Heart Shaped Soft Pretzels

I am pretty sure making pretzels was one of the best ideas that I had all week. Making them into the shape of hearts, that WAS the best idea I had all week. Take note. Making anything into the shape of a heart is always the best idea.

So why pretzels? Well why not. I make so much bread in this house that I felt like making a little something different. I was thinking bagels, but I didn't really want to have dough in the fridge for a day and plus I wanted to do something then and there and have it be done. Like pretzels. From start to finish they takes less then 2 hours. And you get to twist the dough and boil it and it is just fun. Like I could totally see making pretzels with a few littles or maybe a friend or a “friend”. A pretzel making date. Now that is a good idea. Oh me, I am so full of all those good ideas. HAHA!

These pretzels are of the soft variety. And to make them pretzels, and not just bread, the kneaded dough gets shaped and then boiled in a baking soda bath (not lye…don’t have any lying around). Then they are sprinkled in course salt and baked til a deep golden brown. They come out soft and chewy just like a good soft pretzel should be. Then they need to be eaten right away, slightly warm, because that is how you are suppose to eat them.

And so the pretzels were made. The mr came home right after I pulled these puppies out of the oven and went for a walk to get some fresh air. When I got home I found him salivating over a plate, waiting for his cue to eat. The cue was given (once I put the camera away) and eat one he did. And then another. And another. Because really, what the hell, I made him heart shaped pretzels. He loved them so much that I just let him eat as many as he wanted. He was happy, I was happy, there where hearts. No complaints. Even when I told him he was having pretzels for all meals until they were gone. He just smiled he pretzel filled mouth at that.

To the pretzels!

The stuff. Flour, salt, course salt, brown sugar, yeast, water, and some baking soda.

The yeast, brown sugar and warm water go into a big bowl to activate. Once it starts to bubble, dump in the flour and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms.

Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes.

Kneaded all nice to soft and supple.

Place the kneaded dough into a clean bowl and cover. Let sit for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Once doubled, dump dough onto a lightly floured counter and cut into 12 equal pieces.

Now to shape. Roll each piece into a long rope, 16-20 inches long if you can. Fold the ends together and twist then fold twisted ends down back into itself.

Pinch the end into a point and there you go. A heart! ♥️

And then do it to all the dough.

Water and baking soda bath boiling away.

Grab the hearts and place a few at a time, gently, into the water for about 45 seconds then pull them out with a slotted spatula.

Onto a baking sheet either lined with parchment or a splat mat.

And don’t forget to sprinkle them all with course kosher salt.

Into the oven they go.

About 18-20 minutes later… PRETZELS

Get them onto a cooling rack to cool just enough.

And then you just eat them because what else are you suppose to do.

And yes, grab the mustard because duh.

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Heart ShapeD Soft Pretzels

makes 12 pretzels

For the dough

• 3 1/2 - 4 cups all pupse flour

• 2 teaspoons yeast

• 1 heavy tablespoon brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups warm water

• 2 tablespoons course kosher salt (for topping)

For water bath

• 7 cups water

• 2 tablespoons baking soda

Start by placing yeast, brown sugar, and warm water into a big bowl and mix. Let sit for a few minutes to activate yeast. Once active, dump in the lesser amount of flour and salt. Mix until a shaggy dough forms. If the dough seems super wet, add in a little more flour. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead until soft and elastic for about 5 minutes, adding in a little more flour as needed to keep it from getting too sticky. Once dough had been kneaded, place into a clean bowl, cover, and let sit in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.

Once dough has doubled, preheat oven to 450. Also get the water bath ready by placing the water into big pot and placing on heat.

Back to dough. Dump the dough onto a lighty floured surface and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Then shape each piece by rolling the dough into a rope between 16 to 20 inches long then twisting the two ends together a few times. Fold the ends over to the middle of the dough and pinch the end into a heart. (check images above if that doesn’t make sense) Once all the dough has been shaped, its time to boil. When the water is at a rolling boil, dump in the baking soda and mix around. Place 2-3 pretzels gently into the water at a time and boil for about 45 seconds. Remove from water with a splatted spoon or spatula and place on a parchment or lightly oiled baking sheet. Repeat until all dough is boiled. Make sure when you place the pretzels onto the baking sheet you give them room so they are not touching. If you need to, use 2 baking sheets. And now before the placing them into the oven, sprinkle them with the course salt.

Now into the hot oven they go, for about 18-20 minutes or until they turn a deep golden brown.

