Stuff it with any fillings you like and you have a simple and delicious lunch. And if you make them small, individual-serving-size, you can pack them for a great school lunch. There is no end to the flavor combinations. This recipe can be made with any of the doughs in our Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book, but today I made it with the gluten-free dough, which is super tasty and easy to work with. Because the dough doesn’t have the same gluten-full stretch, we have to handle it slightly differently, but it is just as simple as traditional dough with the right technique. 8 ounces pizza dough (about the size of an orange) from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day - you can divide the dough in half for individual-size portions.

1/4 cup tomato sauce (or any sauce of your choice)

3 to 4 ounces mozzarella (or other cheese, meat or veggies)

Basil (Spinach or arugula would be tasty too)

Olive oil for drizzling

Salt

Egg wash for brushing on top (one egg whisked with one tablespoon water)

Preheat oven to 500°F with a Cast Iron Pizza Pan or Baking Stone on the bottom rack.

Dust a sheet of parchment with rice flour, dust the dough with flour as well. Press it into a disk. Make sure the dough is still able to move on the sheet. If it sticks, add more flour.

Roll the disk out to an 1/8-inch thick circle, making sure it isn’t sticking. If a spot sticks, use a spatula or bench scraper to work flour under the stuck part.

Top half the dough with the sauce, cheese and basil. Sprinkle with salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Use a bench scraper to lift the uncovered side of dough and fold it over the fillings.

Egg wash the edge with a Pastry Brush.

Fold the edge together to prevent the fillings from oozing out as it bakes.

Brush the top with egg wash and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

When it comes out of the oven drizzle with more olive oil.

Let the calzone sit for a few minutes to allow the filling to set slightly before cutting into it.

For spring break my family visited Puerto Rico. It took me less than 24 hours to find myself an amazing local bakery with all kinds of tasty pastries and breads to try. My favorites, which I managed to sample several times during our stay, were the Quesitos and Mallorca buns. The buns are a sweet enriched dough that is wound up into a snail shell shape and dusted with a thick coating of powdered sugar. We ate them plain with coffee or split open, stuffed with eggs and bacon, as a breakfast sandwich. When I got back home, I used our brioche dough to recreate the sweet buns and they are delicious and easy to make. 2 pounds stored Brioche (recipe below) or Challah dough from ABin5 (although you could make them with the same recipes from HBin5, they will just has a slightly denser crumb.)

Egg wash (one egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water)

Powdered sugar for the top

Brioche dough (makes about 4 loaves)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon granulated yeast (or 1 packet will do)

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

8 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose Gold Medal Flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart lidded (not airtight) food container.

Measure the flour using the scoop and sweep method. This is made even easier if you put the flour in a container or use the Gold Medal flour that is in a plastic bag, which has a larger opening than the traditional paper bag. Use a spoon and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours. Refrigerate the dough and allow it to thoroughly chill before using it, at least 3 hours, but overnight is best.

Remove a 2-pound piece of dough and roll out to 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Using a Pizza Wheel, make 12 even sized strips.

Coil the dough to make flattened spiral bun, tucking the end under the bun.

Place the buns on a Baking Sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover loosely with plastic and allow the dough to rest for 45 minutes (the long rise will result in a softer bun).

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Using a Pastry Brush, paint the top with egg wash. Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden in color and the top of the spiral is firm to the touch.

Allow the buns to cool.

Sift a generous layer of powdered sugar over the top.

Enjoy for breakfast with coffee or split it open and fill with your favorite sandwich stuffing. In Puerto Rico they pan fry them in butter, which is delicious.

They also make a great after school snack.

Note:  General Mills Corp. is a sponsor of our book promotion and other activities, and provided free samples of Gold Medal Flour for testing.

… at least if it’s got some whole grain.  Michael Pollan was on MPR May 2, 2013, with Kerri Miller.  Charming guy, you can listen To the interview: click here.  He was in town to promote his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

To our ever-lasting joy, he really focused on bread; that’s where the conversation started.  Long-fermented (like ours), and home-baked. Lots of whole-grain loaves are in Healthy Bread In Five Minutes a Day, most of our white-based breads are in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (which Amazon is heavily discounting at the moment). Michael, by the way, talked about the value of a little white bread now and then.  Everything in moderation, including moderation!

