The Secret to Successfully Making and Baking Bread

Guilt Free Deserts

Keto Desserts is a guidebook that contains all the keto dessert recipes that are truly healthy, tasty, easy to make, and taste just like the real thing. This comprehensive digital cookbook will give you healthy, keto-friendly, fructose-free dessert recipes for all your favorite treats. The recipes provided in this guide use natural, keto-friendly sweeteners, grain-free, low carb flours, and healthy slimming fats to create desserts that are extremely low in sugar content and are easy to make. In this guide, every recipe was carefully examined and tested until a perfect texture, crumb, sweetness, and ease of preparation were achieved. Keto Desserts is your ultimate guide to keto baking. It includes more than 55 simple and delicious grain-free keto and paleo dessert recipes that taste so good, you will never miss the carbs and sugar. Ideally, with this guide, you can enjoy these desserts without guilt and you can even have a second serving. All the recipes provided in this cookbook guide are affordable, easy-to-find ingredients and common baking materials, so you do not need to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and ingredients to begin eating healthier. Read more here...

Guilt Free Deserts Summary

Rating: 4.8 stars out of 33 votes

Contents: Ebooks
Author: Kelley Herring
Official Website: ketobreads.net
Price: $17.00

Access Now

Keto Breads and Keto Desserts Review

Highly Recommended

I usually find books written on this category hard to understand and full of jargon. But the writer was capable of presenting advanced techniques in an extremely easy to understand language.

All the modules inside this book are very detailed and explanatory, there is nothing as comprehensive as this guide.

Read full review...

Boiled Corn Bread Gahagugwa

The boiling of the corn in ashes, in bread-making, was sometimes omitted. A kettleful of water was brought to the boiling point, according to an informant, Mrs. peter John, a Mohawk woman married to an Onondaga man. The ripe corn was added and boiled until softened a little. It was then drained in the washing basket, allowed to dry slightly, then pounded, sifted, and made into flour. Th is kind of flour is called ganehana'-we'di'. A similar omission is found in the Huron process of bread-making as recorded by Sagard-Theodat in his book, 'Le Grand Voyage du pays des Hurons,' Tross ed., (paris, 1865). Loaves of corn bread were frequently carried along while travelling, though parched corn flour sweetened with maple syrup was a more popular material.

Refrigerator French Bread

I have been attending cooking classes at my local grocery store. At the last class I attended we learned how to make three different kinds of bread. The first recipe I tried at home was this Refrigerator French Bread recipe. It was easier than I thought it would be. It was quick to mix up and although it needs to rise and be refrigerated, there is flexibility in the process. It can be refrigerated for as little as 4 hours or as long as 24 hours. Like most breads, this is especially good warm. In fact, my kids told me it was the best bread they have ever had That's the kind of compliment I like An easy French Bread Recipe that can be refrigerated for as little as 4 hours or as long as 24 hours.

Popular Specialty Rices

Wheat, in the form of flour, is a staple in bread-making and other kinds of baking. Wheat is actually a very versatile grain that is also milled into semolina and cracked wheat. These two wheat products can be served as side dishes, and used in stuffings and casseroles.

Baking the Bread What Heat does

Baking seems simple to us put the well-risen, proofed dough in the hot oven and take it out when it is fully baked. If all went well (and there is no reason why it shouldn't), we place a still-steaming, irresistibly-perfumed, brown-crusted, mouth-wateringly beautiful loaf of bread on a wire rack, and we are ready to cut into it after a short cooling period. But the baking process is anything but simple. There is a series of very complex chemical reactions and physical processes that happen during bread baking, so complex that even food scientists who have studied the baking process for decades are far from fully understanding it. For our purposes as home chefs we don't need to know more about these complex reactions than the very basics which are simple.

