Sweet Mama Zog's April Batch

Today is a wonderful day for making bread. (10.) I am thankful for fantastic bread making weather. Even though it is April and we have a winter weather advisory here in Wisconsin, I am grateful for a terrific bread making day! 


Sweet Mama Zog's Bread of the Month Club recipients will be receiving a fresh round loaf of Honey Wheat Bread today. What a great day for a slice of warm, fresh bread.

Braided Italian Walnut Bread

A braided bread is very simple to make. Simply divide the dough into three equal pieces and braid it together like the picture shown. Use your favorite bread recipe and enjoy!

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups warm water (110 - 115 degrees F.)

3 Tb SAF instant yeast

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

1 Tb Soy Lecithin

1 Tb salt

about 6 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1.  Pour warm water, honey, olive oil, soy lethicin and yeast into the Bosch mixing bowl.

2.  Pour 3 cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour over wet ingredients. (Nutrimill Home Grain Mill is an excellent grain mill if you are interested in grinding your own grain.)

3.  Cover and mix on level 1 in the Bosch mixer for 1 minute

4.  Add salt and continue mixing on level 1

5. Add flour while mixing on level 1 - about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl and looks like the right texture

6. Once the right amount of flour has been added, cover and turn the Bosch mixer to level 2 and mix for 6 minutes

7. When the 6 minutes is up, pour a small puddle of canola or olive oil on your work surface, remove the dough from the mixer and knead dough 3-4 times on the oiled surface.

8.  Then separate the dough into two  loaves. Pound them each on the table a few times to remove air bubbles. Then separate each loaf into three pieces, roll then to about 10 inch "snakes." Roll two of the snakes in walnuts to cover the outside. Then braid the three pieces together. Do this for each loaf. 

9.  Allow loaves to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees during this time.

10.  Once dough has risen, bake for about 30 minutes, till golden brown and a hollow sound when you knock on the top of each loaf. 

Italian Raisin Walnut Bread

Italian Whole-Wheat Bread - Adapted with slight changes for making in Bosch Universal Plus Mixer from: The Bread Bible: Beth Hensperger's 300 Favorite Recipes

If you do not have a Bosch, use the same ingredients and follow the procedure that you usually follow when making bread.

plumped raisins

dough ready to rise

dough after 30 minutes of rising

ready to eat!

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees F.)

3 Tb SAF instant yeast

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup honey

2 Tb molasses

1 Tb Soy Lecithin

1 Tb salt

about 6 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup raisins, plumped

2 cups of walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1.  Pour warm water, honey, olive oil, soy lethicin and yeast into the Bosch mixing bowl.

2.  Pour 3 cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour over wet ingredients. (Nutrimill Home Grain Mill is an excellent grain mill if you are interested in grinding your own grain.)

3.  Cover and mix on level 1 in the Bosch mixer for 1 minute

4.  Add salt and continue mixing on level 1

5. Add flour about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl and looks like the right texture

6. Once the right amount of flour has been added, cover and turn the Bosch mixer to level 2 and mix for 6 minutes

7. When the 6 minutes is up, pour a small puddle of canola or olive oil on your work surface, remove the dough from the mixer and knead dough 3-4 times on the oiled surface. Add raisins and walnuts while kneading.  Do not add additional flour when kneading.

8.  Then separate the dough into three round loaves. Pound them each on the table a few times to remove air bubbles. 

9.  Allow loaves to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees during this time.

10.  Once dough has risen, mark with a knife and dust with flour if desire. Bake for about 30 minutes, till golden brown and a hollow sound when you knock on the top of each loaf. 

Sweet Mama Zog's Bread of the Month Club - March

Sweet Mama Zog's Bread of the Month Club - March batch of bread was an easy decision...

Black Russian Rye. 

The bread did not turn out exactly as I had hoped, but it was quite tasty and enjoyed by all.

