Category Archives: Breads & Rolls

Yogurt Banana Bread

You can never have too many banana bread recipes. In fact, I would argue, that the more banana bread recipes you have…the better. I’ve been enjoying banana bread for as long as I can remember. We make it year round in our family…and we’ve experimented and changed just about everything but the bananas. This yogurt banana bread is one of our favorites. Not only does it excel in taste and texture but it helps keep my fridge empty. Because much to my chagrin, my toddler doesn’t eat yogurt. I wish she would…it’s such an easy, healthy snack. But try as I might, Lulu has a mind of her own. Subsequently we often have a full carton of yogurt in our fridge (because surprise, surprise Lulu’s mama doesn’t particularly like yogurt either).

This banana bread came together in about ten minutes. Ten minutes and your house will smell heavenly, your family will thank you, and you’ll get to enjoy a warm slice of banana bread with a cup of coffee or tea.

Yogurt Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup greek yogurt

1 cup mashed bananas

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease four mini loaf pans (or one standard loaf pan) with butter. Set aside. Cream together butter and coconut sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, beat well. Add in yogurt and mashed bananas. Stir until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Divide evenly between four mini loaf pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pull Apart Wheat Rolls

Blogging with a toddler is much MUCH harder than blogging with a one-year-old. Add in birth photography, and I’m struggling to update on a weekly basis (which makes me sad!) So while 2014 brought many wonderful changes, I’m looking forward to more balance and time to blog in 2015. I’m happy to say that Lucy loves being in the kitchen with me. She finds cookie making to be one of her favorite activities. But, the coordination needed to create, bake, and then photograph a recipe is no small feat! Thankfully, Lulu will go to a wonderful Waldorf school two days a week starting January…which means more consistent blogging here!

Pull Apart Wheat Rolls

But enough of that! I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday, and we ended the wonderful, happy day with a big pot of vegetable soup at my parent’s house. And what’s a big bowl of soup without freshly baked rolls? These soft pull apart wheat rolls are buttery and pillowy; they are the perfect accompaniment to a stew or a holiday meal. And to be honest, I find a roll, a dab of butter, and a dollop of jam to be the perfect late night snack. As a breastfeeding, birth photographer…I’m all about the late night snacks. These rolls are easy to make and they’ll be sure to impress your friends, families, children….make a batch for Christmas Eve dinner…and save a few for Christmas morning (think butter, cinnamon, sugar). They are that good!

Pull Apart Wheat Rolls

From King Arthur Flour

1 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons potato flour or 1/4 cup instant potato flakes

3 tablespoons Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons soft butter

2/3 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, and mix and knead — using your hands or a stand mixer — to make a soft, smooth dough.

Place the dough in a lightly greased container. Cover , and allow the dough to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s just about doubled in bulk. Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, by dividing in half, then in halves again, etc. Round each piece into a smooth ball.

Lightly grease two 8″ round cake pans. Space 8 buns in each pan. Can you use 9″ round cake pans, or a 9″ x 13″ pan? Sure; the buns just won’t nestle together as closely, so their sides will be a bit more baked.

Cover the pans, and allow the buns to rise till they’re crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover the buns, and bake them for 22 to 24 minutes, until they’re golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the center bun should register at least 190°F.

Remove the buns from the oven, and brush with the melted butter. After a couple of minutes, turn them out of the pan onto a cooling rack. Serve warm. Store leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

In case you weren’t aware, apples are a favorite around here. I eat an apple every single day (even in the off-season, which I hate to admit). So when Fall finally rolls around and local US-grown apples begin to fill the fruit stands, I bake with them as often as I can.

Cinnamon rolls aren’t something I grew up eating. To be honest, my earliest memory of a cinnamon roll is located in the middle of a suburban food court. Thankfully, when I learned to bake, I made a batch of cinnamon rolls early on. My house smelled just as delicious as those ubiquitous cinnabons, and I couldn’t believe that I could produce something even lovelier (with real, normal ingredients too!)

