Category Archives: Breads and Pancakes

This section includes salty breads, sweet breads, pancakes, rolls, breakfast muffins and doughnuts.

Butterhorns

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1-1/2 t sugar
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 t sugar
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 pkg. dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg yolk

Mix flour, salt and 1-1/2 tsp sugar. Cut in butter. Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast. Add beaten egg yolk to milk. Add this to flour, blend well. Add yeast and water mix. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Roll sticky dough 1/3″ thick and cut into 6×1/2″ strips. Twist into spirals on greased baking sheet. Cover and let double. Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes. While still warm, ice with thin icing sugar/ butter/ vanilla topping and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Spudnuts

Spudnuts are potato-based doughnuts–heavier and more substantial than regular raised doughnuts.

  • 2 pkg. yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm potato water
  • 2 t sugar
  • 4 cups scalded milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2  salt
  • 5 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups freshly mashed potatoes
  • 15 cups flour, approximately
  • 1 cup shortening, melted

Dissolve yeast in potato water with 2 t sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. Add yeast to cooled milk, then sugar, shortening, salt, potatoes, eggs, and 1 t nutmeg if desired. Stir well. Add flour to make a very soft dough.

Let rise to double. Punch and let rise again. Roll on floured board to 1/2″ thickness. Cut into doughnuts. Place on floured paper and let rise till doubled.

Fry in deep fat placing underside up. Dip while hot in following glaze: Simmer 3 cups sugar, 3/4 cup butter and 1 cup hot water for 5 minutes. Add 2 t vanilla. Keep over hot water to avoid granulating.

Servings: 8 to 10 dozen

Bran Muffins

A plain old and easy bran muffin recipe, great for breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack.

Wheat bran is high in dietary fiber and so helps to keep the body’s elimination system in good working order.

Bran muffin ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 t baking powder
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 T melted butter
  • 1 cup wheat bran

Sift together flour, baking powder and sugar. Beat the egg and add milk, butter and bran. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add the flour and stir just to dampen. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes.

Vegan Bran Muffin Tweak

This recipe is easily made vegan by substituting 1 T flax + 3 T water for the egg (mix together and let sit for 5 minutes or so to thicken before adding to the recipe), 1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk for the regular milk, and 2 tablespoons of coconut oil for the butter.


 

Bran muffins


Bread Pudding

Old stale bread and breadcrumbs can be baked into something heavenly with ingredients that almost anyone has in the kitchen.  This simple dessert is popular all over the world and has hundreds of variations

Ingredients for Bread Pudding

  • 2 cups coarse dry bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 quart hot milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 t vanilla

Options: 1/2 cup coconut, nuts, raisins, dates

Preparation

Butter a baking dish. In it put the bread crumbs, butter, and hot milk. Mix and cool.

Add sugar, beaten eggs, salt, and vanilla. Stir well.

Add 1/2 cup of any of the suggested options, or devise some of your own.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 F. Serve with milk or sweet cream.


Cake Doughnuts

  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup milk at room temperature
  • Lard, shortening or oil for deep frying

Sift baking powder, nutmeg, salt and flour together. Beat egg and yolks and add sugar, melted butter and milk. Combine thoroughly. Add dry ingredients. Add enough extra flour, if necessary, to make a dough firm enough to roll but keep as soft as possible. Knead 1/3 of dough, pat, roll 1/4″ thick. Cut, repeat.

Heat lard to 370F. Brown doughnuts without piercing. Shake in icing sugar.

English Muffins

  • 1 pkg. active dry yeast
  • 4-5 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 t salt
  • 3/4 cup milk combined with 1/4 cup water
  • 1 T soft unsalted butter

Soften yeast in a small bowl with 1 tsp each flour and sugar in 1/4 cup lukewarm water for 15 minutes. Sift together 4 cups flour, rest of sugar and salt. Heat the milk and water mixture to lukewarm; stir into flour mixture. Add yeast mixture and butter and combine until it forms a ball.

Knead on floured board, adding enough flour to keep it from sticking, for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a large buttered bowl, turn to coat with butter, and let rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place, for 45 minutes or till doubled. Punch down and knead to expel air bubbles.

Roll out 1/4″ thick on floured board and cut into 3″ rounds. Let rise, covered, for 30-45 minutes. In a lightly buttered heavy pan, cook muffins over moderately high heat, turning them, for 6 minutes. in all, or until browned on both sides. Place on a baking sheet and bake in preheated 300ºF oven for 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Oatmeal bread

  • 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 T salt
  • 2 pkg. active dry yeast
  • 2 T sugar
  • 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
  • 8-9 cups all-purpose flour

Combine oats, butter salt and 3 cups boiling water. Let mixture cool to lukewarm. In a small bowl let the yeast, 2 T lukewarm water, and sugar sit for 15 minutes or till foamy. Stir this into the oats mixture, add the molasses and 8 cups flour, or enough to make a stiff dough.

Knead for 2 minutes, put in a well-buttered large bowl, and turn it to coat. Let dough rise, covered, for 1 hour or till doubled. Punch down and let rest for 5 minutes. Form the dough into 2 loaves and place in 2 buttered loaf pans. Let rise, covered, for 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 50-60 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Pan de Campo (Peasant Bread)

Country bread from Chile

These dense bread rolls, slightly toasted on a griddle and smothered with sweet Chilean butter and strawberry jam,  made one of my favorite breakfasts during my stay in Chile. The heavy, almost layered consistency of the bread made it special. To me, the heaviness of Pan de Campo was a product of baking it in the shadow of the towering wall of the Andes that stood above us in Santiago.

Chile Alps (Pan de Campo)

Ingredients for Chilean Pan de Campo (Peasant Bread)

  • 20 grams (about 3/4 oz) yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 t sugar
  • 7 3/4 – 8 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 cup melted shortening
  • 2 cups warm water mixed with 1 T salt

Mix yeast with 1 cup warm water and sugar. Let stand 20 minutes. Pour into a ring of flour along with cooled melted shortening.

While mixing, gradually add 2 cups warm water with salt. Work until light and shiny (10 minutes).

Form into a roll and divide into 18 pieces. Knead each piece and pat with hands into 2 cm (3/4″) thick rounds. Pierce with fork. Let rise.

Bake at 400F for 15 to 20 minutes.


Irish Soda Bread

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 t soda
  • 1 t salt
  • 1-1/2 cups raisins
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1-1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 2 T oil

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt together. Stir in raisins. Blend eggs, buttermilk and oil. Add all at once to flour mixture, stirring only till moistened. Turn into oiled loaf pan. Bake at 350ºF for 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.