Given how lazy I am, you’d think I’d have started using a KitchenAid mixer years ago.  But believe it or not, I’ve recipe-tested for three books using nothing but a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk.

Well, I’m tired.  So above, my new KitchenAid Professional 600 series, 6-quart capacity stand mixer, which is an outstandingly beautiful piece of industrial design that hasn’t really changed its look in nearly 100 years.  I have been visiting it in the kitchen as a way of avoiding work.  More on the mixer in a bit.

So many doughs, so little time.  I’m hooked on this machine, especially when I have to make more than one dough for a recipe, like in this very beautiful Braided Black-and-White Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf from two doughs in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (this photo by Mark Luinenburg):

You can find a whole-grain version of this loaf in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I went with the larger motor (575 watts) and the 6-quart bowl because I make a lot of bread, and sometimes in double-batches from our books (about 13 cups of flour), and if you do that, you need this size mixer.  But if you’re sticking with our single batches, you’re fine with the 5-quart bowl and the smaller wattage motors, something like these smaller mixers.  I definitely preferred the models with the bowl-lift design rather than the tilt-back mixer head, but play with both before you buy.  It’s just a matter of preference but I feel like our wet dough is going to drop outside the bowl when you pull the mixer head back back on the tilt-head models.

You’ll need two doughs for this recipe, rye and pumpernickel, from our first book, where we had people mix the yeast and salt into the water first, then add the flours.  But you can start with the flours, and whisk in the yeast and salt before adding wet ingredients; it doesn’t really much matter unless you’re using vital wheat gluten (in which case, you have to mix the dry ingredients together first to prevent clumping).  Either way, it’s a snap to mix in the KitchenAid, but use the paddle attachment, not the dough hook– our stuff is too wet for the hook (note that KitchenAid calls the paddle a “flat beater”):

This machine comes with the coated “bowl-scraping” version of the flat beater, above.  That attachment is dishwasher-safe, which is why I’m using it exclusively.  It also came with a burnished aluminum version (no bowl-scraper, which doesn’t make much difference for this kind of dough).  It’s beautiful, but it’s not dishwasher safe (pictured here with the burnished aluminum dough hook, which is great for stiffer doughs but not for our wet ones):

First mix your dry ingredients for the rye dough (briefly) on lowest speed in the bowl:

1 tablespoon granulated yeast, instant or active-dry (1 packet)

1½ tablespoons kosher salt (can reduce to 1 tablespoon to taste)

1½ tablespoons caraway seeds, plus more for sprinkling on the top

1 cup rye flour

5½ cups all-purpose flour

Turn the mixer on and off if continuous mixing throws flour overboard.  Now gradually add the 3 cups of lukewarm water and mix per your mixer’s instructions (different brands are different):

A soft wet dough will form (don’t add more flour); you may need to scrape down dough that sticks to the beater– turn off the mixer (KitchenAid says to unplug it!) and use a plastic or rubber spatula:

Either the 5 or 6-quart bowl is large enough to accommodate full dough-rising over the next two hours at room temperature, or until the dough begins to flatten on top.  If you didn’t buy KitchenAid’s optional non-sealing lids, you can use a pot lid which won’t make a perfect seal even when seated on top (you don’t want an airtight seal).  You can store in the same bowl in the fridge after this initial rise, and use the dough within the next two weeks:

You can buy extra bowls and lids from KitchenAid, and you may need them if you do Black-and-White Pumpernickel.  Here’s the ingredient list for the Pumpernickel dough, same mixing instructions but this dough only stores under refrigeration for 8 days:

Pumpernickel:  Dry ingredients

1½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder

1½ tablespoons caramel color

1 cup rye flour

5½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated yeast, instant or active-dry (1 packet)

1½ tablespoons kosher salt (can reduce to 1 tablespoon to taste)

Pumpernickel:  liquid ingredients

3 cups lukewarm water

2 tablespoons molasses

Now, on to shaping the Black-and-White braid:

½ pound (orange-sized portion) stored Pumpernickel dough (see recipe)

½ pound (orange-sized portion) stored Deli-Style Rye dough (see recipe)

Water for brushing loaf

Caraway seeds for sprinkling on top of loaf

1.  Dust the surface of the pumpernickel dough with flour and cut off an orange-size piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

2.  Dust the surface of the rye dough with flour and cut off an orange-size piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Cut the ball in half and form 2 balls.