Last night, after a long day of teaching, I knew I needed to bake to unwind. With cooler days increasing my desire for comfort food, cinnamon rolls floated to the top of my list. But then I thought of my beloved apples; I wanted to do something with the apples sitting in my fridge. And so, I decided to grate an apple. Grated apple can do wonders in quick breads…and I thought, why not try adding one to the dough of my cinnamon rolls? And just as I hoped…the grated apple added moisture and just the right amount of flavor. We enjoyed these apple cinnamon rolls with a drizzle of maple syrup the next morning.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

1 packet instant yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup lukewarm whole milk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

1 large apple, peeled and grated (about 1 cup)

Filling:

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons milk, to brush on dough

Vanilla Glaze (optional):

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream

Combine the yeast, the lukewarm water, the lukewarm milk, the flours, the butter, the sugar, the salt, the potato flakes, and the grated apple. Mix and knead everything together–by hand or mixer–till you have a smooth dough. This will take about seven minutes if you are kneading with your stand mixer. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise till it has nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours.

While the dough is rising, grease two nine-inch cake pans. Make the filling by combining the coconut sugar and cinnamon.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and pat it into a 16″ x 12″ rectangle. Brush the dough with the two teaspoons of milk and sprinkle the filling over the dough, covering the entire surface. Roll the dough into a log the long way. It will stretch to about 20″ as you roll.

Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 16 slices. Space eight rolls in each of the prepared pans. Flatten them slightly. Cover the pans and let them rise for an additional 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They should spread out and start to crowd each other. While the rolls are rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the rolls until they’re golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove the rolls from the oven, loosen their edges with a knife, and turn pan onto a rack. Spread with icing (simply combine powdered sugar with vanilla and cream) and serve.

Butternut Squash Bread

Is it just me, or do you also hate the thought of peeling a butternut squash? The skin of those autumnal vegetables is extraordinarily tough…and I get nervous even though we have good, strong knives. And yet, their deep orange flesh just begs to be tossed in oil and roasted in a hot oven. I just can’t resist them in the fall…and so I take deep breaths and work slowly but steadily with my knife.

This butternut squash bread is a perfect way to welcome October (is it really already October?) We roasted half of a squash for dinner, and then I grated the rest. Coconut sugar, whole wheat flour, walnuts and then a heaping two cups of grated butternut squash make this bread a wholesome indulgence. I’m enjoying a slice right now, alongside a cup of tea, as I watch the sun set and wonder, will one of my moms go into labor tonight? I have three moms due in October, which means that I’ll likely be disappearing when the moon is high…my camera bag in tow. And wouldn’t a slice of this bread be the perfect midnight treat? A jolt of energy and flavor to prepare me for the unpredictable beauty of labor.

So make this. It will leave your house smelling a bit more like fall.

Butternut Squash Bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon roasted cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cups coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

3 eggs

2 cups grated butternut squash

Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease lightly with butter and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside. In a larger bowl, beat together melted butter and coconut sugar. Add eggs, beating well. Gently fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Stir in grated buternut squash. Spread in prepared pan and sprinkle with walnuts. Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sweet Wholesome Cornbread

No, I’m not pregnant, but my cravings for cornbread are at an all-time high. I fell in love with cornbread when we lived in Austin. Our local co-op made these huge hunks that I’d buy on a bi-weekly basis. Two dollars for a slice of heaven. I’d take a knife and carefully divide the cornbread into two equal pieces. At the end of the day, I’d take one, along with a thinly sliced apple, and work on my thesis. Those slices of cornbread kept me going when I so often wanted to give up. To this day, if you hand me a plate of brownies and a plate of cornbread, and I’ll take the cornbread every single time.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a baker in Colorado who comes close to attaining the cornbread goodness I first fell for…so I’ve spent a lot of time trying to replicate the cornbread at home. After months, no years, of trying, I’ve finally found the recipe I’ll be making from here on out. A few keys to success: creamed corn, corn flour (not corn meal), and a lot of eggs. And I like my cornbread sweet, but just slightly, so I use coconut sugar for an extra layer of flavor and sweetness. I’ve made two batches in the last two weeks (which means I’ve been eating A LOT of cornbread). In fact, I’m just about to sit down to another slice.

Sweet Wholesome Cornbread

1 cup corn flour (this is a very finely ground cornmeal)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut sugar

8 tablespoons melted butter, cooled

4 eggs

1 can creamed corn

2 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease lightly with butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and coconut sugar. Set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, and creamed corn. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in wet ingredients and whole milk. Using a spatula, fold ingredients until combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.