Bready or Not: Easy Cranberry Sauce
It’s the first week of October, but we’re anticipating the holiday season with this Easy Cranberry Sauce recipe.
Last Thanksgiving was my first in almost 20 years when I didn’t get to go home to California. My mom is all about using the canned jellied cranberry sauce. I’ve hinted for years now that I could try making a fresh sauce, but tradition is tradition.
I was sad I couldn’t be with my folks at Thanksgiving, but hey, at least I could try a homemade sauce at long last. Being that I’m in Minnesota now, that also meant using local cranberries.
I used a 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, but frozen is fine, too. Since there were only two of us partaking in the feast, we had a lot of leftover sauce, but that was fine–I used most of the remainder in a Cranberry Swirled Blondies recipe that I’ll share next week!
Bready or Not: Easy Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces cranberries fresh or frozen
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier
- zest of one orange
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Stir frequently as the contents warm through so that nothing sticks and burns. After 10-15 minutes, the cranberries will start to burst and the mixture will turn jammy. Cook another couple minutes as more berries break down. Remove from heat and cool before serving.
- Sauce can be made up to 5 days ahead. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Serve with meats such as turkey and ham, or with ice cream or within a baked dessert.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Goat Cheese Biscuits
Today we are not only bready, to fit with the blog title of Bready or Not, but we are also cheesy. These Goat Cheese Biscuits are the perfect side for a supper meal.
If you’re on the lookout for a good supper meal, too, stay tuned–in two weeks, I’m sharing a pot roast recipe that will set you up nicely for this fall and winter!
For this recipe, I love using the 4-ounce logs that are often available at Aldi. They are cheap and basic, not high end as far as chevre goes, but they are absolutely perfect in a recipe like this. Plain logs are ideal, but you can also use one with herbs.
I like thick biscuits. I get 6 out of this recipe, but if you form them to be thinner, you could get 8 or more. The texture is cakey, the flavor rich because of the butter and goat cheese throughout.
Bready or Not Original: Goat Cheese Biscuits
Equipment
- 2-inch round cutter
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 4- ounces plain goat cheese or used an herbed variety
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup buttermilk or soured milk, see note
- extra milk or half & half
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Set the goat cheese in the freezer for just a few minutes as the dough is being prepared.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter and mash it until it is pea-sized. Pour in the buttermilk or soured milk.
- The chilled goat cheese will be easier to dice into small pieces without being a sticky mess. Fold those chunks into the dough.
- Sprinkle flour onto a clean work surface. Knead the dough to make sure it is cohesive, but don’t overwork. Pat into a thick round. Use a 2-inch cutter to cut out shapes. Set them on cookie sheet, then reform leftovers to cut out more biscuits.
- Once all of the scrap dough is used, pour a dab of milk or half & half into a saucer. Use a pastry brush to brush a thin layer of milk onto the top of each biscuit; this will create a nice golden crust.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until nicely golden. Serve immediately. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or wrapped in foil and set in the oven to briefly bake.
OM NOM NOM!
Notes
Bready or Not: Sweet Crescent Rolls in the Bread Machine
The blog is titled Bready or Not. Today, it is decidedly bready, as the recipe is one for Sweet Crescent Rolls made using a bread machine.
The recipe requires little hands-on effort. The dough mixes in the bread machine. You divide it and form the crescent rolls, which is actually rather fun. They rise. You then bake. The recipe makes 24 rolls, meaning you can feed a crowd or you can freeze a bunch.
These keep well in the freezer for months. This is the kind of thing you can make at Thanksgiving and then pull out as needed through the rest of the holiday season.
Modified from Allrecipes.com Magazine Oct/Nov 2014.
Bready or Not: Sweet Crescent Rolls in the Bread Machine
Equipment
- food thermometer
- bread machine
- parchment paper
- food scale
- cookie sheet
- knife or pizza cutter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
- 1/2 warm milk or half & half (110 degrees)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast or 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened, for filling
Instructions
- Place ingredients in recommended order for bread machine, usually liquid first: water, milk, egg, butter, flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Start dough cycle, and let it mix and complete the first rise.
- Prepare a baking sheet or sheets with parchment paper.
- Once that is done, remove dough and divide in half using food scale. Roll each half into a 12-inch round. Divide the 1/4 cup butter in half and spread over each round. Use a knife or pizza cutter to slice each round into 12 wedges. Starting at the wide end, roll up each triangle gently but tightly to form a crescent roll. Place each roll, narrow side down, on the baking sheet.
- Cover pan with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise in a warm spot for an hour. Meanwhile, start preheating oven at 400 degrees.
- Once rolls are risen after the hour, bake for 10 to 15 minutes, switching pan position in oven, if necessary, to prevent overbrowning. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
- Cool rolls can also be frozen for later enjoyment; thaw them at room temperature then heat wrapped in aluminum foil at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Mini Focaccia for Two
This Mini Focaccia recipe creates the perfect serving amount for two people to use as a side with a nice meal!
One blessing/curse of most bread recipes is that they can make a lot of bread. This can be problematic if a person has limited freezer space or simply doesn’t want leftovers.
Let this recipe come to the rescue. It uses only about a cup of flour to create a small, thin loaf, the perfect size for, say, a yeast bread side for a date night or for one person to even use as a treat for a meal or two.
I completely rewrote this recipe from a poorly written, confusing one that I found online.
