breads Archives - The Midnight Baker

Slow Cooker Herb Bread

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 28 May 2022 23:00:51 +0000

Slow cooker herb bread gives you fresh bread without turning on your oven.

Don’t Heat The Kitchen–Slow Cooker Herb Bread

You don’t have to give up having freshly baked bread in the summer months! Stay cool and use your slow cooker to bake a nice loaf of bread.

Yes, you can bake in your crock pot. My sister has baked in hers for years. When she told me she did, I have to admit I was in disbelief. That is until I tried it myself using her go-to banana bread recipe. After I tried it, I was a total believer.

Herbs

This slow cooker bread lends itself to many herb flavors.

I used chives because I like them and they were growing in my garden profusely. The bread didn’t have a strong chive flavor because I always go easy with herb flavorings. However, I will add more the next time since the flavor was too subtle.

If you want to use herbs such as basil, rosemary or thyme, I’d advise going lightly with those the first time you make this. They are rather strongly flavored herbs and too much can really spoil the flavor–turning something nice to something that tastes medicinal.

If you find you want a more prominent flavor, then by all means add a bit more herb the next time you make it.

Browning

Where the bottom of the bread will brown, the top will not. If the pale shade doesn’t bother you, then you’re set to go.

For my taste, I like a little browning for eye appeal. What I did was brush the top with a bit of olive oil and pop it. under the broiler for a couple of minutes. That did the trick–at least for my taste.

This bread has a nice moist texture that would be great made as dinner rolls. You could divide the dough into individual rolls and “bake” them like that. Personally, I’d stick to using a smaller slow cooker if you’re going to make this into rolls. A 5 quart round cooker would be the perfect size.

The Recipe

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Slow Cooker Herb Bread

Great recipe for summer bread--no oven required

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: baking bread in a slow cooker, baking in a slow cooker, easy herb bread recipe

Servings: 8

Calories: 252kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp rapid yeast
2 1/2 cups bread strong flour or all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tbs honey
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tbs chopped fresh chives thyme or rosemary

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Let it stand 5 minutes and if bubbles form, the yeast is active.
Using a stand mixer with the dough hook, mix the yeast mixture and the remaining ingredients until a soft dough forms. Let the machine knead for about 5 more minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. This may be kneaded by hand if you don't have a stand mixer.
Line a slow cooker (I used a round 4 qt) with parchment paper. Form the dough into a ball and place in the lined slow cooker.
Set the cooker to high and cook for 1-1 1/2 hours. The bread is done if it makes a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom.
As the top won't be brown, you can pop it under a hot broiler for a few minutes to brown the top.

Nutrition

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Glazed Raised Donuts

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 00:00:23 +0000

These glazed raised donuts are delicious! As close to Krispy Creme as you can get.

Glazed Raised Donuts: A Real Treat

You’ve bought these at the supermarket and at those famous donut shops and loved them. Did you know they’re easy enough to make at home? They’re fun to make too.

Since they are fun to make, if you have kiddos, let them help you! Kids love playing with dough and the funny thing is, the more you “play” with it, the better the end product will be. When first mixed, the dough is a bit on the sticky side. While you may be reluctant to handle it because your hands will get some dough on them, I never met a kid who wouldn’t look forward to that…

Finally, what can be better than something you make where you know the ingredients that make it up–ones you can pronounce.

The Yeast Dough

As mentioned above, the dough initially is a tad sticky. That’s because it’s a sweet yeast dough.

Of course you can do this by machine, but since this is a small-batch recipe, you may not want to haul out that big stand mixer. Again, it’s your choice, but with these sweet doughs, I prefer to do it by hand to make sure the texture is just right,

The dough’s texture is quite soft and as I said, sticky in the beginning. However, when you begin to work the dough by kneading and adding small amounts of flour, the dough becomes less sticky. It should have a smooth and silky texture.

As with any yeast concoction, there’s a time investment. Most yeast doughs can be risen in the fridge so I’d take advantage of that if you don’t have time to complete the task in the same day. Just remember to let the dough come to room temperature before you start rolling and cutting.

Don’t Have A Donut Cutter?

Don’t buy one! You simply don’t need it.

I used a biscuit cutter that was about 2.5-inches/5-cm in diameter and managed the hole with a soda bottle cap. If you want to make twists, then you need no utensils. Just take about a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll it into a rope about 8-inches/20-cm long, fold in half and twist the ends together.

