THE BREAD: MY MOST FAVORITE BREAD RECIPE

This is my favorite bread recipe.  I love it for a number of reasons.  It's pretty much no-fail.  Every time I've made it it turns out.  That's probably my highest priority with bread recipes-reliability.  It also uses potato flakes.  As an Idaho native, it just make me happy.  We have a thing for potatoes up there.  

I wouldn't say it's an overly-healthy recipe, that's the main downside.  Upgrading to organic flours and using raw honey definitely help.  I have intentions to one day attempt and modify this to use with other flours and see if I can do a gluten-free version...I'm sure you'll hear about it on here if I do.

Also...I'm trying to learn Lightroom.  I have a standard edit I use in photoshop and these pics obviously aren't it.  I'm loving the filmy-ness that we've got going on here with these but I'm still not where I'd like with Lightroom.  If you'd like to track my progress/see where I'm at with my Lightroom education you can follow my pinterest board as I'm looking up tutorials and finding answers to my questions.

Anyway, THE BREAD:

I am in love with this cooking spray.  We switched to using coconut oil for just about everything around here a while back and this is just the cherry on the cake!  I've used crisco, standard cooking spray, olive oil and this is the first time my bread has effortlessly fallen right out of my bread pans with out any problems!!  I ♥ Trader Joes.

Be sure to coat the corners the most!  That's where bread likes to stick and not come out!

Add 2 Tbsp yeast to 1 1/4 C warm water (like babies bath water).  You want that nice comforting warm environment that yeast loves to grow in.

Let it expand a bubble a little bit.

And then add 1/2 C honey.  I am in love with this honey!  It's local, raw and so SO delicious.  If you're local to StG check out www.ichowlocal.com/.  It's an amazing resource for local and organic produce in our area!

Add 1 cup milk and stir.  I usually turn it on "stir" on my kitchenaid as I'm adding these ingredients.  I also use a bread hook instead of the standard mixing attachment.  Before I had a kitchenaid I made this using a regular ol' bowl and wooden spoon and that worked great!

And 1/3 C olive oil.

And 1/2 C potato flakes OR 1/2 C mashed potato.  I often have potatoes on hand so I'll just quickly peel and boil one to mash up and add in.

Then 2 C wheat flour.

Mix that for a little longer until it's really starting to look doughy.

2 tsp salt.

And finally 3 C bread flour.  I keep hearing all of this amazing stuff about King Arthur Flour.  So I tried it.  It's really good.  This bread was particularly flavorful and I think that had something to do with it.

Mix it all up but not too much and turn it out onto a floured surface.

MY FAVORITE PART!!  Knead away until your dough is smooth, not too sticky and oh so doughy.

Split your dough into 2 balls and let rest while you clean up and get your dishes to the sink to soak.

Pat balls out into loaves-rolling into a log, pinching the seams and tucking the ends under.

Lay seam down in already sprayed glass pans.

Put a mug of water in your microwave and microwave for 2 minutes.  Place the 2 loaf pans in the microwave with the now warm mug of water to rise for 20-30 minutes. (DO NOT MICROWAVE YOUR DOUGH-MICROWAVE THE WATER BEFORE AND THEN JUST PUT THE LOAVES IN THERE TO RISE)

Before and then after 25 minutes.

Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 F.

Immediately remove from pans and allow to cool.

Smother with Irish butter!!

And homemade jam or jelly!

THE BREAD

1 1/4 C warm water
2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 C milk (prepared dried milk works too)
1/2 C honey
1/3 C olive oil
1/2 C mashed potato or potato flakes
2 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
3 C bread flour

PREHEAT your oven to 350 F.

GREASE two glass loaf pans with coconut oil spray.

MIX warm water and yeast.  Wait for it to expand a bubble a bit and then add honey, milk and olive oil while mixing.  Add mashed potatoes (or flakes), whole wheat flour, salt and bread flour.  Mix until a dough starts to form.

KNEAD dough on a floured surface adding extra flour as needed.  Cut in half and form each into a smooth ball and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Pat balls out into loaves by rolling into a log, pinching seams and tucking them under.  Lay them seam-side down into greased pans.

HEAT a mug of water in microwave for 2 minutes.  Place loaf pans in microwave with warm mug to rise for 20-30 minutes.

BAKE for 35-40 minutes in preheated oven at 350 F.  Immediately remove bread from pans and allow to cool.  Serve with butter and home made jam!

HOW TO MAKE PRICKLY PEAR FREEZER JELLY

I never had any intentions of taking on this project.  For this reason, I am a huge advocate for Bountiful Baskets.  Because of this CO-OP I now love figs, persimmons, indian squash and so many other fun fruits and veggies that we so often walk right past at the supermarket!  The weekend before this jam project our baskets included prickly pears!  And lots of them!  I had never had a prickly pear before and they are so interesting.  I love the sweet and subtle flavor and it just seemed like it would make a delicious jelly. 

Finding a recipe for an easy prickly pear freezer jelly was surprisingly difficult.  I found a few ideas here and there and finally one website suggested using Sure-Jell's recipe for sour cherry replacing the cherry juice with prickly pear juice.

Then there was figuring out how to juice a prickly pear!  This was by far the most helpful on how to juice them.  Luckily mine were already de-thorned so I didn't have to deal with pricklys!  I cut off the ends of the fruit, cut them in half...

And used a spoon to scoop out the flesh.  They are FULL of seeds and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to remove them.  A few sites recommended throwing them in a juicer-but the downside is the seeds often are juiced as well and taint the flavor.

