Whole Wheat Sandwich Rolls

When I saw these rolls on Lovestoeat's Weblog, I knew I had to give them a try. So far my baking with yeast has been limited to pretzels and pizza dough. So I was a little nervous attempting something more bread-like, but they turned out great. We used them for pork sandwiches the first night, had a couple of weekend breakfasts with egg sandwiches, and will be finishing them off tomorrow with some hamburgers. These are a delicious and versatile roll, and I'll definitely be making them again.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Rolls

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (1 1/2 packages) - I used the equivalent in instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds - I left these out
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour - I used about half of each

Pour the water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of brown sugar over the surface of the water. Stir to combine and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 min. In a large bowl using a whisk, combine the milk, butter, brown sugar, salt, seeds, and whole-wheat flour. Beat hard until smooth, about 3 min. Add yeast mixture and the unbleached flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes, dusting with flour only as needed, to make a smooth, soft, slightly sticky dough. Place the dough in a greased deep bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk, 45 min. to 1 hour. Gently deflate the dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Grease or parchment-line 2 baking sheets. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions and shape each into an oblong oval. Place the rolls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, cover, and let rest until puffy and almost double, about 30 minutes. Brush with the egg glaze. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Egg glaze: 1 large egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

My boss gave me a couple of lemons recently from a large bag she had picked up at the store. I have never really done anything with whole lemons before, but these smelled so good I knew I had to find something to bake. Annie from Annie's Eats suggested the Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins on her blog, originally found on the Joy of Baking website. The first time I made these I followed the recipe exactly (except I used non-fat yogurt because that's all I could find and they still turned out great). The second time my lemon wouldn't zest well, so instead of making the glaze I used the juice of the lemon in the muffin itself. Both versions turned out equally well.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt and vanilla and beat until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture until just moistened. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and glazing.

Glaze: If glazing, while muffins are baking stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture should be runny. Once the muffins are removed from the oven, wait five minutes and then drizzle the glaze over the muffins with a spoon.

Corn Bread

I've never made homemade cornbread before, I have always started with the box from Jiffy. After making it from scratch once, I doubt I'll go back to the box. There is not much extra work involved, and it tastes so good. This recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook had the perfect sweetness to accompany a meal. If I were going to make muffins I would probably up the sugar just a bit.

Corn Bread

• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 tablespoons melted shortening or bacon fat

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square cake pan. Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk, egg and shortening or bacon fat and blend well. Spoon into the pan and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool and cut in squares.

Whole Wheat Baking Powder Biscuits

One of our favorite weekend breakfasts is sausage gravy over biscuits. My husband makes a mean sausage gravy and I make the biscuits. I got this recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and the only alteration I made was to do a mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour instead of only all-purpose. If you are someone afraid of doing breads, give this recipe a try. It's very easy and makes some tasty biscuits.

Whole Wheat Baking Powder Biscuits

• 2 cups flour (I used about 1 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease two 8-inch cake pans (I used my pizza stone, un-greased). Put the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour with two knives or a pasty blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the fork. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter (I used our biscuit cutter, not sure how big it is). Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes (again, I placed spaced apart on the pizza stone and baked for approximately 12-15 minutes).

Whole Wheat Waffles

One of my son's favorite breakfast foods is waffles. I've been buying the frozen kind, which taste alright, but really wanted to make my own. My mother-in-law gave us their old waffle iron this weekend, and I tried my hand at waffles. I used the recipe from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and they turned out great. Joey and I tested one when it first came out, and can't wait to have them for breakfast tomorrow morning. I froze the waffle quarters and will heat them in the toaster just like the store-bought kind. The only change I made was to sub 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, as reflected below.

Whole Wheat Waffles

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the eggs, milk and oil in a large bowl or pitcher. Stir in the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix until blended. Heat the waffle iron and pour in enough batter to just fill. Close and bake until the steaming stops and the waffles are crisp, tender and brown.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

After my first success with yeast, I thought I should try something else. I decided a homemade pizza dough would be a good second attempt. I found this recipe and had all the ingredients, so it was the winner. I loved the additions of the seasonings, this dough smelled so good as it was baking. I would make this again, but will be trying other recipes as well to see if I find something I like better. I made this into about a medium pizza, but think that it was a bit thick after cooking and would probably either spread it thinner into a large, or make two smaller pizzas out of it.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

• 1 package fast rising yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

Combine the yeast and water, stir until dissolved. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine all remaining ingredients. Add in the yeast mixture and mix using the dough hook. Knead until the dough forms a nice ball, using extra flour if necessary. Let rest for at least a half hour. Spread out on a pizza stone or pan lined with parchment paper, bake at 450 degrees for approximately 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with your desired pizza toppings, then bake for an additional 7 to 9 minutes or until the crust is crispy and the toppings are browned.

Soft Pretzels

I've been meaning to both try to bake with yeast and use the dough hook on my new stand mixer, so when I saw the recipe for Alton Brown's Soft Pretzels on Le Petit Pierogi I knew I had to give them a shot. I only made a couple of minor changes from the original recipe (the changes are what are in the recipe below). First, I used instant yeast instead of active dry. Second, I subbed about 7 ounces of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. Lastly, I made a few of the pretzels with cinnamon sugar instead of the salt (inspired by Le Petit Pierogi).

These turned out really well, I was pleasantly surprised. Next time I would make sure I had a whole lot more room to work, as these take up a lot of room when trying to get them into the long ropes. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing and will definitely be making these again.

Soft Pretzels

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespooon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 15 ounces all-purpose flour
• 7 ounces whole wheat flour
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• vegetable oil, for bowl
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• coarse sea salt for topping
• cinnamon sugar for topping

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the dough into a bowl coated inside with vegetable oil, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt or cinnamon sugar. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.