Maple Oatmeal Bread Perfect for a Fall Morning, a bread from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

With the nip in the morning air and the challenge on the Healthy Bread calendar I decided to get out the book and make 100% Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread. It turned out wonderfully. Who doesn’t want to wake up to the smell of maple syrup wafting through the house? Because of the high fiber content you can almost feel good about eating it. Do you know how good oatmeal is for you? It has both soluble and insoluble fiber. Check this article out if you want to know more. I’ve been trying to watch my portion sizes so I made the bread in teeny tiny muffins and a small loaf to keep me from wanting to eat too much. I must admit that I still consumed three muffins right away . . .

I haven’t ever included a recipe before from one of the Artisan Books, but I am going to today. This recipe has oil & buttermilk in it, which adds immensely to the flavor and texture- the maple syrup doesn’t hurt either. My recipe has been adjusted to the altitude in Salt Lake City. printable recipe

Check in on the round-up of the HBin5 group by visiting Michelle's blog, there will be a plethrea of wonderful ideas there for healthy bread options.

Chutney 101, and a Tart

Last week on Heaven Housewife’s blog I fell in love with a chicken salad recipe that I had to make. Do recipes ever get stuck in your brain and you can’t move forward with regular life chores until you “make the food”? This should have been a simple recipe to make, except that I couldn’t find what I’ll term as the most important ingredient- CHUTNEY. After visiting three local stores, I determined to substitute a crazy homegrown concoction by mixing peach jam with vinegar (sounds strange, but it actually worked surprisingly well). The following day I made some wonderful homemade chutney so that I wouldn’t be found in this mess again.

HH emailed me a few pointers about chutney that I would love to pass along to my readers.First of all, in her part of the world (United Kingdom) no store would be complete without 5 to 10 brands of chutney (imagine that!). Her favorite brand is Waitrose, for those of us in America, Major Grey’s is the gold standard. The most common use for this fabulous sauce is a great sandwich made from cheddar cheese, chutney with lettuce and tomato. As if this wasn’t enough help, HH sent me to a sight with this fabulous tart. Of course I made it and tweaked it because I can’t ever leave a recipe alone. It is completely delicious, as is the strawberry and blackberry chutney that I made. I made the tart with the basic dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day and it worked like a charm.

Chutney is a wonderful addition to anyone’s pantry and I recommend that before this season is over you preserve one of your favorite fruits into your very own chutney. Your friends and family will thank you all year long.

Thank you Heavenly Housewife for the help in understanding chutney a little better, you are the best!

P.S. Becky from Vintage Mixer has also made the chicken salad and has it it up on her blog in a little differnt version, you can never go wrong with anything she makes, check it out for a different twist.

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day Whole Wheat Pita & Rolls with Plum Butter

Life is unpredictable. My husband and I together with one of my sisters and her husband planned a spring holiday in Spain and France but due to the Volcano –the plans had to be quickly rerouted to the beautiful garden islands of Hawaii. We had a wonderful trip, very different from what we would have had in Europe, but all enjoyed a lovely time being together on what has to be one of the most lovely places on the face of the earth- and the food, the food was out of this world fresh, local and fabulous. More on this later.

I’ve been missing. I’ve missed so many wonderful blog posts of my favorite bloggers. I hope to catch up soon. Today I put up a post for the present Healthy Bread in Five Bread Braid using the master whole-wheat recipe. I have altered my recipe slightly by adding two ingredients that enhance the bread for our tastes—some honey a oil. I also add additional vital wheat gluten.Weighing my home ground wheat flour seems to help in me in turning out a nice product.

I opted for a plain dinner roll shaped like a knot and served with my creamed plum butter. I’ve put the recipe up for the creamed butter as promised. I made two kinds of pita, only the Turkish-Style is pictured here. Both types disappeared without any problem when served with a make your own turkey, vegetable, hummus sandwich. They went too quickly for a picture!What do you put in your pita’s?

Please visit Michelle’s blog, Big Black Dog to see all my friends on this Bread Braid and join me in wishing Michelle a quick recovery from surgery!