3.  Roll each ball between your hands (or on a board), stretching to form 3 long ropes of equal length (the pumpernickel rope will be thicker because its dough ball was twice as large). If the balls resist shaping, let them rest for 5 minutes and try again—don’t fight the dough.

4.  Line up the 3 ropes, keeping the pumpernickel rope in the center. Braid the ropes, starting from the center and working to one end. If you’ve never done a 3-stranded braid before, it’s simple—just remember to drape one of the outside strands over the center one, then do the same with the other outside strand.  Repeat till you reach the end and then pinch the strands together. Flip the loaf over, rotate it, braid from the center out to the remaining end, and pinch the ends of the strands together. This seems to produce a loaf with a more uniform thickness than when braided from end to end (though if you like, just braid from end to end).

5.  Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet without using a pizza peel.

6.  Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 425°F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

7.  Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the loaf with water, and then sprinkle with caraway seeds.

8.  Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet directly on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (or see my video for steam alternatives). Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it and bake the loaf directly on the stone or an oven rack two-thirds of the way through baking. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.

9.  Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.

Note:  KitchenAid provided the stand mixer pictured for testing and use in this post.

Yes, we took on the Pinterest Easter bunnies. Have you seen them, pinned on everyone’s holiday boards? Turns out that picture is actually of a bunny cookie, and these sad rolls are more an accurate visual of how things would turn out. But, I’m happy to tell you that after making dozens upon dozens of rolls, we have some tips to help you make some cute little bunnies.

However, I won’t lie to you (it is Easter, after all) that they are a little tricky. And you may  have some rolls that end up a little wonky. But, as my children oohed and ahhed over even the misshapen ones, I could see we had a winner idea.

Making these bunnies is way too much fun, lots more photos are here…

I made the bunnies with both the whole wheat brioche dough and the bread flour dough. The bread flour made slightly better bunnies – the ears held their shape a bit better, but I will admit the brioche made for a tastier treat (especially coated in sugar). Whichever dough you use, make sure it is very cold (chilled at least overnight).

Preheat your oven to 350, and then line baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 ounce pieces, and roll into a ball on a lightly floured surface. (The rolls puff up quite a bit, and I found making them any bigger didn’t work well; the bunnies just looked very ‘blobby’.) Shape the dough into an oval, and then use a sharp scissor to cut the bunny ears. You want the ears to be a bit thick; if they are too thin they will bake right back into the roll without any shape.

After snipping out ears, gently pull the ears back and round off the point (I’ve found this to be important, otherwise the ears shrink and  take the shape of pigs or cat ears). Gently press the ears into the roll, but not too much or they will bake right back in.

Gently brush the bunnies with egg wash, and then use the sharp end of a skewer or toothpick to poke eye holes.

Use the dull end of the skewer to make ear indentations. You may have to do this a few times to make it stay. Place the baking sheet in the fridge for 15 minutes (this will help bunnies keep their shape) and then bake for 18-15 minutes until golden brown.

Let the bunnies cool slightly on the baking sheet. If desired, you can use a pastry brush to brush them lightly with melted butter, and then roll the bunnies into granulated sugar, or sprinkle them lightly with the sugar. You may have to re-poke the eye holes both after they come out of the oven, and after rolling them in sugar.

Of course, if you are getting frustrated at any point, you can roll the 2 ounce portions into balls, and bake them into circles. Then, brush with butter and roll into sugar, and serve! Easy sugared brioche rolls for breakfast or Easter brunch.

Or check out our Hot Cross Buns recipe…

This beautiful loaf is the traditional bread of Easter in Greece and many other Christian countries. It is an enriched dough that is twisted around brightly dyed eggs. The bread is often braided with three strands to represent the holy trinity, formed into a circle as a reference to life and the eggs are dyed red as a symbol of Christ’s blood. The dough is lightly sweet, flavored with orange zest and a traditional Middle Eastern spice called Mahlepi, which is made from ground cherry pits. The spice can be found in Middle Eastern or Greek markets. If you don’t have the spice, you can make the dough with ground Anise seed or even Cardamom. 

Easter Bread:

2 pounds chilled Challah or Brioche dough (When you mix the dough add 1 teaspoon Mahlepi or ground anise seed and 1 teaspoon orange zest to the water.)

