Baking

So my oven went out on me... in the middle of making bread, brownies and a casserole for my neighbors, not good timing. So here is a couple of older recipes that I use a lot and love. Hope you do too.
Bread:
This is the best recipe ever.
This is my friend Lori Farnsworth's recipe. She is the kind of woman who can do everything. She is amazing.

Fast and Easy Homemade Wheat Bread


4 cups hot tap water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons saf-instant yeast

Put hot water in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and yeast. Stir. Let rest about 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.

Next add:
2 tablespoons potato pearls
2 tablespoons oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey or sugar

Stir all together.

Then add
5 cups of red wheat flour
4-5 cups of white wheat flour

Can be any other combination of flour. But this is the combo I like the best.

Mix all together with wooden spoon until you get a soft dough. Dump onto a kneading surface and knead in additional flour until a nice stiff ball is accomplished. Cover with damp towel and let rise for 20-30 minutes.

Split dough into 3rds and form loaf for bread pans.
Spray bread pans with non-stick spray. Also, spray top of bread.
Cover again with damp cloth and let rest 10 minutes.
Bake in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool. I have found this bread gets moister with age.

(This bread was made with all white flour)


Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes:

VANILLA BUTTERMILK CUPCAKES
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
* 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini-muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a mixer bowl. Transfer bowl to mixer, and add egg, yolk, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until mixture is well combined and smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide batter among liners, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks for 30 minutes. Invert cupcakes onto racks, and let cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored for up to 3 days.)


I also added my own Bourbon Vanilla Beans:

I bought these off of Amazon, it is way cheaper then the ones I bought at the whole foods store.

Simply take a sharp pointed knife and slice down the center of the bean. Then take the back of your knife and scape out the seeds,(it looks for like mush)
then add it to your recipe. It really adds to the flavor and I love seeing the little black flecks in the batter.
Once the cupcake was cooked and cooled, I cut a little bit of the center out and filled it with this.
Berry Cream Cheese Marshmallow filling.

I don't really have a recipe for this. I put in some marshmallow cream, cream cheese, powder sugar, heavy whipping cream, strawberry and blackberry preserves. Until it was the right consistency and taste. It was yummy, sorry I don't have exact measurements.
And then I topped that with Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting.
Whip up one cup heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
In separate bowl, cream together one cup sugar, with 8 oz room temperature cream cheese. Add this to the heavy whipping cream with a dash of vanilla. Ohhh so yummy.

Then of course the final touch.... Chocolate dipped strawberries.


OK - so I am totally craving one now :) Maybe I'll go make some more, oh that's right my ovens out. I should lose weight if I don't get it fixed :)