I glazed these but they’re also good rolled in cinnamon sugar. Surprisingly, they’re good keepers. While they won’t be as good as the day you made them, the next day they’re almost as good. The dough is also good, minus the hole, for making jelly donuts.

Just double the ingredients to make a larger batch. I got about a dozen out of the small-batch recipe

The Recipe

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Glazed Raised Donuts (small batch)

Simple but delicious

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Rising Time2

Total Time2 20

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: krispy creme copycat, raised donuts, yeast donuts

Servings: 12

Calories: 182kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast 1 envelope
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbs milk
2 1/2 tbs vegetable shortening
1 egg
2 tbs sugar
pinch of salt
2-2 1/2 cups flour
oil for frying

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner's icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs water
1/2 tsp vanilla

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water, add the 1 tsp sugar, stir and let it stand for about 5 minutes until foamy.
Heat milk and shortening in a small saucepan. Let stand until it's lukewarm.
Mix sugar, salt and the egg in a large bowl. Stir in the cooled milk mixture and the pinch of salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add the yeast mixture and 1 cup of the flour. Mix until a soft batter forms.
Add enough remaining flour until you get a soft dough consistency. The amount of flour is variable in different weather conditions. You may need more flour than stated. The dough should be pretty soft and slightly sticky--it's texture you're aiming for.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth--the dough will be sticky.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until double--about 1 1/2 hours.
Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Using a donut or biscuit cutter (I used a large biscuit cutter and a soda bottle cap for the middle hole) cut out the donuts and place them on a floured piece of parchment. Let rise until light--about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 1-2 inches of oil in a large deep skillet until it's 325-350F/160-180F. Fry donuts until golden brown on each side. I flip them with wooden chopsticks. Don't crowd the pan--fry in shifts. Drain on paper towels.
Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle over warm donuts.
Makes about a dozen medium donuts.

Nutrition

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Herbed Cheese Tomato Flatbread

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:00:52 +0000

Herbed cheese tomato flatbread is better made in a broiler however it can be made on the BBQ grill too!

Meatless Meal Or Side

I love recipes like this because they’re versatile as well as being easy.

First of all, this is a wonderful side dish or appetizer. However since it’s essentially a pizza, it can double as a meatless main dish.

Whatsmore, what better way can there be to use home-grown tomatoes if you have them or buy them seasonally at the farmer’s market? And the fresh herbs in the cheese mixture add such a great flavor–and do use fresh herbs. This flatbread wouldn’t be as good if you used the dried stuff!

Cooking Method

I found there to be a few problems, to say the least, with the cooking method in the original recipe.

Pizza dough is soft and a bit hard to handle–especially placement on an outdoor grill. My instructions for cooking the dough on the grill still doesn’t make the dough easier to handle, but at least when one side is done, it’s easier to flip. The original recipe leaves the flip side raw for some reason. Additionally, shaping the dough on the baking sheet eliminates the need to transfer it.

I also found that once you add the cheese and tomatoes (outside grill method) the flatbreads just seem to steam. Tomatoes are watery so there should be a method that evaporates some of that moisture. My broiler method does, plus it makes the tomatoes taste better and browns the edges of the dough and the cheese.

Make It Easy On Yourself

One thing I recommend from the original recipe is to use the pizza dough that comes in the tube. It’s pre-rolled so it eliminates that step. The only reason I didn’t use it and made my own is that I forgot to pick it up at the store!!!

All you have to do with the tube stuff is unroll it and cut it in half. I have included a link to homemade dough in the recipe ingredients if you want to go that way.

The Recipe

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Herbed Cheese & Tomato Flatbread

Here’s an Uptown pizza everyone will love

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Course: Appetizer, Brunch, Dinner, Main, Main/Side, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: flatbread, pizza recipes, tomato recipes, vegetarian recipe

Servings: 12

Calories: 181kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
1 -OR-recipe homemade pizza dough if you wish to make your own
3 medium tomatoes thinly sliced
2 tbs olive oil

Cheese Spread:

8 oz cream cheese softened
2 cloves garlic finely minced
2 tbs fresh chopped chives
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
3 tbs grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Garnish:

1 tbs finely chopped fresh basil
1 tbs chopped fresh parsley
2 tbs grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat broiler to high. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray foil with non-stick spray; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix all the cheese spread ingredients; set aside.
Divided pizza dough in half and roll out each into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle and place on prepared sheet. Brush each with half of the oil.
Broil for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is beginning to get brown. Flip dough and broil this side for the same amount of time. Remove and cool slightly on the baking sheet. Leave the broiler on.
Spread half the cheese spread on one dough rectangle and the remaining spread on the other dough rectangle.
Divide sliced tomatoes randomly on each rectangle. Sprinkle with the 2 tbs of grated cheese.
Place the flatbreads under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to dry on top and cheese is beginning to brown.
Sprinkle with the basil and 1 tbs chopped parsley.
To prepare bread on the outside grill--grill each side of the bread over high heat about 3-4 minutes each side. Finish the flatbreads as per broiler instructions

Notes

Adapted from Taste of Home

Nutrition

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Easy Garlic Knots

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 00:00:06 +0000

These garlic knots are so easy to make, you’ll make them several times a week!

Easy Garlic Knots: The Dough Is The Secret

You won’t believe it, but this very versatile dough has only 2 basic ingredients and ones you may already have on hand.

All you need is plain Greek yogurt and self-rising flour. OK, maybe you don’t have self-rising flour on hand, especially if you live north of the Mason-Dixon line. However it’s really easy to make from plain all-purpose flour. I’m pretty sure you have baking powder and salt on hand and that’s all you need to make this dough.

Just add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to 1 cup of all purpose flour and whisk it very well to combine. Presto, self-rising flour!

Shaping The Rolls

Knots come in many different shapes from fancy to basic.

First you make ropes about 12-inches long. For a basic knot, start like you’re tying your shoes, then tuck the free ends of the rope through the center hole. That’s easy peasy.

I choose to make a Celtic-type knot. That starts out like the basic knot only you wrap one end of the rope over the circle you made by starting out with the basic tie, then wrap the other end over the circle on the opposite sides.

This may be a little hard to follow just from reading the above instructions, but there are literally loads of videos showing you how to do this on Youtube. Look at a few videos then decide on the style you like and use it.

Oh-So Garlicky!

The mixture you brush on the rolls is a garlic lover’s dream!

You can use more garlic if you like and the same applies if you want to use less if you’re not in love with an intense garlic flavor.

Whatever amount you decide to use, make sure you mince the garlic very fine so it’s easy to brush on the rolls. In a pinch, you could use a teaspoon of garlic powder or garlic salt if you have no fresh on hand. Dehydrated parsley can also be substituted if you have no fresh, but fresh is definitely better!

The Recipe

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Easy Garlic Knots

These garlic knots are so easy to make, you’ll want them several times a week! The bread dough is made with just TWO simple ingredients!

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: breads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread dough, garlic knots

Servings: 8

Calories: 176kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups self-rising flour plus more for dusting
1 cup greek yogurt
¼ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F
In a large bowl, mix the self-rising flour and greek yogurt until it comes together to form a ball.
Transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to begin flattening and shaping the rough into a roughly 8-inch disk.
Using a long-blade knife, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.
One at a time, roll each piece out into a roughly 12 inchlog and set aside.
Transfer the dough logs to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and shape individual knots. Repeat with remaining logs.
In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, parsley, and salt.
Brush each knot with garlic oil mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes, until the garlic knots have begun to turn golden brown.

Nutrition

*Adapted from Tasty

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Garlic Parmesan Herb Pull Apart

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 23:00:21 +0000

Classic pull-apart bread oozing with butter, garlic, cheese and herbs. The perfect dinner roll!

I’m a big-time fan of southern food. Now that raises many eyebrows because I’m a consummate “Yankee,” and the only claim I can make to anything southern is coming from the southern part of Brooklyn, New York.

However, a good friend is always telling me that there’s a little southern lady right underneath my surface. And that friend happens to be Melissa Sperka who wrote the cookbook containing the recipe for these fantastic dinner rolls. I am proud to call this great wife, mom and cook a dear friend. Her book is beautiful and has become a treasured part of my cookbook collection.

Melissa develops the recipes for and writes the popular food site Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen. I visit her site often when drooling is in order. The recipes there, and in this FABULOUS cookbook are old-time southern-style recipes that come from Melissa’s family collection.

When she sent me a copy of the book to review, it was mighty hard to pick something to make from it. As I said, I’m a southern food freak, and I love grits. She has several recipes for grits, but I decided to stay neutral here realizing that some folks don’t care for them. That’s why I ultimately picked these rolls. Melissa is an absolute wizard with rolls–savory and sweet, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this choice.

