Easy Crock-Pot Honey Whole-Grain Bread

This recipe is perfect if you are in a hurry and don't want to have to wait around the house to let bread dough rise and re-rise. And it was so delicious! Way easy!

Crock-Pot Honey Whole-Grain Bread

3 cups whole-wheat breat flour, divided
2 cups warm whole milk
3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 tsp salt

1. Line crock pot with foil and spray with cooking spray.

2. Combine 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour,milk, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, honey, oil, yeast and salt in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour until dough is no longer sticky. (You can mix with wooden spoon.) Transfer to prepared crock-pot.

3. Cover; cook on HIGH 3 hours or unti edges are browned.

4. Take out and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Easter Pink Peep Monkey Bread

I saw this recipe on the show in Utah, Good Things Utah, and I made it for my family while they were here visiting the day before Easter. It was very sweet and yummy and gooey, but I didn't get a picture of it. I think it's a fun holiday keeper!

Peep Monkey Bread

2 cans (16.3 ounces) reduced fat buttermilk biscuits (or homemade recipe)

1 cup white sugar

A few drops of Red food coloring

18 pink marshmallow Peep bunnies

1/3 cup butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While the Oven is warming up, grease bundt pan.

Put sugar in plastic bag, add a few drops of red food coloring and shake.  Add more food coloring until desired color is reached (pink!)

Cut off the black parts (eyes and noses) off of the peep bunnies.  Place bunnies and butter in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on low for 2 ½ minutes.  Stopping and stirring every 30 seconds.  Remove from microwave when you have reached a runny consistency. Add vanilla.

Open the can of biscuits.  Cut each biscuit into quarters.  Dip each biscuit piece into the bunny mixture and then roll in pink sugar. Place finished pieces into the bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F  for about 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart.

Lion House Poppy Seed Bread

I made this recipe this past weekend for a game night at my friends apartment. They all seemed to really like it. I've been wanting to make this recipe for a while and I was finally able to do it! The only thing I would have changed is I would have put more poppyseeds in it because you can hardly tell that it's a poppyseed bread. But it has great, sweet flavor. I must really like bread because that seems to be the only thing I am posting on this blog!

Lion House Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour, sifted
2 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds ( I would add like triple that)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp butter flavoring

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour two 9x5 loaf pans or 6 small miniature loaf pans. Mix all bread ingredients together, then beat for 2 minutes. Pour into pans and bake for 1 hour. Mix glaze ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over hot bread in pans. Let cool before removing from pans.

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

I have made this recipe a few times now and I love it everytime. It's not as wonderful as the real Olive Garden Bread Sticks but it's close! I made and Italian dinner for Adam and I last night for Valentines day and this recipe went perfect with our manicotti and salad. Mine don't look as good as the picture, but I think that's due to my average baking skills.

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

Makes 12 to 13 bread sticks
(We halfed the recipe and it made about 4 breadsticks, so maybe I make the breadsticks too big...)

2 tablespoons gradulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water
16 ounces bread flour (3 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

On Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (we don't have garlic salt, so we sprinkled it with garlic powder instead and then we grinded some rock salt on it.)

1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, or until it becomes foamy on top.

2. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to mix the softened butter into the flour. If you don't have a stand mixer, use a mixing spoon. When the yeast mixture is foamy, pour it into the flour mixture and use a dough hook on your mixture to combine the ingredients and then knead the dough in a covered container and let it sit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it doubles in size.

3. When the dough has doubled, measure out 2-ounce portions and roll the dough between your hands or on a countertop to form sticks that are 7 inches long. Place the dough on parchement paper-lined baking sheets, cover, set aside for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size again.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

5. Bake the bread sticks for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. When the bread sticks come out of the oven, immediately brush each one with melted butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt.
(The first time I baked these, I baked them in the oven with the parchment paper and my whole kitchen began to smoke. So I just put the breadsticks on a baking sheet that I spray with cooking oil and that seems to work our fine. Maybe you'll have better luck with the parchment paper than I did.)

I got this wonderful recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. Great recipe book!

Eat with:
Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup
Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Naan Bread

I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com. I love that website because it includes the ratings others give the recipe and it also includes the nutritional facts. Anyway, this is the best naan bread I have had outside of an Indian restaurant and it was so easy. It goes great with any type of curry dish. We cut this recipe in half and it feeds Adam and I about perfectly.

Naan Bread

Servings: 14

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1/4 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt

4 1/2 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.

4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Outback's Bushman Bread

This is a sweet, moist bread that goes great with any stake or Outback style meal. When Adam and I had it, we had it with mashed sweet potatoes and tri tip. It was way easy and I had all of the ingredients in my cupboard already. The only thing that was hard was letting it rise! That was it! And that wasn't necessarily hard, I just didn't like waiting because the dough tasted excellent. When I did this recipe, it only made four small loaves but that was perfect for us. And I also didn't add the instant coffee. This one is a keeper.

Outback's Bushman Bread

1 1/2 cup water - warmed (you may also try 1 cup of water, and a half cup of evaporated milk for a richer taste)
2 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup of honey
2 cups of bread flour
2 cups of wheat flour
1 tablespoon of cocoa
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of instant coffee (Not needed)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
1 teaspoon of caramel color -- optional
3 tablespoons of cornmeal -- for dusting

Add the yeast to the warm water and let sit until foamy. (About 5 minutes). Mix all the ingredients together inside of your bread machine on the "dough" setting. (I just mixed it together with a spoon in a bowl.) All the ingredients should create fairly sticky dough but this is normal. Unless the dough is unusually wet don't add more flour. After the bread machine cycle is over let it rise for 1 1/2 hours. Then take it out and punch down. You can divide it into 8 small cylindrical shaped portions or 6 ape sized loaves, either way, make them about 2-3 inches wide. Then sprinkle those bad boys with some cornmeal and bake them at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I got this recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.