Once baked, pull from oven, place on a wire rack to cool a bit, then eat them. Dipped in mustard or any other dipping situation you find appropriate.

Left overs, should there be any, should be stored individually either wrapped or in a bag at room temp for a few days. OR better yet, just freeze them. And when you want to eat one, just warm it up again in the oven.

Soft and Fluffy Oatmeal Wheat Dinner Rolls

What’s up with dinner rolls? Do people eat them all year round, like on a Tuesday in the middle of March or maybe a nice blue sky sunny day in July? Is that a weird question? But seriously, think about it. Dinner rolls, at least in my world of people, are pretty much only eaten in and around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Huh. Kind of strange seeing that dinner rolls are bread which everyone eats all the time and are basically made specifically for dinner (although can and should be eaten for breakfast and lunch as well) which most people eat. Every. Single. Day. Well, whatever the reason, it’s weird. So yes, I am making these here dinner rolls now at the traditional holiday time but I think as of now, I am going to start making them all the time. It’s going to be my new thing. Fourth of July dinner rolls. Yup.

And so yes, we need dinner rolls right now for the holiday food feasts and these dinner rolls are the perfect accompaniment to any and all dinners. They are nice and fluffy and all dinner roll like, just as any good roll should be, but also slightly more nutty and soft and healthy because oats and wheat flour and homemade which is always the best.

And if you are like, hell yes I am a dinner roll person and hell no I am sticking to store bought cause that is that and how it’s done, well hey, no judgment here. I made these for my people for our family Thanksgiving, (which is happening today at my house. There are going be so many people) and I know that everyone will love and be happy to eat them, but I too also bought some of those super white, take and bake ones that I know if I don’t have on the table next to these gorgeous and amazing rolls, that I will probably get punched in the face. So we will have both. And then at dinner I can bask in the glory of all the comments about how much better my rolls are then the store bought ones. (Secretly why I am having both. Fishing for compliments. HAHA!)

Now to those soft and fluffy dinner rolls!

The stuff. Old fashion oats, all purpose and white whole wheat flour, yeast, oil, water (hot and room temperature), maple syrup, and salt.

First, take the boiling water and pour it over the oats. Mix them and let them soak and cool for 10 or so minutes.

While oats are soaking, add the room temp water to a big bowl with the yeast. Once the oats are soft and cooled off a bit, add them to the yeast mixture along with the oil, and maple. Mix together. The add the flours and mix until combined.

Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 3-5 minutes, adding a little more four as needed to keep from being to sticky, but don’t over flour. The dough is and should be a little tacky.

Soft and supple. Kneaded and ready.

Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Leave alone and let rise for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Once the dough doubles, dump out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 12-16 equal sized pieces .

Roll each roll into a roll shape and place them in a lightly greased baking dish. Cover for another 15-20 minutes to let rest and rise a little more.

Rolls risen again, just a little plumper. And now right before you place them in the oven, brush tops with a maple/water mixture and sprinkle with a few oats. To look pretty. And into the oven they go, 30ish minutes, until nice and golden brown.

Baked to golden dinner roll perfection.

And there you have it. Soft and fluffy dinner rolls. Warm out of the oven, looking and smelling like all the good things that you want and need.

And can, and should, be made now and all year round.

-C

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Soft and Fluffy Oatmeal Wheat Dinner Rolls

makes 12-16 rolls

• 1 1/2 cups old fashion oats

• 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for kneading

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

• 2 cups boiling water

• 1 cup room tempature water plus 2 tablespoons for brushing tops

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2 tablespoons maple or honey

• 2 teaspoons yeast

• 1/4 cup neutral oil

In a bowl, mix oats with boil water and let sit and soak for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, in a large bowl, mix the room temp water with the yeast and 1 tablespoon of maple and mix. Once oats have soaked and cooled to a point that they are not super hot, but still just warm, mix them in with the yeast mixture. Add the salt and oil and mix then and both the white and white wheat flour. Mix until combined. The dough is going to be sticky, but that how is should be. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, adding a little flour as needed to keep from sticking too much, until dough is nice and uniformed in texture. Place dough back into big bowl (after you clean it out and lily oil it) and cover with a damp towel. Place somewhere warm for about an hour until it doubles in size.

Once dough has doubled, dump out onto a lightly floured surface and with a knife of dough cutter, cut into 12- 16 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, pinching any ends together and place them into a 9x13 inch baking pan. Once all pieces are in, over and let rest for another 15 minutes.

While dough is resting again, preheat oven to 350.

