Making bread from scratch (not a bread machine) was on my 30 Before 30 List. It just seems like a skill I should conquer as I get more into cooking. I found a recipe (at the bottom of the post) for wheat bread that sounded easy and good.
After tracking down wheat gluten and dry milk at the store, I was excited to use the dough hook on my mixer. The recipe came together quickly. The mixer kneaded the dough for 10 minutes.
Next, I shaped the dough into loaves. I had three bread pans that I use for banana bread or pumpkin bread, but I had no idea how much the wheat bread would rise. So I panicked and used all three pans instead of two, which left me with little bitty slices of bread!
The bread was really good! It was light and chewy and (most importantly) easy! I definitely want to make it again (especially because I have a big bag of gluten and dry milk to use up).
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| Chicken Salad in the making |
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| My cute little homemade sandwich! |
My crazy kitchen craze drove me to make some homemade chicken salad too. Don't ask me why, but I had this image of eating homemade chicken salad on my homemade bread. This chicken salad was so good!! It used greek yogurt instead of just mayo, so it was pretty healthy. It also gave me a chance to use up some cranberries I had in the pantry. Definitely something to make again.
Wheat Bread
(from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)
Makes 2 Loaves
2 3/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 T instant yeast
1 T salt
1 T vital wheat gluten
1 T nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup white flour
4 - 6 cups white wheat flour
Mix the water, sugar, oil, yeast, salt, gluten, dry milk and white flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add two cups of the wheat flour and then continue adding until the dough forms a ball and the sides of the bowl are mostly clean. The dough should be soft but not overly sticky. Knead for 10 minutes.
Grease two bread pans. Divide the dough in half (I use a big knife) and shape each half into a loaf. Place the loaves into the bread pans and cover with a dish towel. Let them rise for 60 minutes (or until they've most filled out the bread pan and have risen about an inch or so over the top of the pan. Carefully place the pans in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 38 minutes.
Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes then remove from pans and let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate overnight, then slice the entire loaf.
Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
1/3 cup granny apple, diced into small chunks (1/4-1/2 inch)
1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1.5 tablespoons shallot, minced
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayo
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or champagne vinegar, which is what I used)
1 tablespoon rosemary, minced
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred chicken breasts using your fingers or two forks or dice with a knife to about 1/2 inch cubes.
Mix together greek yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar, and rosemary.
In a large bowl, combine, shredded chicken (about 2 cups), pecans, shallots, green apple, and cranberries. Toss with dressing until well combined.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill for at least an hour until ready to serve.