I did have to alter her original recipe somewhat. The original was made by shaping the rolls into knots. I decided to go with just rolls with no shaping–the reason for that is a week ago, I sprained my back and sciatica has set in. The position I’d have to bend at to roll the dough into ropes was just too painful at this time, hence going generic with round rolls.

But the shape really doesn’t matter here; it’s the seasoning. So any way you shape this it’s going to taste great.

Melissa used frozen unbaked dinner rolls in her recipe. I could not find them in my area (only the pre-baked frozen), so I used frozen unbaked white bread and cut and shaped them into rolls. It’s the same thing, so if you cannot find the unbaked frozen rolls, you definitely will find the frozen unbaked white bread. If you want to make your own dough from scratch, heck, that works too! I made much larger rolls, so I only used 8 rolls (which was 2 frozen loaves). The rolls Melissa used are the small dinner rolls so you will need double my amount.

These rolls are the BOMB–and I am not kidding. My neighbor was visiting when they were baking and she said it smelled heavenly, so after I got done taking the pics, I brought her over some so they could have them with dinner. I called some of these rolls “dinner” just by their lonesome. They are terrific and hat’s off to Melissa for this wonderful, yet easy recipe!

Purchase Melissa’s cookbook on Amazon.

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Garlic Parmesan Herb Pull Apart

Classic pull-apart bread oozing with butter, garlic, cheese and herbs. The perfect dinner roll!

Prep Time2 20

Cook Time25

Total Time2 45

Course: breads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread recipe, garlic, parmesan, pull-aparts

Servings: 16 rolls

Calories: 174kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

16 frozen yeast dinner rolls not the pre-baked ones see NOTES
1/2 cup butter melted
1 tsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic finely minced
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning -OR- oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Instructions

Place frozen dough balls on waxed paper. Thaw on the counter 20-30 minutes. The dough should be thawed but still cold.
Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, parsley and garlic.
On a plate, mix together the Parmesan cheese, onion powder and garlic powder.
Dip each roll in the garlic butter and place side by side in prepared pan. Reserve leftover garlic butter to brush on top after baking.
Sprinkle with the seasoned Parmesan mixture.
Cover with greased plastic wrap and place in a draft-free area to rise; about 1 1/2-2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap from the pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden.
Brush with reserved garlic butter.

Notes

I used frozen unbaked white bread dough. I cut it shaped it into 8 large rolls, however, you can make smaller rolls if desired. This took 2 frozen loaves.

Melissa made the dough into knots by rolling each roll into ropes 6-inches long then tying into knots.

Nutrition

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Cheesy Onion Monkey Bread

Judith Hannemann — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Cheesy Onion Monkey Bread

Gloriously rich and buttery. Full of cheese too! Watch this one disappear quickly.

What can I say about this pull-apart bread?

Well, first of all, it’s EASY, but most of all, it’s delectable! It’s so full of tasty cheese and savory onion flavor, it’s sure to be a hit whenever you serve it. It also has a wonderfully buttery flavor that pulls all the other flavors together.

Cheesy Onion Monkey Bread

I served this last week at a dinner I hosted for some friends. They raved about it. There was a little piece left over. Later on that same night, I was peckish and figured I’d eat it even though it probably wouldn’t be as good as when it was warm. WRONG! It was just as good!!!

This is the perfect snack for game time too. Easy as 1-2-3, put it on a plate and watch it go. Since it’s a finger-type food because you pull off portions, there’s no clean up but the cake pan and the bowl you mixed it up in!

Remember this one for Super Bowl parties!

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Cheesy Onion Monkey Bread

This savory monkey bread is gloriously rich and buttery. Full of cheese too! Watch this pull apart bread disappear quickly.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time45

Course: breads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread recipe, monkey bread, pull-aparts

Servings: 6 -8

Calories: 811kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

16 pieces refrigerated biscuit dough i.e. Grands buttermilk biscuits
6 tbsp butter melted
1/2 cup green onions chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or lightly grease a 10-cup tube or Bundt pan. This isn't necessary for a non-stick pan.
Separate biscuits. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Place in a large bowl. Add cheeses and onions. Stir to distribute evenly.
Melt butter and pour over biscuit mixture in bowl. Stir to coat biscuits with the butter.
Turn into prepared pan, distributing the biscuit mixture evenly. Lightly press biscuits down.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until biscuits are done and are golden brown.
Good warm or cold. Serves 6-8

Nutrition

Cheesy Onion Monkey Bread

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