What is growing on your counter?

Remember this picture? I've been asked several times over the past years "what is in that bag?" And each time I tell the person asking, "the best bread you've ever had!" Nope this isn't another biscuit post, but it does include yeast. I promise this one won't take as much effort!

I remember seeing baggies of odd looking batter sitting on Grandma Bacon's counter when I was little too. I'd poke at it, squish it, and wonder what the heck it was, until baking day! The smell of a sweet breakfast bread filled the house, just as mine did today. Even the kids exclaimed that it smelled like cookies baking in the oven. So what is it you ask? Amish friendship bread, and the secret to making it is letting it 'grow' on the counter for 10 days. Traditionally someone gives you a bag of starter mix along with a recipe. You are to add to it and care for it for ten days. On that tenth day, you add a few more things to the batter, and divide it out into baggies and pass it on to your friends. After you hand out a few, you might find your friends running in the opposite direction when they see you coming down the hall! Yes they get a bit hard to giveaway after a while! My solution, bake the whole batch for yourself! It will make a lot of breads, but what better to have in the freezer than some yummy breads for breakfast, snack time or unexpected guests.

Here is the starter recipe.

In a GLASS or PLASTIC bowl (this step is VERY important. You don't want to use anything metal when mixing this recipe up which also means mix with a plastic spoon, rubber spatula, or my favorite a silicone whisk) mix:

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar

Pour into a large plastic zip top baggie and label with the date. Place it on your counter- don't worry it will be ok! You've completed day one!

Day 1: Do Nothing.
Day 2: Mush the bag and let the air out
Day 3: Mush the bag and let the air out
Day 4: Mush the bag and let the air out
Day 5: Mush the bag and let the air out

Day 6: Add to the bag 1 Cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. I mix these up on a bowl again (remember NO METAL!) and I have Mr. Bacon help me pour it into the baggie. You don't need a second set of hands, but it does help! Mush the bag and let the air out.

Day 7: Mush the bag and let the air out
Day 8: Mush the bag and let the air out
Day 9: Mush the bag and let the air out

Day 10: Mix and divide starter as follows. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non metal bowl. Add 1 1/2 Cups Flour, 1 1/2 Cups Sugar, and 1 1/2 Cups Milk and mix well.

If you'd like to share the starters with friends, measure 1 Cup Batter into 4 gallon size zip lock bags. Keep one for yourself and give the other 3 to friends along with a copy of the recipe. You will end up with 5 batches of bread (4 bags and 1 in the bowl) Since I make the whole batch for myself, I skip this step.

Now you are ready to add the rest of the ingredients and bake the bread! One thing I love about this recipe is that there are so many ways you can make it. Today I made Regular (vanilla), Pumpkin spice, Chocolate peanut butter & lemon poppy seed. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place about 1 1/2 cups batter in the bowl - remember no metal spoons or whisk- use only plastic or wood for this!

Add:
3 eggs- beaten in a separate bowl before adding
1/2 cup milk
1 cup oil (you can make this healthier by doing 1/2 oil & 1/2 applesauce or all applesauce!)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 large box instant vanilla pudding (or 2 small boxes)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour

*If using Self - Rising Flour omit soda, salt and baking powder.

All ready for the oven!

Grease two large loaf pans or one 9x13 inch pan. You can also make muffins with the mix. One batch will make over 4 dozen mini muffins or over 24 regular muffins. I say over because I don't have more than 2 muffin pans and I usually take the left over batter and bake it in a ramekin dish in the oven. The kids love these special 'mini' loafs! Bake 350 for one hour for loafs, 15-18 minutes for mini muffins or 20-25 minutes for regular muffins, or until a toothpick placed in the center of the loaf comes back out clean.

Here are some variations you can use that came with my recipe that was handed down to be my a friend. Feel free to make your own flavors too. You really can't go wrong with this bread.

