How to Make Homemade Hamburger Buns In our house, hamburgers are welcome anytime of year (learn how to make the perfect hamburger here). And homemade hamburger buns even more so. Hamburger buns are great for holding more than just hamburgers, too. You could easily use these buns for any sandwich fillings. Or not. The other day, we ate these hot out of the oven, simply smeared with butter and honey. I'd highly recommend it. This recipe is actually just a basic yeast dough. It works great for buns, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, or loaves of bread. Adjust the sugar to suit your taste and feel free to add a cup of whole wheat flour in place of Keep Reading
Basic Fruit Muffins with Streusel (great way to use fresh berries)
Strawberry Muffins with Streusel Topping I talked about how we can be frugal shoppers and a conscientous consumers all rolled into one. You may lean more to one end of the spectrum or the other, but there is definitely room in the zoo for a happy combination of both. In that post, I made the observation that, "Buying bum produce, no matter how cheap, is a waste of money." Michael Pollan calls it "voting with your fork." In other words, we send a message every time we buy food. Like most of you, I strive to buy quality produce in season. Generally this isn't a problem. No problem, that is, until those cartons of ridiculously red strawberries Keep Reading
Cappuccino Chip Muffin recipe (with gluten-free variation)
Cappuccino Chip Muffins I fell in love with these Cappuccino Chip Muffins at first bite a few years ago. We were visiting family in Kansas, and my sister-in-law pulled bags of these baked treats out of the freezer. She warmed them up and served them with scrambled eggs for breakfast or grabbed them for a quick snack as we headed out the door. So delicious, they never lasted long. I copied the recipe and stuffed it in my bag for the trip home. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to share them with you. It has been bothering me for some time now. So without further ado I finally present, from the distant land of Kansas: Cappuccino Chip Keep Reading
Making artisan (yeast) bread from scratch
Artisan Bread 30 Days to... 5 Keys for... 7 Steps to... I've never been interested in gimmicky fads. So when Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking (Amazon) came along back in 2007, I didn't pay much attention. After hearing about it everywhere I turned though, I finally borrowed a copy of the book. I flipped through it, tried the master recipe, and was hooked. If you have baked bread using these steps, you know how brilliant and simple it is. If baking with yeast makes you nervous, this method is a great place to start. Just think, this could be the year you finally conquer baking a loaf of yeast bread Keep Reading
No-Knead Bread: Answers to FAQ’s
Comments keep rolling in each week for our Jim Lahey's Basic No-Knead Bread post. Some of you are baking pros and others have never baked a loaf of bread in your life. Hundreds of you have tried this recipe and have come to the same conclusion: this is some seriously delicious bread. I would have to agree. I have baked dozens of these beautiful loaves since I first tried the recipe over a year ago. My Dutch ovens don't have a chance to gather dust (find affordable dutch ovens on Amazon here) and my husband is one happy camper. All signs point to success. I love reading your comments and hearing about your bread-baking success in the kitchen. Keep Reading
No Knead Bread Recipe Variations
No Knead Bread Variations There are countless ways that making food from scratch offers a huge savings over buying the pre-packaged version in the grocery store. One of the best examples is Roasting Whole Chickens and Making Chicken Stock. A very close second would be baking your own bread. It's no secret that we're crazy about Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread around here. This big, beautiful loaf can be made in your own kitchen for less than $1 a loaf. You would easily be paying five times that in a bakery or grocery store for something of similar size and quality. Multiply that over the course of a year and that is some serious savings. Enough to Keep Reading
Best Banana Bread (low sugar recipe)
Best Banana Bread (low sugar) Spring brings out the crazy in me. One sunny day is all it takes, and I'm running around in flip flops throwing open windows, hanging laundry on the clothesline, flipping burgers on the grill, and dragging lawn furniture out of hibernation. Then the following day, the temperature drops 20°, accompanied by torrential downpours. With some hail and thunder thrown in for good measure. And I never see it coming. Suddenly I find myself in the kitchen, stirring a pot of soup and pulling on a pair of wool socks. It's like those weird dreams where you switch location without warning. Where am I? What just Keep Reading