Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Yeast Sweet Potato Bread Mini Loaves

I first made a full sized sweet potato bread loaf with home grown sweet potatoes when my mom visited last November for my daughter's band senior night. The bread had a beautiful orange color and tasted great toasted with soup. In December, I donated some mini loaves to my daughter's winter guard bake sale. My daughter's math teacher bought a loaf and asked for the recipe.

I used the "Spiced Pumpkin Bread" recipe in The Bread Box Recipe Book that came with my old Toastmaster bread machine as a rough guide the first two times I made this bread. I mixed the dough with my KitchenAid mixer and added flour, oil, yeast, and water as necessary to get the correct dough consistency. When I tried to write the recipe, I had trouble duplicating my original results.

After many loaves, I finally have a successful recipe to make mini loaves. My daughter gave her teachers loaves made with the following recipe as end of the year teacher gifts.

I think some of my problems writing the recipe were due to difference in sweet potatoes. Although my subsequent loaves had a nice golden color, none of them were the brilliant orange of the original loaves made with fresh sweet potatoes. Since sweet potatoes differ, if your dough is too sticky, slowly add more flour. If your dough is not elastic, gradually add more oil. If you want your bread to rise more, add more yeast the next time you make it or try letting it rise longer.

Yeast

I like to buy yeast in bulk; the individual packages sold in most grocery stores are not cost effective. I am currently using Fleischmann's Instant Dry Yeast that I bought at Sam's where two 1-lb vacuum packed packages are sold together. I store in the unopened yeast in my cabinet. Once open, I store the yeast in a bottle in the refrigerator. To ensure the yeast is good, my first step in making bread is mixing the yeast with warm water and a little sugar and letting it sit until the yeast starts working (e.g., liquid gets frothy as bubbles begin to form).

Sweet Potatoes

To prepare the sweet potatoes for the bread, I cut them in half and pressure cook them for 10 minutes after the pressure cooker is at pressure.

Mini Pan Size

My mini pans measure 3 1/8" X 5 5/8" at the top, 2 1/4" X 4 3/4" at the bottom, and 2" deep.

Ingredients
1/4 CupWarm water
1 1/2 TbspYeast
pinchSugar
1 CupSweet potato, mashed (about 1 large potato)
1/4 CupVegetable oil
1/4 CupBrown sugar, packed
2 TspSalt
1 TspLemon juice
1 Egg
4 CupsBread Flour
Vegetable shortening for greasing loaf pans
Directions
  1. In a small bowl or pyrex measuring cup, mix lukewarm water, yeast, and pinch of sugar. Let sit 5-10 minutes until yeast starts working, liquid gets frothy as bubbles begin to form.
  2. While waiting, mix sweet potato, vegetable oil, brown sugar, salt, lemon juice and egg in a large mixer using the flat beater.
  3. Add bread flour to liquid mixture, one cup at a time, mixing lightly after each cup. If flour flies in air, turn mixer quickly on and off until flour begins to be incorporated. Repeat until all 4 cups are added.
  4. Add yeast mixture to flour and stir until moist. Remove flat beater and replace with dough hook. Cover mixer with a kitchen towel, and let dough sit for 5 minutes.
  5. Mix using dough hook until dough is smooth and elastic. If dough is too sticky, add small amount of flour and mix. Repeat if needed.
  6. Put dough in oiled bowl and allow to rise until double about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
  7. Remove from dough from bowl, and knead lightly by hand. Divide into four equal parts. Using a rolling pin, roll each part into a rectangle 4 1/2" X 12". Starting at one short end, roll up into a loaf. Put in a greased mini-loaf pan.
  8. Allow dough to rise in pans until loaf shaped, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
  9. Preheat oven to 375°. Bake 15 minutes until loaves are light brown. Cover loaf pans with aluminum foil and bake 10-15 minutes more, until bread sounds hollow when tapped.
  10. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing from pans.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Blueberry Muffins with Lime Glaze

This recipe shows how you can modify a recipe you like. It is almost identical to the cranberry orange recipe. In the summer, my kids are responsible for picking the blueberries from our bushes. We freeze the berries to use throughout the year. Our berries are slightly tart. I think the berries taste sweeter if you thaw the blueberries before adding them to the batter.

