This week I realized that I can easily make granola in the bread machine.  How?  I use the jam setting of my Zojirushi bread machine.  During the jam setting the machine just heats and stirs.  It’s perfect for making granola!

Bread Machine Granola

3 ½ Cups oats – uncooked (Old Fashioned works best)
1 Cup walnuts – chopped (you can also use pecans or almonds)
½ Cup canola oil
½ Cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup raisins (other dried fruit can be used)

Add the honey, oil and vanilla to the bread machine.  Then add the rest of the ingredients except the raisins.  Set the machine on the jam setting.

Once the machine is done then let the granola cool for a few more minutes. Then pour the cereal into a container, add the raisins and stir.  Store the granola in the refrigerator.

If you don’t have a Zo then here are the manual instructions . .

Stovetop Granola

3 ½ Cups oats – uncooked (Old Fashioned works best)
1 Cup walnuts – chopped (you can also use pecans or almonds)
½ Cup canola oil
½ Cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup raisins (other dried fruit can be used)

Put the oats in ungreased cake or casserole dish.  Put in the oven at 325º to toast while you’re working on the rest of the granola.

Combine oil, honey and vanilla in a pan.  Warm gently on the stovetop until it begins to boil.

Remove oats from the oven and add the heated oil, honey and vanilla.  Add the nuts and raisins.  Stir gently until all the oats are coated.

Bake at 325º for half an hour.  Remove from the oven and allow the granola to cool.  Put it into a bowl or storage container with a lid.  Store the granola in the refrigerator.   The first time you open the granola container the cereal will have solidified.   Close it back up, make sure the lid is on tight and give the whole thing a few shakes.  It will break up and behave nicely after that.

I received an email from Colene, “I have some pineapple juice left over from a cake I made.   Is there any bread machine recipes using pineapple?”  

This recipe should be a good one for using up that pineapple juice: Hawaiian Bread in the Bread Machine

Dora wrote, “I do not live near a store that keeps a supply of ‘bread flour’ on hand. Would it be possible for me to use plain flour in this recipe? “

Bread flour has more gluten than all purpose flour. (Learn more about bread flour on this page.)  Some people make their own bread flour. For every one cup of flour replace one tablespoon of flour with one tablespoon of wheat gluten. In other words, for every cup of flour take out one tablespoon of flour and substitute one tablespoon of gluten.

Teagan came up with a healthy variation on the Two Pound Sour Milk Bread recipe.

She says, “FYI I’ve also successfully made it with whole wheat flour (1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour to be exact) and it came out great that way too.”

And speaking of variations, Viggus  and John contributed healthier versions of the Hamburger Buns recipe. 

John says, ” I had exactly three cups of flour in my bin so I put 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour in with it… They tasted fantastic. On my first run I might have left them in the oven just a tad too long. I took them out at 15 minutes and they had a nice golden brown top, but the top was just a tad crunchy. As for being a great bun, I think I succeeded. On my next run I might pull them out a minute or two sooner.

Viggus says, “I used half white flour and half rye flour. Added a little more yeast and it tasted great! A lot of more fiber and still really tasty.”

Dianne had an interesting variation on the cornbread in the bread machine recipe that sounds great! 

She says, “Well, I did it. I added a can of cream corn, cut down a little on the milk and added a few more Tbs. of flour . The loaf of corn bread came out great and was very rich and yummy.”

Site Update Coming Soon

I’ve been working on a logo for the site with the fabulous Jennifer of Pick of the Litter Design.  (She’s also creative talent behind the dishware and aprons at JW Giftware.)   The logo is done and in the next month or so I’ll redo the site.  The logo is really cute and I think you’ll like it.

Buttery, Soft Dinner Rolls

1 Cup water
1 Large egg
3 1/4 Cups bread flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons dry milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of what ingredients to add first.  Use the dough setting of your bread machine.

When the dough is done put it on a lightly floured surface and divide in half. The goal is to get about 18 dinner rolls of appropriate size and shape. Put the rolls on a greased cookie sheet.

Cover the rolls with a clean, light-weight kitchen towel and let the rolls rise for half an hour. Then remove the towel and put the rolls in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.  (I baked mine for 12 minutes.)

Move the cooked rolls to a rack to cool.

The bread baked up just fine in my two-pound bread machine.  The top of the loaf wasn’t as uniform as I would have liked, but that might have been something that I did.  What’s most important to me is the way that the bread tastes.  It had a nice, tangy, sourdough flavor. This is one mix that I wouldn’t hesitate to try again.

The only caveat is that the texture of the bread was a little surprising.  Sourdough breads are usually a bit chewy.  This bread was more cake-like.  But with good tasting bread like this I’m not that worried about the texture.

Next weekend our house will be filled with the lovely aroma of corned beef and cabbage.  And on the the day after Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll be enjoying corned beef sandwiches.

Last year I experimented with two different varieties of rye bread that would be great to use with leftover corned beef.

• Light Rye Bread
• Extra Light Rye Bread

The Man of the House and I even did some testing to see which bread we liked the best.  While the toast test was a split decision, both of us favored the light rye bread for sandwiches.

You can read the details of the taste tests here:

• Toast Test
• Sandwich Test

I hope you have a happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

The reason behind the update was that the home page mobile site stopped working.  I think that’s fixed now too.

And just in case you missed it, I added a video category.  So now all the bread videos, like the newest one on how to make sweet rolls,  are in one spot.

I just found this great video from the Prepared Pantry. It tells how to make sweet rolls using pastry filling. (Click on the link to see baking instructions for the sweet rolls.) I found it really helpful to see how the dough was handled and rolled. I also loved the fact that the video shows the happy mess that occurs when cooking.

I think this would be great with sour milk bread dough.