Whole Wheat Cinnamon Bread

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup mashed potatoes (no liquid added to them)
• 2 cups potato water ( lukewarm)
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (may substitue 1/2 cup sugar, or 1/2 cup honey)
• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all-purpose white flour
• About 4 and 1/2 cups additional all-purpose white flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and teaspoon of sugar.  Set aside until bubbly, frothy, and rising a bit.
2. Place salt, mashed potatoes, potato water, maple syrup and shortening into mixing bowl. Beat together until well blended and smooth.  Mix at high speed for about 3 minutes.
3. Add bubbly yeast mixture. Mix well. 
4. Add wheat flour, and 2 cups white flour.  Mix well. Let this rest for about 5 minutes.
5. Gradually, add more white flour by dumping 2 of the additional cups into the above mixture and let it mix together. 
6. Put remainder of the 'additional' flour in a bowl where you will be working on the table and knead however much is needed into the dough.  There may be some of the remaining 'additional' flour left over, and that's okay.  Knead by hand for about five minutes.
7. Place dough into greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover, and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour).
8. Divide for making two loaves.  Cover and allow the dough to rest for about 15 minutes while greasing the two loaf pans.
9. Roll dough balls out into a rectangular shape so that one edge is the length of your baking tin, and the other edge is longer. 
10. Now, cover this rectangle with a mixture of cinnamon and a little bit of sugar (stay about an inch away from the long outside edge), and roll into a 'log' as you would do for a jelly roll.
11. Seal edges by pinching together.  Place into greased pans, let rise for between 35-45 minutes or until about an inch over the top of the pans.
12. Bake at 350-degrees for 40 minutes. 

Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins

I just HAVE to save this recipe here

because I do not ever want to lose it.

These are not the "dessert" kind of muffin--

but are so good for a "grab and go" of 

...GOODness!

These ameteurish photos are mine.

I had a supply of "ripe" bananas--

I googled "whole wheat banana muffins" and found this recipe!

This recipe caught my eye because
it called for "all things good"!

Whole wheat flour, coconut oil,
maple syrup, ripe bananas,

milk (reg. or almond milk),
eggs, oatmeal, etc.

You can find the recipe for these at:

http://cookieandkate.com/2015/healthy-banana-muffins-recipe/

(There are all kind of good/interesting recipes on her site. Check it out.)

Whole Wheat, Flax, Oat Groats, Pumpkin Muffins

I like these!

As usual, I had to mess around with the original recipe a little bit.  Why?  Because.  Good enough reason?   Maybe not.  Okay,... later on, I'll explain the changes I made and tell why. 

Below:  I penned in some

of the changes I made...

 I increased the amount of spices and vanilla mainly 

because I upped the amount of pumpkin I used.

I don't drink coffee, but, I bought and used a small 

$20.00 electric coffee grinder for grinding the 

flax seed AND the oat groats.  It only grinds about 3 

tablespoons at a time, but it's so quick 

and it does a PERFECT job!

Quantity:  24

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
• 3/4 cup ground flax seed (this is the amount AFTER grinding).
• 3/4 cup ground oat groats (this is the amount AFTER grinding). The original recipe asked for 3/4 c. oat bran, but mine was gone.
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown).
• 2 teaspoons baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (I prefer the aluminum-free kind).
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
• 1 of 15-oz. can of canned pumpkin  (I almost doubled the original amount by using the whole can, because I didn't want to have 1/2 can of pumpkin left over).
• 3/4 cup whole milk (original recipe asked for skim milk).
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• 1 cup chopped pecans.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees (F)
2. Set cupcake liners into two muffin pans (12 holes each).
3. Very lightly spray the inside of the liners.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flax seed, ground oat groats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
5. In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk together until well combined.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber/silicone-type spatula until just smoothly mixed.  (Once the flour mixture is introduced, you don't want to over-mix this!)
7. Gently stir in the chopped pecans
8. Fill each sprayed liner about 2/3 full (I like to use a cookie scooper for this-- it makes each the same size, and it's less messy.)
9. Put into the oven at 400-degrees for only 5 minutes.  Then, lower the temperature to 350-degrees and bake for another 15 minutes-- check for doneness with a toothpick at about 12 minutes after the heat is reduced.   If it has "dough" on it, bake for another couple of minutes-- re-check after each 2 minutes.  (With my oven, these muffins were done after the stated time of 5 + 15 minutes.)

Recipe adapted from:  Alaina at http://fabtasticeats.com/2013/10/24/whole-wheat-flax-bran-pumpkin-muffins/