Banana Banana Bread Recipe

This past week we just didn't get to our bananas. Instead of throwing them out I was determined to make banana bread. This was my first time and a little nervous on how it would turn out.

Banana Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (I used 5 bananas)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. (I used my fluted loaf mold from Demarle.)
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. (I used my Demarle mold and only cooked it for 50 minutes.)

I felt the recipe was easy to follow while getting to enjoy some yummy bread. 

I just love this mold.

 3 Brothers Rating:

 

Conchas Mexican Sweet-Topped Bread

Where do I begin, I love pan dulce!  We have a local bakery in our town, but it adds up after a while to go there and constantly buying some pan (bread). So I have to thank my wonderful husband for looking into a recipe for my conchas. This recipe we have altered from the original. The changes we made are improvements from the original, but feel free to check out the original recipe.
I made this for my Activity Day Girls at my church and were such a big hit that I had parents requesting the recipe.

Conchas (Mexican Sweet-Topped Buns)

Ingredients:

3 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 degrees F to 115 degrees F or 40 to 46 celsius)
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg

4 cups all-purpose flour

Flavored Topping Dough

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

*We use our bread machine on the dough setting to get the first rise* 

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl.
2. Stir in milk, sugar, butter salt, egg, and 2 c of the flour
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
5. Turn onto a slightly floured surface.
6. Knee until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
7. Place in a large greased bowl, then turn greased side up.
8. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 1⁄2 hours.
9. The dough is ready if it leaves an indentation when touched. 
10.Meanwhile, prepare Flavored Topping Dough.
11.Punch dough down; divide into 12 equal pieces.
12.Shape each piece into a ball; place on greased cookie sheet. 13.Flavored Topping Dough
14.Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
15.Stir in flour
16.Stir in cinnamon and vanilla extract (Form into a ball and place in frig
until your ready for step 17.)
17.Divide each part of the dough into 4 equal pieces
18.Pat each piece into a 3-inch circle (*Try to make it as thin as
possible. Once some of it starts to stick to the rolling pin, you
know you’re done.)
19.Place 1 circle of Topping Dough on each ball of dough, shaping it over the ball.
20.Make 5 or 6 cuts across the topping, using a table knife, to form a shell pattern. (Optional)
21.Cover and let rise until double- about 40 minutes
22.Heat oven to 375 degrees F (If you're cooking on a Silpat heat oven to
325 degrees F for 11 minutes.)
23.Bake buns until golden brown, about 20 minutes. 

The bold words are alternatives from the original recipe.

Yum! Best when eaten warm.

They were such a big hit only 2 remained for the night. 

3 Brothers Rating:

Provecho!

English Muffin for Bread Machine

English Muffins were always something we just bought and never thought of making ourselves. Now that we have made English Muffins, we will never turn back. The recipe is really easy since I let my bread machine do all the kneading. The first time we made this recipe we just used a skillet for the stove. We have since bought an electric skillet and has made this recipe even easier :)!
English Muffin for bread Machine

• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (or more)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• cornmeal

Directions:

Prep Time: 3 hrs
Total Time: 3 1/2 hrs

1.  Put ingredients in the machine in the order listed.
2.  Start the dough cycle.
3.  When the cycle is finished.
4.  Sprinkle corn meal over your work area.
5.  Use your hands to pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.
6.  Turn the dough so that each side gets lightly coated with cornmeal.
7.  Cut into 8 to 10 rounds.
8.  An empty large tuna can works well When you run out of dough gather up the trimmings and cut more rounds.
9.  Place the rounds on a baking sheet, cover and let rise for 20- 30 minutes--until not quite double.
10.  Heat a dry cast iron skillet or griddle over a low flame.
11.  (I do spray mine with Pam).
12.  Cook the muffins about 5 to 7 minutes on each side.
13.  They should be golden brown when you turn them.
14.  Split the muffins with a fork or serrated knife and serve warm.
15.  These freeze well and can be reheated in the microwave or toasted.

Rating:
AB AB AB AB AB

Don't they look so NOM, nom, NOM!!

We were very pleased with how our English Muffins turned out!
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have :)
Happy Cooking

'Texas Roadhouse' Rolls update

Remember this recipe?
The rating is now:
AB AB AB AB AB
Basting the rolls with butter made a huge difference! Plus I got a little help with kneading the dough with my new friend, bread maker. 

The rolls were ready for Italian Thursday!

'Texas Roadhouse' Rolls

What comes to your mind when someone says, "Texas Roadhouse"? I, A, think THEIR rolls! They are fresh, sweet, and NOM! This was the first recipe that I was nervous about for a couple of reasons. 1. I have never made any sort of bread, EVER! 2. Nervous just to see how it would taste. So here is the recipe:

Texas Road House Sweet Yeast Rolls
From the trainer for all the bakers of the Texas Roadhouse chain (so they say)

1/2 sol. oz. cake of yeast or 1 pkg. active dry yeast (next time I think I will use 1 1/2 packets)
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk- scalded and cooled to lukewarm
3 tablespoons of melted butter - cooled
1/2 cup sugar
2 quart all purpose flour --
2 whole eggs
2 tsp. salt

Soften yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar.

Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy.

Add melted butter, eggs and salt. Beat well. Add enough flour to form soft dough. Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and let dough rest.

Meanwhile, clean and dry bowl; grease clean surface of bowl. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in bulk.

Punch down. Turn out on floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes.

Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown). Baste immediately with butter


Rating:
AB AB AB AB
It got 4 AB's for two reasons:

1. Not as soft as Texas Roadhouse, but still NOM!
2. Not as buttery.

The recipe wasn't bad to follow and like I mentioned here the kitchen aid really was amazing! The one step I didn't follow was basting the rolls with butter. I will for next time and we'll see if it makes a difference. No matter what the rolls were delicious and were very comparable to Texas Roadhouse. Just with the 2 exceptions above. OVERALL, I was pretty darn proud of myself and hope that you get to try the recipe!

Mixing the dough

Ta-DA! The ROLLS!

Happy Cooking!