What's Up Doc? Carrot Bread made from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day

What do you get when you mix carrots, coconut, dried cherries, dates, golden raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon with some yeast and white whole-wheat flour? Some mighty fine bread.Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, Carrot Bread (pages 157-159) is a hardy loaf that starts to grow on you about the second slice. I very much recommend this recipe for a unique change from the standard honey whole wheat you might be making.

Here are my changes:

• 1/2 cup additional brown sugar
• ½ cup additional dried fruit, as well as 1/2 cup additional coconut
• 1 tablespoon additional cinnamon
• cooking time increased by 25 minutes with the temperature lowered to 300 degrees and the loaf covered with foil

Olive Spelt Bread was also included in this bread braid, the recipe can be found on pages 96 & 97. I made a standard loaf today and am still on the fence as to how I feel about it. The crumb is perfect. It was easy to work with and fashion into a loaf. The taste is unique and I happen to love green olives, I’m not sold on the bread . . . but it is just the first day. I’ll have to comment on my own blog as this one settles.

I’ll be checking on all the blogs of my fellow bakers

in the google group,

and hope you do as well to see how they felt about these two breads.

Check Michelle’s blog for the healthy list.

Pesto and Pinenut Bread & the Soft Pretzel

Today was baking day with yet another bread from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the second book from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. The recipe choice came from the google group HBin5 run by Michelle who has made a wonderful schedule and this one is timed perfectly to coinside with St. Patrick's day . . . Pesto and Pinenut Bread (found on pages 98-99). I followed the recipe fairly close with miner changes for altitude ajustments.

Having read a few fellow members blogs and talked with Bonnie of City Home/County Home, I made a focaccia with 1/3 of a full batch of dough. I pressed the dough inside a 9 by 13 inch pan that had been oiled with olive oil. Let it rest for one hour, on the top drizzled olive oil and grated some quaility parmesan cheese and baked it for 25 minutes in the standard way with a steamed oven. What a delicious return! This is a great sandwich bread and will be used again. It had an excellent flavor and crumb.

click here to enlarge

Next I made some soft pretzels. They were very easy to fashion. If you haven't made pretzels before you might view a youtube video here before you begin. After mine had rested for 40 minutes I washed them with an egg yolk , sprinkled them with coarse salt and baked for 18 minutes. They were quick and easy to make and disappeared just as quickly with a favorite marinara sauce.

I took the final pound of dough and dusted it with flour and put it in a zip lock quart bag, marked it with today's date and froze it for another day's pretzel or focaccia. This dough receives extremely high marks and I recommend it to all of you with the book and to those of you who haven't gotten it yet, what are you waiting for?

Go HERE to view other ideas of how to use this bread recipe on

the HBin5 7th Bread Braid

Be Still My "Beeting" Heart

Beets, who likes beets?!? I do. They come in different colors, did you know that? They range from deep red to pink. The golden beet is yellow on the inside and when cooked turns a beautiful orange. It has to make you smile. And if that isn't enough-- beets are full of good things for you: potassium, vitamin C, fiber, iron, antioxidants and betaines. Dave Lieberman recently said it may be nature's multivitamin, check his full article out here.

There are a few downsides to beet preparation. They bleed. When I made my recipe for Red Beet Buns from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day I did take a few precautions and all went well and the red juice on my food processer was more than worth the delicious outcome.

I made heart shaped bread (sort of a pita type bread) and some tiny buns. The sandwiches were a complete hit, in fact we'll be dining on these for Valentine's Day. Who can resist a heart shaped sandwich that is truly good for you and your heart?

While the processor was out I made the fixings for wonderful chicken and beet dinner. I got my organic beets from Whole Foods and they actually had some great greens on them. The recipe comes from the Epicurious site and I followed it fairly closely and enjoyed every bite, including the leftovers the next day. Hard to "beet" a 20 minute dinner that cooks up in one cast iron pot.

Please stop in at Michelle's blog and see what other bakers in the HBin5 have done with this wonderful vegetable bread.

