Cast iron skillet bread

I’ve posted in the past about my recent discovery of cast iron cookware, and how awesome I think it is… then I discovered that I could bake bread in my skillets… and now my life is complete.

I came across this recipe for italian herb skillet bread on pinterest, and was drawn in by how awesome the picture looked. I tried it (with my mom’s breadmaker recipe for dinner rolls instead of the pre-made dough), and I don’t think I’ll ever make those dinner rolls in any other way.

The bread came out perfectly crunchy on the bottom and soft and warm on the inside. Since the skillet held heat evenlyand baked the crust perfectly.

I’m on the lookout for other amazing things I can make in my skillets- any suggestions are welcome!

Blog recommendation

I forgot that I wanted to recommend a blog that I have been reading in an attempt to learn more about canning and preserving.

Heavenly Homemakers has a ton of great information, but I’ve really focused on the canning and preserving section. If you’re into gardening and find that you have too many veggies, this is a great place to start learning how to preserve it for your pantry.

The best thing since sliced bread: fresh apple sauce bread (you have to slice it yourself though)

I mentioned on monday that my goal this week has been to make more of our own bread, and I’m happy to say that I’ve been accomplishing that so far! Not only have I managed to make raisin bread and whole wheat bread in the breadmaker for this week, but my son and I also tried our hand(s) at making apple sauce bread. As someone who’s constantly looking for healthy treats for my little guy, I’ve hit the jackpot.

Last night we made some apple sauce. Not a difficult process, but necessary because we had a bag of apples sitting in the fridge that weren’t going to get eaten before they went bad (I had a brain fart at the grocery store and bought a new bag before we’d finished the old one. The process of making the apple sauce was relatively painless, I peeled, cored, and cut 8 apples into chunks (you could also shread it if you want it to cook faster), put it in a large pot on the stove with 1/4 cup of water (about enough to cover the bottom of the pot) and a tablespoon of cinnamon, I put the heat on low and let it simmer there for a few hours. You can also do this in your crockpot (which I would have, but mine’s broken).

My son loves apples, so by the time the pot made it to the stove there was probably only 7 of them, but I digress.

Once the apples had cooked until they were mushy (probably about 2.5 hours) I squished them with a spoon and put it all into 2 years. It probably made about 3 cups all together.

Today my son and I made this apple sauce bread. Here’s the recipe for link-phobes:

Applesauce Bread:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rapadura or 1/2 cup honey
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. sea salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
3/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix dry ingredients.  Make a well in the center and add applesauce, eggs and butter.  Stir well.  Pour into a buttered bread pan or stone.  Bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

First off: this stuff smells AMAZING. My son kept begging me to let him eat some as a snack before bed. Normally we don’t do bedtime snacks, but it smelled so good I felt horrible saying no. He gobbled down a piece and asked for more- but I opted to save the rest for breakfast for the two of us.

Best of all, this stuff is pretty healthy: not much sugar, salt, and the flour is whole wheat- what more could you ask for?

The goal for this week: start making our own bread

Awhile ago we made the switch to buying bread only from a locally owned bakery downtown. While it was wonderful to be supporting a local business (and we will continue to buy our bread from there whenever we need it), it is fairly expensive and making our own bread is an easy way to become more self-sufficient.

This all started last week when my parents came for Easter weekend. My were coming as well, so we started talking about childhood favourite recipies that my mom could make (or bring with her for me to make). One of our favourite things for my mom to make when we were kids we called “monkey buns”. Not sure where the name comes from, as that’s not the name on the recipe and they’re just regular dinner rolls, but we loved them for some reason. She brought the recipe and I made it for dinner- my son loved them and my husband has asked for them twice since then.

Not only that, but it reminded me how easy it was to make dinner rolls instead of buying them. I used our bread maker to make the dough (which I know isn’t completely self-sufficient, but it’s a step in the right direction), and was very happy with the result.

The fleeting thought of making bread for our family intensified when I found this amazing blog with a ton of breadmachine recipies on it on pinterest. Seeing all these delicious breads that I would never be able to buy in a store.

I am so excited about getting to wake up to the smell of fresh-baked bread in the morning again. I have very fond memories of my childhood where lazy sunday afternoons were spent eating one of the sweet breads that my mom made for us, or waking up to the smell of fresh raisin bread in the morning.

If I’m able to get into the swing of making bread for us regularly, I’m going to order a slicing guide like this, because wonky slices of bread were one of my pet-peeves about the home made bread.