Pumpkin:
Add 1 box pumpkin spice pudding and 1 vanilla instead of just the vanilla or two pumpkin spice pudding mix. I add in 1/2-1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice to this too!

Chocolate Bread:
Use the basic mix recipe except use Chocolate Pudding instead of Vanilla make sure to add the 2 tsp cinnamon it really makes the bread taste the best.

Peanut Butter Cup:
Used basic mix recipe, except use Chocolate pudding instead of Vanilla. Omit the 2 tsp cinnamon in the batter. Add 4 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter to the batter and one bag Reese's peanut butter chips. I didn't have the peanut butter chips this time, but it still tastes great without them.

Cherry Cheese Cake or Strawberry Cheese:
I used the basic mix, omitted the cinnamon and used two small boxes of cheese cake pudding instead of the vanilla. I added a small pack of cream cheese or 1/2 large pack (3-4oz softened) and 1/4 cup more milk. You also need a can of Cherry or Strawberry pie filling. After putting the batter into the pans dab teaspoons of cherries on top of them and swirl around with spoon to mix in the cherries. Cook at 325 until dark golden brown.

Cinnamon Struesel:
Before I start the Amish bread I get my pans ready and make the streusel 1 stick butter or margarine at room temp. 2/3 C – 1 cup packed brown sugar 2/3 C – 1 cup flour cinnamon - as much as you like. Put the ingredients together. (1 C chopped pecans are optional.) This will make approx. 2 cups. If you like a little more, increase the sugar and flour to 1C each.
Make your Amish bread according to directions. Use French Vanilla pudding or Vanilla Pudding. Put approx. 1-1/2 C batter in the bottom of each pan and spread into the corners. (Batter will not be runny - sort of a heavy batter.) Top with 1/2 C streusel, remaining batter and remaining streusel.

Banana Nut Bread:
Use the basic mix with 1 cups of walnuts or pecans , 2 large mashed bananas and 1 large box of banana cream pudding instead of vanilla pudding.

Lemon Bread:
Substitute lemon pudding mix and use 1 tsp almond extract instead of vanilla, omit the cinnamon. You can add in 2 tsp poppy seeds to the mix.

Butterscotch Bread:
Add 1 Large box of butterscotch pudding and 1 1/2 cups of butterscotch chips. Omit cinnamon.
proceed with recipe.

Apple Cinnamon Bread:
Make the streusel 1 stick butter or margarine at room temp. 2/3 C – 1 cup packed brown sugar2/3 C – 1 cup flour cinnamon - as much as you like Put the ingredients together. (1 C chopped pecans are optional.) This will make approx. 2 cups. If you like a little more, increase the sugar and flour to 1C each. Make your Amish bread according to directions. Use Vanilla or French Vanilla pudding. Put approx. 1-1/2 C batter in the bottom of each pan and spread into the corners. (Batter will not be runny - sort of a heavy batter.) Add 1 can apple pie filling evenly throughout the each loaf. Top each loaf with remaining batter and the Add streusel topping last, bake as directed.

Orange Pecan:
Use Orange extract (I use about 4 Tsp). You can also add 1/3 c. of orange juice and use only 2/3 c. of the oil. I have also used Orange Zest as well and then use the juice of the orange instead of juice. I have used chopped pecans and have also done it with toasted Almonds as well.

Tropical paradise:
Replace vanilla pudding with cheesecake pudding. Add 1 small can of mandarin oranges and
1 small can of crushed pineapple(I mix the oranges and pineapple together to equal about 1/2-3/4 c. of fruit) Add:
1/4 c. coconut
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. Chopped macadamia nuts (optional)
This bread is so moist you have to cook it a little longer than usual.

German Chocolate:
I use the chocolate pudding instead of vanilla. Take a can of German Chocolate frosting and cut it into the pans using a knife. This takes a little longer to bake as well.


