Bread – Page 2 – Grocery Shrink

Homemade Wheat Thins

By Angela Coffman on May 31, 2016

(This recipe was originally published in June 2009) I love Wheat Thin crackers. I’ve tried lots of recipes on the web, but never found one quite like the store bought kind. Last night, in the wee moments before falling asleep, I realized the box has the recipe practically on it! I took the ingredients off the box, which are in order of amount, and then typed them into the nutrition calculator at www.sparkrecipe.com. By multiplying the nutrition amount by 10, I was able to build a recipe for serving 10 people.

I made a few changes in the recipe, substituting sugar for high fructose corn syrup and malt syrup. I also decreased the amount of all purpose flour and increased the amount of whole wheat flour. I left out the corn starch and increased the amount of wheat germ, using raw wheat germ for the defatted germ on the label. We baked them today and they tasted very close to the original, only healthier. Next time I’ll roll the dough thinner and they’ll be perfect!

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 plus 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon soy lecithin (optional)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

Combine the first & ingredients (saving 1/4 teaspoon of salt). In a separate bowl, combine the oil and water. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the oil mixture. Lightly mix until a dough forms. Divide into 2 balls, wrap each ball in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

Roll one ball 1/8″ thick. Cut with cracker cutters or a knife. Poke holes with a toothpick or kabob skewer. Sprinkle with the reserved salt. Bake on a silicone baking sheet (or greased cookie sheet) at 375 for 12 minutes. Cool completely. Bake again at 375 for 7 minutes or until crackers are crisp.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

By Angela on March 22, 2016

I like a lot of variety in our meal planning and won’t fix the same thing twice for months and months, until it comes to pizza. I never get tired of pizza. Ever. This could be the single most dangerous thing to my fitness goals. I’ve tried cauliflower crust pizza; it’s gross. If I’m serious about fitness and have to have a pizza, I’ll put sauce, turkey pepperoni, veggies, and cheese on a Joseph’s pita. That’s the only thing that is close enough for me.

There’s nothing as good as a soft homemade pizza crust. I have the best recipe and I’m wiling to share. Read more…

When it’s Time to Bake Bread

By Angela on February 24, 2015

There are just a few days left in the month. I used the last of our grocery money on Monday and discovered this morning that we are out of bread. It matters because all the kids pack their own lunches in a half asleep state at 6:30 am and when there’s no bread they get confused, and require my help. I’m not good help at 6:30 am.

I haven’t baked bread in a long time. I just needed a little motivation to get back to it. Thankfully none of us are gluten sensitive. Here’s why we still eat wheat: “Wheat ranks first among the grains for its nutritional value. Wheat is an excellent source of fiber and many critical B-vitamins when used in its entirety, including the bran, germ, and endosperm. Wheat germ is one of the richest sources of vitamin E if used when freshly milled, before oxidation takes place.” Source Plus it tastes good and it’s affordable.

Here’s why I don’t always soak it. Well, that’s how I sleep at night. The actual reason I don’t soak is it’s an extra step that stresses me out, and we prefer the taste without soaking.

My all time favorite bread recipe is Vickilynn’s Absolute Best Challah. I usually bake her 2 loaf version, but today went with the whopper 6 loaf one. It takes 15 cups of flour! My kitchen aid can only handle about 6 before the dough starts climbing up into the motor shaft….so I mixed this by hand with a Danish Dough Wisk. When it got too hard to do with the wisk, I dumped it out and kneaded it by hand for 15 minutes (while watching Brain Games on Netflix.)

I really wanted a lot of bread, but I only have 3 loaf pans.

No matter, the dough makes good rolls too. I usually do clover leaf rolls with 3 small balls of dough in each muffin tin, but we had to leave for violin lessons in 5 minutes and I just plopped a big ball in each well.

And then I ran out of muffin tins….so I made crescents.

Before rising.

When we got back from violin, they were nice and big. Time to proof the oven and let them rise a little more.

