Pinto Bean Wheat Bread

Pinto Bean Wheat Bread

1 cup bean puree made with pinto beans (you can also use reconstituted refried beans for this recipe)

1 cup lukewarm water

1 T. honey

1 pkg. active dry yeast

2 T. vegetable oil

1 t. salt

3 cups whole wheat flour

¾ to 1 ½ cups all purpose flour

In a large bowl combine water and honey, stirring to mix together completely.  Dissolve the yeast in the honey/water mixture.  Let stand until mixture appears foamy.  Stir in bean puree, oil, and salt.  Gradually add whole wheat flour, stirring occasionally.  Add all purpose flour the same way.  Mix until dough is stiff.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  (I presently do this recipe in my Bosch or Kitchen Aid mixer for about 7 to 8 minutes knead time.)  Return dough to bowl.  Spray non-stick spray on a piece of plastic wrap big enough to cover the bowl.  Place plastic wrap with the non-stick side facing down to prevent the dough from drying as it rises.  Allow dough to rise until doubled in size.  Form loaf, place it in your bread pan, and let it rise again to double in size.  (Still cover it with the sprayed plastic wrap.)  Once it’s risen, bake it at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until golden brown.  Immediately remove from bread pan and allow it to cool on its side.  (Note: if you cook this in a solar oven it will not get “golden brown” but you can use the “hollow thump test” to ensure doneness.  Cooking time will take approximately 2 hours in a solar oven.)

Yum Yum Homemade Bagels!

Homemade bagel recipe

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

5 Minute Bread

Recipe for Homemade Artisan Bread 
makes 3 loaves

§                    3 cups lukewarm water

§                    1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast

§                    1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other course salt

§                    6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

§                    cornmeal for pizza peel (optional)

1. In a very large bowl, add your flour, yeast, and salt.

2. Pour in your water and stir until combined, just a few minutes.

3. Cover your bowl with foil or greased plastic wrap for 2-5 hours. We left it for 5 hours and it turned out just fine, yay!

4. Divide your dough into 3 loaves with a knife. Cover each loaf with flour and form it into a ball.

5. Lay onto a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or onto a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Let this dough rest for about 30 or so minutes.

6. With a sharp knife, slash the top of each loaf into 3 lines or a criss-cross pattern. This helps let out some steam in the dough. If you don’t slash your bread, the bread will most likely make it’s own tear somewhere during cooking.

7. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and add a small pan filled with 1 cup of water on a lower rack for a water bath. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

8. Place your baked bread on a baking rack to cool.

Once you’ve let it rise for a couple of hours, you should be able to keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks.