|
Basic Bread
When I was a little girl, my mom taught me to make bread using a Kitchen
Aid stand mixer. To this day I still use a Kitchen Aid, although I’ve
experimented with others! This recipe is good for standard loaves,
cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls—in fact, even French bread (just leave out
the oil and reduce sugar to ¼ cup).
Place the following in the mixing bowl:
½ cup oil (I use light olive oil)
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon yeast
3 cups warm water
(Add 1 ½ cups raisins at this point if you want raisin bread.)
Mix with standard batter attachment (not the bread hook) just a tad and
let set for 5 minutes. The yeast will start to make the mixture bubble.
Add 4 cups of flour (I prefer unbleached white, whole wheat or spelt. If
you use spelt flour you will need to increase the amount by about ½ to 1
cup since it doesn’t absorb as much liquid).
Let this stand until it is showing signs of rising some (about 5 to 10
minutes).
Add 2 cups more flour and mix thoroughly. Switch to the bread hook
attachment.
Add 3 cups more flour and mix until bread pulls away from the sides of
the mixing bowl and forms an elastic dough. Mix for a minute or two. You
may need more or less flour depending upon humidity, flour, etc.
Cover the dough (still in the mixer, but drop the bowl down) with
plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk. Remove the plastic wrap,
bring the bowl up and mix briefly to punch down the dough. Restore the
plastic wrap and let rise again.
To make loaves, punch down again, shape into loaves and let rise. For
cinnamon rolls, do not punch down the second time. Just gently cut off
portions of the dough, pat or roll out into rectangles, spread with sour
cream, brown sugar and cinnamon, roll up, cut and place in pan. I spray
all pans with pan spray before putting dough into them.
Cinnamon rolls can be raised in the fridge overnight (just cover the
baking pan with plastic wrap) and baked fresh the next morning. Bread
will rise overnight as well, but the finished product is not as nice as
a loaf baked just after the pan rising is complete.
I bake both loaves and rolls in a convection oven at 345 degrees F.
Loaves bake from 25 to 35 minutes depending upon their size. Rolls need
15 to 17 minutes—more if they are thick.
Up
Chilly Dilly Chicken
There probably isn’t an easier baked chicken recipe on the planet. This
one came about because we make pickled dilly beans some summers from our
own green beans. The jars of beans are soon eaten leaving an abundant
supply of pickle juice. Hence, chilly dilly chicken evolved. The
juice in the recipe doesn't need to be from dilled beans--cucumber dill
pickle juice works fine.
Cut up a frying chicken. Lay the pieces skin side up in a baking pan.
Pour dill pickle juice over the pieces until it is about ½ to ¾ inches
deep. Sprinkle the top of the pieces with chili powder and granulated
garlic powder. Bake at 350 for about an hour, basting occasionally.
Up
Coffee Cake
This Cedar Mountain Farm favorite is really just Betty Crocker
revisited. Our guests love it and we do too!
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup soft shortening (I use butter.)
1 egg
¾ cup milk
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 375 degrees. (Sometimes I like 350 just as well---but don’t
use convection.) Spray a 9x9x1 ¾ “ pan. Cream sugar and shortening. Beat
in egg. Stir in milk. Mix the dry ingredients and stir into the wet
mixture. Pour into pan.
Topping:
Mix ½ cup brown sugar (packed), 2 tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons
cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons melted butter.
Spread the topping over the batter. Using a table knife, make a pattern
similar to slicing the cake
to allow the topping to penetrate the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes
or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.
Spelt Coffee Cake
Here is a variation for the whole grain lovers. Substitute hazelnut or
rice milk (from the health food section) for the milk. Use 1 2/3
cup whole spelt flour instead of 1 ½ cups white flour.
Up
Cream Scones
Having milked dairy animals for most of my life, cream is a favorite
ingredient! We simply forget calorie counting and enjoy these delicious,
dairy-rich scones. They are particularly loved with strawberries and
whipped cream for a strawberry shortcake breakfast!
2 cups flour (either unbleached white or whole spelt)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
2 eggs
½ cup cream (may require more)
A bit of water
Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in bowl. Cut in butter until
crumbly. (I do this part with a stand mixer and batter attachment.)
Put the eggs and cream in a blender and briefly mix. Reserve a
tablespoon of this for brushing the tops before baking. Using the mixer
bowl but mixing by hand, add the cream and egg mix to the dry
ingredients, adding more cream (up to ¾ cup) if necessary. If the mix is
still too stiff, add water. It should be of soft biscuit dough
consistency. Gently knead for 30 seconds on a floured surface. Divide
into three balls and shape into flat circles about 3/4 inch thick. Place
on cookie sheet sprayed with pan spray. Brush reserved egg/cream mix
over the top. Use a knife dipped in water to cut pie wedge lines into
the circles. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 435 for 12-15 minutes. I use
traditional bake rather than convection.
Up
Convection Oven Bacon
Here at Cedar Mountain Farm we do all of our bacon in the convection
oven. Daryl’s Dad (affectionately called “Beard”) managed food services
at North Idaho College Student Union. He taught Daryl their method.
Thank Heaven for Daddies!
Spray broiler pans with pan spray. Arrange strips of bacon not quite
touching on the top tray. Bake on convection about 385 degrees. Time
varies depending upon thickness of the bacon, but I usually check after
12 minutes. Be sure to turn on the vent fan as lots of steam comes out
as it cooks. No need to turn the strips—just wait until they’re done and
place them on paper towels to absorb extra fat.
Up
Debbie’s Elk
Our neighbor, Debbie, is blessed with lots of wild game hunters in her
family. We think this recipe is definitely a keeper—from a neighbor who
is near and dear to us!
1 can tomato sauce
½ cup catsup
½ cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder or granules
Place the elk in a slow cooker. Mix the above ingredients together and
pour over the meat. Cook until tender. Then eat and enjoy!
Up
Kettle Corn
Guests at Cedar Mountain Farm love to crunch on a bowl of this country
favorite.
Use a 4 quart pan. If you have one specifically for making popcorn (with
a turner handle) that is great. If not, any ordinary pan and lid will
work.
Place the following in the pan:
¼ c. oil
1/8 c. sugar
½ c. popcorn
Heat over medium heat stirring or shaking as you go. When the corn stops
popping, dump it out, sprinkle with salt and enjoy.
Up
Non-dairy Smoothies
A staple at Cedar Mountain Farm each morning is an all fruit smoothie.
Here’s how we do it.
One can of 100% juice concentrate
A handful of ice cubes
Frozen banana slices (about ¾ of a banana worth—I freeze them ahead of
time in plastic bags)
One juice can of water (may need more depending upon what else goes in)
Other frozen or fresh fruits if desired—strawberries, blueberries,
peaches, etc.
Just blender it up and serve—we usually need a spoon to help pour since
we serve them thick. The choice is yours.
Some of the flavor combinations we enjoy are as follows:
Orange, banana, pineapple—we add nectarine sometimes.
Orange, apple (1/2 can orange, ½ can apple) blueberry, banana.
Apple, banana, strawberry (the eternal favorite).
Up
Spider Cake
One summer we were graced with a visit from a
travel writer and his family. He offered to make their favorite “spider
cake” for breakfast while he was here. Not having any corn meal on
hand, I called my neighbor and asked if she had some. I returned
shortly from her house with freshly ground corn meal which the writer
turned into this incredible delight totally from memory! The name comes
from the tradition of baking the cake in a cast iron “spider” pan in
coals.
Set oven temp to 350 degrees F.
-
Combine 2 cups milk and 4 tablespoons vinegar.
-
Combine and mix 1 cup flour, ¾ cup cornmeal, ¾
cup sugar, ½ teaspoon soda, and ½ teaspoon salt.
-
Combine and mix ¼ teaspoon vanilla and 2
eggs. Add to the milk/vinegar.
-
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large cast iron
skillet. Combine the wet and dry ingredients (# 2 and 3 above) and
pour in skillet.
-
Pour 1 cup heavy cream into the center of the
batter.
-
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one
hour.
Bet you can’t eat just
one piece!
Up
Whole Spelt Brownies
The recipe for these is adapted from the back of a Hershey’s Cocoa can.
My sister says that any recipe on the back of a product has got to be
good because the company is staking their reputation on it! Our guests
devour these!
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
¾ cup whole spelt flour
3/8 cup cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Mix butter and sugar, add vanilla and eggs, mix well. Combine dry
ingredients and stir everything together. Pour into sprayed 9x9 inch
pan. Bake approximately 25 minutes at 350 (not convection). I usually
remove them from the oven when the center starts to fall down.
Up
Whole Spelt Waffles
Just this morning our guests raved about these
whole grain “pancakes with treads!”
3 eggs—separated (I put the whites directly into a
stand mixer bowl, the yokes into a blender.) 1/3 cup oil (add to the
yokes)
1 ½ cups milk with 2 Tablespoons white vinegar
added to make it sour. Let stand in bowl or measuring cup.
2 cups whole spelt flour
1 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Heat the waffle iron while you make the batter.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat the egg whites until
stiff. Blend the yoke/oil mixture and add the soured milk and briefly
blend once more. Hand stir the yoke/oil/milk mixture into the dry
ingredients. Do not over mix. Fold the beaten egg whites in with as
few strokes as possible. Spray the waffle iron with pan spray, add
dough to iron, and bake. To keep waffles warm and crisp, place in
convection oven at 170 degrees. We serve these with butter, syrup and
sour or whipped cream.
Up
|