After the dough has rested, and right before you place them in the oven, mix 1tablespoon of maple with about 2 tablespoons warm water and brush the tops of the rolls. Sprinkle with a handful of oats and then place them into the oven to bake. 30-35 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown.

Once baked remove from oven and let cool to a reasonable temperature and serve.

These can certainly be made a few days ahead of time of eating. Just remove baked rolls from pan and let cool completely then place the into an airtight bag. To reheat, just place on a baking sheet and stick in a hot oven until warm.

Yeasted Appley Applesauce Bread

It is exactly that time of year. Apples galore, cool days in need of a little extra warm, meaning a warm oven is welcome, if not needed. It’s the best time of year, or at least one of them.

And so I bake bread. Sometimes just a roll, and sometime a loaf, almost everyday. I love bread baking because, well just because. Plus it’s what people want to eat and will always eat because I guess bread=love. Makes sense to me.

This bread was made from a small dip in the 2 gallons of applesauce I made the night before. (We had sooooo many apples). The mr isn’t the biggest fan of applesauce, says he would rather eat a fresh apple. I kind of get it, but dude, warm, chunky, slightly cinnamon-y applesauce… I mean, that is happiness right there. Right? Anyway, I am trying not to eat all the applesauce to my face by myself at once (it has been a challenge) and plus I needed to make the mr some bread, so I figured what the hell. I’ll just use applesauce as my liquid in the bread. And so I did and that is that and now that mr really like applesacue (when it is baked into bread)

This bread is a basic sandwich type bread. The apple taste is there but not overwhelming so it can be used for sandwiches of all kinds, toast, just eating with a smear od something, or not. Just a overall good loaf of bread with a little extra from the apple. And braided because I was feeling classy. It’s amazing what at little braiding of bread dough can do for your self esteem. Made me feel like I was the coolest person in the world. Haha!

Now to the bread.

The stuff. A few apples, regular all purpose and white whole wheat flour, salt, applesauce, maple syrup, yeast, and warm water.

First, shred some apple.

Applesauce, shredded apple, maple, yeast, and a little water get mix up and let to sit for a few minutes to activate yeast. Then the salt gets mixed in, along with all the flour. Stir until dough forms. Dough should be slightly sticky, ut not wet. IF wet, add a handful more flour. To dry, add more water.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface, cover your hands in flour, and knead dough for about 5 or so minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until the dough is a nice and cohesive texture.

Nice looking dough. Now roll dough into a ball.

Place dough in a clean wet or oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth for one to one and a half hours or until dough doubles in size.

Dump dough onto floured surface.

Cut dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out into long longs.

Braid logs together. You can stop here bake it this way or…

After placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet, tuck the ends of the braids underneath each other and make it like this. Either way. And once you have the dough on the baking sheet, brush a little water or plant milk on top and let dough rest for 15 minutes of so while the oven preheats.

Before oven and after oven. Classy, right?

Then for shin and soft crust, rub warm loaf with some plant butter.

And for the hard part. Let it cool before slicing it. Ok sure, a little warm is fine, but wait at least 20 minutes (an hour would be best) and then eat you some bread.

Eat you some bread. That’s a t-shirt right there.

Happy Fall friends!

-C

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Yeasted Appley Applesauce Bread

makes pretty one loaf

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour plus more for kneading

• 1 cup unsweetened room temperature applesauce

• 1 large or 2 small apples ( about 2/3 cup shredded apple)

• 1/4- 1/2 cup warm water

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey

• 2 teaspoons active yeast

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon or so plant milk or water

• 1 tablespoon plant based butter (optional for rubbing on finished bread)

Grab the apples and shred them until you have 2/3 cup shredded apple. In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, shredded apples, yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sweetener.and let yeast activate for a few minutes. Add in salt, the all purpose flour and the 1 1/2 cups white wheat flour. Stir together until dough forms. The dough should be a little bit sticky so if the dough seems to dry, add in 1/4 cup more warm water. If it seems really wet, add in a handful more flour.

Dump dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes adding a little bit of flour to the counter as needed to prevent it from sticking. Once dough is cohesive in texture, roll into a ball and place into a clean wet or oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to double in size. Should take between an hour and an hour and a half.

Once dough doubles in size preheat oven to 400

Dump risen dough back onto a well flour counter. Cut the dough into 3 equal sizes and roll each piece into long logs about 20 inches or so long. Place each roll next to each other and braid. Grab a baking sheet and line with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with a bit of flour and place braided dough onto sheet, either as a braid or if you want, like I did, wrap the braid around itself into a rounded braid situation. Tuck ends into each other and under the loaf. Brush the top gently with a little plant milk or water and let rest for about another 15 minutes or so.