5 eggs (you can use uncooked eggs, since they will cook while the bread is baking. The eggs are for decoration and not really meant to be eaten, so its a nice place to save time.)

Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water)

To dye the eggs place 2 cups boiling water, 2 teaspoons vinegar and food coloring in a bowl. Drop the eggs into the dye. If the solution cools off, reheat it and continue with the other eggs.

During my classes I stir our dough with a Danish Dough Whisk. One evening a student laughed and said “My wife bought me one of those and I had no idea what it was, so I use it to retrieve hard boiled eggs from the boiling water!” Well, that struck me as a brilliant idea, so when I dropped the eggs in the dye and had nothing to pluck them out with, I thought of him and grabbed my whisk. Worked like a charm.

Make sure your eggs are well rinsed so they don’t bleed color onto the bread.

Form the dough into a ball.

Divide the ball into two equal pieces. (If you prefer to make a 3-piece braid, follow these instructions.)

Stretch the pieces into ropes. If the dough is not stretching easily, just let it sit on the counter for about 5 minutes. If your kitchen is draft, lightly cover with plastic.

Continue stretching until each piece is about 1-inch wide and about 24-inches long.

Join the ends together and twist the dough together tightly.

Continue and join the other end together.

Form a ring and gently transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat Baking Mat. Stretch the twisted dough apart to place the dyed egg in between.

Evenly space the eggs around the twisted dough. Cover the loaf loosely with plastic and allow to rise for 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the dough, avoiding the eggs, with egg wash.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown.

Allow the loaf to cool on a wire rack.

Happy Easter!

Here’s what you’ll need for three batches of eight buns:

15 ounces (about 5 cups) raw broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups water for cooking the broccoli

3 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated yeast (or one packet)

1 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt (can increase to 1 1 /2 to taste)

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water

Oil or butter for greasing the muffin tin

1 cup  shredded cheddar cheese for sprinkling on the buns, per batch (try KerryGold Irish Cheddar if you’re feeling authentic)

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil and add the broccoli, cooking on medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.  Do not overcook or broccoli will lose its bright green color and turn bitter.

Puree the broccoli and cooking water in a blender or food processor (won’t become completely smooth).  Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or in a lidded (non-airtight) food container. 

Add the 1 3/4 cups water and broccoli puree and mix w/o kneading, using a spoon, Danish dough whisk, 14-cup food processor, or heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle).  You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.  For more details on mixing and using our whole grain doughs, see the post about our basic method from Healthy Bread in Five.

Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temp until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), about 2 hours.  Dough can then be used immediately, although it’s easier to handle when cold.  Refrigerate in a non-airtight lidded container and use over the next 7 days.

On baking day, grease a muffin pan.  Dust surface of refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 pound piece (cantaloupe-sized) piece.  Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape a loose ball.  Form the buns by dividing the ball into 8 roughly equal portions, each about the size of a plum…

Keep going…

Again, into eighths…

… so that you have eight plum-sized pieces.  Cut each of these into 4 smaller pieces.  Dust and shape each one into a ball and put the 4 balls together and fit them into the cups of the muffin tin.

Allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 40 minutes (or 20 minutes if you’re using fresh unrefrigerated dough).  Refrigerated dough doesn’t rise much in this resting phase.

If you’re using a baking stone, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, 30 minutes before baking time.  If you’re not using one, a 5 to 10 minute preheat is enough.  Place an empty broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising buns.

Just before baking, sprinkle the buns with the grated cheese, being careful not to get it on the pan.  Depending on the shape and depth of your muffin cups, you may need less than we call for in the Ingredients list.  I used less than a tablespoon of cheese per bun:

Place the muffin tin directly on the hot stone (or a middle shelf of the oven).  Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door.  Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is nicely browned.

Remove buns from the pan and allow to cool slightly before eating.  Unlike our large loaf breads, these can be eaten warm without any risk of them being gummy or appearing to be under-baked.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I must admit that I use my Pullman pan quite frequently – there is something about those neat, square pieces that seem to make my sandwich more special. However, I wanted to change things up a bit, and decided to get a little creative. Normally I prefer sweet swirled breads, but sometimes something savory is needed. I found that this French olive spread (tapenade) is just the thing.

As you can see my swirls aren’t perfect, but I liked the rustic look it gave the bread, and found it to be a wonderful afternoon snack. My non-olive-eating family was also impressed; the olive oil tamed down the strong olive flavor, making this bread so delicious.

