Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread

Yep, the bread obsession continues...

In all the years that I have loved to cook, I don't think I've ever been as fixated on one thing as I am right now.  I'm not sure what my deal is.  But I'm having so much fun!  And in a way that surprises me, my enthusiasm is spreading.  After being subjected to my semi-fanatical state over the last few months, a bunch of my co-workers are now baking bread for themselves and their friends and families and coming back and telling me about their cool ideas.  One of my co-workers came up with her own version of a chocolate swirl sweet bread.  Another one started baking the communion bread for her church and is considering baking hot loaves to give away to visitors on Sunday mornings.  Another one figured out his own jalapeno cheddar bread and is in the processing of trying to figure out how to make bread bowls for soup.  Another one has been grinding his own wheat and baking bread for years and is helping me figure out what ratios of wheat flour and white flour make the best bread.  For a small seafood company, we've been having a little too much fun with this!  I am blessed to work with such wonderful people and I'm being blessed to see something as silly as bread-baking connecting us in such a fun way.

Sigh...  I'm just super blessed on so many fronts and feeling very thankful this morning.

Okay.  Back to bread.  Of everything I have baked thus far, this one has been my favorite!  And can we just pause for a moment and I'll let you imagine what this loaf smells like while it is baking??  Think warm homemade bread smell meets and gives a big smooch to homemade apple pie smell.  Wonderful.

Here you go:

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread
(Slightly Adapted from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)

Makes enough dough for approximately 2 - 2 pound loaves.

4 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 T yeast
1 T salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
2 1/4 cups lukewarm water
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup honey
5 eggs
Eggwash (1 egg beaten with 1 T water)
Turbinado sugar

- In a bowl, mix the flours, yeast, salt and gluten.
- Separately, in a large bowl, mix the water, melted butter, honey and eggs.
- Add the flour all at once and mix thoroughly.  No kneading.  Just mix.
- Transfer to a 5 quart tupperware, rest the lid on top (don't seal) and allow to rise on the counter for 2 hours.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Apple Cinnamon Filling


2 medium apples, finely chopped (skin on)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans, options
1/2 cup raisins, optional

When you are ready to bake your loaf:

- Remove a 2 pound portion of dough (about the size of a cantalope).  Sprinkle with flour and form a ball by pulling the edges toward the bottom and rotating in your hands.
- Roll out into approximately a 10 inch x 14 inch oval/rectangle.  Pretty much, just roll it as thin as you can.  The dough is very elastic and will resist some.  But the thinner you roll it, the better dispersed your apples will be in the loaf.
- Spread the apple mixture evenly over the dough and roll into a log (like you are going to make cinnamon rolls).
- Fold the two ends in toward the middle.  Flip it over and place it in a greased loaf pan.
- Allow to rise on the counter for 90 minutes.  (Or if you prep this at night, allow to rise in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning!)
- Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash.  Slash it once down the middle.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake at 350 for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I did not take pictures of this process or the loaf.  But the cookbook website has some lovely ones.  Click HERE if you want to see!

Have a lovely Saturday!

Goodbye Garden. Hello Bagels.

This morning was the kind of glorious Autumn day that begs you to be outdoors and to make homemade bagels.  I don't know why Fall makes me want to bake bread.  But it does.  And I'm not fighting the urge!

My garden has been pretty much done for a a week or two now and it is starting to look quite ugly and full of dead things.  I took a few hours this morning and harvested the last of my tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs and bagged everything else up for the Trash Man.  Can I just say, even when dead and crunchy, mint leaves still smell totally wonderful?

I also tried my hand at some homemade bagels this morning using the Master Dough Recipe I blogged about a few weeks ago.  It was pretty simple...

Make small dough balls, about the size of a peach.

Poke a hole in the middle and stretch it out a bit.

Drop the bagel dough balls into some boiling water (to which you have already added a 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda).  Simmer 2 minutes.  Flip them over.  Simmer 2 more minutes and remove.

Let them sit for a moment on a flour dusted towel.  Brush the top with egg white and top with whatever your little bagel-loving heart desires.  (I did two with sesame seeds, two with cinnamon sugar and 4 with sliced serrano chiles and cheddar cheese!)  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove and serve warm.

Ta Da!!
(In case you are counting, one of the cheese ones is missing because Jeff ate it...  He is my trusty taste-tester)

Totally makes me happy!

Molten Chocolate Microwave Brownie (Revisited)

Tonight, I wish that I could send you a smell...  You know, like how I can take a photograph of something wonderful and share it with you?  It isn't the real thing, just a snapshot that enables me to share a glimpse of a moment with someone else.  We can do that with photos and video and audio recordings.  But there is no way to share a whiff of my Molten Chocolate Brownie.  Sorry... I'd send one if I could!

I spent a fair chunk of time this afternoon wrestling with a rather intense craving for a brownie.  However, I'm still trying to keep my sugar intake pretty low.  So I most definitely do not need a WHOLE batch of brownies laying around and tempting me.  And I'm still avoiding wheat, dairy, soy and egg, common inhabitants of the chocolate/brownie kingdom.

Then I remembered a recipe I posted last summer for a single serving molten microwave brownie.  No dairy!  No egg!  No soy!  And I could use gluten-free flour.  It worked beautifully and I am sitting here, savoring molten chocolate-y goodness as I write.

Molten Microwave Brownie in a Mug (June 2010)

I left out the Kahlua tonight and just added some chopped walnuts.

This is wonderful and you should try it!  And you shouldn't feel guilty about it because, hey, at least you are just eating one serving!

Hope you enjoy.