After the rest, place dough into preheated oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes (Less if left long braid, more if wrapped braid) or until the top is a deep golden brown and when tapped on the bottom, it sounds hollow. Also can use an insta read thermometer and check temperature. You want it to reach 190 degrees.

Once bread is baked, remove from oven. If you want the top to stay a little crispy, don’t do anything but let it cool. For a softer, shinny crust, rub the top while it is still warm with some plant based butter.

Let bread cool completely before cutting.

Then eat it like you would eat bread. Any and every way.

Store cooled loaf in a airtight bag on counter for 2-3 days but if not eating that fast, slice and place into freezer. That way you can pull out individual pieces and toast as you want.

Basic Socca

I am obsessed. For real. That might seem like a strong statement for a feeling about a food, but right now, it is truth. I spend more time then I want to admit thinking and drooling over Socca, which is, to those who do not know, the most basic chickpea flour pancake-y bread thing. Chickpea flour, water and salt. Cooked fast under the broiler in a screaming hot skillet. That is it. And it is amazing. Depending on how you make it, it can be creamy and soft or more cracker like with some crisp crunch to it. Either way, it is just so freaking good. Of course, what I am dreaming about regarding it is not just plan basic socca (which I have made 3 times in the past 3 days) but different flavored soccas (I have experimented with lot of seasoning, and they are all A+) with all sorts of different topping and using it in all sorts of different ways. But for now, I wanted to keep basic so we all know how good simplicity is. We will go from here.

There is no stopping me. There is no stopping the socca.

Now to my new favorite food, the socca.

Chickpea flour, salt and water. That is it. Mix it all up.

Batter all smooth and now in need of a rest. Half an hour or up to a day of rest is good.

Now to cook the socca. You need to use something oven safe like cast iron. The trick here is to preheat the skillet while you are preheating the oven. Crank oven to 450 with the skillet in oven and once the oven reaches temp, turn oven over to a high broil. Let the skillet get really hot for another minute or two then remove skillet from oven (carefully!!!) and give it a splash of oil. Don’t preheat the skillet with oil in it or else it will start to smoke and get gross.

Now that you got a nice hot and oiled skillet, grab the rested batter and pour half of it in. Tilt skillet around to coat bottom then stick skillet back into oven under broiler and cook for 4-8minutes. ( It depends on your broilers strength and your preference for blisters)

Out from the broiler. Cooked and slightly blistered. I went easy on this one. The next one got a few more blisters.

2 soccas, one a little thicker then the other. One a little more blistered then the other. Both in my belly.

So many Soccas to come.

So. many. Soccas.

-C

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Basic Socca

makes two 10 inch soccas

• 1 cup chickpea flour

• 1 cup room temperature water

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• olive oil for pan

Mix chickpea flour, salt and water together into a bowl until smooth. Let mixture rest for at least half an hour or up to a day.

When ready to make the socca, preheat oven to 450 with a 10 inch oven safe skillet (I used cast iron but any oven safe dish would work) in oven.

Once oven reaches temp, turn oven over to broil and place skillet under it for a minute to really heat the skillet. Carefully, with oven mitts, remove hot skillet from oven and brush or pour a smidge of oil into the hot skillet to coat bottom. Pour in half the batter and tilt around until bottom is coated then place skillet back into oven under broiler and cook for 4 -8 minutes or until the socca starts to blister. (it kind of depends on your broiler so keep a close eye on it) Remove from oven and slip socca onto cutting board. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil if you like. Then all you do is cut and eat.

Left over socca can be stored in fridge and reheated in oven or toaster.

Note. IF you want a slightly thicker socca, use a 8 inch skillet. For a thiner, more cracker like socca, pour in 1/3 of the batter at a time (you will end up with 3 instead of 2)

Cinnamon Cardamom Swirl- Orange and Sweet Potato Bread

Bread is probably, no, definitely one of my upmost favorite things to bake. There is just something so gratifying about the whole process of mixing ingredients, kneading, watching it rise, shaping, then baking. It calms me and make me a better person. Seriously.

And this might sound sad, but this week when my Dad told me that my grandmother died, well I went home and made bread because that is what felt right to do. It gave my mind and hands a good something to do far a little while. Plus I ended up with a loaf of bread to feed people with. I also like to feed people when I am feeling sad.