Recipes see also Mise en Place Timing

Baking by the Book Altering baking-related recipes is decidedly more risky than altering any other recipe. Whenever possible, follow a baking recipe to the letter. Amounts of leavener. flour, sugar, liquid, and other ingredients are specifically calculated for balanced results in the crucible of the oven. Change the amounts, and the results can be drastically different. Cakes, for instance, are very temperamental. If you want to double the yield of a cake recipe, make 1 cake, then follow the recipe again to make another cake while the first one bakes in the oven. Or look for a cake recipe that is specifically written for a large cake. Likewise, with pie crusts for a 2-crust pie. it's best to make 1 crust according to the recipe, then make another one as the first crust chills to avoid overworking a large amount of pie dough (which results in tough, chewy pastry). Cookies, on the other hand, are generally more amenable to increasing or decreasing yields.

Baking Decent Bread without Wheat Flour Its No Joke

The first time you try to convert a wheat yeast bread recipe to gluten-free, you'll most likely end up with a glob that is raw in the center, has a crust that requires a jackhammer to cut through it, and an aftertaste that redefines the word bitter. If the loaf actually bakes all the way through, then the slices may crumble beyond recognition when you attempt to cut it. Fortunately, you have this book in your hands. It contains excellent bread recipes with all the necessary adjustments, so you don't have to worry about converting your Grandma's homemade bread recipe immediately. Be aware that if you use a different flour mixture with the recipes in this book, you may get different results.

Creating the Gluten Free Flour Mixture

DjJ ER Precisely because of the mess that occurs when you assemble the flour mixture, we only use one flour mixture throughout this book. Why Because you can measure and sift once, and then spoon the combined flours into a self-seal plastic bag and freeze it. When you're ready to bake, you don't have to drag out all the different bags of flour one flour mixture will suffice for all the recipes in this book. Just take the bag out of the freezer, measure the amount you need, and begin baking. It doesn't get much easier than that. It should be noted that in a few of the bread recipes, sorghum flour or flaxseed meal is added to the basic flour mixture to get the right consistency.

More Globetrotting Breads! BBA French Bread & Italian Bread

The more that I bake from the Bread Baker's Apprentice, the more completely I fall in love with making my own bread, and the happier I am about this bread baking challenge. I always knew that you could make a really nice loaf of bread at home. I even knew that this loaf of bread would be better than the bread that you get at the store. But, there were certain breads that should never be attempted at home, these breads you had to get from a baker. In my family, French bread has always been the holy grail of bread. We nearly always had (have) a loaf of French bread with dinner because my dad loves his pain , as he likes to say. This idea that you buy French bread at the bakery is so firmly planted in my mind that I was a bit nervous to try the French bread out.

Crusty Whole Wheat Artisan Loaf in Under 3 Hours

The smell of bread baking in the oven is one of life's great pleasures. Sometimes I want a soft sandwich bread, and sometimes I want a crusty bread. Either way, I need the bread to be made around my schedule, and that's exactly what I can do with this recipe. I often start it before dinner, then I can enjoy a nice piece of warm bread slathered with butter as a nighttime snack.

Rosemary-Olive Oil Dutch Oven Bread

And I can hardly believe that I made it myself because bread making intimidates me, but if I can turn out a crusty, chewy, gorgeous loaf like this, then anyone can.I kept seeing this bread recipe floating around Facebook and it caught my eye. Not that that recipe is not *completely* amazing in itself, but I had some really great olive oil and fresh rosemary that I wanted to incorporate into it, and when I did it worked really, really well. My carb loving family devoured it.

It's the holiday season. Let the excitement begin!

I was once told by a Schlotzsky's franchisee that the proprietary bread recipe changes annually, depending on that year's wheat crop and other variables. I'm not sure whether he was offering up gospel, or trying to ensure my continued patronage. Regardless of those so-called variables, this recipe is as close as they come to the 12 sandwiches served at Schlotzsky's. In fact, I dare you to find a difference other than the wrapper and the kid working the drive-thru.

