Yesterday, we covered making whole wheat bread.  I used 1 loaf of bread dough to make 2 pans of cinnamon rolls.  Yum!

The process is easy and not scientific at all.  You’ll need the whole wheat bread dough first, of course.

Roll it out to about the thickness of pizza crust.  It should look like this: 

Generously spread butter over the surface of the dough.  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Then roll lengthwise, like this:

Slice into 1″ thick slices.  This made 2 pans of rolls.  Place in a greased pan and cover loosely with a cloth.  Let rise about 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

I made a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk to put on top.

I baked one pan right away and saved the second pan for the next morning.  Just put the unbaked rolls in the refrigerator overnight.

When I make homemade bread, I like to make quite a few loaves at once.  I don’t have time to make bread more than once a week (and I don’t even make it that often) so I like to have a lot to show for the effort.

This recipe will make 4 loaves.  But it’s too much dough for my stand mixer to handle so I make it by hand.  I enjoy the process of starting with flour and yeast, then kneading the dough to form loaves.  It feels rustic and wholesome and slow.  Such a contrast to the rest of modern life.

Of course, nothing compares to pulling hot loaves from the oven and slathering butter over thick slices.

Homemade bread is easy to make, but it does take some time and a little bit of muscle too, if you’re doing it by hand.  I’m going to take you through the whole process, so there are a lot more photos in this post than most of my posts.

Tomorrow, I’ll share how to make Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls with part of the dough. 

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

Technically, this isn’t whole wheat bread.  I use a combination of whole wheat flour and white flour (preferably bread flour, but you can also use all purpose).  Whole wheat flour by itself will bake up a very heavy loaf.  You can add gluten to the mix to help the dough to rise, but I prefer to use white (bread) flour along with the wheat.  I use about 6 cups of each.

You’ll also need yeast.  I buy the jars of bread machine yeast.  I use honey to add to the flavor and help the yeast rise.  Butter helps the bread to keep a bit longer.  You don’t have to use it, but it’s a nice addition.  And of course, you’ll need salt and warm water, neither of which made it into the photo.

Step 1

In a very large bowl, dissolve 4 Tbs. yeast in 5 cups warm water.  The water should be about the temp of a baby’s bath water or about 85 degrees.  Add a teaspoon of honey to the yeast and water.  Stir with a wooden spoon.

Step 2

When the yeast is dissolved, add the another 4 Tbs. honey, 4 tsp. salt, 8 Tbs. butter and 6 cups whole wheat flour.

Stir this vigorously for several minutes.  You want it well mixed and you also want to give it a good workout.  This makes combining the rest of the flour easier.

It should like like this after you stir it:

It should be very thick liquid that’s kind of stretchy.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Step 3

Now it’s time to add 6 cups of white flour.

Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.  This is going to be harder to mix, because you’ve added more flour.  Work the flour in as much as you can with the spoon.  When you can’t stir it very well and most of the flour is worked in, turn it out on a floured table or counter to knead it.

Step 4 – Kneading

Kneading is going to take a total of 10-15 minutes.  Fold the dough over, smoosh it, give it a quarter turn and repeat.  Continue to work flour in as needed.  Keep your work surface floured too.  As the dough becomes more elastic and smooth, you may only need flour on your hands and/or counter, just to keep it from sticking. 

Here are some photos of the various stages of kneading:

1.  This is right after I turned the dough out of the bowl.  You can see that’s it’s a very rough ball.

2.  After several minutes of kneading, it begins to form a better ball.  It’s still rough at this stage and not very elastic.

3.  The dough is getting smoother and more elastic, but it’s not quite there yet.

4.  Finally, the dough forms a smooth ball.  The dough is elastic and you only need enough flour to keep it from sticking to the counter.

Step 5 – Rising

Clean out the bowl you used to mix the dough.  Spray it with cooking oil and place the ball of dough in the bowl.  Flip the ball over so the oiled side is on top.  Cover it with a clean cloth or towel.  Set the bowl in a warm place – the top of the refrigerator, on the counter under a light, on top of the stove if the oven is on.  If it’s a warm day, just sitting on the counter may be enough.

After about 1-2 hours, the dough will be doubled in size.

Punch the dough down.  At this point you can choose to put it in pans or let it rise again.  I usually put it in pans, but if I’m busy, I’ll let it rise a second time.  It’s up to you.

Step 6 – Divide and bake

Use a sharp knife to cut the dough in half, then in half again.  Grease 4 bread pans and shape the loaves.  Place them in the pans.  Cover and let rise about 30 minutes or until they’re doubled in size.

This much dough will make enough for 4 loaves of bread.  I made 3 loaves and 2 pans of cinnamon rolls (how-to coming tomorrow).

Bake the loaves at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  They should sound hollow when done.  You can also test the loaves with a cake tester.  If it comes out clean, they’re done.

Cool the loaves completely for best slicing.  But I recommend you only give them a few minutes out of the oven before slicing into a loaf.  Slather with butter and enjoy!

You can freeze the loaves too.  Just wrap tightly or put in a gallon size Ziploc freezer bag.

