Granny Jeanette's Babka

Ingredients & Directions:

• 3 packets yeast (6 tsp instant or 3 cubes fresh)
  
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water 
• 2 cups flour

Make a well in the flour and let sit for 30 mins.

• 3 yolks
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup yoghurt

Mix with spoon and then knead. Add 3 cups flour (watch closely bc sometimes 3 cups is too much) slowly and leave in the dish for about 4 hours to rise and then knead again.

Roll out and spread butter cinnamon and sugar. Roll it up and slice into 6 pieces and place in a greased break away round tin and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Boil 3 Tablespoons milk and 3 Tablespoons sugar and pour into the holes.

Bake in 300 degree oven for 1 hour.

 

Notes: This is not the sweetest babka. You can really taste the sour notes from the yogurt. Personally I like it sweeter and want to try it with double the filling and do spiral rolls instead of cinnamon roll styled in a round breakaway pan. One day.......

When my mom used to bake this when I was little I remember her piling pillows all around it as it would rise. She said it kept the dough warm to rise. I can clearly see the the floral patterned pillows in a pile around the bowl.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour

1.5 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cup (80 ml) neutral-flavored oil; canola, vegetable and grape seed are great

2 large egg (150 g)

1 cup (80 ml – 120 ml) yogurt; dairy and non-dairy both work, milk to thin batter as needed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon

Less than 1.5 cups frozen blueberries

Directions

• Prepare Oven and Muffin Cups

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. For big-topped muffins, line 24 standard-size muffin cups with paper liners. Fill the cups with 1 dessert spoon of batter.

• Make Batter

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.


In the mixer add the eggs, approx 150grams. Add yogurt. Add oil. Add vanilla and whisk to combine. Beat until it comes together all creamy.


Add in the dry ingredients and beat until it comes together. Scrape down sides and mix again. Remove bowl from the mixer and fold in the blueberries by hand. Make sure blueberries have been rolled in about 1/4 cup sugar.


• Bake Muffins 20 mins but check at 15 mins.
  

Divide the batter between muffin cups. (If making big-topped muffins, the batter will come to the tops of the paper liners). Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake muffins 15- 20 minutes  but usually closer to 20 or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out cleanish. Freeze for up to 3 months.




Note to self: These were so moist I can not express how much I enjoyed them.

Melt in your Mouth Hearty Blueberry Muffins

We needed something delicious, with blueberries, and I was determined to use the goat kefir. I kept thinking of Ina Garten's Blueberry Crumble that I used to make but wanted something heartier that wouldn't make you feel guilty afterwards. I found a great recipe over here at Finger Prickin' Good. Made some adjustments of my own of course. How could I not with all the farm fresh options we have around here.

Makes 12 Large Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups homemade goat milk kefir (super thick to mimic Greek yogurt)
2 large eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp Applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray or liners.
3. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
4. Combine kefir, beaten eggs, applesauce and vanilla in a second bowl.
5. Fold liquid mixture into dry mixture until complete stirs but not over stirred.
6. Gently fold in blueberries, I mixed in frozen ones that were coated in flour and gave 4 mixes in the bowl before they were almost mixed enough. Too much mixing and your dough turns purple!
7. Spoon into muffin tins until they are full full full. Scoop all the batter into the 12 tins to ensure large muffins.
8. Bake until the top starts to turn gold and they feel firm to the touch. About 20-25 minutes. I have two tins, one dark and 1 light. The dark tins browned the bottoms and the light tins did not. If using light tins I'd cook a touch longer.

Final thoughts:

These were mouth watering right out of the oven and so delish! I can't stand it when muffins get that wet soggy top by the next day and these did that. Maybe someone can tell me the secret to stopping this from happening. You couldn't feel the oats in the crumb fresh out of the oven but the next day you could really feel the heartiness the oats offered.  My hubby usually can't eat muffins/pastries for breakfast and after this he felt full like he got a morning kick of good stuff instead of just sugar and sweets. I'm guessing it's about 5-6 grams protein maybe more per muffin. It's so hard to estimate when everything I buy is bulk. I need to sit down and calculate it all out. One day....one day.....enjoy the goodies in the mean time! You might also want to try these protein packed super healthy but delicious chocolate chip chewies.

Dairy free (for those with protein intolerance of cow milk), oil free

Copy Cat Version of Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed.

Well, I just felt compelled to share this recipe! I absolutely love Dave's Killer Bread. I mean, who doesn't right? Good Seed is my choice and so I set out to make my own version at home. I just need to do a side by side taste test but you guys can tell me what I should change instead.  That is short of the sprouted grain flour because I just don't feel like make it (or buying it!). I did however sub 1 cup emmer grain flour and 1 cup bread flour because I was short on whole wheat flour. Let me know how your version goes! Here's the recipe with a little help from the bread machine as a time saver for me.

