Cheesy Pull Apart Bread

It's Father's Day. We had all the Dads over here. It was a great time. I made pulled pork, brats (boiled in beer and a vidalia onion, grilled, and popped back into the onion beer), spinach dip...

...and this gem (from the Changeable Table), that will make a repeat appearance in the future. For sure.



1 round loaf of sourdough (though I had to substitute a calebrese loaf because that's all I could find and it was fine)
1 brick monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 green onion

Cut bread lengthwise and then crosswise, not going through the loaf completely. It's like a bloomin onion, but, like, bread. If you have trouble with this, put the handles of 2 wooden spoons (or dowels) on either side of the loaf to stop your knife. Oh, and obviously you will want to use a good serrated knife for the cutting.

Put bread onto foil lined cookie sheet. Slice the cheese (yay for not having to grate it!) and tuck the slices into the cuts. Cut the green onion and mix it in with the melted butter. Drizzle over the bread. Cover loosely with foil.

Pop into a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

You could mix other stuff with the butter: garlic, chives, whatever you like.

Multigrain Rolls

From Annie's Eats



Made 16 rolls.

1/2 cup oat bran
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup warm milk (105-110˚ F)
2 1/4 tsp. rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 whole wheat flour
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp. salt
Around 3 cups all-purpose flour (I ended up using 3 1/2 cups this time)
Oil, for greasing the bowl

For the topping:
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. mixed seeds (I used a blend of sesame and poppy seeds)
Coarse salt, for sprinkling

In a small bowl, mix oat bran and flax seeds, and pour over boiling water. Let sit for about 5 minutes (until water is absorbed).

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a mixer (with dough hook attachment), combine milk, yeast, and honey and run the mixer a tad, to blend. With the mixer set to low, mix in eggs, oats, wheat flour, pepper, salt and oat bran mixture until combined. Add all purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and begins to come together. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky. Allow mixer to knead the dough at medium low speed for approximately 3 minutes.

Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled boil, covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, around 1 1/2 hours.

The Annie Eats recipe used a 10" round baking dish, but I ended up using a lightly oiled cookie sheet. The round dish created a really neat visual effect.

On a lightly floured surface, turn dough out and pull off pieces about 2 1/2 ounces each (or 16 evenly sized dough balls). Place dough balls on the pan/dish you're going to be baking them in, cover with the plastic wrap and kitchen towel again, and let rise an additional 30 minutes, until nearly doubled.

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together egg yolk and water, and brush this wash on the tops of the risen rolls. Sprinkle with seeds and course salt and bake around 25 minutes, until the tops are golden.

Cool about 10 minutes and remove to a rack to complete cooling.

I really enjoyed these with unsalted butter, but the Annie's Eats site suggested eating them smeared with honey butter. Honey butter is goooooood.

Seeded Soda Bread (WF)

I love the ease of soda bread. No yeast so no rising time. I based it off this recipe.



I used the seeds I had on hand, but would love to try this with sunflower seeds as part of the mix. The original recipe suggests a combo of (2 1/2 tblsp EACH) sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and flax seeds, with a more minor addition (1 tsp) of fennel seeds.

Here's what I did:

2 1/2 tblsp sesame seeds
4 tblsp flax seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 3/4 cups spelt flour (with 1/4 cup possibly more)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 3/4 cup butermilk

Preheat oven to 400 and place silpat (or parchment) on a baking sheet.

In a small bowl, mix seeds, put aside.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt in bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in all but 2 tblsp of the seeds. Add buttermilk and mix with a dough hook until dough just comes together. If it's a little sticky, a a bit more flour until it's workable.

Don't take too much time because you want the baking soda to do its work in the oven.

On a lightly floured surface, roll into a ball and transfer to the baking sheet. Cut a deep x in the top of the loaf, brush on a little extra buttermilk, and sprinkle remaining seeds on top.

Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 45 - 50 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.

Cool on a wire rack.

