Foody Friday - My new favorite bread

I never thought I'd like making homemade bread. I never thought I'd find a homemade bread that is very much like store bought bread. I never thought I'd get DR to eat much homemade bread. I never thought I'd rather make bread than buy bread.

That was all before my friend gave me this recipe. Now I'm making two loaves of bread every 2 or 3 days.

Healthy Homemade Bread by Tanna Richard, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Tanna says, "I developed this recipe because I needed a tasy bread that would be easy on the budget and easy to prepare at home. As a busy mom of three young children, I really wanted to make our own bread for helath and economic reasons. The problem was that many recipes I found really didn't replicate the taste and texture of the store bough breads that my family enjoyed. So, I developed this recipe, keeping an eye to the taste and texture and trying to add additional bits of packed nutritional value. The produced bread far surpassed any bread from teh store and with the time saving methods I incorporated, it is faster to make than loading the kids in the van to go buy the bread!"

Healthy Homemade Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

(when I don't have wheat germ I sub in whole wheat flour and it works just fine)

1/2 cup quick cooking oats, uncooked

1 T salt

1 T yeast

2 1/4 c. very warm water

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. canola oil

4-4 1/2 cups bread flour

(I use all purpose flour, again, it works fine.)

In mixing bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oats, salt and yeast. Stir in water, honey, and oil, beat 2 minutes. Gradually stir in 3 cups bread flour to make a slightly sticky dough.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead in enough remaining flour to make a smooth and elastic dough. Knead 8-10 minutes by hand or with dough hook. 

Divide dough in half. To shap; form dough to fit into 2 oiled bread pans; press down to fill pan. Smooth top. Cover loaves with damp towel; let rise in a warm place until double, about 1-1 1/2 hours. 

Bake in preheated 350 oven 35-40 minutes or til golden brown.  

Foody Friday - Homemade Mac n' Cheese

Purse Gurl has come back to me! Although she's been carefully avoiding my camera she did allow me to photograph the Baked Mac n' Cheese she made us last night. So yummy!

Boil about 2 or 3 cups of macaroni or other small pasta; we used penne rigate. While the pasta is boiling make up the cheese sauce.

Start with 1/2 cup of milk and mix in 2 T. of cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat 2 cups of milk over medium heat.

Slowly add 2 cups of shredded cheese (room temperature! That makes a difference I've learned.) Add more if you like it extra cheesy. Wouldn't this be great with a bunch of fancy white cheeses? Mmmmm....

Slowly whisk the cheese into the milk until it melts. Then whisk in the cornstarch/milk mixture.

Whisk and heat until desired consistency is reached. It should be thick but pourable. Adjust cheese or cornstarch as needed.

Pour over cooked pasta and stir well. Transfer to lightly sprayed baking dish and bake at 350 until golden brown on top.

Sorry, bad picture...but I had to snap it quick before my kids dived in.

* A fabulous twist on this is to sprinkle 1" pieces of bacon on top before you bake it.