1 ¼ cups warm water

2 Tbsp white sugar

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp molasses

1 egg beaten

3 Cups Whole Wheat

¼ cup quinoa

¼ cup or more sesame seeds

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

¼ cup flax meal

¼ cup whole flax seeds

¼ cup Irish Oatmeal (something hard)

¼ cup old fashioned oats

2-3 Tbsp cracked wheat

¼ cup packed full Vital Wheat Gluten

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp instant yeast

Use bread machine on dough cycle. Pull out when finished and shape for loaf pan. Heat oven to 350. Let rise until size is suitable and bake for 25-35 minutes in a large loaf pan.

I really enjoyed the crumb. The egg gives it a bit of fluff, yet it isn't in Dave's bread, but I needed it. I also over fill all my seed cups and even dump extra in and then roll the bread in seeds before I drop it in the loaf pan for it's final rise. The wheat gluten really gives it some stretch and could maybe use more depending how much whole wheat you use.  And lastly if it doesn't cook long enough it will be kind of gummy inside. That's a tell tale sign to bake it longer next time. Still good to eat though! And really yes you do need the molasses. Happy Baking!!

Made up a new cookie recipe today, or rather adapated it from some favorites. It is full of seeds and grains and lot's of omega's and of course some chocolate! I consider them quite healthy and you could sub whole wheat for the white flour so quite easily!

Chocolate Chips Chewies

2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Cup flour
2 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp Sunflower seed
3 Tbsp Flax Seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened medium shred coconut and 1/2 cups large shavings.
3/4 Cup applesauce (mind was bad so I subbed 2 eggs and a couple Tbsp soy milk)
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix oats, brown sugar, flour, seeds, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips in a large bowl. Add applesauce, olive oil and vanilla extract and mix well. Form into golf ball sized balls and place on a piece of parchment paper. Bake 11-12 minutes. Allow to cool fully before removing from cookie sheets.

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Scones (Casein/Dairy Free)

I love it when recipes work out in my (our) favor. Took my favorite scone recipe and adjusted it to be casein (dairy protein) free, a little more wholesome made from 100% whole wheat pastry flour with apple for added yummy factor.  I doubled this recipe to get 1 scone pie to eat now and 1 to eat later. I put it in the freezer.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup softened coconut oil (you can sub earth balance or smart balance too)
• 1 apple, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup of apple shreds)
• 1/3 cup Almond Milk (could sub any nut milk or coconut would work too)
• 1 egg yolk (hold the whites for later) (for a no egg version leave out the egg and increase the nut milk to a 1/2 cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place brown sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until everything is well-combined. Slightly warm the coconut oil so it's mildly soft and add it using a fork or pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Stir in the apple and almond milk, until the mixture starts to come together. It should be a little crumbly, but fairly easy to handle (not sticky) and easy to form into two balls. If it is too wet, add a little flour, too dry, sprinkle in some more milk alternative. Mine was more on the wet side and not so crumbly side but I've had it on all levels of the scale and it has cooked up just fine.
4. Make into 1 or 2 balls. I made this into 1 larger ball and proceeded as follows: gently flatten them into a disk that are about an inch to an inch and a half high on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the scones with the tablespoon of sugar or even a little more if desire mixed with cinnamon.
5. Cut or score the disks into 8 triangles (like a pizza), and bake for10-12  minutes, or until the scones begin to take on a nice golden brown hue on the tops and edges. I like to keep the scones touching as they bake for a pull-apart effect and tender middle. I gently separated them as they did slightly rise.
6. Once out of the oven I let them cool for about 10 minutes. Then I poured icing all over the top. To make the icing just mix a tablespoon of almond milk with about 1 cup powdered sugar until you get the consistency you enjoy. It should be thick but pourable. Pour all over the top of the scones and let it harden slightly. 
7. Enjoy!! (If you are freezing them, let them cool and then freeze. Step 6 should happen after you reheat on the spot so they don't end up soggy.)

Just out of the oven awaiting icing!

100% Sprouted Grain Bread Recipe #1

First I sprouted the following grains: wheat, barley, millet & spelt. Once all sprouted and combined they looked like this:

 Next I used my my champion juicer with the blank screen in to grind it to a pulp and activate the gluten.

I mixed about 1 TBSP. malted barley and 1TBSP yeast in my kitchen aid mixer with a touch of warm water to bubble for about 5 minutes. Then added the ground sprout mixture and used the mixer to bring it together. I put it in an oiled bowl to rise covered with plastic for about 2 hours. It rose a little. See note about skipping this rising step next time.

After the 2 hours I folded it over itself 2 times and rolled into a semi log shape gently and pressed it into the oil bread pan. Please not that this was a mistake. It should have gone directly into the loaf pans to rise and then bake.

 I baked it at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and this was not enough! I put it back in the oven at 275 degrees for 2 hours. This is how it looked before I put it back in for the second round of baking.

So it cooked up well, it was just a very dense little brick. I had to let it set up in the fridge for 2 days to get make it edible, otherwise it was too wet and gummy inside. I figured once I'm using wheat berries I might as well add some whole wheat flour next time and vital wheat gluten too. I don't like brick bread although it tasted delicious!