Vintage Recipes - Dripping Cakes

For my first foray of vintage baking I've made Dripping Cakes. As a small child my mother and sister would disappear into the kitchen to make toast and dripping. A very old fashioned english teatime treat which I loathed. The texture of that beef dripping, a pale brown paste, was horrible. Obviously on hot toast it melts into the bread making a beef flavoured topping to your fat soaked bread. Sound delicious Anyway reverie aside, I thought these cakes would be a little like Lardy Cake, delicious multi layered, raisin filled, sugar sweet, rich bread. Because they aren't cake at all, but a fruit sweet white bread. The recipe is in pounds and ounces and absolutely huge 2lbs of bread dough makes a lot of dripping cake I reduced the quantity to 500g of dough roughly 1lb.

Thames Mud And Banana Barges

I've mentioned before going to boarding school at 11. A small, very old school, rich in tradition with a parallel language. Almost everything had a nickname. From compulsory activities Gravel Crunching, Spud Bashing, Squizzing, Sticking And Licking. To teachers, the chalk lobbing Chemi T and the feared threesome, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. Named with the malice only a girl's school can muster. Food, of course, had comparable names. Flabby tinned peaches and custard became Dead Goldfish, Bullet hard boiled eggs in cheese sauce, became Convent Eggs and the most anticipated rare treat, Chunky rectangular slabs of shortbread, slightly soft in the centre, with jugs of thick chocolate custard were affectionately named Thames Mud And Barges. This is my re-invention of that much loved dessert, using the caramelised bananas from my banana bread recipe.

Wholewheat Olive Oil, Yoghurt, Honey & Pear Cake

It is just SO much more intimidating to mess with cake or pastry recipes, and the uptight perfectionist goody-two-shoes in me that always feels compelled to follow the recipe kinda gets stressed out and anxious at the idea of altering baking recipes. Baking is after all, as we all know, a science.

Chai-spiced Wholewheat Banana Bread

This Whole-wheat Banana Bread recipe is one that is perfect to have on hand for a busy week of work or school where you can simply grab a thick slice and be out the door, or even pack one with you to snack on later with a cup of tea or coffee as a pick-me-up. Feel free to change up the spices as you please, as well as use whichever sweetener you prefer.

Dutch Oven Artisan Bread

There is nothing better than the smell of bread baking. I have to say this was the easiest bread recipe I have ever made. It does take some time so you have to be patient but it is way worth the wait. This came out more like a ciabatta bread. Crusty on the outside and very airy and soft inside. I may have let it sit a we bit to long during proofing. Regardless it was still great.

Peter Reinhart's Multigrain Bread

Not that I'm counting, but I believe this makes the 10th bread recipe I've posted on this blog. And that doesn't count the quick breads, flatbreads, dinner rolls or other bready sorts of things I've posted. I'm sure it won't be the last, but I'm going out on a limb here to say that it might be the best. I feel just awful saying that out loud because I do love all of my bread children but I think this one just elevates the whole experience of homemade bread to another level of kicked up goodness.

Baguette of Your Own In Only 4 Hours!

Lest you've already decided that you have no time for such folly let me just say that this is most definitely 4 hours well spent, especially if you've ever thought (fantasized) about turning out bakery-quality baguettes from your own home oven. And let me tell you, I was once as skeptical as you most likely are at the moment. But this is actually a really great baguette and you heard me right 4 hours start to finish, and several of those hours require absolutely nothing from you. This discovery has been a total game-changer here at the Circle B Kitchen where just about every baguette-type of bread I make takes at least 2 days. My sourdough takes 3 days. So 4 hours - phhhttt That's nothin' in the world of bread-making. So you can imagine my glee (really happy emoji with the big teeth) when I saw this recipe on the Food 52 website. They got it from a Saveur magazine article on American bread making featuring Dan Leader, the inventor of this incredible loaf.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I started with the Light Wheat Bread recipe from the Bread Bakers Apprentice cookbook as the basis, added some gluten, for that heft I was talking about, raisins, and a good dusting of cinnamon sugar. I increased the water in the recipe to accommodate the gluten, and it made the dough quite tender and easy to work with.

Chocolate Chai Donuts

But when I brought that formerly-25-lb. bag upstairs this morning, I emptied the rest of it out into the canister and then promptly used all that was left in making bread. How did this even happen It feels weird to be out of something so basic and have no plans or time to get it until the weekend.