Lord Sandwich, Mapperton & Soft Whole Wheat Bread

The second bread braid of the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day was the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. I made mine from white whole wheat flour, adding a bit more salt and a tad less yeast than the original recipe due to high altitude issues. True to the recipe, it was a soft bread and so I decided to turn some of my dough into rolls- they disappeared rather quickly at Sunday dinner.

My husband's family hails from a beautiful place in Dorset, England where they have tall hedges and thatched roofs. The story goes that for generations they were gardeners for Lord Sandwich, at Mapperton Manor. When we eat a sandwich at our house, we can't help but think a moment about the man who gave his name to the convenient hand-held bread, meat and cheese. Go here to learn more about Lord Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

There are many good bakers out there with wonderful blogs that have been

baking up a storm with this healthy sandwich bread.

Go to Michelle's blog, Big Black Dogs to see the entire list.

And go make your self a sandwich!

photo credit: Mapperton Garden

Healthy Bread In Five Minutes A Day, Whole Wheat Master and Four Great Ways to Use It!

I've been known to say that fast food at our house means "cheese and crackers" and having made homemade crackers from the master whole wheat recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, fast food may become more common. These crackers turned out wonderfully. My daughter, Candace and I experimented with a pasta machine first, which we decided wasn't such a great idea and pushed on to the standard method - - a rolling pin.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread a bit of olive oil on the pastry sheet to give the crackers a crunch as well as keep them from drying out. Roll a grapefruit piece of dough as thin as possible. Brush olive oil flavored with fresh minced rosemary, sprinkle with Paula Deen's House Seasoning and paprika.
2. Cut into desired shapes and move to oiled cookie sheet, placing fairly close together but not touching.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate pan and bake for an addition 10 minutes.
4. Serve with cheese, soup or eat as a healthy snack.
5. Store in a zip lock bag.

What we learned:

• Thin crackers are best.
• Cute cutters don't work on thin dough.
• Getting the right seasoning is everything.

The whole wheat artisan free form loaf has been somewhat of a struggle for me. Not the shaping or baking, but the seeds! The seed mixture that is given in the book has a tendency to burn in my oven. My answer is to throw the sunflower seeds out (too much oil in them) and the next batch I make will not have any flax seeds in them either, they just get too brownish black for my taste. I have had great success with shaping my loaf, dipping it into a bowl of sesame seeds right then, letting it rest for 90 minutes, slashing and baking.

I live at a high altitude and the first several batches of dough resembled hocky pucks. I felt really bad about this until a dear neighbor and excellent baker, Bonnie bought the book and had the same experience-- exactly. I have learned that IF you use freshly ground flour you MUST weigh your ingredients. My amounts are different from the books. If you are interested in what they are feel free to contact me. Cristie at TheTableRunner dot com

The final piece to this post on the master whole wheat dough is the epi, or wheat stalk. It has become one of my favorites. It is shown here with a delicious spread made from a homemade pesto (thanks Bonnie!) mixed with cream cheese--neither lasted long, they just seem to be made for each other.

For many wonderful ideas go to the third bread braid of the Google group for

Healthy Bread in Five at Michelle's blog, Big Black Dogs.

Containers for holding Food- Cambro Cam Squares! BPA Free or close to it . . .

Almost exactly a year ago I went on a cleaning frenzy in my kitchen and reorganized all my cupboards so that they would be more user friendly. Part of this redo included changing the containers that held my baking ingredients, and other food stuffs. A fellow food blogger and dear friend, Jenny of SimpleLifeLove had gotten me excited about doing this. I have continued to learned about Cambro containers (Cam Squares) and thought I would share what I've found out.

If you visit the Cambro web page you can click on a document on BPA that states Cambro's position on this issue. Here is an excerpt:

Bisphenol-A (BPA) can be found in products manufactured by Cambro with polycarbonate (CW) and high heat material (HP). BPA is not found in polypropylene or polyethylene storage containers or in most Cambro tumblers which are made from the resin SAN.

