THE LOVELY CRAZY

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%u2019s 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%u2019s 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%u2019t 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%u2026 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%u2019ll 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%u2019s 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.

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%u2026

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%u2019s a t-shirt right there.

Happy Fall friends!

-C

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%u2019t 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.

What do you do when you have a bazillion ripe bananas? A sweet banana bread? Banaer ice cream? Mash them up in your oatmeal? These are what I usually do, well these things and just stock my freezer full of bananas because I am pretty sure that there should always be bananas in the freezer. .

I went grocery shopping and bought like a billion bananas because they were dirt cheap (19 cents a pound) and why not. There is plenty of room in the freezer.

And it was a bread making day. I wanted to make bread that involved a good knead, that the mr could have as a sandwich loaf, and that had bananas in it. (I love adding fruit and veggie purees to breads) I needed a multi functional loaf that can be used for toast and sandwiches. So I made it.

This bread doesn’t have a crazy powerful banana flavor, just a light bananerness that adds a touch of sweetness and yum to the bread. Perfect for slices and slathering with peanut butter.

Pretty sure I scored on this one. It was well loved by many and eaten within days. Lucky for the mr I have a billion bananas.

The stuff. Some all purpose flour and some whole wheat (with germ) flour. A couple really ripe bananas, a little earth balance, salt, yeast, and water.

Peel and blended bananas into a smooth banana puree.

Add enough water to the bananas to make 2 cups of liquid.%u00a0 Add in the yeast and earth balance and blend that in too.

Wet gets dumped and mixed into the (mixed) flours and salt.

Wet shaggy dough gets dumped onto the floured counter and kneaded for about 10 minutes into a nice uniform and smooth ball

Once risen twice it’s size, dump dough onto counter, shape into a log and place into a well greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic or wax paper and set to rise again. Second rise will take a little less time then the first, just wait for the dough to dome over the sides of the pan.

Once it looks good, stick the thing into a preheated oven, close the door, and watch it bake (for about 50 minutes)

Golden brown, hollow sounding, and the instant read thermometer reads 190….Bread is all baked.Now hard part. Let that loaf sit and cool completely. (trust, it needs to cool or you will just mush it)

Now that its cooled, you slice and eat. A loaf of bread with a slight hint of banana ready for you face.

The mr has been eating it toasted with peanut butter like I predicted or dipping it into his split pea soup. (he really liked it with the soup) Just suggestions.

Bye.

-C

makes one loaf

  • 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat with bran flour (plus a little more for kneading)
  • 2 rip bananas
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons yeast (or 1 packet)
  • 2 teaspoons earth balance (or butter)
  • 1- 1/12 cups warm water

Peel bananas and blend them into a smooth puree. Add enough warm water to the banana mixture to equal 2 cups of liquid. Add the yeast and earth balance to the puree and mix until fully incorporated. Let sit for a few minutes to active yeast.

Whisk together the flours (start with the lesser amount) and salt in a large bowl. Dump the wet mixture into the bowl and mix together with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until you can no longer mix. If the dough is really wet, add in the other 1/4 of flour. Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough for about 10 minutes.

Place in a clean greased bowl and cover with plastic or wax paper and a towel and place in a warm place to rise. Depending on how warm your place is, it will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to double in size. Once risen, dump onto counter, shape into a log and place into a greased loaf pan. Cover again with plastic or wax paper and set to rise again for about 1/2- 45 minutes or until the dough forms a dome over the pan.

Preheat oven to 350.

When dough is done second rise, stick it into the preheated oven and bake. It should be in there for about 50 minutes, but check at 45 for a deep golden color and a internal temperature of 190. Once done, remove from oven, gently remove from pand and set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled you can go for it.

Stay fresh for about 3 days in a air tight container, but I would slice and freeze any if not gone by then.