I love baking bread and here is one of the recipes I have used the most because it almost always turns out perfectly. Jennifer Wright gave me a loaf one day while we were living in Wolfville. Tim and I finished the loaf that day so I decided to get the recipe. Thanks Jen!
In a small bowl mix 1c. lukewarm water and 1tsp. sugar. Over the mixture sprinkle 1Tbs yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes until the yeast has risen to the surface.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the following together until the solids are dissolved: 2c Hot water 1/2c sugar 1Tbs salt 1/2c oil, melted butter or margarine
When Yeast mixture is ready stir it then add it to the large bowl. Next, add 5c whole wheat flour (mixing after each cup). By the 5th cup I am mixing with my hands.
When flour is absorbed add 2c of all-purpose flour. (I normally add 1 and then add the other one in very slowly, I may not use it all). Add more all-purpose flour while you knead if you need it. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is nice and elasticy. If too dry add more water, if too wet add more flour.
When finished kneading put dough back in bowl and cover it with a clean towel. Place in a warm spot to rise (can put in the oven at a low temperature with the door open, I like to put in oven, heat it up to 170, leave the door closed and then turn the oven off when it's pre-heated). Let the dough rise for 1-2 hours until doubles in size (about 2 hours for me). After the dough has risen punch it down and knead it a couple of times to get the air bubbles out. Divide in 3 parts and shape each one into a loaf. Place loaves into 3 greased loaf pans, cover with towel, and let rise for about another hour.
Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes until the tops are brown. Take the loaves immediately out of the pans. If the bottoms are brown and you hear a hollow sound when you tap on them the bread is ready. Let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy your delicious bread.
We normally freeze some of it or give it away so we're not tempted to eat it all right away. We don't eat a lot of bread anymore so it's not such a big deal. Even if you've never made bread by hand before you should try out this recipe. It only failed me when I tried to make bread with 3 bumps and when I left it to rise for 4 hours.....for some reason it didn't rise properly in the pans. Try it though, making your own bread is so much cheaper then buying bread and tastes so much better!
Tim and I are pretty relaxed about our 'Sunday food rituals'. Many people here have a large Sunday dinner (at lunch time) but we're not really into that. We normally have a light lunch and a normal supper. Today we decided it was finally time to make lentil burgers again. I found this recipe for lentil burgers a while back online, I don't even know what website it came from. I was given a bunch of brown lentils and I was trying to find uses for them since lentils aren't something we grew up with. We did some prep Saturday because they are pretty labour intensive but definitely worth it. Yesterday we cooked the lentils, potatoes and grated the carrots. I also made some pitas (recipe from Kate's Kitchen) to use as buns. I thought I would share these delicious recipes with you with pictures just in case you desire to try them out.
Whole Wheat Pitas
3 cups flour (1ww, 2white)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet instant yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil,
vegetable oil, butter, or shortening
If you are using active dry yeast, follow the instructions on the jar to active it. Otherwise, mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water (I had to add an extra 1/4 cup).If to wet and sticky add more flour.
Once all of the ingredients form a ball, knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.(I can't afford one of those fancy smanchy things...)
When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly greased. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 (or more) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.
After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes (I bake mine for more like 6 or 7 minutes, until they are puffy). If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, my general rule is to wait for them to puff up. This batch was a little disappointing because they didn't puff as much, I think the dough was a little too wet. My first batch was awesome, they poofed up nicely. Oh well, they're still yummy.
Now for the lentil burgers:
2 cups Brown Lentils - cooked (a little less than 1 cup dry)
1 large onion - finely chopped 2 small carrots - grated 1 garlic clove - minced 1/2 cup freshly made bread crumbs (just process fresh bread
in a food processor) 1 large potato (boiled and mashed) 1 teaspoon Cumin powder 1 teaspoon Coriander powder 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce Ground Black Pepper to taste Chilli flakes (depending on how hot you like it) Method 1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes till the onions turn golden brown. Add spices, cumin and coriander powder and cook for a minute. Remove from heat and let it cool. 2. In a large bowl, put the onion mix, grated carrots, lentils, potato and bread crumbs. Mix well. 3. Add the soy sauce, black pepper, chili flakes and salt. Mince the lentils so that they will bind with the rest of the mixture. 4. Form flat patties and put aside. Cooking options 1. Heat very little bit of oil in a flat pan and then cook the patty on each sideuntil its crispy.
(I normally do this method, be careful though, the burgers are very delicate and likely to fall apart) 2. Preheat oven. And place patties on a baking sheet and cook for about 30mins,depending on the
heating capacity of the oven. Make sure to flip midway to cookthe other side.
The Finished Product! We had a delicious meal and we still have 10 burgers left over! If you feel like going meatless for a meal try this recipe out, you wont be disappointed.
