Morning Glory Muffins

We're in the beginning stages of writing the future menu for Flour Child Bakery, and right now I'm compiling recipes. Today I decided to work on MUFFINS! I already have a knock-out blueberry muffin recipe in mind. But I also love muffins that contain everything but the kitchen sink to give you a full belly and a good boost of energy in the morning. These morning glory muffins do just that. The original recipe is from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. It's a good jumping off point for me to figure out what I want and don't want in these muffins.

I love these because you can fill the liners literally to the tippy top with batter. You end up with nice big tops that don't overflow and spread to make one giant muffin top across your pan. You know what I'm talking about! The flavor in these is nice, but I'd like the coconut to stand out a little more. I also think adding pumpkin seeds would give them a nice boost of nuttiness. But they are quite yummy as is!Morning Glory Muffins (from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking)
Makes 12 regular muffins (I got 14 even when filling the cups to the brim)

1/2 cup (3 ounces) raisins
2 cups (8 ounces) King Arthur whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (7 ounces) carrots, peeled and grated
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional (I used wheat germ)
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (4 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup (2 ounces) orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.

In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ, if using. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan (they'll be full almost to the top; that's OK).

Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, 106g): 20g whole grains, 342 cal, 18g fat, 6g protein, 26g complex carbohydrates, 19g sugar, 4g dietary fiber, 53mg Cholesterol, 347mg sodium, 322mg potassium, 541RE vitamin A, 3mg vitamin C, 2mg iron, 47mg calcium, 131mg phosphorous.

Apple Raisin Bread

What happens when I get bored and there are apples on the kitchen table? I bake! Well, really that question could just be "what happens when I get bored," and the answer would still be the same. But that's not the point. The point is this apple raisin bread! The recipe comes from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. It was absolutely delicious. But I think I should've squeezed some of the liquid out of my apples. They were really juicy, and after 10 additional minutes of baking, the bread was still gooey in the center. I was afraid of overbaking the edges, so I took it out. The baked parts are delicious, but the middle was still a bit raw. Oh well, nothing the dog won't take care of!Apple Raisin Bread (from "The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri)
Makes one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large tart apples, such as Granny Smith
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flours, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl and stir to mix well.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs to break them up and whisk the sugar into the eggs. Whisk in the oil and set the bowl aside.
4. Quickly peel and grate the apples into a shallow bowl. You should have about 2 cups of grated apple.
5. Use a large rubber spatula to fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Quickly fold in the apples, raisins, and walnuts.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the bread until it is well-risen and a toothpick or a narrow-bladed knife inserted into the center of the bread emerges clean, 35-40 minutes.
7. Cool the bread in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold it and cool it completely on a rack. Transfer the bread to a platter or cutting board before serving.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

The scenario:
2 bananas sitting on the table, rapidly turning brown
My all-purpose flour container, almost empty
My bag of whole wheat flour, FULL
What to do?
Whole wheat banana nut muffins! Mmm, I should've known the subtle sweetness of whole wheat flour would go perfectly with the taste of overripe bananas. Add to that a tangy zing of dried cranberries and a delicate crunch from toasted walnuts... It's the perfect muffin! It's not too sweet, so you don't feel guilty about eating it for breakfast. My only complaint was that the banana flavor was mild. But I think that let the flavor of the whole wheat flour shine through. So, I guess I have no real complaints after all!
The original recipe is from Betty Crocker: Baking for Today. It uses all-purpose flour, but I substituted whole wheat flour for most of the AP flour. The original also adds a streusel topping. You can do that if you want a sweeter muffin, but I omitted it.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins (adapted from Betty Crocker: Baking for Today)
12 muffins (or about 10-11 if you fill the cups to the top)

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Streusel topping, optional (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or use nonstick spray.
2. Make streusel topping; set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat milk, oil, egg, and mashed bananas with fork or wire whisk. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle each with about 1 tablespoon streusel topping, if using.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown (Mine didn't take near that long! I think they were done at about 17-18 minutes. Check them with a toothpick.). If baked in greased pan, let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm if desired.

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

In medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until crumbly.

Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread

At the last Greek festival we went to my parents bought a 10,000 pound can of dolmades (am I exaggerating?). Dolmades, also called dolmas, are grape leaves stuffed with rice and sometimes meat, and they're packed in olive oil and lemon juice. They look like short, fat, slimey green slugs, but they are delicious!! Anyway, my parents bought what I consider to be the world's largest can of them! Then more recently, my mom came home with a GIANT tub of storebought tzatziki. Tzatziki is that deliciously creamy yogurt sauce that comes on gyros... Mmm oh yeah, that's the stuff! Normally I would prefer to make it myself, but how can I let 25 gallons of tzatziki go to waste? Am I exaggerating again??? Oh well. Stay with me.

So for like a week, I've been promising Josh that I'd make Greek food for dinner so we could put a hurting on all the dolmades and tzatziki we've acquired. I knew I wanted to make bread because every time we go out for Greek food the bread is always FABULOUS! At our favorite Greek restaurant, Orapax, I could seriously eat nothing but their bread! It's THAT good! I recently found the book, A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman at Ross for $6.99 (a major steal), and as I was flipping through it I found a recipe called "Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread." My best memories of Greek bread are from a Greek restaurant so this recipe seemed perfect! Now, please excuse me while I step onto my soap box...

I'm usually not particular about where I get my recipes from. I do like them to be from trusted sources, but after that it doesn't matter at all. However, it's a totally different case when it comes to Greek recipes. I want them to be from cookbooks that are all about Greek food. This bread recipe is not from a Greek cookbook, and therefore it doesn't taste like any of the bread I ate while I was in Greece. And most importantly it doesn't taste like the bread I get at my favorite Greek restaurant. It is delicious, don't get me wrong. But it tastes like simple whole wheat sandwich bread. Nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing Greek about it.

As you can see, I take Greek food very seriously. I'm 25% Greek, my dad is %50 Greek, and his grandparents were Greek immigrants. I've also been to Greece, so I know what the food tastes like. I hold my Greek standards very high, and this bread just did not cut it for me. But if you want yummy whole wheat bread that makes great toast AND perfect tomato sandwiches, this is the recipe for you!

*Steps down from soap box...*

Click the photos for details of the step-by-step process:

One GIANT loaf of whole wheat bread... coming right up!! For breakfast, how about some toast with butter and raspberry jam!
For lunch, a juicy tomato sandwich with Dukes mayonnaise and LOTS of salt and pepper!
And for dinner, use it to mop up all that tzatziki sauce!Click here for chicken kabob recipe!

Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread (from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman)
Makes 1 large loaf

“Add a touch of white flour to mostly whole wheat and include a judicious use of olive oil and some honey, and what have you? A heavenly, rustic whole wheat bread. Mop up your Greek salad with it or smear halved garlic cloves on a thick slice, drizzle on olive oil, and lightly grill. Then add some feta slabs and partially melt. Top with sliced toma­toes, minced kalamata olives, salt, pepper, and a dusting of oregano.”

2 cups warm water (100°F to 110°F)
2 tablespoons rapid-rise yeast
1 cup white bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 to 5 cups stoneground whole wheat flour, all-purpose or bread flour, or mixed, preferably organic (I used 3 cups of whole wheat and 1 cup of bread flour)

Finishing Touch
Whole wheat flour, for dusting

Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a mixer bowl, hand-whisk water and yeast together and let stand 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Stir in white bread flour. Then mix in salt, honey, oil, and half of whole wheat flour. Attach dough hook and begin kneading on lowest speed of mixer 8 to 10 minutes, adding additional whole wheat flour, as necessary, to form a soft but firm, somewhat tacky dough.

Shape dough into a rounded mass in mixing bowl. Spray inside of bowl and dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag (I just covered the bowl with plastic wrap). Let rise about 45 to 90 minutes until almost doubled. (To speed this up, boil a cup of water in the microwave. Leave the bowl of dough in the turned off microwave with the hot water for about 30 minutes, or until doubled.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Shape dough into an oval and place on prepared baking sheets. Spray dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray and dust with whole wheat flour.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 45 to 70 minutes until dough is quite puffy (This only took about 30 minutes for me. At this point I slashed the top of my dough. The recipe doesn’t say to do it, but it makes it prettier to look at!).

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake bread 15 minutes; then reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake until it is well browned, another 20 to 30 minutes (I did 25). Cool on baking sheets (I cooled mine on a rack to keep the bottom crust from getting too soggy).

“For the fullest flavor, use organic whole wheat flour for this recipe, if you have it, as well as Greek honey, Greek olive oil, and Greek sea salt.”—A Passion for Baking