Recent news coverage has suggested that all plastic containers and bottles labeled with the number “7” contain BPA. While all polycarbonate plastics containing BPA are labeled with the number “7” recycling category, not all number “7” contain BPA. Based on the combination of materials used, some of our products that do not contain BPA fall into category “7” for recycling.

I've talked with Nate Strong of Cambro regional intermountain west office who led me to the customer service number for Cambro 1 (800) 833-30030, who got me in contact with Gary L. Stephens of Cambro's office of Quality Assurance. We discussed the entire line of Cambro products. I've also received an email from Bruce Hutain from Cambro stating "The “non-BPA” plastic solution for most storage requirements can be achieved with containers made with polypropylene or polyethylene. Neither contains BPA, and both are recyclable. "

Bottom line --- If you want to avoid BPA, do not purchase anything that is polycarbonate if you are planning on storing food in that container.

So, yes the containers I have are not clear, they are translucent and are made from polyethylene but I can sleep through the night knowing that they are the closest I can get to being BPA free.

Having worked with the two books Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day I knew that I would want to use one of these Cambro containers to hold the dough. I have chosen the square 6 quart, 5.5 liter (order number Cambro 6SFSP for container, and for the lid SFC6). The 6 qt. containter should run about $8 and the lid $4. They can be ordered on line here or purchased at a local restaurant equipment supply house. The trick may be finding them in stock!

Santa's Workshop, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, Oatmeal Date and Cranberry Wreaths

A dear neighbor just stopped in with a Christmas gift and walked though my incredibly messy family room and kitchen. It looks like a bomb went off or a tornado whirled through my house. She graciously called it "Santa's Workshop". What a true friend. I love her even more than I did before she came. As I shut the door and took a closer look at my house I realized that the word workshop did describe my space. No less than five projects were going on, all unfinished- but moving along with the hope to be done before the big day, Christmas.

I made some great bread from a book that is quickly becoming a favorite, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Oatmeal Date Bread on page 191-193. I added some cranberries to make it festive and formed the loaves into wreaths and of course like the other recipes in the book changed it to allow for the high altitude issues (and made a few other tweeks). A fellow HBin5 lover suggested putting a ramikin of something yummy in the middle which I did- cherry butter. This project is now complete and delivered to neighbors and friends.

Yippie! One less project cluttering up the house, one thing on the list checked off, and hopefully a few friends enjoying this delicious bread and butter to remind them of how much we love them. If you haven't completed your shopping think about giving this book or getting one for yourself.

Merry, Merry Christmas!! See you in a week!

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day & Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest AND a New Coffee Cake for the Holidays!

Today I got to make challah for Hanukkah! It wasn't a regular challah loaf, but a unique one for two reasons-- 1st, it's made from the technique taught in the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and 2nd it has some special additions to the regular challah loaf as you can glean from the title- Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest. This is the second bonus recipe for the Google group HBinFive. It has been a delightful dough to work with. You can go here to see the original recipe by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. I made some modifications after reading several emails from the HBinFive Google group. I only used white whole wheat flour, replaced wheat bran flakes for wheat germ and increased the salt and vital wheat gluten to rounded portions ( I do live at a high altitude). I loved how this bread has turned out!

Challah is no ordinary bread, and I knew that I needed to treat it with a measure of respect. I was happy to see this explanation on

Kosher Foods For Body and Soul:

The dough is made with an especially large number of eggs, and sweetened with honey. The dough is traditionally cut into three rope-shaped pieces and then braided together before baking. An egg wash is applied to the dough to give a golden color after being baked. Poppy or sesame seeds are sprinkled on the bread before baking; the seeds represent manna that God gave to the Israelites to eat while they wandered in the desert.

After making my challah, I took my finished loaf to my neighbors for a picture with their beautiful menorah. They explained to me the Hebrew letters running down the middle represent the Ten Commandments - I love that. Getting the right picture took longer than it should have, I have the most gracious neighbors!