I like the flavor the lime zest and glaze add to the muffins. A thick glaze spread on warm, not hot muffins, works best. Otherwise, your glaze drips off the muffins. The recipe makes about 18 regular size muffins.

Ingredients

1 1/4 Cups White flour
1 Cup Wheat flour
1 Tsp Baking soda
2 Tsp Baking powder
Pinch Salt
1 1/3 Cups Brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp Lime rind, grated (from about 3 medium-sized limes)
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Egg, beaten
2/3 Cup Canola oil
2 Cups Blueberries, thawed if frozed or fresh
1 Cup Powdered sugar
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp Lime juice
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Grease and flour muffin tins or place muffin liners in tin.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together white flour, wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to mix well.
  3. Add brown sugar and lime rind. Stir to mix well.
  4. In a small bowl, wisk together buttermilk, egg, and oil.
  5. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until mixed.
  6. Stir in blueberries.
  7. Using a measuring cup, fill muffin tins 2/3 full.
  8. For regular muffins, bake 15 minutes. If not done, reduce heat to 350° and bake for 5 more minutes.
  9. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from tins.
  10. For glaze, mix powdered sugar and lime juice until smooth but thick. Spoon over warm muffins.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Katrina MRE Cranberry Orange Muffins

Since my brother-in-law is an electrician, excellent sheetrock installer, and all around handyman, he was one of the first people to return to the New Orleans area and begin cleanup after Katrina. Because of the limited resources at that time, MREs were given out to help feed everyone. Since my son was a Boy Scout, his uncle gave him his leftover MREs to use on camping trips. Since I do not like to see food go to waste, I claimed the dried cranberries from the MREs and used them to make cranberry orange muffins. We liked the muffins, and I now make them with Ocean Spray Craisins. My daughter took them with her last week on her Physics class's camping trip.

I used the streusel muffin recipe from the article "How to Make Professional Muffins at Home" in the magazine Cook's Illustrated September/October 1993 as a basis for this recipe. I omitted the topping and modified the recipe to use whole wheat flour and dried fruit. It makes about 16-18 regular size muffins, 1 dozen mini-muffins and 12 regular size muffins, or 2 dozen mini-muffins and 6-8 regular size muffins.

Muffin Liners?

I like to use muffin liners when baking muffins. They shorten the time needed to clean the muffin pans. I think it is easier to pack a muffin with a liner in a lunch box and neater to eat it.

Muffins are relatively inexpensive to make, but liners can vary significantly in price. I try and get them for less than 2 cents each. I once bought a large box at a warehouse store, but I have not found them again. Check different locations in grocery stores for choices. Our local Ingles sells them near the cake mixes and by the plastic wrap. You can sometimes buy them on sale after holidays. I am currently using Halloween liners that I stocked up on when they were 90% off at Target. Instead of 2 cents per liner, three Halloween liners cost less than a penny.

If you decide not to use liners, grease and flour your muffin tins well. Grease and flour both the muffin compartments and the tray top.

Fill Only 2/3 Full

A common mistake is to completely fill your muffins. Since the batter expands as it cooks, you only need to fill the muffin compartments 2/3 full.

Ingredients
1 1/4CupsWhite flour
1CupWheat flour
1TspBaking soda
2TspsBaking powder
PinchSalt
1 1/3 CupsBrown sugar, packed
2TbspsOrange rind, grated (from about 2 medium-sized oranges)
1CupButtermilk
1Egg, beaten
2/3CupCanola oil
1CupCraisins or other dried cranberries
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Grease and flour muffin tins or place muffin liners in tin.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together white flour, wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to mix well.
  3. Add brown sugar and orange rind. Stir to mix well.
  4. In a small bowl, wisk together buttermilk, egg, and oil.
  5. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until mixed.
  6. Stir in Craisins.
  7. Using a measuring cup for regular muffins and tablespoon for mini-muffins, fill muffin tins 2/3 full.
  8. For mini-muffins, bake 10 minutes. If not done, reduce heat to 350° and bake for 5 more minutes.
  9. For regular muffins, bake 15 minutes. If not done, reduce heat to 350° and bake for 5 more minutes.
  10. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from tins.