Bready or Not: Mini Focaccia for Two
Equipment
- food scale
- bench knife or spatula
- towel or plastic wrap
- loaf pan
Ingredients
- 120 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 3 grams kosher salt
- 5 grams white sugar
- 90 grams warm water 90-110 degrees
- 3 grams active yeast
- 10 grams extra virgin olive oil plus about 2 Tablespoons for pan
- Italian seasoning or pizza seasoning
- flaked sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, and sugar. Pour the warm water into the middle. Sprinkle yeast on top and wait a minute for it to begin to bloom. Add oil, then mix dough together.
- Use a bench knife or spatula to begin folding the dough over, turning the bowl to knead from different angles. Dough will be very sticky. Work it until it can form a small ball.
Cover dough with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes.
- Using a damp hand or the bench knife, knead the bread, folding it over repeatedly until it begins to tighten.
Cover again to rest for 15 minutes.
- Knead again using the same method. It may still be somewhat sticky, but the dough's texture should be smooth.
- Add about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to the loaf pan. Use fingertips to rub it across bottom and sides. Transfer the dough to the pan. Use already-oiled fingers to stretch it out toward the sides of the pan, but don’t expect it to make contact.
Cover pan and let dough rise.
- After about 30 minutes, oil fingers again and push and stretch dough with fingertips to reach the sides and corners of the pan. It's okay if fingertips touch the bottom or tear the dough; it'll rise again. Cover pan again to rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Right before putting the focaccia in the oven, drizzle more oil over the top. If desired, add a sprinkling of herb seasoning and a sprinkle of flaked salt.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is a nice golden brown. Pull pan from oven. Carefully tip the bread out onto a cutting board and let cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
- Enjoy right away. Leftovers, if there are any, can be stored in a sealed bag and reheated later.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Portuguese Sweet Bread Rolls in the Bread Machine
These Portuguese Sweet Rolls come together fast thanks to a bread machine. The resulting bread is sweet, flaky, and perfect to go with any meal–though as a born Central Californian, I have to recommend serving alongside tri-tip!
I grew up surrounded by a vibrant Portuguese community. That meant a lot of awesome food, like linguica on Me-N-Eds pizza, and rounds of sweet bread on the counter at Boston Pizza. We didn’t have a lot of money, so when we could grab that bread loaf, it was a real treat!
As with most any bread, these rolls are great to freeze and eat later. The fresher they are when you freeze them, the fresher they’ll still taste when you warm them up later!
Bready or Not Original: Portuguese Sweet Bread Rolls in the Bread Machine
Equipment
- bread machine
- 2 1/2-inch cutter
- rimmed baking sheet
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 cup half & half
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup melted butter 80 ml
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 cups white bread flour plus more
- 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast or bread machine yeast
Instructions
- Place the half & half and water in a liquid measuring cup and gently warm in a microwave-safe cup in microwave to reach 100-110 degrees.
- Follow bread machine directions for loading ingredients into the bucket; for most, that means liquids first. Stir together the half & half, water, butter, and sugar. That should lower the temperature enough to make it safe to add the eggs (you don’t want them scrambled!); stir those in to break the yolks. Add the salt, flour, and yeast. Start the machine on the DOUGH cycle.
- Check on it once it starts mixing. If the mixture looks runny, add spoonfuls of flour until it comes together; if it’s too thick, add a touch of warm water. Let the cycle finish.
- Grease a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray or butter.
- Lightly flour a flat surface. Pat out the dough to be about 1/2-inch thick. Use cutter to slice dough into rounds; place rounds spaced out just a touch on the greased pan. Press dough scraps together as much as possible, and bring together into more rounds. Loosely cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes.
- Near the end of the second rise, as the rolls begin to look puffy, preheat oven at 350-degrees. Discard plastic wrap.
- Bake rolls for 17 to 20 minutes, until they are golden across the top. Let cool a few minutes before pulling apart to enjoy.
- Rolls may be eaten fresh, or will keep in a sealed bag at room temperature for a day or two. They can also be frozen right after initially cooling, and thawed later for later enjoyment. They can be eaten at room temperature but are even better warmed up.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Paprika Cheddar Crackers
These Paprika Cheddar Crackers are a perfect snack or appetizer, and they even keep well for travel!
Use a good aged cheese here–or one labeled extra sharp. The cheese should be the main thing here, with the paprika and salt serving to heighten that flavor. Of course, you can mix in some other spices as well–or even use chipotle pepper for a zing.
I split up this batch and baked them months apart. One of the nice things about these tubes of dough is that they don’t take up much room in the freezer–or in the fridge when it’s time to thaw them.
I got 16 crackers out of each batch (so 32 total), and mind you, these are pretty thick, hearty crackers. These aren’t the kind you grab a handful of, maybe just a few at a time. They would be great at a fancier function, served with wine or champagne, but are good with pretty much any drink. Cheese is versatile like that.
Bready or Not Original: Paprika Cheddar Crackers
Equipment
- food scale
- plastic wrap
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
- knife
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) room temperature
- 8 ounces aged cheddar shredded
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- flaked sea salt
Instructions
- Mix together the butter, cheddar, flour, paprika, and salt. Add the water. Continue to mix together until it forms a cohesive dough; add a touch more flour if it’s too wet, or a dribble of water if it’s dry.
- Use a food scale to weigh the dough and divide it in half. Roll out the plastic wrap to about 10 inches. Place half the dough on the plastic and shape into a thick tube, then wrap it in plastic to compress it and make it into an even log about an inch in diameter. Completely seal in plastic wrap. Repeat with other half of dough.
- The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days, or frozen for several months.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Place a chilled (thawed) dough tube on a cutting board and slice about 1/4-inch thick. Place with minimal spacing on the parchment. Add a pinch of flaked sea salt onto each cracker and gently press it into the surface.
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until edges are just starting to turn golden. Let set to cool on cookie sheet. Store in a sealed container. They are best eaten within 3 days.