I know, I know.  Quick breads are not ingredients.  But I needed your help and this was the best way I could think of to get it.

You see,  I only have 3 recipes for quick breads on my blog and I love quick breads!  That’s where you come in.  I can’t wait to see the recipes you have for me.

I’m not even going to link to my recipes this week.  I want to see what you’ve got!

Share your recipes!  Link up your quick bread recipes (breads that use no yeast).  Feel free to link as many as you like.  Be sure to link back to Eat at Home in your blog post.  You can use the button below, if you like.  I’ve added the html for you.

<a href=”http://eatathomecooks.com”><img title=”ingredient spotlight button125″ src=”http://eatathomecooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ingredient-spotlight-button1252.jpg” alt=”" width=”125″ height=”125″ /></a>

The outside looks like a plain vanilla muffin.  But inside there’s a creamy pocket of Nutella hiding.

Can it get any better?

I don’t think so.

Loy says dessert-like muffins should be called “Muffcakes”.  I agree completely.

Here’s how you make this magic – and please do go straight to your kitchen to make these.  You will love yourself for it! 

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• 1 stick butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3-1/2 cup Nutella

Stir the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, vanilla and milk and mix until well blended.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a spoon.  Stir gently, just until combined.

Spoon some batter into the bottom of 12 greased muffin cups.   You’ll use about half of the batter for this step.  Dollop Nutella in the middle of each muffin.  Top with more batter to seal the Nutella inside.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Here’s what it looks like after the batter has been dolloped with Nutella, but before the top batter has been added:

I love that they’re so plain and unassuming.  And then you bite into them and find creamy, delicious Nutella!

How much do you love Nutella?  How often do you eat it?

The other day, I posted a list of 28 Muffins You’ll Want to Try and Terri left this comment:

Hi,
I was looking at your muffin recipes. They look yummy! I’m also looking for a coconut muffin maybe with mini choc chips added. Have you ever heard of something like that? I thought maybe replacing the liquid with coconut milk then add either maybe a streusel with toasted coconut and a drizzle of chocolate. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? I have tried a couple of your recipes and passed on your site to some friends.
Thanks,
Terri

Oh, what a good idea!  I went into the kitchen and got creative right away.  These are the result.  The muffin is infused with coconut flavor and studded with mini chocolate chips.  The streusel topping has cocoa and coconut.  Oh yeah!

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. coconut extract
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Stir the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, coconut extract and milk and mix until well blended.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a spoon.  Stir gently, just until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Fill greased muffin pan with batter.  Top with Streusel Topping before baking.

For Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup coconut
• 5 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 2 tsp. cocoa
• 5 Tbs. flour

Combine all the ingredients with a fork or your fingers to make crumbs.  Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with topping.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

I love muffins.  I love them even more than cupcakes.  Probably because they are so quick to make.  It’s almost instant gratification from the time the muffin idea pops in your head until you’re pulling them from the oven.

Of course, not all muffins are the sweet variety.  They are delicious savory versions that can round out and stretch a meal.

Here’s a list of muffin recipes gathered from this site and all around the web too.  Enjoy!

Snickerdoodle Muffins – Just like the cookie, only in muffin form.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Cranberry Muffins with Orange Marmalade Glaze – The glaze would be really good on other kinds of muffins too.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Blueberry Muffins with Orange Glaze

Apple Brown Betty Muffins

Poppy Seed Muffins

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Graham Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

Argan Banana Muffins from Maroc Mama

Sweet Potato Spice Muffins from The Jammie Girl

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping from Hoosier Homemade

Banana Muffins with Tart Lemon Icing from Addicted to Recipes

Apple Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins from Barbara Bakes

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins from Mommy Hates Cooking

White Chocolate Pineapple Muffins from Mommy Hates Cooking

Grain Free Banana Nut Muffins from Community Cucina

Mocha Banana Muffins from The Happy Housewife

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Muffins from The Happy Housewife

Whole Wheat Banana Millet Muffins from The Happy Housewife

S’more Muffins from The Happy Housewife

Pear Muffins from The Happy Housewife

Cheddar Muffins

Cornbread Muffins

Make Your Own Cornbread Muffin Mix

Goat Cheese Biscuits – Not really muffins, but muffin-like and oh, so good.

How to Make the Best Muffins Ever + One Bowl Oatmeal Muffins with variations from Simple Bites

I whipped these muffins up one night to snack on during family game night.  We were playing spoons, which usually leads to ice cream for some reason.  Then the next morning we have no spoons to stir coffee or eat cereal because they’re all dirty from the game playing, ice cream eating fun the night before.

But on this night, I decided chocolate chip muffins would make a fine snack.  I love baking muffins, because it’s so fast and there’s an infinite variety of flavors.  Needless to say, these were a hit.

I have some big plans for taking these muffins to a new level that involve cream cheese and chocolate ganache.  I’m waiting for a day when I can bake in the afternoon so the photos have some daylight.  We’ve had so much rain lately, I may have to settle for a dark day.

