As winter drags on, we continue to find some comfort in our kitchen. One of our favorite comfort foods is chili, and what goes better with chili than cornbread? This recipe is super easy to make and it will pair nicely with your chili, even on its own.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Swany White flour
1 cup Swany White cornmeal
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup neutral oil or melted butter
1 large egg
1 cup milk
INSTRUCTIONS
Grease a 9-inch cake pan, muffin pan or our favorite, a cast iron skillet
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder, combine well.
In the center of your dry mixture, make a small well and add your oil or butter, milk, and egg.
Stir all of this until it just comes together and only a few lumps remain.
Pour your cornmeal batter batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes (15 minutes if you are making muffins) until the top is a nice golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
There is something about the taste of fresh bread right from the oven. This whole wheat bread is prefect for sandwiches, rolls, or buns. And if you are a novice baker, this simple recipe is a perfect way to kick up your skills a notch
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups warm (not hot) water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup milk – whole, 2%, or skim
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 3/4 cups Swany White flour, plus extra for kneading
2 3/4 cups Swany White Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the water into the bowl of a standing mixer and sprinkle the yeast over top. Let this stand for a few minutes until the yeast has dissolved.
Then stir in the milk, honey, and oil.
To this mixture, add two cups of white flour and the salt, and stir to combine the ingredients.
When mixed, add the remaining white and whole wheat flours. Stir to form a shaggy dough and allow to stand for 20 minutes giving the flour time to absorb the liquid.
Using the dough hook attachment of the mixer, knead the dough for 8-9 minutes. Alternatively, knead the dough by hand. If the dough is bubble-gum sticky against the sides of the bowl or the counter, add extra flour a tablespoon at a time until it is no longer sticky.
The dough is completely kneaded when it is smooth, feels slightly tacky, forms a ball without sagging, and springs back when poked.
Clean out the mixing bowl and coat it with a little oil.
Take dough and form it into a ball and turn it in the bowl to coat it with oil.
Cover the bowl and allow the dough rise in a warm spot until it is about double in size. This will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Sprinkle a little flour on the counter and turn the dough out on top and divide it into two and shape each half into a loose ball. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
Grease two 8×4-inch loaf pans or and shape each ball of dough into a loaf and transfer to the loaf pans.
Let the loaves rise a second time until they start to dome over the edge of the pan, about 30-40 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 425°F while dough is rising.
Slash the tops of the loaves with a serrated knife and put them in the oven. and immediately turn down the heat to 375°F.
Bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes, until they are dark golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Remove the loaves from the pans and let them cool completely before slicing.
If you love French Toast, you will love this delicious brioche recipe that will definitely up your breakfast game.
The rich, egg and buttery Brioche is also delicious as sandwich bread, hamburger buns, and cinnamon rolls.
Recipe makes 2 sandwich loaves, or 12 large rolls
INGREDIENTS
16 tablespoons unsalted softened butter
1 tablespoon active dry or instant yeast
1/2 cup water or milk
1/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups Swany White flour
1 yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for the glaze
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer, and allow the yeast to dissolve for a few minutes.
Add the sugar and the eggs to the yeast mixture, and stir until the eggs are broken up.
Add the salt and 4 cups of the flour. Mix until you’ve formed a floury dough.
With a dough hook on low speed, knead the dough for about 2 minutes, or all the flour comes together in a smooth ball.
Increase the mixer speed to medium and start adding the butter one tablespoon at time.
Once all the butter is added, continue to beat the dough for about 5 minutes, the dough should be glossy and supple, and it should jiggle slightly almost like custard.
Cover dough loosely and place in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in bulk.
Once it has doubled, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge and allow to rest overnight.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and pat into a rectangle and divide the rectangle into 12 equal pieces, then roll each piece into a ball. Place into each loaf tin, staggering them slightly so you create a braided look or you can divide the dough in half and shape each half into a standard loaf.
Cover the brioche loosely and allow them to rise again until they’re doubled in bulk, look puffy and pillow-like, typically 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and whisk together the yolk and water for the glaze and brush it evenly over the tops of the brioche.
Place on middle rack in oven. When the loaves look puffed, glossy, and golden-brown on top, your brioche is done.
Allow the brioche to cool for about 5 minutes in pans, then gently ease them out and transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
There is something special about fresh baked pastries, and these croissants are no exception. They may be a lair of love, but their flaky, buttery goodness is sure to be a delicious addition to your breakfast or brunch menu.
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups Swany White Flour
1/4 cup white or packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk, or more
1 pound unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour, for dusting
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
Directions
In a stand mixer with a dough hook, place the yeast, flour, sugar, salt and the milk and mix for 2 minutes until a soft moist dough forms on the hook. If your dough I snot moist enough, you can add additional milk, no more than 4 tablespoons, adding a table spoon at a time.
Once you have achieved moist dough, turn the mixer on high and mix for another 4 minutes until very smooth and elastic.
Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface, cover with a damp towel and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes.
Remove the towel and roll the dough onto a board into a 10 by 9-inch rectangle about 5/8-inch thick. Wrap the dough in plastic then chill for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. A French rolling pin works best for this.
About ten minutes prior to removing dough from the refrigerator, prepare the butter by beating it with your rolling pin on a floured surface to soften it and form a rectangle 6 by 8 1/2 inches. Place it between plastic wrap and set aside.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it on a floured surface into a 10 by 15-inch and 1/4-inch thick rectangle.
Place the shorter side of the dough parallel to the front of your body on the work surface and place the butter in the middle, long-ways.
Fold the bottom up over the butter and brush off any excess flour and then fold the top down over the butter to overlap and encase the butter. Press down lightly with the rolling pin to push all the layers together and make sure they have contact.
