Kolaches

Have you ever eaten at The Kolache Factory?  We used to be a frequent visitor when we lived in Indiana.   I haven't had one in years but ran across this recipe a few days ago.  It instantly brought back wonderful memories of these little buns filled with random goodness! While I won't say they are exactly the same as the real thing, they were still pretty amazing and addictive as well.  At the end of the meal it was hard to remember how many of these I devoured. 

They are a bit time consuming to make but I had a lot of fun with it. It was the perfect thing to make during our day of subzero temperatures. The filling combinations are endless. You can pretty much stuff them with whatever you like.  Here are the combos I made:

1. Pepperoni and Mozzarella Cheese 

2. Hotdogs (cut in half)

3. Sausage and Cheddar Cheese

4. Scrambled Eggs, Sweet Peppers, and Sausage

5. BBQ Chicken

The pepperoni ones turned out to be my favorite. I sprinkled some oregano on top right before baking them. They are pretty amazing if you serve them with a side of pizza sauce!

  

Some of them came out with too much bread and not enough filling.  At the time, I felt like I was putting a ton of filling inside; however once the bread was done rising and baking, the bread to filling ratio was off.  So make sure you roll the dough balls out thin and put LOTS of filling inside.

Here's a prime example of how my BBQ chicken and Egg kolaches had too much bread and not enough filling.  They were still good...just a lesson learned for next time!

   

What a great experiment. I always love trying new recipes! This recipe came from Homemade Mamas. If you do decide to make this recipe, check out her website for some great step by step pictures.

Kolaches
Source: Homemade Mamas

1 package of active dry yeast
1 c. warm milk
1/2 c. sugar
4 c.all-purpose flour 
2 eggs for dough
1/2 c. melted butter
1 t. of salt
1 egg for egg wash

This will make about 24 kolaches. I doubled the recipe so we'd have enough to eat for a couple days.

1. In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm milk (105-110 degrees), sugar and one cup of flour. Cover and let it rise until doubled in size.

2. In a small bowl beat the 2 eggs, slowly add the 1/2 cup of melted butter and salt.

3. Add egg mixture to yeast mixture and mix.

4. Mix in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. It is a really soft, sticky dough.

5. Knead dough for about 10 minutes on a well floured surface. (I used my kitchen aid mixer.) Place dough in a well greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size - about an hour.

6. While the dough is rising, get your fillings ready.

7. After dough has risen, punch it down and pull off egg-sized pieces. In your hands, roll pieces into balls and then flatten to about 4 inches in diameter. 

8. Spoon about 1 1/2 or 2 Tbls of filling.

9. Close dough around filling. Pinch it shut and place seam side down on greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 20 min. Preheat oven 375 degrees.

10. Beat the third egg. Before you bake the kolaches, brush with egg. If you are making a couple different flavors, you may want to mark them. For example, I sprinkled oregano on the pepperoni ones. 

11.Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. They will be lightly golden brown when they are done.

Butter Horns

Today I'm going to share a little family jewel with you.  I've been blogging for several years now and quite honestly can't believe I haven't put this recipe on here until now.  These are a staple at my family's holiday meals. They have been for years.  In fact, the last several Thanksgivings I've been requested to make them.  It just isn't Thanksgiving without them.  But they are wonderful for all dinners not just Thanksgiving.  I made them again last weekend and people just gobbled them up.  They also make the best breakfast the next morning! 

These are butter horns.  Make the dough the night before... then the next morning roll them up, let them rise, bake, and enjoy some amazing rolls! A little butter and honey make them even better!

Butter Horns

1 pkg. yeast (1/4 oz.)

1 c. warm water (not super hot or you'll kill the yeast)

1 t. sugar

Mix and set aside.

Beat 3 eggs and add 1/2 c. sugar and 1 t. salt. Melt 1 stick of butter and add to the egg mixture. Add yeast water. Add 4-5 c. flour slowly, stirring after each cup. Set aside in a covered, greased bowl overnight. 

The next morning, divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll out in a circle like a pie crust and cut into triangles. Roll up from the large end first, let rise until double in size (approximately 2 hours). Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes*.

