Favorite Friday Recipe Wishlist: Flour

The next time I visit Boston, I am heading straight to Flour Bakery!  Until then, I plan on getting my hands on a copy of this cookbook and bake to my heart's delight!  Something about cold weather and a 3-day weekend has got me itching to bake--hopefully I'll have some successes to share soon!

Favorite Friday Recipe: Classic White Bread (in a crockpot)

There's nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread, and in this case, freshly baked bread that is super easy to make and baked in a crockpot. A what? Yup, a crockpot!

One of the girls on fashionism posted this recipe and I knew immediately that I had to test it out. I followed the instructions, marveling at how simple it all was, and then I plopped the dough into the crockpot and went about my merry way. Three hours later, I returned to a nice rustic looking loaf of bread to serve with dinner!

Here it is after baking in the crockpot
Cooling on a wire rack: (note I have a larger crockpot so my bread turned out more wide than tall)
The bread turned out heavy and tasty, definitely homemade and perfect with fresh butter (and sugar)


The recipe is below--enjoy!

Classic White Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp) of active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 ½ - 4 cups of flour

Directions:

In a bowl, combine yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and ¼ cup warm water. Allow yeast to foam (5 min). Add egg, oil, lukewarm water, salt, ¼ cup sugar and 2 cups of flour. Beat with electric mixer 2 minutes on low. With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour. Place dough in greased 4-5 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat 2-3 hours. Remove stoneware from slow cooker and let stand for 5 min before slicing.

Favorite Friday Recipe: Kona Inn Banana Bread

Happy Friday! The weekend is almost here and I plan to catch up on some sleep, hopefully start another crafty project, and hang out with B and the puppies. I also cannot wait to sit at my kitchen nook and enjoy a leisurely afternoon tea complete with freshly baked banana bread. I love love love banana bread and have tried many recipes, only to keep coming back to this one. If you have some bananas on hand this weekend, give it a try!



Kona Inn Banana Bread

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves)

2-1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (approximately 6)
4 eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Grease and flour two 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pans.
Beat the butter with the sugar together until it is blended and light yellow.
Sift in the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Beat the eggs, then add them to the mixture, along with the mashed banana.
Mix in all ingredients by hand until blended (I used an electric mixer on low for the most part)
Batter should be a little lumpy when you pour it into the loaf pans.

Bake the bread 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool on a rack (20 min if you are patient, 3.5 min if you're a hungry monster like me), slice, serve and enjoy!