Roll the dough once again to form a new 10 by 15-inch rectangle and then fold into thirds.
Mark it with an indentation made by poking your finger once at the corner of the dough meaning you have completed the first “turn”.
Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour.
Repeat steps 9 – 11 again three more times
After the final turn, you can let the dough chill 1 hour (up to overnight), or, roll it out to a 13 by 24-inch square that is a little less than 1/4-inch thick and cut out your croissants and shape them.
When ready to roll and cut the dough, use a sharp large knife and cut into 6-inch strips then cut them into triangles, about 4 inches wide at the base of the triangle.
Stretch these triangles again 9 inches long, then place on the work surface and place a piece of scrap dough in the center of the wide end to enclose. This will help plump up the center.
Roll the triangles up towards you starting at the wide end tucking under the tip and curving the ends to produce that famous present shape. Place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined sheet pan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk and brush the croissants with this egg wash.
Place croissants in a warmed oven with a pan of hot water in the bottom to create moisture that will allow the croissants to proof.
Set aside to proof until puffed up and spongy to the touch (about 1 to 1 1.2 hours) and remove from the oven.
Preheat oven to 425 degree F and spritz with water, close the door, and get the croissants. after placing the croissants in the oven, spritz again, close the door and turn the oven down to 400 degrees F.
After 10 minutes, rotate your pan if they are cooking unevenly and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake another 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown.
It is that time of year and we are all getting ready for the big game, there will be Super Bowl parties everywhere and where there are Super Bowl parties there is sure to be great food. Delight your guests with these delicious reuben bites that are sure to be a hit at your game day bash!
Get your morning off to a great start with this hearty banana bread. The oats in this recipe makes it a bit heartier than your average banana bread which makes it a great grab and go breakfast!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4-5 medium bananas)
2 cups Swany White flour
1 cup Swany White oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Prepare a 9×5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray, oil, or butter.
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, vegetable oil, milk and eggs. Mix well and then add in the bananas.
In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and make sure they are mixed well.
Incorporate the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Pour the batter into loaf pan and transfer to the oven.
Bake for about 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. **You may need to cover the top with foil about halfway through the baking time so the top is not over browned.**
Let the loaf cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.
Enjoy plain, with butter, or your favorite spread.
Who doesn’t love pizza? It is the perfect family go to meal. Making your own crust can often seem like too much work, but with this recipe, all you need are a few ingredients to make this crust with a healthy twist.
Ingredients
1 cup Swany White Oats
3 egg whites
1/4 cup milk (or almond milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Blend all the base ingredients together until smooth. It should be somewhat thick.
Transfer mixture to a parchment lined baking sheet by pouring the batter and shaping it with a spoon into desired shape.
Bake at 400ºC for about 8-10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and turn it over. Spread the desired sauce over the pizza crust and add additional ingredients, then sprinkle with an even layer of mozzarella.
Return the pizza to the oven for 10-12 minutes at 350ºC.
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
Royal Icing
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons dried egg-white powder
6 tablespoons water
Directions
Position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper and set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the butter and vegetable shortening until well-combined, about 1 minute using a hand mixer on high.
Add the brown sugar to the butter mixture and beat until it is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes.
Next, beat in the molasses and egg until mixed throughly.
With a spoon, mix in the flour mixture gradually until a stiff dough forms.
Divide the dough into two thick disks, wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 3 hours.
Remove the one disk of dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature, about 10 minutes, Dough should be warm enough to roll out without cracking.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. **For a softer cookie, roll out slightly thicker.**
Using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and transfer to nonstick cookie sheets, placing the cookies 1 inch apart.
You can knead the scraps together and form into another disk. Wrap and chill for 5 minutes before rolling out again to cut out more cookies, repeat until dough is gone and then start on the next disk.
Bake, being sure to switch the cookies from top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are set and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cake racks to cool completely.
Decorate with Royal Icing.
Royal Icing
In a medium bowl, beat the confectioners’ sugar, egg-white powder and water using a hand-held electric mixer at low speed until combined.
Increase the speed to high and beat 3 to 5 minutes or until very stiff, shiny and thick enough to pipe. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl while beating.
Notes:
The cookies can be prepared up to 1 week ahead, stored in airtight containers at room temperature.
The icing can prepared up to 2 days ahead, stored in an airtight container and refrigerated.
This icing hardens into shiny white lines, and is used for piping decorations on cookies
Traditional royal icing uses raw egg whites, you can substitute 3 large egg whites for the powder and water.
Chances are, you have seen these traditional Bulgarian cookies. Known as maslenki, they are a popular traditional Christmas staple. In Bulgaria they are traditionally made with lard, but you can substitute butter. The lard will however make the dough very soft and keep them from spreading while baking. If you want to knock the socks off of some of your friends this Christmas these are a cookie you must try!
Ingredients
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lard or butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups Swany White Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 jar tart jam (like rosehip, plum, raspberry or apricot)
Garnish: confectioner’s sugar
Directions
Prepare all ingredients and preheat oven to 375 F.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs really well and sugar slowly until light and foamy. This will take about 5 minutes.
Melt the lard or butter and, once it cooled to room temperature, add it slowly to the egg-sugar mixture with the vanilla, mixing constantly.
Mix together flour and baking powder in a separate bowl, and then slowly add it to the egg mixture to create a firm dough.
Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick on parchment-lined baking pans and cut with a round cutter.
Use a small cookie cutter to cut out a decorative hole in the center of half of the cookies.
Bake about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Sprinkle the cookies with holes with confectioner’s sugar and spread jam on the cookies without holes. Then sandwich the two cookies together.