Brown Sugar Carrot Bread

Last fall, for some inexplicable reason, I got it in my head that I needed to make some carrot bread. Not having a recipe in my repertoire, I did a little research and tried several recipes that I thought might work, many of which turned out to be nothing more than carrot cake baked in a loaf pan. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I was going for. I really wanted something sort of healthier, delicious, yet not too calorie-laden. Sadly, I never found that perfect carrot bread recipe, and was in the process of developing one when Thanksgiving hit, then Christmas, and my need for carrot bread got put on the back burner. But then a couple weeks ago, as I was browsing through some of Mark Bittman's recent recipes, I came across this gem. Well, you can imagine my glee, and you can bet I had this carrot bread baking in my oven within the hour.

Whole Grain Batter Bread

It's been a momentous few weeks here at Corporate World Headquarters for the Circle B Kitchen. Recipes have been tested, tweaked and re-tested some have been found worthy, others not so much. Last week's post on the invention of homemade Velveeta was nothing short of ground-breaking, and this week I've come up with a bread recipe that's kind've mind blowing. And this just happens to be a batter bread. If you're as unfamiliar as I was, batter breads are yeast breads that require no kneading, very little time and effort, but produce a stellar loaf of bread. Batter bread recipes have been around for like ever, but the fact that I've only recently discovered them makes them new and innovative and exciting. It's my kitchen, so I get to say, yes, even revolutionary. I'm fairly certain that the fact that I love making bread the proofing, the kneading, the rising, the whole hours-long process, has perhaps caused me to look with skepticism at bread recipes that require so little labor.

Bamboo Shoots to Save Tuna

Lately, I've been trying to get out of my long-time food rut and get experimental in the kitchen with main meals. I love testing new baking recipes, but I don't get as excited when it comes to actual meals and savory dishes. However, in an attempt to sample new foods and change things up, I decided to try using a new-to-me ingredient canned bamboo shoots. I've had bamboo shoots before in dishes like thai coconut curry, but I'd never actually bought any and cooked it myself, let alone the canned version.

Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe

The basics of King Cake are pretty simple, you are basically making a less sweet cinnamon roll dough, but instead of cutting the dough into rolls, you are will be baking the dough as a ring. What I have found over the many trials, is that I like to use a potato bread recipe I know that sounds weird, but it makes the dough softer and gives the perfect light density to the bread part of the King Cake. For all my free-form bread baking, I like to use a ceramic stone to bake on. I find it gives just the right texture to all my breads. I also love it for pizza making.

Homemade Honey Spelt Bread

Making bread at home can be one of the most rewarding things you do for your family. Sometime, take a look at the ingredients on bread you buy. If you can't pronounce some of them, it's time to start making it at home. Honey Spelt Bread is an easy bread recipe that is great for beginner breadmakers to even the most seasoned baker. Spelt is an ancient grain that was included in the Old Testament of the Bible (Isaiah 28 25, Ezekial 4 9) and is a cousin to modern wheat. Unlike modern wheat, spelt has remained relatively untouched by crossbreeding and hybridization. I buy my spelt flour at a local health food store, but it is also available online through Amazon.

What Spelt Is, Why You Should Use It, How to Use It, and Where to Buy It

Spelt is one of wheat's long-lost cousins (einkorn and emmer are some of the others), having been cultivated for thousands of years prior to the twentieth century, when wheat took over as the grain of choice. According to the World's Healthiest Foods, spelt was one of the first grains to be used in making bread way back in the day. Also, spelt does not need to be mixed or kneaded as long as wheat does , particularly when it comes to making bread. The gluten in spelt is not quite as robust as the gluten in wheat, so it can't handle too much force. Charlotte Bradley has more information on baking with spelt here.

