guinness bread with molasses

I'm a bad girl. My husband found my gym membership card a few weeks ago (which, btw was my excuse for not going) and I still haven't made it to a single one of my favorite classes. Oh well, maybe tomorrow! I have been trying to make a conscientious effort to be more active, and have been doing so with Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and the Wii Fit Plus (which are totally kicking my butt!!). So, it's the second week of the new year and decade - are you keeping up with your resolutions? Or have you let them slip (I'll admit, I am having a hard time with the sweet tooth :).

Speaking of sweet tooth, for Christmas gifts this year we sent out care packages to our family and friends with homemade goods. Since I knew SIL loves dark beer, I tried to find a recipe she might enjoy - and when I saw Guinness Bread with Molasses on Simply Recipes, it instantly made me think of her! Of course, I had to bake a test bread before sending one to her and though hubs didn't care for it (he's not a fan of beer) I thought it was very moist and pretty tasty (especially with butter or jam). Hope she and her Mister enjoyed it!!

Guinness Bread with Molasses
from Simply Recipes

This is fantastic eaten fresh, and nearly as good the next day toasted with some more butter. Do not use stale beer for this recipe, you want the carbonation.


* 3 cups self-rising flour*
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/3 cup molasses
* A pinch of salt (roughly 1/8 teaspoon)
* 12 ounces of Guinness beer
* Butter for greasing the pan and painting the top, about 3 tablespoons

* If you don't have self-rising flour, you can substitute using a ratio of 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, plus 1/8 teaspoon of salt, for every cup of self-rising flour. Have made both ways though and got better results from the self-rising flour.
Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan well with butter.

2 Pour the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour the Guinness into the flour mixture. (The “pub cans” are larger than 12 ounces, but they have better carbonation, so I pour most of it out and leave a swig to drink. This has never failed me, but if you are a stickler, use a 12-ounce bottle of Guinness instead.) Start stirring the beer into the dry ingredients, and when you are about halfway done, add the molasses. Mix well, just to combine. Don’t work the heck out of the batter – because that’s what it’ll look like – but you don’t want lumps, either.

4. Pour into the loaf pan to no more than 2/3 full. Pop into the oven immediately and bake for 50 minutes. Since ovens can vary, check the bread after 40 minutes and see if a toothpick inserted into the deepest part of the loaf comes out clean. If it does, you’re done.

5. Let the loaf cool a bit, maybe 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a rack. Paint it with lots of soft butter, which will melt as you go.

Conchas (or in this case, Conchitas!)

Pan Dulce is a wonderful sweet bread often served with a morning cup of coffee. It was always a treat when I was able to go to the panederia (bakery) with my mom or Welita first thing in the morning for some fresh, warm pan dulce. One of my favorites has always been the conchas, which translates to shells, due to the the shape of the bread and its topping. I was so excited when I saw a recipe on Joy the Baker for conchas that I had to make them for my family on Christmas morning (which they were absolutely thrilled about!). These are not hard to make at all, but a little time consuming since you have to let the dough rise twice. The topping is absolutely spot on! I made 24 mini conchas and since they freeze really well, I packed some away and also enjoyed them on New Year's morning!

Conchas

Recipe by Joy the Baker

DOUGH

1 tablespoon dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup water

3 2/3 cups white bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons shortening

5 large eggs, beaten

TOPPING

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cocoa

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

For Dough: In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm water. Let stand 6-8 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups bread flour, salt, sugar and shortening and blend thoroughly. Add yeast mixture and 2 eggs. Mix completely. Add remaining eggs and mix. Add remaining bread flour and mix until the dough forms a loose, soft, and elastic dough. It should be a little sticky but firm enough to shape easily with buttered hands.

Butter the work surface into a 4×6-inch rectangle, 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 16 medium or 24 small squares.

Cover lightly with plastic wrap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours and let dough rise. Shape each dough square into a dome-shaped circle. On a lightly greased cookie sheet, place rolls 2 inches apart.

For Topping: In a food processor using a metal blade, add the butter, shortening, powdered sugar, 1 cup flour and vanilla. You can also use a stand mixer for this process. Process until smooth, then divide into 2 equal parts. Leave one part plain and shape into a log. You can use a bit of pink or yellow dye to color this potion of the dough before shaping into a log, wrapping in wax paper, and chilling. Add cocoa and cinnamon to the other half of dough and wrap in wax paper. Chill the 3 logs until ready to use.

Cut off 2 tablespoons of topping from the log and flatten with palms into a circle. Place topping circle on top of dough circle. It should completely cover dough. Use a sharp knife to cut a crisscross or shell design on top. Let rolls rise again in a warm place for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Bake for 12- 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Dinner Rolls

Can you believe it's already November?? Stores are starting to stock up with holiday items and I just couldn't be happier! We'll be hosting Thanksgiving again this year and I'm starting to put together a list of items to make. These dinner rolls will definitely be on that list! They are melt-in-your-mouth yummy!


Thanksgiving last year was a great one. It was the first time we hosted, we celebrated my birthday, we bought my wedding dress, and got our first Christmas tree! The day of Thanksgiving, everything was going smoothly; all the food came together, was ready and looked delicious. I popped the sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows in the oven on broil for a quick minute and went to start serving plates. When I looked at the oven, I saw it lit up... with flames! I quickly opened the oven door to put out the fire that was my beautiful sweet potatoes and marshmallows.

Good thing my sister was there to document it, or else we may have forgotten all about this little incident.
We all got a good laugh out of it (especially my dad and husband as I was frantically trying to put out the flames!) and I'm sure this story will come up every year from here on out.

Dinner Rolls
recipe from For the Love of Cooking

• 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp of butter, softened
• 1 egg (hold under warm water before breaking it)
• 3 1/4 cup of bread flour
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp regular active dry yeast

Place all dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select the dough cycle and press start. Once the bread machine stops (it was one and a half hours on my machine). Grease a cookie sheet. Divide dough into 15 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Brush with butter then cover; let rise in a warm place 30 to 4o minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.