Next recipe: Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake filled with an Almond Cranberry Relish

Same dough, Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest, just put together in a different manor for a different audience. This is something you could serve at breakfast or brunch- it's both sweet and tart with a great crunch. I used a simple technique of rolling the dough as you would for making cinnamon rolls, then changed it up a bit. Check out the pictures to see how it is made.

click to enlarge

This dough, Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest will become a standard at my house during the holidays. It works like magic, try some and let me know how it goes at your house.

You may also like my version PUMMPKIN PIE BRIOCHE AND EBELSKIVERS

And don't forget to get online and get your self or someone you love one

of the best gifts for the kitchen,

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day & Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day!

Pumpkin Pie Brioche and Ebelskivers, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day

I am a member of the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day google group, and the first bonus assignment was to make this fabulous seasonal brioche- the deadline has passed, but I decided to go ahead and make it anyway and I'm glad I did. You may want to make this delicious bread for your table as well, Pumpkin Pie Brioche.

The Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe was available on the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day web site, but has now be removed. You can access it from Michelle's blog {Big Black Dog} who has permission from the authors of HBinFive, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. The changes I made in the original recipe were made because I live at a high altitude. I took the suggestions that were made in the book -- they worked beautifully. Here are the changes: 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon yeast, 1 rounded tablespoon kosher salt, and 2 rounded tablespoons vital wheat gluten.

The dough has a wonderful consistency and I found it easy to work with. I absolutely had to make a brioche, which will find it's self turned into french toast in the morning, but decided that pumpkin ebelskivers would be just the thing to best use this flavorful dough and they worked like a charm.

Christmas brunch at my house finds me making ebelskivers, it's been a tradition as long as any of my children can remember. These delicate puff pancakes can be quite delicious but unfortunately a bit of a time eater as well. This Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough worked out famously to cut down in the time area because I was able to make the pinch balls and set them out to rise and then cook them up quickly. I may have to think about mixing this into my menu this year. It is a winner recipe served with nutmeg syrup and orange butter.

When I make ebelskivers I use a cast iron pan. I love cast iron. It cooks these cute little pancakes evenly and perfectly light brown. I put the cast iron in a hot oven for about 15 minutes before I'm ready to cook to get the pan nice and hot. Once it's hot, place it on the stove top on a low setting. Put a little canola oil in the bottom of each round cup and place one of the risen pinched balls carefully into each hole. Watch them attentively until you get an idea of how quickly they will cook. You need to have a tool to turn with, I've used everything from a bamboo skewer to tongs. This year I have a set of new tools that I picked up at Williams-Sonoma made by Littledeer. They made quick work of lifting and flipping the delicate little babies. They were a bargain at $12. Once the ebelskivers are done, sprinkle them with powder sugar, serve and and watch them disappear.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day & the their NEW BOOK!

I have been singing the praises of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day ever since I checked it out from the library and then quickly bought my own copy back in the winter months. Because I am a bread maker myself, I was hesitant that this would really work- but I couldn't have been more wrong. Last week I demonstrated to 30 women just how fabulous this book really is- and honestly once you've tasted the bread and seen the technic in person you're sold.

In our busy world where most of us barely have time to purchase bread, little lone make it-- this is a gift to anyone who wants to have a wonderful product without spending copious amounts of time making it. By utilizing different master recipes you can bake artisan free form loaves, flat breads, peasant bread and things as delicate as brioche. I would recommend if you are interested in learning this technic that you watch this youtube, visit their official web address and give it a try. The authors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois are very down to earth and approachable and will even answer your questions on Twitter or their website. It doesn't get better than that . . .

Except that their new book just hit the bookshelves yesterday! Now we can all make a healthy version of this incredible bread. Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day offers whole wheat and other whole grains and whole vegetables versions as well as a chapter on gluten free bread. I will certainly be giving this book a try and can hardly wait for mine to arrive. Check out this segment for a recipe that you could try today with ingredients you may already have in your pantry as well as a link to purchase the new book at a great rate.

If anyone would like to see how this is done in person, contact me and I would be happy to give you a lesson. I have two different types of dough in my fridge at the moment just waiting and hoping for a good home. Happy Baking and tasting!