I took the prickly pear flesh and added all of it to a saucepan.

And mushed it a little.

And then covered it will a bit of water-just enough to barely cover the fruit.

I brought that to a boil and tried to skim a bit of the foam off the top.

I got a cheesecloth ready to go in a glass bowl.

And dumped the whole thing in.  If I owned a strainer with fine little holes in it I would have done that...but I don't so cheesecloth it was!!

Now, if you are a patient person you let it cool and then wring it out.  I am not.  I burn my hands every time wringing and then end up squishing the remaining juice out with a wooden spoon.

After all of that effort, I am left with a cup of juice!!

Unfortunately the recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of juice (which I do not have) so I improvised and cut the recipe down a third.  This is about a third of a box of the pectin, 1 cup of sugar and 1/3 C water. (Be sure to whisk the pectin and sugar together before adding the water or else this can happen).

I pulled that off the heat after it had boiled for a minute or so and added my prickly pear juice.  I had enough to fill 2 1/2 jars!

It is delicious and sweet!  I absolutely love the unique flavor-and it goes so great on homemade bread with butter!

PRICKLY PEAR FREEZER JELLY

3 1/2 cups prickly pear juice
1 cup water
1 package sure-jell low sugar pectin
3 cups sugar

TO MAKE JUICE:

WASH prickly pears and remove prickles.  Cut off ends of fruit, cut in half and scoop flesh into saucepan.  Add enough water to cover fruit.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

STRAIN juice through a jelly bag or cheesecloth.

TO MAKE JELLY:

RINSE clean plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly.

WHISK sugar and pectin in small saucepan. Add water and bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat and add fruit to mixture.

FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jelly is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

RIDICULOUSLY DELIGHTFUL FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE FROM SCRATCH!

It is fruit season.  My favorite season.  I LOVE pie but I especially LOVE fruit pie!!  And I'm not big on cooked fruit so fresh fruit pie is really the way to go!

I received this darling pie plate for our wedding.  I had it for years before I even really read the recipe and probably a few years longer than that before I actually tried the recipe.  It is incredibly easy and turns out perfect every time I make it!  I'm not a huge fan of the sweet jelly-syrup stuff you can buy and coat strawberries in so making my own has been a great alternative!

Normally I make my own crust I SWEAR.  This was just too darn convenient.  I had to go to the red barn to get fruit..they just happened to have homemade crust available AND it's a vinegar crust (which I love but do not usually make) so it just worked out too well really.  I'm sure I will include my own crust recipe eventually (peach pie has to happen soon so no worries...it's coming).

So you need some strawberries.  This is a slightly bigger package than what you'd normally buy (it's a costco package, but not as big as the normal package from costco...could this be any more confusing!)  The recipe says 5 cups of strawberries + the 1 cup you crush so go with that.

The more you cut them up previous to crushing, the less crushing you have to do.  Here is 1 cup, quartered.

We take berry crushing very seriously around here.  It's a family affair.

I love their vibrant red color as you smoosh them.  They do not need to be completely crushed, but enough that the juices are flowing.

If you haven't already, bake your crust.  If you're using store-bought there should be instructions for how long to cook a naked crust.  Be sure to poke holes in it so that it doesn't shrink!  Mine needed to be baked for 15 min at 350 F.

Add 1 cup of water to your 1 cup of crushed strawberries.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.  If I'm lean on berries I'll simmer mine a little longer to make sure I'm getting all the flavor I can out of what I've got.

Sieve the berry mixture.  I don't have a mesh sieve so I use a clean dishtowel or cheese cloth.  Make sure you wear gloves to ring out the berries!  Hot!!

Add 3/4 C sugar (you can totally use honey if you want to, but you might want to reduce the amount since it tends to be sweeter) and 3 Tbsp cornstarch.

Whisk right away with the cornstarch!  This always reminds me of making gravy because you want to get rid of all of the lumps as fast as you can!!  Bring it back up to med-high to high and cook until it thickens.  It's weird because it will be thin...and still thin...and still thin...and then THICK!  That's when it's done.

The recipe on the plate recommends spreading some glaze on the pie crust, but I like to dump it all directly on the strawberries.  Stir to evenly coat all of the strawberries.  You can then dump the mixture into the crust OR if you're not going to be eating it within the next 2 or so hours, I like to keep them separate and refrigerate everything until you're ready (like you're going to let this sit in a fridge for more than 2 hours).

Ta-da!  Fresh strawberry pie!  Seriously, it's the best.

RIDICULOUSLY DELIGHTFUL FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE

1 CUP + 5 CUPS STRAWBERRIES, QUARTERED
1 CUP WATER
3/4 CUP SUGAR (OR SUGAR REPLACEMENT SUCH AS HONEY)
3 TBSP CORNSTARCH
NAKED PIE CRUST, BAKED

IN SMALL SAUCEPAN CRUSH 1 CUP STRAWBERRIES, ADD 1 CUP WATER.  BRING TO A BOIL AND SIMMER FOR 2 MINUTES.  SIEVE BERRY MIXTURE.  ADD 3/4 CUP SUGAR AND 3 TBSP CORNSTARCH.  COOK OVER MEDIUM HEAT STIRRING CONSTANTLY UNTIL THICK.  POUR GLAZE OVER PREPARED STRAWBERRIES AND COAT BERRIES WELL.  DUMP INTO BAKED PIE CRUST AND REFRIGERATE UNTIL READY TO SERVE.  TOP WITH WHIPPED CREAM.