They went over well :).

Homemade Hamburger Buns

By Angela on February 4, 2013

There was a time in my life when baking buns was not noteworthy. I just did it, because that is how we survived. I’ve gotten lazy since then. It happened between the birth of my 5th and 6th babies. Life just overwhelmed me and baking bread was “too hard.” But today, I made hamburger buns and feel like shouting it from the rooftop. After it was done, the thinking about it was the hardest part. The doing didn’t take long. A Grocery Shrink Plus member did it last week and posted her beautiful pictures on our facebook group page. I said, those are awesome. Thinking, “I don’t have time for that anymore.” Famous last words :).

My daughter had a birthday party this month and I bought fancy foods from Aldi that used up my grocery budget quickly. Our budget has no room for fluff–or very little of it. It’s necessities only–or it won’t last. And last it didn’t.

I went to the store with my last $20 on Monday and we bought a gallon of milk, a few fresh veggies and some yogurt. I had to put food back before getting the checkout line after I estimated the total in my mind. Brandon (age 5) was a little traumatized. He’s never seen me make these hard decisions before, or was too young to understand. He tried to give me money so we could buy whatever we wanted. I explained to him that I have plenty of money, but we decided at the beginning of the month how much we would spend on food and I was determined to stick to that no matter what. It’s like a game :). He wasn’t sure it was a fun game…lol. We have a full pantry, so it isn’t as big a deal to run out of grocery money.

I started the buns with the recipe from King Arthur Flour. I have a different one in my Grocery Shrink Plus menus, but wanted to try something new. I adapted it quite a bit–switched from butter to oil so the rolls would be soft, even cold. And used 100% fresh ground whole wheat flour. Hard white wheat makes my bread so much better than when I used hard red wheat. And now I can buy 25 lb bags of wheat berries from Wal-mart!

I keep my wheat grinder on the counter all the time, cleaned, with the hopper full of berries and the lid on. Then all I have to do is flip a switch for fresh ground flour. It takes a lot of the dread out of baking for me.

Here’s my adapted recipe:

100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons oil
1 large egg
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup stevia in the raw
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon yeast

Combine water, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Stir in yeast. Wait a few minutes for it to soften and activate.
Stir in 1 cup of flour, oil, egg, stevia and salt.
Add remaining flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms that pulls away from the sides of the mixer. Knead by hand 8 minutes or by mixer 3-4 minutes. Oil lightly and cover with a towel. Let rise until double.
Roll dough out 1/2 inch thick and cut with a wide glass. Set on greased pans and allow to rise until double.
Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Best Ever Protein Pancakes

By Angela on November 23, 2012

I’ve seen several recipes for these floating around pinterest and decided to try my own version. They were amazing! My protein pancakes are different because I used whole eggs, levening, and a little stevia for flavor. Also added a little almond milk to make it easier on my blender. It’s little known that the egg yolk contains almost as much protein as egg whites. Yes, they have fat and cholesterol, but they also have folate and lots of other vitamins too. A little fat in the diet is essential for healthy skin, hair, nails and balanced hormone production. And the lecithin in the egg white works with the cholesterol in the yolk to neutralize the negative effects. When God made eggs, He made the perfect food!

The small amount of leavening in this recipe makes the texture just like a regular pancake. My kids gobbled them up. They even thought they were white flour pancakes–not bad for 100% whole grain. For my gluten free friends, if you get gluten free rolled oats–these are perfect for you. I have to watch my dairy–lactose makes me miserable, but cottage cheese is cultured enough that it doesn’t bother me. If you have a dairy protein allergy or an egg allergy, then these aren’t for you.

Here’s the recipe:

In a blender or food processor combine:

1 cup rolled oats (or quick oats but not instant oats)

3 whole eggs

1 cup 1% cottage cheese

2-4 Tbs milk (I used almond milk) enough to get the blender flowing

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbs stevia blend (I used stevia in the raw.)

