Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Ready for your house to smell like a Cinnabon?  

This bread will do the trick. 

I've wanted to make this bread for so long.
I've had it pinned on my Pinterest board for almost a year and thanks to a snow day, I finally had to time to make it and am I oh so glad that I did.

Plus it looks so cool when you cut into it!
How can you resist?

Simple ingredients, minimal work, delicious bread.
Can't get much better than that.

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients:
2 tbs sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbs vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil
2tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup  white sugar
1/2 cup raisins,  plumped*

*boil water let raisins soak in it for about 5 min.

Directions: 
To warm water, place in microwave for 1min.
Add 2 tbs sugar and yeast and let sit until frothy, about 5 min.
Add in flour, salt, oil, and raisins and knead by hand, mixer, or bread machine* for 5-10 min until dough is comes together to form a soft, slightly  sticky ball. You may need to sprinkle in more flour if it's  too sticky. Place mixed dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.
*I let the yeast froth in my bread machine pan, added the rest of the ingredients, and then set my machine to "Dough" cycle and let it run the first knead cycle, then stopped it and let it rest for the 1 hour).

Remove dough from the bowl/pan and place on lightly floured surface.
Roll out dough into a large rectangle.
Mix together 1/2 sugar and cinnamon  and sprinkle it over the top of the rectangle.
Carefuly roll up dough width-wise, to form a loaf. Then pinch together the two ends and the seam.
Place loaf in lightly grease pan, cover, and let rise for 30 min until loaf fill the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Bake loaf for 30-35 min. Until top is nice golden brown* 
* I baked mine for the full 35 min just to make sure it was fully cooked in the center.
* I also placed a piece of foil over the top of the loaf around 15 min to keep the top from browning too much.

Let cool all the way before you cut into it, otherwise it tends to sink in.

Butter it up and enjoy!

It toasts wonderful! And makes fantastic bread for french toast!

ENJOY!!!!

Good Ol' Healthy Banana Bread

Sweet breads are one of my favorite things to bake. They are so easy and they are easily adaptable to your personal dietary needs. For this banana bread I was looking for sweet without the calories and low in fat because I don't need any more of it.

 

For extra sweetness (besides the brown sugar) I used 3 very ripe bananas and applesauce. They pair well together as both add moisture and natural sweetness as well as help hold the bread together.

I also used whole wheat flour, actually stone ground wheat flour. Now, honestly I didn't know what the difference was between regular whole wheat flour and stone ground, but now that I've cooked with it a few times I have found they are very different. Stone ground is not a "fine" flour, its actually quite rough and absorbs moisture like the dickens. It's terrible for making tortillas but fantastic for breads!

I found the best way to use this flour when I don't want a super dense bread is to blend it with my cup blender--similar to a magic bullet. I blend a cup a time and viola! soft, sifted, fine flour.

Anyways, this banana bread was perfect for breakfast and also dessert. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:
Makes 1 large loaf or ~ 2 small loafs
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 large egg whites
handful of chopped walnuts

Directions: 
Preheat oven 350 degrees F. 
Mix whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,  and brown sugar  together in a large bowl. whisk together egg whites, vanilla, and apple sauce in a smaller bowl. Pour wet ingredients into the large dry ingredient bowl and stir until well combined.
Smash 3 very ripe bananas in a bowl with a fork--don't over smash, you want it to still have chunks of banana throughout the mush.
Blend the smashed banana into the mixture. Add in walnuts if desired.
Pour into 9x5 bread pan.

Bake for 1 hour, until knife come out clean.

Let cool for 10 min before serving.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Information w/ nuts:

Servings ~15 slices. Serving size: 1 slice

110 calories * 17 carbs* 1g Fat* 4g protein * 3g Fiber

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

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I really wanted to make my own sandwich bread.

My bread machine has been wonderful; providing me delicious, but quite large and tall breads. However, nothing quite able to suite my sandwich making needs.

So I decided to use the bread machine's awesome feature: dough setting, and then bake it in a small bread pan to attempt a smaller loaf...

The outcome: 

 Soft sandwich bread: slightly denser than the bread I buy, but tasted WONDERFUL!

It was fun and easy and now I have great sandwich bread at a very very little cost (98 cents or something like that)

Adapted from allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup water, warm *
2 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp bread machine yeast, fast acting.
1 tsp salt
2 tbs non-fat dry milk powder
2 tbs vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup honey *Update (add another 1/4 cup for softer/sweeter bread)
2 tbs olive oil (or butter)

* Heat water in a microwave for 1 min.

Directions: 
Mix flour, gluten, and dry milk milk powder together in small bowl. 
(If you don't have a bread machine use a stand mixer: Kneed all ingredients for 12 min, let rise for 1:30hr and continue instructions)
Place warm water and salt in bread machine pan, then equally distribute flour mixture on top of water. In each corner of the flour make a crater with your finger.
Pour 1 tbs olive oil in each opposing corners.
Pour 1/8 cup honey in the other opposing corners.
Make another crater in the center of the flour and fill with yeast

Select dough cycle on machine and let it do its magic for about an hour and a half.
Even if cycle is not complete, take dough out of machine and roll out on a floured surface.
Preheat oven 375
Roll into a 14x9 rectangle
Roll up like rolling a jelly roll. Tuck and pinch seam under dough
Create end-seam by taking the edge of your hand and slicing down ward on edge of dough. Tuck and pinch that piece under dough.
Wiggle into a lightly greased or parchment lined 9x5 bread pan.
Let rise for 30 min.

Bake for 30-35 min.

Cool on rack for 20 min.
Slice up!

If you are freezing, (we do because we don't use if fast enough) slice before you freeze and place in freezer zip lock bag.

Enjoy!!!!