Butternut squash bread

I don't remember where I found this recipe, but since I have it has replaced zucchini bread in my kitchen.

I have to make sure I make some sort of bread or muffins each week or I spend a ridiculous amount of money buying muffins.  Since my 2nd seasonal job is finished today I have to eliminate the extra money I allocated for eating out.

To say that this bread is delish is an understatement, moist, sweet, and fluffy all make this a excellent choice for a breakfast bread or an afternoon snack with a cup of tea.

The original recipe calls for 1cup sugar and 1/4 cup water.  Today I substituted honey for the white sugar and omitted the 1/4 cup of water.  The original recipe also calls for white flour and I used some white/wheat combo bag I accidently picked up. 

Every time I make this bread it only lasts about two days before I eat it all.

Total costs for the loaf $4.33.  Much cheaper than buying $2 muffins every day.  I included .25 for the spices.  They have been in my cabinet and I don't remember how much I paid and calculating cost from a bottle of salt gives me too much of a headache now.  I buy my spices from an Indian grocery and get huge bags of cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, etc for about $2. 

Recipe

1 c. Butternut squash puree (see recipe below)
2 eggs - .66
1/2 c. Oil (I used olive) - .44
1/2 c. Honey - .68
1/2 c brown sugar - .38
1 3/4 c. Flour - . 34
1 tsp baking soda - .04
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cardamon

Butternut squash puree
1/2 cooked butternut squash $1
6 Tbsp butter - .56
2 Tbsp brown sugar -  .05
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of salt

Head oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly oil a loaf pan (or muffin tin).
Combine ingredients for puree in food processor and combine until smooth.  You might have to add a bit of water. 

In mixing bowl, mix eggs, puree, oil, honey, and brown sugar until smooth.  Add flour and spices and mix until just combined.

Pour mixture into an oiled loaf pan, bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until done.

Sourdough Day 2

Day 2 of the road to sourdough delight.  Something is happening to my starter, it's separated and smells nice and...well sour-like.  I mixed it up and added 1/2 cup water & 1/2 flour.  I have read various tips on pouring off some starter each day or waiting until it gets to the 2 cup level before pouring off.  I decided to keep my starter at around 2 cups, which meant I only added today.  So no  sourdough pancakes for me just yet. 

Starting Sourdough Starter

At the begining of the year, I made it a quest to become a domestic goddess which including making a killer loaf of bread.  So that hasn't happened yet and this morning I woke up deciding to start my own sourdough starter.  Which by the way, is super easy and I can't believe I haven't done things before; it's just the whole feeding it everyday thing I need to remember. 

I remember the first time I heard of sourdough starter I was kinda grossed out.  Years ago, I saw a story about a bakery in San Fransisco that makes their bread from a starter dating back to the 19th century or earlier 20th century. Admittingly, I had no idea what went into making a sourdough starter and this was pre-eating bacteria is good for you phase of my life.  The chance of that San Fransico's starter still having flour that was over 100 years old is pretty slim and later, after learning what a starter was I was less grossed out. 

Sourdough starter is the tratitional way of leavening bread; how our ancestors made bread before they could go to the store and pick up some Fleshmanns. When the mix is left on your contertop, wild yeasts are cultivated in the container.  How in the world does that happen?  Well, when the flour and water become one in your container, it starts to ferment yeast which creats lacto bacteria which feed on metabolic products produced by the yeast, while producing lactic acid preventing unwanted organisms from infecting your starter (The Urban Homestead).  Whew!  Alton Brown explains it much better, don't you just love his videos?

Sourdough bread is reported to be "richer in certain vitamins and enzymes that are by-products of lactic fermentation, and it contains less phytic acid, which blocks mineral absorptoion." (Good Bread is Back). A perfect loaf of sourdough bread has a crispy crust and soft, chewy, tender inside.  Delish if you ask me. 

To make your starter:

1. Get a glass container with a lid that can hold at least 4 cups of liquid.
2. Add 1 cup white flour & 1 cup lukewarm water (I used unbleached, organic flour from a local mill).
3. Stir until smooth.
4. Put lid on the jar and place it in a warm place to rest.  I am keeping mine on top of my stove. 
5. Everyday pour off 1 cup of starter and add 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup warm water. YOU MUST FEED IT EVER DAY!
6. After a few days it will start to get bubbly, this is good and a layer of liquid forms on top. 
7. After two weeks, you shoud have active culture of wild yeasts that you can bake bread with. 

You can use the cup of starter that you throw out every day to make pancakes, muffins, etc... Which I intend on doing, so it doesn't go to waste!

I will keep you updated on the progress of my yeast!

Step one in becoming a domestic goddess: make bread.

As you may remember I made ricotta cheese last week (which was extremely delish).  When you make cheese you have this greenish watery substance called whey left over; the whey is what separates from the curd.  If you ever make cheese, do not throw the whey out because it's full of vitamins and is good for all sorts of things: drinking, making shakes, giving it to Fido, watering plants, & making bread (and has lots more uses). 

I decided I wanted to make bread with some of the whey and picked out an Oatmeal Molasses Honey recipe.  I had read different opinions on what whey from ricotta cheese is good for; some said don't use it for breads, others said go ahead.  I have made bread with yeast before, but it was always hit or miss, sometimes resulting in a disastrous flat blob. 

Making good artisan yeast bread is on that list of mine, you know the "I really want to learn how to do this" list, that never seems to get smaller. There is a bread shop in town that makes the best breads, you know the kind that are crunchy on the outside, yet light & fluffy on the inside. I love going in and taking in the smell of fresh baked bread, and deciding which loaf to try for the week.  I will admit I am a bit envious of the bakers skill and am determined to one day make amazing breads!

So my bread itself was good, however something went wrong.  It was a bit too heavy and it didn't seem like it rose enough, the recipe I used didn't say dissolve the yeast in warm water and I am thinking this is the "went wrong."  The loaves also started to crack, I don't think that's normal. 

Sunday was also the day for me to start canning! Yes, I was very busy on Sunday and this was only half of what I did.  Last month I posted about a new book I purchased, "Canning & Preserving" by Ashley English.  I finally got around to making my first recipe from the book, Spiced Squash Chutney.  Ashely suggests using several types of squash; I chose butternut. 

Once the chutney started cooking on my stove, my apartment was filled with the smells of cumin, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, mustard seed, and fenugreek.  If you haven't smelled all of these spices together, you are missing out. Combined with the squash, apples, and raisins I imaged my kitchen smelled like a Moroccan market. 

Once the chutney was cooked, I piled everything into my jars and of course did not have enough.  I had read so much about making sure air bubbles were out and letting the jars boil for long enough, I think I was terrfied of having deadly bacteria grow in my delicious smelling chutney. But I think I managed not to screw it up, because my lids were sealed and I was overly anal about letting them boil for long enough.
Don't they look so pretty?

I now have several months to find enough storage space in my apartment because once the warmer months get here I will be a canning queen!