So how do I keep all these yummy treats from going bad? My second favorite kitchen gadget, my food saver! My model has a button that I can stop the suction of air and just seal the bag half way though which makes it so I can't squish the breads. They freeze very well this way. Don't have a food saver? No problem, you can wrap the bread in plastic wrap and tin foil or freezer paper.

So plan ahead a get a starter bread going, what kinds are you going to make? Make sure to look at your calendar, you want to make sure 10 days from now you will have time to bake up the bread!

**Many have questioned how the milk can sit out on the counter without going bad, it is because of the fermentation process that happens when you add the yeast. It's much like a sour dough bread. If you are worried, according to some studies,starting with a buttermilk instead of pasteurized milk is slightly more safe because of the bacterial cultures. But if you are making it all for yourself and baking one large batch instead of passing the starter on, It's ok to just use regular milk. I hope that helps clear up some confusion. I'm happy so many are trying out this recipe!

**If you are sharing this starter with others, there should be about 1 cup starter in each bag.  The person you pass it on to will take the starter and add day 1 ingredients to it and follow the rest of the 10 days before baking. :) They might not get as big of a batch out of it but it won't be that noticeable. Happy Sharing!
 

Hot BUNS!

Want to know one of my food downfalls? BREAD! Hot, fresh from the bakery, all nice and fluffy and soft bread. I think I could eat a whole loaf of fresh bread to myself. But who has a bakery right next door to them?! (OK I'm sure someone does, but really who wants to pay bakery prices?) Making bread really seems like a hard, long process. It's making you sweat just thinking about making it right? I know what you are thinking, oh but it's only a few dollars at the store, I'll just pick some up. But there is nothing that compares to the smell of fresh baked bread from your oven in your home that YOU made! It's really not that hard to do, and it will save you some money. Especially if you have one of these fancy mixers. I LOVE my kitchenaid mixer. I've had it for two years now and I don't know how I ever lived without it! It's so much a staple in my kitchen that I believe it needs it's own name. Any suggestions? You don't need to have a mixer to make these biscuits. You can just use a bowl and spoon for mixing and your own hands for kneading the dough, it will just be a bit more work, but still worth it in the end I promise!

Tonight's dinner plan was Cheeseburger mac. No not the kind that comes from the box with a red & white glove on it, no "Helper" for my hamburger in this house! Mine comes from scratch and tastes a whole lot better! More on that later. I wanted some biscuits to go with dinner tonight. Not just any biscuits, but warm, fresh from the oven dinner rolls. I used to buy frozen dinner rolls that you had to take out of the freezer and let rise all day before baking, then I thought to myself... "Ma Bacon, you don't need to pay for overpriced biscuits, make them yourself!" And so I did. I found this recipe for the most delicious dinner rolls on one of my favorite recipe sites a while ago and finally decided to dig it out and try it.

Sweet Dinner Rolls
1/2 cup warm water ( about 110*)
1/2 cup warm milk (about 110*)
1/3 cup sugar
1 - .25 packet yeast or 2.5 tsp yeast

* Place water and milk in mixer bowl add sugar to dissolve. Add in yeast and stir just a bit. Let this sit for 5-10 min. This is called proofing the yeast. Your yeast should get nice and bubbly.

Add in:

1 slightly beaten egg
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup softened butter or margarine

Mix.

3 3/4 cups flour

SLOWLY (unless you like a flour storm in your kitchen!) add in the flour. Your dough should start to form a ball. If it seems sticky yet, add in more flour. If it seems too dry and won't form a dough ball, add more water. Once you have a nice dough ball, let it kneed for 5 or so minutes in the mixer. See I love my mixer... it does all the hard work for me!

Take the dough ball out of the mixer and place it in a WELL GREASED bowl (spray it with cooking spray). Put it in the bowl, and then flip it over so the top of the dough ball gets some of the grease on it too. Take out some plastic wrap and spray that with cooking spray as well. Place spray side down over bowl.

