Homemade Bagels

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour
1 Tab. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tab. vegetable oil
2 tsp- instant yeast (I use a little less than a tablespoon)
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Pre heat your oven to 425. Spray and lightly flour baking sheets.

Mix all the ingredients (except water) in a bowl. Add the warm water. The dough should feel a little stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized sections. Tuck ends under and form flat balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, take each of the dough balls and press your finger into the center to make a hole. Take you other finger and push it through the underside. Roll both fingers back and forth, stretching the dough to make a bigger hole.

Let your bagels rest on the (lightly floured) counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil. After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling!

Add 1-2 tsp. of baking soda to your boiling water. Add as many bagels at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them.

Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute (I don't boil for the full minute. I normally boil them for 30 - 45 seconds on each side).

Take them out a let dry on a rack for a minute and then place them on your floured baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Note:If you wanta add topping, now is the time to do it because the bagel is still moist from boiling which will make it stick. You can add any toppings you like to these, sesame seeds, onions, poppy seed, caraway, garlic, etc. etc. If you want to do cinnamon and sugar bagels, leave them plain for the time being.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

For Cinnamon and Sugar Bagels:

1 cup sugar
1 tab. cinnamon
2-4 tab. butter, melted

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small mixing bowl.

Brush top of baked bagels with the melted butter. Press bagels firmly into the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat well.

Chili Soup

With winter fast approaching here is a soup recipe that is quick and delicious!


Directions:

Saute:
1 lb. sausage
1 onion, chopped
Garlic, minced or powder



Add:

1 Quart Beef Broth
1 (28oz) can Diced Tomatoes
2 cans Black Beans (15oz) (I used 4 cans of black beans and skipped the kidney)
2 cans Kidney Beans (15oz.)
1 Tab. Chili Powder
1 Tab. Cumin
1 tsp. Fennel Seed
Onion Powder
Dash of Turmeric
Salt to taste.


Bring to simmer and simmer for five to ten minutes. Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (can use turbinado or evap. cane)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix)
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Spiced Glaze

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of ground cloves

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half, and egg. Set aside.
Sift together into a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Add the cubed butter on top.

Now, either using a pastry blender or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and dry ingredients until your reach the consistency of coarse cornmeal (pieces of butter should be no larger than a small pea). Alternatively, you could probably do this step in your food processor, much like you would do for making pie crust.
Now gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. I used a spatula for this step, but had to use my hands in the end to get that last bit of flour to incorporate into a well formed dough ball. The important thing is to make sure all the dry ingredients have been moistened well. Note: My dough ended up being a little sticky, so I added a bit more flour than the recipe called for. You don't wanta end up adding too much flour so if you do add more, make sure you do it little by little, so your dough wont be too dry.
On a well-floured surface, flatten and form the dough into circles. (For smaller scones, split the scone dough in half before rolling it into a circle(s))Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 6-8 slices (depending on the size you want them to be) just like you would if you were cutting a pizza.
Place triangles onto your lined baking sheet (Confession time: I did not line my baking sheet cuz I didn't have parchment paper). Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your scones. You want them to be light brown, but not overcooked. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before icing.
Make up the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the milk and sugar until smooth, then paint the tops of the scones with the glaze using a pastry brush.

While the first glaze is drying (10 minutes or so), make up the spiced glaze by combining all ingredients and mixing until smooth. Drizzle onto the scones using your favorite drizzling method.

Or if you are in a rush you can skip the first glaze part and just spread the spice glaze over the top with a knife (like pictured below)

Enjoy!!!

Cinnamon Roll Bread

I found this on a site called Money Saving Mom. I decided to make it for Breakfast this morning and it was so good. Normal cinnamon rolls take over an hour and a half to make by the time you let them rise. From start to finish these only take about 35 minutes. Cant beat that!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup very warm water
• 1/2 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon melted butter OR cooking oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup white and/or brown sugar (depending on your preference!)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon flour

Pour water in large bowl and sprinkle yeast and tablespoon of sugar over the surface. Allow to sit for a few minutes to get foamy. Add in butter (oil) and salt. Start stirring in flour (I just use a big wooden spoon), and continue adding until a stiff, but still a bit sticky, dough ball forms. Place dough in a greased or oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Place in a warm place (e.g. your oven at its lowest setting is fine) and let rise for 15 minutes.

While that’s happening, combine cold butter, 1/2 cup sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl and cut together using a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers. You’re forming a buttery streusel-y type material here. Set that aside. Whip up a batch of your favorite glaze or frosting.

By now, your timer’s probably gone off, so grab your bowl of dough and punch it down. It won’t be super-puffy, and that’s totally fine. Press the dough into a greased 9″ round baking pan. (If it keeps “shrinking” on you, just let it rest for a few minutes, then try again.) Sprinkle the “streusel” mixture all over the surface of the dough. No need for a second rise here. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Pour glaze over the rolls or frost.

Note: The streusel topping is really sweet so unless you have a super sweet tooth I would cut the recipe for that in half.

Pumpkin Spice Yeast Bread

I had seen the Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice bread in the store and wanted to try to make it myself. This is the recipe I found and it turned out really good!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups puréed pumpkin, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add remaining flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.

Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide dough in half. Shape dough into loaves (I flattened the dough and sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon before I rolled it into a loaf) and place in well-greased 10 x 5-inch pans or, shape half into a loaf, and other half into 12 large dinner rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Loaves bake about 30 minutes, rolls about 20. Check the internal temperature of each with an instant-read thermometer; a reading of 190°F means bread or rolls are done.

Immediately remove bread or rolls from pans and cool on a wire rack to prevent crust from becoming soggy. For a shiny crust, brush tops of bread or rolls lightly with vegetable oil (I use butter).

Makes 2 large loaves, or 1 large loaf and 12 dinner rolls.