(Super) Quickie Friday: Whole Wheat Flax Bread

On the date this post goes live, I will be safely returned from my honeymoon and adjusting to married life.  And probably eating copious amounts of the bread I deprived myself pre-wedding.

Whole Wheat Flax Bread

• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons light agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3-3/4 Cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 Cups flax seeds
• 2-1/4 teaspoon yeast

Throw it all in your bread machine in the order recommended by your manufacturer.  Set the bread machine for a 1 1/2 pound loaf, with the crust color of your choosing, on the whole wheat setting.  Then enjoy!

No shoes today, but we'll be back in action next week!

Quickie Friday: Pizza Bread Redux

I have posted this dish before, when my blog was in its infancy and I really didn't know what I was doing.  Enter today, where I have revamped the recipe and am now using a nice camera, and I'm still making pizza bread once a week.

Here is the recipe, as it stands now:

For the bread (I make mine in my bread machine):
3/4 c. water plus 1/2 teaspoon
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried skim milk powder
1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 and 1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/3 teaspoon bread machine yeast

I put that in the bread machine, in that order, and let the dough cycle run.  It takes about an hour and a half.  OR you can buy loaves of 1 lb. frozen white bread dough and let them defrost all damn day.  Your choice.

For the filling:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or 1/3 cup, depending on the size of your eggs)
red pepper
oregano
pepperoni (or any other traditional pizza toppings that you prefer, although I don't recommend using a whole bunch or the bread won't bake up very nicely)
mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 375.  Beat your egg with the minced garlic, then add parmesan cheese until the mixture resembles a paste.  Divide the dough in half, and roll out each half until it's the size of a small-ish pizza.  Spread the parmesan mixture equally onto each portion of dough, then sprinkle with red pepper and oregano.

Top the dough with pepperoni and mozzarella (or fillings of your choosing) then roll the dough, jelly roll style, tucking in the ends.

Bake the loaves at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown and, likely, oozing cheese.

Serve with a side of your favorite pizza sauce, for dipping, and enjoy.  While this post wasn't quick in the usual Friday sense, the recipe really is, so I recommend it for a Friday night (or every Friday night, as is the case in our house!).

Since this post wasn't quick in the traditional Friday sense, I thought I'd bend the rules on showcasing cheap(ish) shoes today, too:

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I am absolutely in love with these pumps from Zara.  And because the heel is less than four inches, they'd be ideal for MY crazy Fridays (seriously).

Brioche Rolls

To say that the culinary undertaking for Christmas this year was extensive would be an understatement.  (Prime rib with bacon porcini sauce, truffle brownies, and homemade ice cream if you're out of the loop, thus far.)

I figured that my go-big-or-go-home mentality shouldn't get in my way, so we had brioche rolls and caesar salad (more on that on Friday) too.  I had never made brioche before, in any form, but this recipe from my collection of Bon Appetit mags (going on 3 years worth) seemed like a good place to start.

I have never dealt with such sticky, buttery dough in my life; it was challenging.  And time consuming.  But like any good wannabe chef, I soldiered on.

I applied ample amounts of butter to my stone muffin pan, to be sure that the brioche rolls wouldn't stick.  As it turns out, the rolls themselves were so buttery I needn't have worried.  Better safe than sorry, though!

A little egg wash and a sprinkling of course kosher salt made all the difference.  These rolls were buttery, sweet, salty, and AMAZING.  If this is the reason I gained weight over the holidays, then I'm not mad at 'em.

What's not to love?!

Valentino via Bergdorf Goodman

I'll say it again . . . what's not to love.  If sweet, salty, and buttery applied to a flat, these would be them.  Valentino may call them Rockstud flats, but they will be known forever in my heart as brioche flats.

Quickie Friday: Apple Oatmeal Raisin Bread

For the first time in our three years in Florida, we were paid a visit by the F's parental units.  More popular than our beloved Arnie was this bread.  God love a bread machine and simple ingredients.

Who doesn't love bread by the pool?  Amiright?

One thing to note - I had to take the bread out of the machine, when it beeped to add the raisins, and knead the raisins in by hand.  This bread is DENSE.  Worth the effort, but dense.

Bread + Les Mis mug containing cinnamon coffee with vanilla soy milk =  Breakfast perfection.

I love my bread machine.  It gets used no less than once a week, which is quite significant for a bulky, extraneous countertop kitchen appliance.  I love it so much.

We are attending the one and only holiday party on our social calendar, this evening, and I wish I had shoes like these to rock for the event:

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They scream holiday AND "no, I'm not the kind of dork who gets immense joy from bread-making and musical mugs."  Right?