Making a Price List: The Digital Version

A huge welcome to all my new subscribers I hope you've enjoyed your copy of Healthy Holidays Slightly Indulgent Sweet Treats, and I hope it has inspired your holiday baking this year. I've got some more holiday inspiration in store for you the rest of December. I've already kicked off my series featuring creative (and simple ) ways to package your gifts-from-the-kitchen using upcycled and repurposed containers found around your home. And, of course, it wouldn't be the Christmas season without a few great holiday baking recipes, so we'll have plenty of those, too. (In fact, I've got 2 awesome cookie recipes lined up for next week ). Once again, welcome, and I look forward to getting to know you

Flatbread Sandwich Thins

I just like to make bread that's tasty and healthy and not too complicated. And although I love the master healthy bread recipe in Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, I stumbled a while ago across an even easier and less complicated artisan bread dough recipe that is just as versatile.

Fall Fest: Pumpkin Sweet Rolls with Honey or Chocolate Glaze

I used the bread machine to make these, but if you're more comfortable with the usual mixing and kneading process, it's easily adaptable. Just follow the usual method for old-fashioned bread baking. I am biased, though I highly recommend using a bread machine because it frees you up to do other things while the dough is preparing. The whole process becomes much quicker

Five Blogger Recipes to Make

I did have a savory quick bread recipe lined up for you, but I tasted it again yesterday and the texture and taste was just off. Worried that my cold was messing with my sense of taste, I asked Dan to take a bite, and he agreed that it needed some tweaking before I posted it.

Homemade Kimchi Recipe Round-Up

If you're looking for something new, give homemade kimchi stuffed steamed buns a try. Ever thought about steaming your bread instead of baking it Ovens are not a common kitchen appliance in China, so baking bread is rare. Instead, they use steam to make delicious bread buns. They aren't crusty like baked bread, but they're delicious in their own right. The combination of yeast and baking powder along with a medium gluten flour makes this recipe the perfect balance of cakey and bready textures.

Cheesy Whole-wheat Sourdough Bread

The real reward is when you slice that first slice. The loaf will have large bubbles and the scent will be aromatic and complex, without the alcohol flavors of yeast bread. If your first loaf isn't perfect, keep practicing. Sourdough bread baking is more of an art than a science.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dried plums can be used in baking recipes to reduce fats and sugars, by simply pureeing the fruit for its sweetness, moisture and texture. This is what we are taking advantage of today Dried plums are really one sweet package, huh They contain natural elements which help heighten the flavors of other ingredients in a recipe, whether sweet or savory.So of course, I stuck all these health benefits into a cookie, adapting it generously from my favorite Tollhouse cookie version. Soft and gooey, these Healthier Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies will satisfy your cookie sweet tooth and the dried plum puree in the dough lets us reduce the sugar and butter content, as well as the sweetness of the chocolate.

Chocolate coconut Rolls

Today my recipe is Chocolate coconut Rolls . When I decided to do the marathon under bread baking I started hunting for recipes. When I came across this recipe, I thought it was so complicated but the coconut and chocolate tempted me to try this. But then I realized it is very easy to make. As I will be baking few more breads, I tried only a very small batch but the recipe can be doubled if required.

Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You might like our other baking recipes that have cream cheese frosting like Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Ginger Beer Date Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, Red Velvet Layer Cake, Flourless Lemon Cake, and Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes.

Fig and Ginger Olive Oil Quinoa Cake with Vegan Cashew Cream Sauce

As of late, I have been making an attempt at using olive oil in baking recipes, a move inspired by this book. And as such, the original quinoa cake needed a bit of a summer upgrade. I added in figs and ginger and although the cake is excellent on its own, decided to go completely over the top and drizzled the entire thing in an accompanying vegan cream sauce. Hint vegan cream sauce is one of the easiest things to make ever, sweet or savory. Don't like ginger Go for cinnamon instead.

Hokkaido Milk Toast- Japanese Style Using Tangzhong method

But I don't bake very often since yeast has not been my best friend. This month for Baking Partners Challenge Swathi selected bread that is being baked using Tangzhong method, also known as water roux method. With this method, we cant go wrong with yeast. First a roux starter(tangzhong) is prepared and then added to the ingredients and baked resulting in soft fluffy bread like the one we get in bakeries. This dough can be used to make Dilkush, bread stuffed with sweetened coconut. But since I have already posted it, I have made this Hokkaido Milk toast. The bread came out well and it was so nice, soft and perfect. Thanks to Swathi for the challenge, I fell in love with bread baking all over again.