I chose to use cinnamon and cardamom because of the smells. They are just delightful and happy smells. And swirls are happy so a happy swirl of happy smells in a loaf of bread that I was making to share that was (and did) make people happy. (See, bread baking is making me so nice because I am sharing it) It was just the right thing to do.

So if you are in need of a little happy pick me up, may I suggest making some bread? It might make you feel a little better, or at least get your mind off of things for a bit. And you will have bread so there is that too. It’s a win win.

Now to the bread, which you can also make when you are happy. Or bored, or hungry, although it takes some time so if you are starting off hungry, you will be starving by the time it is done. Maybe eat a snack will you are making it…..

The stuff. White and whole wheat flour, salt, sweet potato puree, soy milk, yeast, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, cardamom, some flax seeds, and an orange.

In a big bow, mix together the yeast, warm milk, sweet potato puree, a little sugar, and oil. Let it sit for a minute to active yeast.

Flours and salt get a good mix to be mixed.

Then dry gets dumped into the yeast mixture along with the zest of the orange.

Mix it until a dough forms then dump it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead dough for about 6-8 minutes or until supple, uniform, and smooth.

Place dough into a well oiled bowl and cover. Let rise for about and hour or so or until it doubles in size (could take a little longer then a hour)

Place risen dough back out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll it out about 2 feet long and as wide as a bread pan.

Don’t forget mix up your brown sugar with the cinnamon and cardamom.

Brush rolled out dough with the flax mixture. This will help the cinnamon cardamon sugar stick.

And evenly distribute the mixture all over the dough.

Roll it up nice and tight and once it’s all rolled, pinch then end to the rest of the dough.

Gently place the rolled dough, pinched side down, into a well greased bread pan. Cover in a plastic bag for about another hour or until the dough has risen a good amount and is doming over the rim of the pan. Now preheat the oven.

Once the bread is sufficiently risen, place into hot oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Baked bread.

Now the hard part. Get it out of the bread pan and get it cooling off. You cannot cut into it until it cools or you will smoosh the swirl and make it gummy. Just wait, at least a half hour. For real. Wait. You can do it!

And when the bread cools and the wait it over, slice and be amazed. A thing of beauty that smells of greatness.

Bread is so great. Great great great! Especially a swirl bread. I mean. Look at that.

Happy day to you.

-C

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Cinnamon Cardamom Swirl- Orange and Sweet Potato Bread

Makes 1 loaf

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour

• 1/3 cup sweet potato puree

• 1 cup soy milk

• 2 teaspoons (or one packet) yeast

• 3 tablespoons neutral oil like canola

• 2 tablespoon light brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Zest of 1 orange

• For the cinnamon cardamom filling

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• 2 tablespoon cinnamon (I used Vietnamese Cinnamon which is a little spicier and sweeter)

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 2 teaspoons ground flax mixed with 4 teaspoons warm water

Start by grabbing a big bowl. Mix together the yeast, the 2 tablespoons brown sugar, warm milk, sweet potato puree, and oil. Let sit for a minute to active yeast. In a separate bowl mix together the flours and salt. Dump the dry mixture into the wet. Zest the zest of an orange into bowl and mix it all together until it forms a dough. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes or until the dough gets supple and shinny and uniform. Place dough into a well oiled bowl and cover for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Once dough has doubled, dump out onto a well floured surface and roll out to as wide as a bread pan and roughly 24 inched long. After you have rolled it out brush the flax and water mixture all over surface . Combine the brown sugar with the cinnamon and cardamom and evenly distribute the mixture all over flaxed dough. And for the fun part. Careful roll the dough into a log. Roll it tightly so the bread doesn'tt end up with big gaps after it bakes. Once rolled, pinch the rolled end and place the log rolled side down into a well greased bread pan. Place dough into a a plastic bag with plenty of space for dough to rise. Let sit for about another hour or until the dough has risen a little bit above the rim of baking pan.

Preheat oven to 375

When dough has risen, place on middle rack in hot oven and bake for 40-45ish minutes or until bread is a deep golden brown and when you give it a tap, it sounds slightly hollow. Also check it with a intsant read thermometer. Get it to 190.

When it done baking, pull from oven and remove from pan. Place on a wire rack and let completely cool. Seriously, you got to let it cool for at least 1/2 and hour, but longer is better!

When it’s cooled, cut into slices. Eat as you wish.

Uneaten bread stores well for a day or two in a airtight plastic bag but if you don’t eat it that fast, cut into slices and freeze. That way you can just pop a piece out and stick it into toaster. Smart.