Blend on high until a thick batter forms. If your eggs were bigger than mine, your batter may be thin–but it will thicken upon standing. Oats soak up a lot of liquid. Cook these on a griddle preheated to 350 degrees. It makes 9 3-4 inch pancakes. 3 pancakes has 20 grams of protein and 243 calories. Add 1/2 cup of applesauce or other fruit for a perfect 300 calorie breakfast.

Gluten Free English Muffins

By Angela on September 29, 2011

I don’t normally eat gluten free, but I agreed to try an acceleration diet with Fit Yummy Mummy for 12 days. Part of the diet is gluten free and uncultured diary free, so I’m experimenting. These English Muffins turned out good, but next time I will roll them thinner (about 1/2 inch instead of 1 inch thick so they can cook all the way through.) I used what I had on hand, but you can make substitutions as you wish.

I get frustrated when searching for gluten free recipes because many of them contain ingredients such as tapioca starch, potato flour, and corn flour. These are non-nutritive starches that congeal well, but are basically garbage for your body. So you won’t find any of those things in my recipes.

Xanthan gum is the odd ingredient here. It is an investment to start with (about $21 for a 1lb bag) but is essential to helping the dough hold together in the absence of gluten.

Gluten Free English Muffins

1 cup whey (leftover from Greek yogurt making–or substitute milk, or buttermilk)
1 cup warm water
3 Tablespoons butter (or coconut oil), melted
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons honey (or brown sugar)
1 Tablespoon yeast (or 1 packet which is slightly less)
2 cups brown rice flour (I ground long grain brown rice in my grain mill)
1 cup teff flour
1 cup quinoa flour
2 Tablespoons xanthan gum (I bought mine at Amazon.com)

I didn’t want to heat my whey because it’s full of probiotics that will work for good on the flours while the dough rests. It would be nice to bring it to room temperature naturally if yo have time for that. Mix the whey, warm water, butter, salt and honey (or sugar) in a bowl. In your mixer bowl combine the flours, xanthan gum, and yeast. While the mixer runs slowly, pour the liquid ingredients in with the flours and stir until just combined. Press into a ball and let rest covered with a towel for 1 hour or until doubled.

With moist hands, pat the dough 1/2 in thick (without punching dough down.) Dough will feel more like biscuit dough than bread dough. Cut with a 3 inch biscuit cutter and place on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal to rest. (About 18 rounds) Let the rounds rise for 30 minutes to an hour. Place the rounds on a skillet or griddle preheated to 300 degrees. Cook for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for 10 minutes on the other side. Split with a fork and eat with butter and jam.

Cream Cinnamon Rolls: Cooking With Brandon

By Angela Coffman on February 5, 2010

Cinnamon Roll Dough

1/2 cup warm milk

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour (you may need another 1/2 cup)

In a mixer, combine milk and yeast. Stir until yeast is soft. Add butter and honey, mix well. Add egg and mix well. Add salt with the flour and stir until a soft dough forms that is not to sticky. Knead well. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.

Punch down dough and roll into a rectangle. (Our rectangle was the size of our silicone baking sheet.)

Spread the dough with softened butter. (We used 1/4 cup, but you could use more or less.)

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. (We sprinkled until it looked good, but 1/2 cup sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon should be about right.)

Roll up the dough so that the dough ends up as long as possible.

Cut the log into 12 rolls. Dental floss works great for this.

Place the rolls in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Let rise for 1 hour.

Mix 1 cup of sour cream (This was raw cream skimmed off the top of farm fresh milk that soured after 7 days. As a substitute, use buttermilk, cultured sour cream, or yogurt mixed with 2 Tablespoons of milk.) 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix well and pour over rolls.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. Check the rolls after 20 minutes by pulling 2 gently apart to see if they are still doughy.

Mix a thin frosting with 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 Tablespoons of milk or cream. Drizzle over the rolls. Serve warm with milk–Yum!