The White Flours

The natural tone of unbleached wheat flour is cream-colored. If you don't mind the ivory or cream color of products made with unbleached flour, by all means use that. The only bleached flour that we use is bleached cake flour when we want to obtain the pure white texture we prefer in white cakes. In yellow cakes or chocolate cakes, we use unbleached pastry flour. If you switch from bleached to unbleached flour in your bread recipes, be aware that the two flours may exhibit different performance characteristics and you may need to make minor changes in the recipe. Buy flours for their intended uses bread flour for breads and pastry flours for pastries plus all-purpose flours for gravies and other general uses. Keep in mind that most recipes except bread recipes--were developed with all-purpose flour since that is what is common in nearly all kitchens. You may wish to use all-purpose flour for a new recipe and then switch to a specialty flour after you become familiar with the recipe.

Cookbook I

I urge you to read the information in the chapters which precede the recipes themselves. Many of your questions will be answered before you begin baking bread, and many problems that you may have had will be avoided. The techniques you learn in these pages will help you to produce a perfect loaf every time.

Common Legumes

Rinsing Legumes

All types of legumes are rich in iron, vitamins, protein, and starch. Legumes can also be made into substitute items. Soy milk, an emulsion made from ground soy beans and water, is used as a milk substitute. Legumes are sometimes ground into a flour and used as a substitute for wheat flour in baking recipes.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are really neither vegetable nor animal. Although technically classified as plants, fungi curiously straddle the plant and animal kingdoms. They don't make food from sunshine and air as plants do. Instead they extract it from decaying matter and make it into fresh and concentrated protein food for us, the way a cow turns grass into the fine protein foods of milk and meat. Molds (for making antibiotics), yeasts (for making bread, brew, and vinegar), and truffles are related fungi.

Using Honey

Baking with Honey Marilyn Gordon and her husband raise and sell honey at Boone, CO. She wrote to me To substitute honey for sugar in a baking recipe use 3 A c. honey for 1 c. sugar and reduce liquid in the recipe by A c. like in cakes. If liquid isn't called for in your recipe, add 4 T. additional flour for each 3 A c. honey used in cookies. Bake at a temperature 25 degrees lower than called for, as baked goods with honey will brown faster. Cakes, cookies, and breads will be moist and stay fresh longer because of honey's moistness.

Acid Base Leavenings

Baking Powder Bread Recipes 7 th edition, 1976. A friend wrote to ask if I could help her find an Indian woman bread recipe. I didn't know one but published her request, and did I ever get native American bread recipes BASIC HOMEMADE BAKING MIX Regular baking recipes have an average of about 9 ingredients. You can make your own 4-time mix recipe by combining the dry ingredients of your favorite recipe, quadrupling, and using as needed. Your mix won't perform well unless the premixed ingredients are thoroughly blended. Sift your dry ingredients together several times then add the shortening and cut it in well. Store in the refrigerator any mixes that contain shortening. Mixes that contain only dry ingredients can be stored like your flour. Then all you need to do is combine your mix, the eggs, and milk (or other liquids). To use the mix, leave out the ingredients you've already got in, add the rest, stir, and cook

Coohboo h V

Carol Sclove finds bread baking to be a great hobby. Her recipe proves she has talent for it One small can (6 oz.) equals i4 cup of pineapple juice. One half egg equals I yolk or white or 2 tbs. egg substitute. This has been an often requested recipe Bread recipes that use fruit or vegetables for some or part of the liquid must be watched carefully for the proper moisture content. The moisture content of the fruit or vegetable which you use may vary from one day to the next depending on the ripeness and freshness of the produce.

