had barely even touched it!

The dough rolled out very easily and I began lathering it with butter.  You know you have just enough butter when you can see your reflection clearly! (just kidding - don't overdo it) It was very shiny though!  Toss on the sugar and add as much cinnamon as you want.

Then I rolled up the oh-so-very-tender-roll-of-goodness ever so gently.  It was oozing greatness.  I cut the cinnamon rolls about every 2" with my baker's blade - it was very easy to make the cuts.  GET A BAKER'S BLADE.

I let the cinnamon rolls proof, lathered some butter on the top, and threw them in the oven. When they came out, they sat for just a couple of minutes and I covered the rolls in icing (I didn't make the coffee-style icing - just the regular powdered sugar, milk, vanilla)

After the rolls sat for about 20 minutes, they were more than ready to eat - they screamed EAT ME!  Such soft, gooey, chewy, tasty, delectable goodness . . .  Mmm!  You bet I'm going to make these again!

Now it's your turn.  I dare you to make this recipe and not enjoy it.

PS - These rolls really don't last . . . just ask Odyssey Percussion Theatre.  Apparently, I didn't make nearly enough!

I love cinnamon!  I love raisins!  I love bread!  It only makes sense . . . I love cinnamon raisin bread!  Do you like it, too?

It starts with yeast, milk, brown sugar, eggs, and butter - it's so close to cookie dough! . . . but it's not.  Mix all the ingredients together and give it a good knead (don't forget . . . all of the recipes I have been making from "Bread" do not have enough liquid in them - use milk to increase the amount of liquid in the mixture).  OK - now knead, but don't knead too much!

I let it raise for a while.  It didn't reach double it's original size - disappointing - but it smelled great!

I rolled the dough out and threw some raisins and butter on it.  Then I rolled it up . . . kind of like a cinnamon roll, but only with a couple of turns.  **Suggestion: make more folds in the dough so the raisins are more spread throughout the loaf (see rolled dough and final loaf picture - I only folded it over twice - hence only two rows of raisins in the loaf).

Despite having only two rows of raisins in the bread, this recipe is very good!  I like to cut a couple of slices and put them in the toaster - then butter them up and eat!

This bread is made of all things delicious - why not try it out yourself?!

Yes . . . Scots Baps.  It is a breakfast bread - quite delicious indeed.

Why is it a breakfast bread?  I really don't have an answer for that one . . . However, I do know it tastes great with eggs, bacon, ham, spinach, and all of the sort.

If you like using a rolling pin, this bread is perfect for you!  You can do all sorts of different things with this bread . . . Want more of a flat bread?  Roll it thinner.  Want a thicker bread? Don't roll it so thin.  Want more individual pieces of bread?  Cut more pieces out of the dough . . . I suppose this is the case with every kind of bread you use a rolling pin on, but there is some special "Scots Baps".

Anyways, here are some pic of the bread.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Words can't explain.  So that noise (^) and these pictures will . . .

I must label the first attempt at multigrain a failure.  This one is definitely a success. . .
The difference?  An additional 1.25 cups of water.  How could a recipe be so far off?  It's a little bit frustrating to think someone could write a recipe for bread and be that far from correct.

Anyways . . . I used PLENTY of water!  The dough ascended (thank goodness - the first one went nowhere).  I punched the dough down, cut it into six segments, and worked them into roll/bun shapes.  The dough proofed for another 30 minutes.  I topped them with butter and oats, then through them in the oven at 400º until they became golden brown (about 30 minutes).

After they came out of the oven, the rolls cooled on a wire rack for 30 minutes until I could put them in a container to keep them fresh (except for one roll . . . I ate it).

Advice: Don't start making bread a 9:00 pm unless you are willing to stay up until at least 1:00 am.  (I did . . . I had to set alarms to wake myself up in between waiting periods)

If you don't have a baker's blade (cutter/chopper/slicer/scraper) - get one!  Cleaning off the counter is so simple now!  No scrubbing . . . no dirty rag . . . Simply run the blade edge over the counter and it's clean!

I hope you have a roll-making-experience in your future . . . you'll be glad when you do.

A few people short - but still plenty of bread and tons of fun!

This makes the second round for pretzels and a first for breadsticks filled with cheese!

Everyone pitched in and shaped their own pretzels - then rolled out the dough to cover the cheese sticks.  After proofing, the dough was lathered in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper - the breadsticks got an extra touch of Italian seasoning.

The result?  Delicious.  Forget salty pretzels . . . Cover the pretzels in cheese and pepperoni slices and dip them in marinara sauce - pizza!  Don't discount the cheese-stuffed breadsticks - they were an absolute delight!  Instead of making 8 pretzels, we made 6 pretzels and 6 breadsticks.

Note of the night: Make pizza pretzels and cheese-stuffed breadsticks and you won't be disappointed.