* I like my rolls to be nice and soft so I tend to bake them at 380 degrees around 8 minutes.  Keep a close eye on the rolls while they're baking because they will brown quickly! As soon as they begin to brown, remove from oven.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Made this to go with dinner tonight. The kiddos gave it 4 (out of 4) thumbs up and asked for seconds and then thirds!  Made with whole-wheat flour, yogurt, and honey! The recipe comes from a blog called 100 Days of Real Food. It has a lot of great articles and recipes for those of us trying to cut processed foods out of our diet!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
Source: 100 Days of Real Food

2 ¼ c. whole-wheat flour
¾ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
¼ c. plain yogurt
¼ c. honey
2 eggs
⅓ c. oil
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease pan. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix mashed bananas with yogurt, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until blended. Do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake loaf for 40 minutes or until it comes clean with a toothpick. 

Corn Dog Muffins

My apologies for being a bit slower at posting recipes lately. With school AND working, I now have a full plate, but I promise to be back in the groove again real soon. Just bare with me, I only have 3 more weeks until I graduate from school. I'll then be able to focus 100% of my blog and new job and not have any more homework and tests/finals to study for. :)

Speaking of the new job, it is going wonderful! I absolutely love it and there is so much creative freedom there with cakes and cupcakes. We are having fun creating adorable St. Patrick's Day desserts as well as in the initial stages of planning out some wedding cakes for a friend of mine. Also, this week, I was able to decorate a cake for two birthdays at my hubby's workplace. Some of my biggest {local} blogger fans are now becoming my best customers!

On to today's recipe...Corn Dog Muffins! Several similar recipes are popping up all over Pinterest. Corn dog muffins are super easy to make and very popular with little ones. I made these a couple weeks ago to accomodate some chili soup. Super easy and super good!



Corn Dog Muffins
Source: Our Crazy Crafty Life

1 (8.5 oz.) package corn bread mix
2 T. brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1 can corn, drained
5 hot dogs, sliced
ketchup, mustard, or honey mustard (for dipping)

Combine mix and sugar, stir in eggs and milk. Add corn and hot dogs. Fill greased muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake at 400 F for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Homemade Country Biscuits

These are some biscuits that I learned how to make in one of my previous culinary classes. I whipped them up for "brinner" the other night, added some eggs and sausage patties to make a whole meal out of it. Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?



Country Biscuits
Source: On Baking: A Textbook of Baking & Pastry Fundamentals

1 lb. 4 oz. All-purpose flour
0.4 oz. Salt
1 oz. Sugar
1 oz. Baking powder
7 oz. Unsalted butter, cold
12 oz. Milk
Egg wash, as needed

1. Line sheet pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Sift dry ingredients together, making sure they are blended thoroughly.

3. Cut in the butter. Mixture should look mealy.

4. Add milk and stir, combining only until mixture holds together.

5. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface; knead until it forms one mass, approximately 5 or 6 kneadings.

6. Roll dough to thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut with a floured cutter and place on paper-lined sheet pan. Lightly brush with egg wash.

7. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes.

8. Remove biscuits to a wire rack to cool. (Optional: Brush with melted butter.)

A Quick Lesson On : Yeast

Baking a fresh loaf of bread can be tricky if you don't have a good understanding about yeast. Yeast comes in 3 different forms: Compressed (Fresh) yeast, Active Dry yeast, and Instant (or Rapid Rise) yeast.

Compressed Yeast
Compressed yeast is a mixture of yeast and starch with a moisture content of about 70%. It is also referred to as fresh yeast and must be kept refrigerated. It should be creamy white and crumbly with a fresh, yeasty smell. Compressed yeast should softened in warm water at 100°F before being added to bread dough. Under proper storage conditions, compressed yeast has a shelf life of 2 to 3 weeks.



Active Dry Yeast
Active dry yeast differs from compressed yeast in that virtually all the moisture has been removed by hot air. The absence of moisture renders the organism dormant and allows the yeast to be stored without refrigeration for several months. When used in preparing doughs, dry yeast is generally rehydrated in a lukewarm (110°F) liquid before being added to the other ingredients. It should be stored in a cool, dry place and refrigerated after opening.



