oatmeal molasses bread.

This is a beautiful golden, moist loaf of yeast bread that had my family sighing with contentment. The molasses flavor is reminiscent of brown bread - the kind you get in a can and eat with hot dogs and baked beans. Okay, maybe you don't, but my family does.

In any case, this bread is delicious. Kudos to Fannie Farmer for this one as well - she is my bread best friend apparently.

Try it out.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup instant oats
• 2 cups water
• 1 package dry yeast (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil (I used the oil)
• 5 1/2 cups white flour, approximately

Steps:

• Put the oats in a large bowl
• Bring 2 cups water to a boil, pour over the oats, and let stand for at least 15 minutes
• Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup warm water (remember, warm - not hot. Don't kill your yeast) and let it stand for 5 minutes to dissolve
• Feel the oats at the bottom of the bowl to be sure they're lukewarm (I got really impatient and had to put ice packs underneath the bowl to speed it up... seriously it takes a long time to get cooler when you start with boiling water)
• Add the molasses, salt, oil, and dissolved yeast
• Work in enough flour so that the dough is easy to handle (this is going to be kind of a lot. Do it one cup at a time but don't be discouraged if you've added three and it's still not something you want to try kneading)
• Turn it out onto a floured board (remember to flour your hands too... a lot)
• Knead for a minute or two, and let it rest for 10 minutes (I have no idea what this does but they always say to do it)
• Resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary (smooth is kind of relative, as this dough has oatmeal in it. Use your judgement - I actually really liked how this one felt when I was done)
• Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk (see the white bread recipe for thoughts on rising, and kneading for that matter, it's the same deal)
• Punch down and shape into two loaves
• Place in greased loaf pans, cover, and let rise again until double in bulk
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Bake for 45 minutes
• Remove from the pans and cool on racks

Enjoy it, it's great - especially warm with butter. :)

white bread.

So apparently when I was two years old my mom would make bread with me every weekend. I don't really remember it, but I've seen the pictures and it looks like it was a really good time. Also, so cute? This potentially had an early influence on my love of baking, and recently I've decide to be brave and attempt to reconquer the art of yeast breads.

I started slow, and you can too. This is my recipe for white bread - originally from the Fannie Farmer cookbook with a few extra tips of my own. It's really really delicious, and based on how scary the bread section in this cookbook is, not that hard at all.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons shortening or vegetable oil (I used vegetable oil - shortening kind of grosses me out)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup hot milk
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 package dry yeast (if you buy it in bulk like we do, this equals about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup warm water (different than hot!)
• 6 cups white flour (or, if you're me/you're in the same kind of conditions as me as far as humidity, altitude, etc, probably more than that)

Steps:

• Mix the shortening (or oil), salt, and sugar in a large bowl
• Add the hot milk and hot water - mix it a little with a spoon - the sugar and salt will dissolve
• Let it cool to about lukewarm - if it's too hot when you add the yeast, the poor little fungi will die and then you'll have unleavened bread which is good for passover but otherwise no.
• Speaking of yeast, mix it with the warm water and let it stand for 5 minutes to dissolve
• Add the dissolved yeast and 3 cups of flour to the first mixture and beat until well blended
• Add 2 more cups of flour, mix, and turn out onto a lightly floured board - okay, but take it from me, if your dough looks super extra sticky, don't turn it out yet. Add some more flour. And flour that board heavily. And your hands. Sticky dough is kind of scary. Before you know it it's all over your hands and you're stuck there forever. Don't worry. Keep the flour at hand and be brave.
• Next, knead for a minute or two and then let sit for 10 minutes. Kneading 101: fold the dough in half towards your body, then push it away from you with the heel of your palm. Pick it up and turn it 90 degrees. Repeat.
• Adding just enough flour that the dough is not sticky (which in my experience has been a pretty significant amount), resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Put the dough in a large, greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk (this will probably take about 2 hours in a moderately warm kitchen - but you could do it in the fridge if you needed more time and it would take longer. The important part about rising isn't the time, but how much the dough has risen. It will be different depending on the temperature in your house)
• Punch down and shape into two loaves (I pretty much just cut it in half and play with it for a bit so it's kind of resembling loaf shape)
• Place in greased loaf pans, cover, and let double in bulk again (this takes me about an hour)
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Bake bread for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes more.
• Remove from pans and cool on racks
• Slice and enjoy!

You can have cheesy bread like that if you add about 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar in with the last of the flour. :)

rainbow cupcake love.

Rainbow cupcakes are something that I've been trying to perfect for about a month and a half now - it took me three tries to get it right and four tries to perfect it. My little sister says she's not sick of cupcakes butttt I feel like that might be coming any day now.

My first try was really cute but not at all what I wanted. Different colors, yes. Rainbow, no. More like a tie dye monstrosity of cuteness.

The second try was no better. Instead of orange I used purple for my fifth color, and it ended up looking for the most part like a dinosaur. Bummer.

The third try was when I really figured it out. I decided to try a different cake recipe entirely, and because I was a little nervous I only used four colors. As a result these cupcakes kind of look like legos, but were super successful in the stripy department.

The fourth attempt was a true success - SIX DIFFERENT COLORS - all beautiful and perfect the way I wanted them. I am the winner.

And here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• food coloring

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Line muffin tins - makes about 12 cupcakes
• Cream butter and sugar together (use the kitchenaid mixer, for realz)
• Beat in eggs one at a time
• Stir in vanilla
• Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl
• Add flour and baking powder to the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla - mix well
• Stir in milk until batter is smooth
• Separate batter equally into 6 (or more, or less?) small bowls
• Add food coloring until desired color is reached
• Layer batter one color at a time into cupcake tins
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until done

Yummm.