Heart-Shaped Cinnamon Rolls

It seems fitting to make all things heart-shaped for Valentines. This afternoon I used a favorite bread recipe and added some sweet goodness to make heart shaped cinnamon rolls.

The best thing about cinnamon rolls is that you can use your favorite bread dough recipe and then just add the goodies to transform simple bread dough into delicious cinnamon rolls!

Below is one of my favorite bread recipes adapted for making bread in the Bosch Universal Mixer.

Italian Whole-Wheat Bread / Adapted for making in Bosch Universal Plus Mixer(from: The Bread Bible: Beth Hensperger's 300 Favorite Recipes)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees F.)

2 Tb SAF instant yeast

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1 Tb salt

about 6 cups whole wheat flour

Additional Ingredient/Supplies for Cinnamon Rolls

Walnuts

Cinnamon

Sugar (Sucanut, Cane Juice Crystals or Brown Sugar)

Raisins

Dental Floss

1.  Pour warm water, honey, olive oil and yeast into the Bosch mixing bowl.

2.  Pour 3 cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour over wet ingredients. (Nutrimill Home Grain Mill is an excellent grain mill if you are interested in grinding your own grain.)

3.  Cover and mix on level 1 in the Bosch mixer for 1 minute

4.  Add salt and continue mixing on level 1

5. Add flour about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl and looks like the right texture

6. Once the right amount of flour has been added, cover and turn the Bosch mixer to level 2 and mix for 6 minutes

7. When the 6 minutes is up, pour a small puddle of canola or olive oil on your work surface, remove the dough from the mixer and knead dough 3-4 times on the oiled surface. Do not add additional flour when kneading.

8.  Then spread the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. (Like pictured below)

9.  Sprinkle cinnamon, sugar, raisins, and walnuts onto the dough

10. Roll up the dough from opposite sides (Like pictured below)

11. Roll opposite sides till they meet in the middle. Cut a piece of dental floss (about 10-12 inches). Use the dental floss to cut the cinnamon roll tube into individual rolls. Each roll should be about 1 to 2 inches thick. (Like pictured below)

12. Place the cut pieces onto a greased cookie sheet and shape into hearts. (Like pictured below.)

13.  Allow cinnamon rolls to rise for about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

14.  Bake cinnamon rolls for 20-30 minutes.

15.  Allow rolls to cool and frost them if desired. Enjoy!

Sweet Mama Zog's Bread of the Month Club

Whole Wheat Rolls baked yesterday for our Care Group tonight...they will be delish with Italian Beef Sandwiches

I have made quite a bit of bread over the last 5 years. It has been a growing experience for sure. I have shed many tears over loaves of bread that resembled bricks more than bread. If you don't believe me, just ask my husband. However, I have found like most things in life a little practice and perseverance does in fact pay off.

I still have days where my bread is flat, dense, crackly or just does not look right, but I would have to say that I love making bread. I also love sharing my bread with others who enjoy it. This year for Christmas I got creative and created the "Sweet Mama Zog Bread of the Month Club." 

Where did the name "Sweet Mama Zog come from? When we lived in Chicago, every Sunday evening I combined the the dry ingredients for pancake mix to be used for the early morning men's group of our church in Chicago. A couple cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour, ground flax seed, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon made up the mix. My baking guesture soon became named "Sweet Mama Zog's Down Home Flapjacks" or "Sweet Mama Zog's Good Cookin....something or other...Pancakes." The name was quite long, cumbersome and hard to remember exactly, since I think it did often change, but it always started with "Sweet Mama Zog." So, there you have it, the history behind the name.

 A select few family members received this "Bread of the Month Club" coupon and are now reaping the delicious breads of the month for the year of 2011. In January I made Italian Walnut Raisin Bread that is one of my favorite recipes from: The Bread Bible: Beth Hensperger's 300 Favorite Recipes. I plan to make the February bread this weekend, I am thinking that heart shaped cinnamon rolls might be fun for Valentine's Day.