I used our Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich bread recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day (page 92).  This dough is enriched with eggs and honey, so it needs to bake at 350F, but if you use a lean dough (no eggs or sweetener), you can bake at 450F for a shorter timer (see below). You can find the recipe for tapenade in Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day (page 213).

If you’ve never worked with a Pullman pan before, you can find our how-to instructions here. I used two pounds of the dough, and rolled it out into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. I then spread 1 1/2 cups of the tapenade over the dough, rolled it up, and placed it in the greased pan (if you are unfamiliar with rolling up dough, you can find our instructions here). Let the dough rise for about an hour and a half. Bake the loaf at 350 for about 60 minutes (or 45 minutes if you used lean dough). Turn the dough out of the pan and let cool completely before slicing.

Nothing expresses your love as much as a tasty homemade gift. All you need is a bucket of brioche, a heart shaped cookie cutter and red decorating sugar to make this gorgeous heart shaped loaf. It’s an easy and fast project to do with little kids on Valentine’s Day.

I mixed this batch of Brioche dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with Gold Medal Bread Flour. It made the dough a bit tighter, which means that the heart shaped loaf will hold its shape even better. If you have a batch of the regular brioche dough (made with all-purpose flour) in the refrigerator, by all means use it and you’ll have excellent results.

2 pounds brioche dough (page 189 ABin5), made with Gold Medal Bread Flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Red and/or white decorating sugar

To make the heart shaped bread:

Roll the brioche out to 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Use a 2 1/2-inch Heart Cookie Cutter to create the heart shape pieces of dough.

Use water and a Pastry Brush to “glue” the heart pieces together in a Heart shape.

Allow the heart bread to rest for 40 minutes, lightly covered with plastic. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the loaf with the melted butter.

Sprinkle the loaf with the Decorating Sugar.

You don’t want to use granulated sugar or it will caramelize in the oven.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or just until the bottom edge turns golden. You don’t want the loaf to brown.

Allow to cool slightly, eat this loaf slightly warm.

Well, I’m just going to come right out and say it: these little brioche danish are so very tasty. They came about after a lazy Sunday morning; I had some whole wheat brioche dough in the fridge, and wanted something sweet that didn’t involve a lot of work. I also happened to have a tube of almond paste, goat cheese, and pistachios, and so the great experiment began. It was delicious from the start, but after a few tries and a little tweaking, a perfect weekend treat was born.

They are a little bit of effort, but the filling and icing are easily mixed, and well worth the time. The goat cheese gives them a little tang, making them sweet, but not overly so, and the pistachios add a nice crunch and salty flavor. Of course, the brioche is the subtle star, giving a perfect breaded base. And, if goat cheese doesn’t sound appealing, it can easily be switched for cream cheese. Lemon or orange curd would also be delicious here, as well as so many other things. The possibilities are endless.

Brioche Danish with Goat Cheese and Pistachios

1 pound whole wheat brioche from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day –our Challah recipe from Artisan Bread in Five (page 180), Healthy Bread in Five (page 258), or Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five (page 251) can also be used.  So can our white brioche.  

Preheat the oven to 350. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball, and place on lined baking sheets (4 to 6 on each sheet, any more and they will bake too close together). Let rise, loosely covered, for 40 minutes. Use the back of a measuring cup or a small drinking glass to press a small circle into each ball. Fill each circle with the almond-goat cheese filling (recipe follows) and then brush each danish with egg wash (recipe follows) avoiding the filling. Bake until light golden brown, 22-26 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle each danish with icing (recipe follows) and then sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

A note: the filling does spill out a bit, but ends up covering a lot of the bread, and makes a lovely pocket for the pistachios to fit in. You could cut back on the filling if you want your danish to look a little ‘neater’, but I didn’t mind the leaking.

Almond-Goat Cheese Filling

7 ounces almond paste

1/2 cup powdered sugar

5 ounces goat cheese, soft [cream cheese can replace all or some of the goat cheese, if desired]

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

In a stand mixer, mix the almond paste, goat cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Egg Wash

Whisk 1 egg, 1 tablespoon water, and a  pinch of salt together.

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Put powdered sugar in a bowl. Starting with 1 tablespoon at a time, mix in milk until icing is desired consistency. Add vanilla and combine.