Back to the muffin recipe.  Here’s what you’ll need.  I didn’t grab a photo of the ingredients, but they’re all common items.

Do you have a favorite muffin flavor?  What kind do you like?

I have been so excited to share this recipe with you.  In early March, I visited a friend in Chicago and she took me to Table Fifty Two.  The food in that restaurant has a decidedly Southern flair.   Chef Art Smith has been a personal chef to Oprah.  Now he creates dishes such as Fried Green Tomatoes with Feta, Pancetta, Red Onion Marmalade and Kalamata Olive – Amazing!

We sat in the main room of the restaurant where Goat Cheese Biscuit dough was being poured into hot iron skillets and baked in a brick oven.  Our server brought us a serving of the biscuits to share.  Oh my!  They are light, with herbs and goat cheese inside and buttery Parmesan topping.

As my friend and I savored these biscuits and I watched the process of making them, I was pretty sure I could recreate the recipe at home.  And I was right.

These would be perfect for an Easter dinner or brunch.  And they are easy to make too.  The dough is similar to drop biscuits and it can be baked in an iron skillet, ramekins or muffins tins.   Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 cups flour (I used White Lily brand)
• 2 Tbs. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 5 Tbs. butter, softened
• 1.75 oz goat cheese (or half of 3.5 oz container)
• 1/4 – 1/3 cups finely chopped flat parsley
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 Tbs. melted butter
• shaved or shredded Parmesan for top

Place the pan(s) in the oven to heat at 450 degrees while you prep the dough. You can use a muffins tin for 12 biscuits, a small iron skillet or ramekins.  One recipe will make a 6″ skillet + 3 4″ ramekins.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Cut the butter into the flour with a fork or pastry blender. Stir in goat cheese and parsley.

Add the milk, stirring by hand.  Work it over till the dough thickens up a bit.  Pull the pan(s) from the oven and spray with cooking spray.  Spoon the dough into the pans.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Pull the biscuits out of the oven and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Parmesan.  Bake another minute or two.  Brush with melted butter again before serving.

One ramekin is enough for two people.  A 6″ skillet will serve 3-4.

Baked in muffin tins, they look more like muffins than biscuits.  This is a nice way to get individual servings though.

Be sure to check out the other courses in our Virtual Easter Dinner!

- Monday – Mustard Orange Glazed Ham – Laura at Real Mom Kitchen

- Tuesday -  Spring Orzo Pasta Salad – Shaina at Food for My Family

- Wednesday – Hungarian Cucumber Salad – Tara at Unsophisticook

- Thursday – Goat Cheese Biscuits right here on Eat at Home

- Friday – Rosemary Potato Strudel – Aimee at Simple Bites

- Saturday – Dessert  – Liz at Hoosier Homemade

Some of you wonderful readers recently introduced me to the blog, Picky Palate.  The first post I saw there was Peanut Butter and Jelly Skillet Monkey Bread.   Heavens to Murgatroyd!  That looks delish!  And you know how I love peanut butter.

But as I read the recipe, the words “jelly of your choice” caught my attention and all I could think of was apple jelly.  Which pairs perfectly with cinnamon and brown sugar.  So I took the original recipe and did a bit of tweaking to come up with this:

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tube refrigerated biscuits
• 1/2 cup apple jelly

Melt the butter in a small bowl.  Stir the brown sugar and cinnamon together.  Cut the biscuits into 4 pieces each.

Pour the melted butter in a gallon size zip top bag.  Add the biscuit pieces and gently squish to coat them with butter.  Pour in the brown sugar and flip the bag to coat the pieces of biscuit with the sugar.

Spray a 9″ or 10″ iron skillet with cooking spray.  Dump the biscuit pieces into the skillet and arrange in a single layer.  Warm the apple jelly, till it thins.  Pour over the top of the biscuits.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Devour with a glass of milk.

They scraped the pan clean!

I still want to try Picky Palate’s Peanut Butter version.  I also thought about making it with peach preserves.  Mmmm…

What kind of flavor would you make?

Cornbread muffins are an easy way to round out a meal.  I decided to save a few steps by making my own mix.

One note: Don’t leave out the butter when you mix them up.  We had company the other day and I served these muffins.  Right before we sat down to eat, I discovered the melted butter that was supposed to be in the muffins sitting in the microwave instead.

Please tell me I’m not the only one to have trouble talking and cooking at the same time!  I once melted a Tupperware bowl in the oven because I was talking on the phone and not paying attention.  I meant to turn the oven on to about 200 degrees and then turn it off again, to rise some bread dough.  The key is turning the oven off!

I’d love to hear your stories of distractions that led to cooking disasters!  But first, let’s get to the recipe.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 cups cornmeal (white or yellow)
• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 Tbs. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt

Stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Store in a tightly covered container or in a zip top plastic bag.  This will make 4 batches of 12 muffins.

To use:  Measure 2 1/2 cups of mix into a bowl.  Add 1/2 stick (4 Tbs.) melted butter, 1 egg and 1 cup milk.  Stir to blend.  Divide into greased muffin cups and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.