Spelt Oatmeal Bread (WF)

Wheat free bread is a staple in our house. This makes 2 loaves. Taken from this recipe.



2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup honey
2 tblsp butter
2 tsp salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 large egg
4 1/2 cups spelt flour

In bowl of mixer (fitted with dough hook), combine boiling water, oats, honey, butter and salt and let sit.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees) and a drip of honey. Let stand 10 minutes to proof.

Add yeast mixture to the bowl of a mixer and mix well. Add egg and mix, then add flour and mix until dough is smooth and elastic. If it's sticky, add more flour 1 tblsp at a time. Spelt flour is more delicate than wheat flour, so you need to be careful and not abuse it)

Lightly oil a large bowl and add dough, turning to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place until dough doubles, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375.

Punch down dough, place on lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 balls. Form into loaves and place into 2 lightly oiled loaf pans. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise again for about 40 minutes (until doubled).

Bake about 30 minutes, until top of loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump it. Remove from loaf pans gently and let cool. If you like, you can top with a little melted honey and sprinkle with a few oats.

Dead Easy Roast & Rosemary Foccacia

I think I got the recipe for this roast online somewhere, years ago. I've made roast a bunch of different ways, but I always seem to come back to this one. It's no fuss, and it is very well received.

If it isn't broke...

Dead Easy Roast



Seriously, that's it.

1 package gravy mix (I have used Bisto, brown gravy mix, mushroom gravy mix...whatever I have on hand)
1 package ranch dressing/dip mix (I've also done it with the herb dressing/dip mix and italian dressing powder mix)
1/2 cup water
A hunka roast (this is what we had in the freezer)
Veggies (in this case, an onion, and some potatoes and carrots, but whatever you like)

Get out your crock pot. Pop in the roast (if it's tied, leave the string on). Mix water and seasoning packets, pour over roast. Cover and cook for 8 hours or so. The amount of water might look low but as the roast cooks, it will add liquid (as will the veggies, after you add them).

Stir and flip occasionally (though you don't have to really do this...if you're making this roast while you're at work). Add chopped veggies (bite sized pieces) about 2 hours before crock pot time is complete.

I added a bit of rosemary from our garden to this one, but other than that, there shouldn't be a need to add salt or pepper.



Rosemary Foccacia



This recipe is pretty forgiving, as long as you give it a *little* time to rise. I should have let this batch rise a little longer, but SOMEONE was in a hurry to eat his roast. Turned out pretty good, though.

It's based off this recipe, Black Olive Foccacia, though I obviously adjusted it. I would like to try it with black olives though.

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (or more) of chopped, fresh rosemary
Course salt and chopped, fresh rosemary for top

I was so excited to have a reason to use my awesome stand mixer. Just sayin'. I had to dig out my dough hook (never used that on the mixer before) but you could totally do this by hand if you need/want to.

Pour warm water into bowl of mixer, add yeast, sugar and 1 cup of the flour and stir until combined. Let rest 10 minutes (you'll see a change as the yeast begins to activate)

Add remaining 2 cups flour, salt, olive oil, and rosemary and mix (using the dough hook) for a couple of minutes until the dough forms a ball. Continue to mix (or take it and knead it by hand) for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in large, oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and place somewhere warm to rise.

The original recipe called for a 1 hour rise, but I think last night's batch got a 30 minute siesta. Punch dough down, knead a few times (by hand this time) and pull to fit on an oiled baking sheet (I think I used a 13x9 because that's what I had handy).

Poke top with fingers to make indents, drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle course salt and chopped rosemary atop. Let rest another 30 minutes (we didn't have time for that last night, but it would have made for a loftier end product).

Bake in a preheated 375 oven until golden and crusty on top, and cooked (but still soft) in the centre.

The original recipe called for a 450 degree oven and 40 minutes, but in my oven, that makes the outside cook too quickly (so I knocked down the temp) and it took closer to 25 minutes to cook. Just keep an eye on it.

Cut and serve...this is great for sopping up the gravy from the roast (and a great compliment to the chef).