Shiner Bock Beer Bread

My future son-in-law, Chris, loves Shiner Bock beer, and when he visits, the fridge is well-stocked with it. There was one lone bottle left from the last visit, and hubby and I aren't beer drinkers, so what better use to make of it than in bread.

We recently visited Salt Grass Steakhouse (Texas to the bone!) and enjoyed their pre-dinner bread. I found a "copykat" recipe and made a couple of adjustments to accommodate what I had on hand and for the bread machine. My changes were to substitute rye flour for whole wheat flour, to eliminate the water, and to use part honey, part molasses in place of all honey.

My iPhone photos don't do the bread justice, but the results were excellent! Moist and slightly sweet, it tasted like what we had in the restaurant, only better. Rye flour gave it a nutty depth, and the molasses, well it always makes bread better, in my opinion. The bread sliced easily, smelled so good while baking, and was the perfect accompaniment to our grilled chicken and salad.

Shiner Bock Beer Bread
See CopyKat.com for original recipe
adapted for bread machine

1-1/2 -1-3/4 cup Shiner Bock beer, flat and room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast

Mix beer, honey, molasses, and oil and pour into bread pan. Whisk together flours and salt and scoop onto liquid. Make a well in flour mixture and pour in yeast. Set bread machine to Dough cycle. When cycle is complete, remove dough onto floured surface and punch down. Knead in small amounts of flour if necessary to keep from sticking. Cut dough into 3 equal portions and form each portion into round loaf. Place loaves on lightly oiled or parchment prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap that has been lightly sprayed with baking spray. Let rise until doubled, or about 30 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.

Butternut Squash Braid

A recent butternut squash purchase prompted me to revisit a braid recipe I made in 2008, which I remembered for its deliciousness.

The original recipe called for cooked mashed squash, but this time around I roasted the squash whole before I pureed it. I love the rich, buttery goodness of roasted squash and the flavor it imparts to the bread. The texture is somewhat Hawaiian bread-ish, and this loaf was a wee bit more dense than the last loaf. Offering a warm slice with butter is a good way to get my hubby to eat his veggies. He not only loved it, but he loved the color of it!

Butternut Squash Braid
adapted for bread machine

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup warm milk
1 cup cooked and pureed butternut squash
1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
*3 to 4 cups unbleached bread flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
* Level of moisture in cooked squash affects flour addition. My dough was very sticky after rising in the bread machine, so I added more flour so that I could more easily shape the dough. The extra flour and kneading probably contributed to the slight denseness of this batch.

Melt butter in warm milk, add squash and egg; whisk until well blended. Pour into bread machine pan.

Whisk together brown sugar, salt, and 3 cups flour and spoon mixture onto liquid in bread machine pan. Make a well in center of flour and add yeast. Turn bread machine to "Dough" cycle and let it do its magic.

After dough has completed cycle, remove and place on a lightly floured surface or Roulpat. Punch dough down and divide into 3 parts. Shape each portion into an 18 inch rope. Take ropes and attach them by pinching tops together and tucking under. Gently braid and finish by pinching together bottom ends and tucking underneath braid. (An excellent tutorial for bread braiding can be found here). Cover and allow to rise until nearly doubled. Mine rose to elephantine proportions in only 25 minutes. At this point, if you like to glaze your bread, you may whisk together an egg and a tablespoon of water and brush over braid before baking.

Bake in 375 degree oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Homemade Hot Dog Buns and Waffle Batter Bread

After many attempts at trying to make hot dog buns out of some of my favorite hamburger bun recipes, I think I am getting closer to the elusive shape. Today I tried them with a tested-and-loved recipe from the blog of Let Them Eat Cake.

I first blogged about this amazing recipe here. Today I tried the recipe in a bread machine, and I have to say, it tasted every bit as good as the first time, but much easier. I simply put the ingredients into the pan of the bread machine and set it to Dough. When the cycle was finished, I placed the dough onto a floured board, pressed out all the air, and let it rest for a few minutes. I cut it into 9 pieces and roughly followed Baking Bites' instructions on how to shape hot dog buns for rising. They were a little whale-ish looking, but overall I was pleased with bread to wiener ratio. Our Nathan's never tasted so good!

Our breakfast this morning was Whole Grain Waffles, a delicious and crispy waffle containing flax seed, wheat germ, and whole wheat pastry flour. I sometimes make bread out of leftover pancakes, so with 2 cups of batter left over. I tried my hand at a loaf of bread from the batter. I threw it into the bread machine with a 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, about 1-1/2 cups flour, and 2-1/2 teaspoons yeast. After it completed the Dough setting, I put it into a greased bread pan and let it rise. I lost track of time on rising, and it rose too high. There was some deflation when it baked - for about 30 minutes on 350 - but it was still quite tasty, with flecks of flax seed and a little crunch on the crust from the wheat germ.

A high-carb day around here, and that makes me happy.

Cheddar Bacon Pinwheels

These were some of the yummiest rolls I've ever made, and I have to thank blogger extraordinaire Pattie Tierney of Olla-Podrida. Along with a richly varied collection of tempting recipes and beautiful table settings accompanied by well-written narratives, Pattie consistently presents the most beautiful breads on her blog, and many of them are made using her bread machine. This recipe is adapted from her Ham and Cheddar Rolls.

I started making yeast breads when I was a newlywed, and through the years I have made countless cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, kringles, loaves of bread, and pizza dough. I resisted buying a bread machine because I felt that my hands and mixer were more than adequate to the task of mixing and kneading. As I grow older my desire to bake and cook is waning as I long to spend more time quilting and creating in my loft. But we do still love homemade bread!

I was intrigued by the endless supply of delectable looking breads that Pattie attributed to her Sunbeam bread machine, so I asked her a few questions about using it. Last week (with Pattie egging me on) I just decided to do it, and my husband said "go for it", so I ordered it from Amazon, and it arrived Tuesday evening. Yesterday I threw the ingredients for the rolls into the machine, set it to "Dough", and away it went. One and one half hours later I had risen dough. I rolled it out, filled it with goodies, let it rise, and baked it. So easy!

Be sure to visit Pattie's tutorial with photos. Pattie made her rolls in a muffin tin, and I baked mine on a baking sheet to resemble cinnamon rolls. I changed the recipe slightly, adding some self-rising cornmeal and using whole wheat pastry flour instead of wheat flour. I love adding cornmeal because I love the texture and flavor it lends to a bread recipe. I forgot to buy ham, so I crumbled a couple pieces of cooked bacon over the dough, and I had no scallions so I used what I had on hand - dried chives. What resulted was a tender, buttery, savory, melt-in-your-mouth roll that rivaled any I've made in the past 40 years. My goal is to try every bread on Pattie's blog.

Cheddar Bacon Pinwheels
Adapted from the original Ham and Cheddar Rolls
My version produced 16 rolls

Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup 1% milk
6 tablespoons shortening
3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 pkg dry yeast
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 extra-large eggs

Filling:
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
crumbled bacon bits
2 tablespoons dried chives

Place dough ingredients into work bowl of bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer. Set machine on "Dough" setting and press "Start". When machine has completed dough-making cycle (90 minutes on mine) remove dough to lightly floured surface and roll into large rectangle. Spread with butter; sprinkle cheese evenly over buttered surface and top with bacon and chives. Beginning at long end, roll up as tightly as possible, pinching seam to seal. Slice into 1" thick pieces. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet in warm spot and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 40-50 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and leave in pan for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing to a wire rack to cool completely.