Place the bowl some place warm, ideally I like to place it in a nice sunny window. Currently in Minnesota we don't get to many of those days. On non-sunny days or if placing it in a window due to lurking pets or curious toddlers is not an option, you can place it in a warm oven to rise. First start your oven to 200*. Once the oven is pre-heated to that, TURN IT OFF and place your covered bowl in the oven. make sure the racks are not to close to the top, you want room for your dough to rise. Don't worry, the plastic wrap won't burn or melt in the oven as long as it's turned off. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This is a great time to kick back with a nice drink, a good book and relax! After all, making bread is hard work and you need to pamper yourself (or at least that is what you can tell people who are amazed that you bake your own bread!) Once the dough ball has doubled in size, take it out. Turn your oven back on to 200* to pre-heat again.

Take the plastic wrap off carefully and save it, I'll tell you why in a minute. Clear off a work surface for your dough. I use my built in cutting board for this step. I FINALLY found a good reason to use this cutting board. Honestly I tend to forget about it for chopping other foods for some reason. Place some flour on the work area, you don't need much no more than 1/4 cup. I have way too much on my board here. Take your fist and punch it in the middle of your nicely risen dough. I know seems mean right! Here you have this beautiful dough ball, and you need to destroy it. Trust me, it's all worth it in the end!

Kneed the dough in a little flour, not too much. Kneading is just a fancy word for making a dough ball again. Little miss Bacon and Little boy Bacon do this all the time with their play doh! Once you have a dough ball, now the 'work' begins. Decide what type of biscuits you want. You can just have nice round biscuits by creating lots of smaller dough balls. Take your dough and cut it into 12 biscuits. Roll them into balls again and place them on greased pans or a 9x13 baking dish so the ends just touch. Make sure to leave room for them to expand again. You can even get fancy and roll the dough out into big circle, cut into wedges like a pizza and then roll them into crescent rolls if you'd like

Today I decided I wanted to make pull apart biscuits. The kids love that they can tear their bun on their own and butter it. I cut my dough in half. Then each half I cut into twelve pieces. Each of those twelve pieces I cut in half again- so total I have 24 little pieces. I rolled those into balls and place 2 of each in well greased muffin pans. Then I repeated with the other half of the dough.

It seems like a lot of work. Really it's not, just stepping out of your comfort zone. It took me only 15 minutes from the time the dough came out of the oven as a big dough ball to getting them ready to go back in the oven again. Cover the pans with the spray covered plastic wrap you saved from earlier. Now they are ready to sit in the oven again. TURN OFF YOUR OVEN AGAIN! :) And place the pans in there to rest for another 30 mins. Go back to that book you were reading and pick up where you left off! Ok so I can dream right. If I didn't have 4 kids that needed me to go in 4 different directions all at once, I'd love to pick up a book and get lost in it while I have bread rising in my oven.

After about 30 minutes, or when the biscuits have doubled in size, take the plastic wrap off the pans. Turn the oven on to 350* and bake for 16-18 minutes or until the biscuit tops are golden brown. Take out and cool on wire racks. I brush the tops of my buns with some butter right when they come out of the oven. Makes them even yummier!

How can you say no to one of these?! Delicious. They taste and look like you slaved away in the kitchen all day long! (and you did, how far did you get into that book?!)

They went perfect with my cheeseburger mac.

Cheeseburger Mac:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 med. onion- chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups cooked elbow noodles
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 breadcrumbs- optional

In skillet brown burger with onions and garlic. In mixing bowl combine soups, milk, seasoning and half the cheese. Add in cooked noodles and burger. Mix well. Place in greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top. Bake in 350* oven for 45min. During last 5 min add remaining cheese to top and let melt.

It was an amazing dinner for a cold winter day!

I want to say "Thanks" to all my readers. Please keep coming back and checking on the Bacon house. I have some big things in store that involve these:

Please feel free to leave a comment or just say Hi! I'm still looking for the perfect name for my mixer... any suggestions?