Instant Dry Yeast
Instant dry yeast has gained popularity because of its ease of use; it is added directly to the dry ingredients in a bread formula without rehydrating. The water in the formula activates it. Like all yeasts, instant dry yeast is a living organism and is destroyed at temperatures above 138°F.



You can use whichever type of yeast you prefer just remember that dry yeasts are at least twice as strong as compressed yeast. You'll need to use the formulas below if you have to substitute yeasts. For example, if a recipe calls for compressed yeast, but all you have is Active Dry yeast at home.

Compressed (fresh) Yeast x 0.5 = Active Dry Yeast
Compressed (fresh) Yeast x 0.33 = Instant Dry Yeast
Active Dry Yeast x 2 = Compressed (fresh) Yeast
Active Dry Yeast x 0.75 = Instant Yeast
Instant Yeast x 3 = Compressed (fresh) Yeast
Instant Yeast x 1.33 = Active Dry Yeast

Use these formulas to convert from one type of yeast to another. Happy baking!

English Muffins

If you've been following my blog at all you know I am a huge fan of making bread. I love making bread more than anything else! Yes, it takes a lot of time and patience but nothing can beat the smell of fresh bread baking in your oven or taking that first bite into bread that you baked just that morning.

This time I set out to make English Muffins. Not a difficult bread to make but it was the first bread that was not baked in an oven. English Muffins are actually baked on top of a lightly greased griddle or skillet. The whole family loved them, especially after I slathered them with some butter and homemade strawberry jam!

*As always, I only made 1/2 a recipe. This keeps me from gaining 100 pounds a year! :)

French Bread

I needed something to go with my Tomato Tortellini Soup and French Bread was the perfect fit. It has a crunchy exterior and a nice soft and chewy inside. We dipped the bread in some Oregano flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oil and it was amazing!

I quartered the recipe below and still got 2 nice size loaves.

Pita Bread

Here's some great pita bread that I learned to make in class awhile back. It's great for sandwiches or for dipping into hummus or garlic paste. More on that later...

Have a great Monday!!!

Brioche

Bread...it's been my favorite thing to make in culinary school so far. I love portioning out the rolls/loaves, shaping them into uniform rolls or uniquely designed loaves, watching them double in size, and then pulling them out of the oven to smell that fresh bread smell. I am quite a carboholic as well. It's got to be my favorite food.

So here's yet another bread recipe we made in school. Brioche (bree-OHSH). Isn't it such a lovely name? Brioche is a rich, tender bread made with a generous amount of eggs and butter. It's great to eat right out of the oven, with sandwiches or french toast, or even as a PB&J sandwich. There are many ways to shape it as well.

For part of the recipe I used mini brioche pans (picture above). They almost look like little flowers. I also made some mini loaves as well as a regular size loaf of bread.

*I only made half of the recipe below and it still made a TON of bread! I ended up with 8 mini brioches, 7 mini loaves, and 1 regular loaf. Enough to share with my neighbor and my husband's coworkers!

Zucchini Bread

Someone called me the other day and made my day! She told me that she had an abundance of zucchini in her garden and wondered if I could use some. I said, "YES! I would love some!!!" What a great friend she is! I don't have any zucchini growing in my garden but that is quite a surprise considering it is my second favorite vegetable. (Maybe next year...) Tomatoes are my all-time favorite veggie and I have FIVE tomato plants growing out back but I love making zucchini recipes in the summer too. They are so many different ways to use zucchini including these recipes that I posted last summer:

Stuffed Zucchini
Zucchini Hamburger with Rice
Cheesy Zucchini
Zucchini Cookies
Zucchini Fries

This is a bread recipe that we made in culinary school. It is delicious as well!

Challah

Here's a little something I learned in class last week and a little lesson for you...

Challah (pronounced HAH-la) is the traditional bread for Jewish Sabbath and holiday celebrations, rich with eggs and flavored with honey. Time-honored tradition dictates that challah be braided or formed into a turban-shaped loaf. Topped with poppy or sesame seeds, challah is excellent for toast or sandwiches.

This recipe makes enough for two loaves so I braided one...