Hot Cross Buns

These hot cross buns are officially, without a doubt, 100 the BEST things I have ever made. Period. No questions asked. I feel like sometimes I say that about lots of other recipes that I've tried, but I really mean it for this one. I was able to make brioche successfully, that was light and perfectly fluffy, and I was so pleased with how the brioche came out, especially because I am not an expert on making bread at all. I still have trouble getting the texture in my breads to come out just right sometimes (in my case, breads sometimes end up being a little more dense than I'd like), but this one was completely different. It was just so fluffy My dad loved the buns (although he says he could have done without the icing, but this was expected), and my mom said they were perfect, and her favorite thing that I've made so far. Everyone else I gave a hot cross bun to had similar reactions, and with that, I knew I couldn't wait to post this recipe

Buttermilk

To substitute buttermilk for regular milk in baking recipes Buttermilk adds a wonderful, slightly tangy flavor to quick breads such as pancakes and muffins. Add Vi teaspoon baking soda to the dry ingredients for every cup of buttermilk. The baking soda will react with the buttermilk to lighten and aerate the baked good.

Brioche

What I've never been obsessed with, however, is actually making bread myself. The main reason for this, I think, is that there's no room for spontaneity with bread making. You can't really just decide to make a loaf a bread right now the way you can with a batch of cookies or a simple cake. Breads take time and careful planning, and sticking to the correct proofing rising schedule is essential in ensuring that a bread comes out the way it's supposed to. Rushing through any of the steps could lead to a bread that's less than it should be, and it's one of my biggest problems. I'm not the best at planning things to bake in advance, as I typically like to let whatever is in my kitchen and whatever I'm craving at the moment guide me in making my decisions. I hope to change this this year and really learn more about bread.

Irish Soda Bread

There's a funny story behind this Irish soda bread recipe. Actually, it's probably not funny at all at least not any of you guys. It's probably only silly to me. Basically, this is what happened. Years ago, when my sister was in kindergarten or something like that, her class had a heritage day or something of sorts. Every kid was supposed to bring in something that described their culture, and if possible, some type of food specific to their culture for everyone to try (and hopefully like ). For this event, my parents took obleas (these are reallllyyyy thin big, round wafer-type cookies that are sandwiched with a thick layer of dulce de leche. This is actually my favorite dessert EVER), and envueltos (I'd describe these as a type of corn cake, although they don't really have a cake-like texture at all, but they're delicious). One of my sister's classmates brought in Irish soda bread as his culturally-relevant food, and my parents got to try it.

Homemade Flatbread

One of the quickest ways to get me in the kitchen these days is to wave a new bread recipe in my face. Of course, it never takes much to get me in the kitchen, but I'm a total sucker for just about any recipe with yeast in the ingredient list. Bread making is one of those fun culinary excursions where science meets art and I'm more than a little fascinated by the whole process. I've been working on my sourdough bread recipe for over 2 years now, and don't think I'll ever decide it's where I want it to be because I've become fairly attached to my project . And as complicated as sourdough can be, flatbreads are fun, easy and just about as scrumptious. Over the years, I've gotten emails and comments from many of you bemoaning your reticence about working with yeast and bread doughs. I've encouraged you to just get in there and play with it and let it be OK if your bread doesn't turn out great the first 10 times you make it.

Less is More

I especially feel strongly that less is more when it comes to sugar you've probably noticed that if you've read any of my blog posts. I try to limit sugar as much as possible because it's good for my health and my waistline A long time ago, I found a little chart that shows the minimum amount of sugar per cup of flour you need in various baked goods. I was surprised to see on the chart that quick breads and muffins only need 1 (yes, ONE) TBSP of sugar per cup of flour. Almost every quick bread recipe I find calls for scads and scads of sugar, so I admit I was extremely skeptical about that whole idea. However, the rest of the chart has been very accurate (Except in the case of brownies my DH doesn't like my brownies because I have reduced the amount of sugar in them. I actually like them because they have a stronger chocolate taste which, actually, is the exact reason why he does NOT like them ) in all my baking endeavors, so I really have no reason to mistrust it in this instance.

Banana Bread - FAIL

I have used a great banana bread recipe (albeit with white flour and sugar) since I was a teenager (thanks mom ). I am known as an expert banana bread baker. My husband swoons at the mere mention of me baking banana bread. I think I'm going to modify that to the NT style and will post it here in the near future.