...and made a turban braided loaf for the other.

Yeast Dinner Rolls

Here's a recipe for some yummy yeast dinner rolls that we made during the first week of my Baking and Pastries class. They were so good I had to come home and make them! Not only that, but this recipe will be on my midterm in a few short weeks so I figure the more practice I get, the better! It's an easy recipe to make; however you will need a scale to weigh out the ingredients.

I used to hate when I would see a recipe that I wanted to make and it was listed out in pounds and ounces instead of cups and tablespoons and teaspoons. In fact, I would just skip over it since I had never tried weighing out the ingredients and didn't have a digital scale at home. So I am sorry for those of you like this. I get it and totally understand; however now that I am in culinary school I must say that I now understand how much more accurate it is to measure by weight rather than volume. And now that I have a digital scale (we had to buy one for class), I actually like weighing ingredients out. It's fun! So if you can, give it a try. Otherwise, you may miss out on some really great recipes.

*Note: I made only 1/2 the recipe below.

Snickerdoodle Bread

We had a fun and relaxing 4th of July weekend at the lake house. My entire family was there so we all pitched in and bought or made things to share for all the meals while we were there. I made this snickerdoodle bread for breakfast and it was delicious! Nice and sweet and sugary just like snickerdoodle cookies. Yum!!! It was a big hit and everyone enjoyed it. It made 5 mini loaves so there was plenty to go around.

Strawberry Bread

While surfing the web to find more strawberry recipes to make, I stumbled across this bread recipe. It sounded good so I tried it! It turned out so yummy! My parents were in town visiting so I was able to serve it for breakfast one morning. Everyone loved it! It makes 2 loaves so we ate one and I put the other in the freezer to enjoy later.

Overnight Stuffed French Toast

This recipe reminds me of my favorite, most-ordered breakfast from IHOP. Yum!!! Another thing I love about it is that you make it the night before. So you can literally roll out of bed still half asleep and just toss it in the oven...and 30 minutes later breakfast is ready!

It's is a new fave of mine. I will definitely make it again only next time I will make a small change. I have a super sweet tooth but even this was a bit too sweet for me. Next time I'll use half of the cream cheese/sugar mixture to spread on the bread. I believe that would be the perfect amount for the perfect stuffed french toast. Enjoy!

Savory Cheddar Chive Bread

We have gotten so much rain lately! It has turned our brown grass into a nice bright green and has made the chives in our garden just shoot up! I seriously think they grew 12 inches in a matter of days!!!

I've been wanting to try this bread recipe for awhile but couldn't get myself to spend the money to buy chives at the grocery store since I knew I would have an abundance of them this spring and summer. It turned out really well and went great with our lasagna cupcakes. The only cheese I had on hand was string cheese so I used that instead of cheddar.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

Stop reading right now if you are dieting or evening attempting to eat healthy! I'm serious...reading further into this post is dangerous! You will gain weight just reading this post. :)

These rolls were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!! They are super duper sweet and rich and just scrumptious! Her recipe makes SEVEN round pie pans of cinnamon rolls! I guess I made mine a bit larger because I only got six pans but that was still plenty to share with our nanny, our neighbors, our out-of-town guests, and still have more to put in the freezer for another occasion.

If you like cinnamon rolls you should definitely try this recipe. I loved the maple flavored icing. Just make sure you have a nice big glass of milk ready to wash them down. You'll need it.

Pumpkin Scones

Scones always make a great breakfast! I haven't baked with pumpkin for a long time so it was nice to grab a can of it out of the pantry and whip these up for breakfast this morning.

The recipe calls for white chocolate chips. Those of you who know me personally, know I'm not a fan of white chocolate. Milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips work just as well in this recipe.

Italian Snack Bread

Normally I would throw some pre-made garlic bread into the oven to go with the lasagna we had the other night. But not this time. I wanted to make something from scratch and something that would look gourmet. I found this bread recipe in a Taste of Home cookbook I checked out from the local library. A lot of people are intimidated to make their own bread because they think it is too difficult, but it's really not. This recipe was very easy and does not even require kneading. It also tasted great and looked much more impressive than that boring store-bought garlic bread.