Moon Baking

Carrot-banana Muffins

2016-02-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

Here is a great way to use up the almond meal left over from making almond milk.

2 cups fresh carrot pulp
2 ripe bananas
1 cup almond meal/pulp
4 eggs
1/2 cup of honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened (optional, can be substituted with 1 cup of raisins)

Combine all ingredients except coconut, mix until smooth.

Add coconut and mix until combined.

Spoon into lightly greased muffin tins.

Bake at 325F for approximately 30-40 minutes. They are done when an inserted knife comes out clean.

(Makes 20 muffins)

Vanilla extract recipe

2016-02-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

I've just made some almond milk with vanilla beans in it. So now what to do with the left over bean shells? Why, make vanilla extract! I've just started this process and will add to my post as I go.

Use 3-4 vanilla beans per 8oz of vodka. I only had two, so I've added them to 4oz of vodka. My beans were already empty, having used them in my almond milk recipe. Better would be to have full beans, split them, scrape the inside pulp into the vodka, and then add the empty beans. I don't know about where you live, but here in Ontario, Canada, it cost me $9 for just TWO beans!!

Store the jar in a cool, dark space for 3-6 months, and remember, give it a gentle shake every week.

I've labelled my jar so I'll know when its time is up. Here it is after one week.

Almond milk recipe

2016-02-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

I have been juicing on the Joe Cross Reboot diet for the last 30 days and still have 30 more to go.

As an occasional treat I'll make a smoothie rather than having my usual 80% veggie, 20% fruit juice. A smoothie, at around 300 calories or so, is not something I want to indulge in too often considering my juices are only around 100.

However, when I do decide to make one, I've chosen to make my own almond milk for it since the almond milk cartons bought in the store are really a lot more than I want, or can, use.

This method uses 1 cup of almonds which yields 1 litre of almond milk. Just the right amount for me.

Homemade almond milk is creamy and smoother than store-bought. It keeps about 7-10 days in the fridge.

METHOD

Start with 1 cup of raw, unsalted almonds.

Cover them with approximately 2 cups of water and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cover the almonds and let them soak overnight, the longer the better and the creamier your milk will be. You can let them soak up to two days in the fridge.

Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water.

Squeeze the almonds to remove the outer skin. It's best to discard them and not include them in your milk.

Place the almonds, 4 cups of cold water, 4 Medjool dates (pitted, or substitude 2 tbsp of honey for dates), and the pulp of two scraped vanilla beans into a blender (To scrape vanilla beans, first slice lengthwise along the bean to split it open, then collect the inner pulp by scraping with a butter knife. The shell of the beans can then be used in vodka to make vanilla extract). Blend for 60 seconds on high. Start slowly, holding the lid down tight! Then you can quickly work up to the highest speed.

When done, you will have a creamy milk with the almond pulp settled at the bottom.

Now we'll strain the milk through a nut bag, butter muslin or just a clean tea towel. Here I just draped a tea towel in a large measuring cup and poured through it.

Gather the cloth up and let the milk drain. Squeeze the ball of pulp to get all the milk out.

Now we have a full litre of delicious, homemade almond milk. You can use the left over pulp in other recipes. Soon I'll post my gluten-free carrot muffins that use the almond pulp.

ALMOND MILK RECIPE

1 cup unsalted almonds, plus 2 cups of water for soaking
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups of water
4 Medjool dates, pitted (or 2 tbsp honey)
2 vanilla beans, scraped (optional, can substitute with 2-4 tsps
vanilla extract)

1. Cover almonds with 2 cups water, stir in 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and soak overnight. Can soak up to 2 days in fridge.
2. Peel skins off almonds by squeezing. Discard skins.
3. Place the almonds, 4 cups of cold water, 4 pitted Medjool dates (or other sweetener substitute), vanilla bean pulp (or extract) into a blender. Blend for 60 seconds on high.
4. Strain milk through butter muslin, nut bag or tea towel, squeezing to extract all of the milk.
5. Refrigerate and use within 7-10 days.

NOTE: The vanilla beans shells can be used to make vanilla extract. The almond pulp can be used in baking.

Fast and Easy Baked Apple with Streusel Topping

2015-10-19T08:59:00.001-04:00

I love this recipe. It's quick and easy to get your fix when craving the tartness of baked apples.

I keep a container of the topping mixture in the fridge so all I have to do is grab a couple of apples, core them, split them and add the topping.

Put them in the oven when you're starting dinner and they'll be ready by the end!

EASY BAKED APPLE RECIPE (makes 6 full apples)

6 apples, cored and halved

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground ginger

Pinch of salt

Place the apples cut side up on a foil covered cookie sheet. Mix the rest of the ingredients and divide between the apples, spreading on top and filling the cored holes.

Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.

Peach Pinwheel Coffee Cake

2015-01-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

TOPPING:

1/3 cup (75mL) lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon

CAKE:

1 14 oz (398 mL) can peach halves, drained

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) baking powder

3/4 tsp (3 mL) salt

1/3 cup (75 mL) Shortening

1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp (5 mL) almond extract

1 cup (250 mL) sour cream

1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda

Prep time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 70 minutes
Servings: approx. 12
Freezing: excellent

Preheat oven to 350F (180C)

TOPPING:

Combine 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Mix well.

CAKE:

Cut one peach half into 6 slices. Set aside.

Dice remaining peaches. Drain thoroughly.

Combine 1 1/2 c. flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt. Stir well.

Cream 1/3 c. shortening, 1 c. sugar, 1 egg, and 1 tsp almond extract in large bowl on medium speed of electric mixer until light and creamy.

Mix 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1 c. sour cream. Add to creamed mixture alternately with dry ingredients, blending lightly after each addition.

Fold in drained, diced peaches.

Spread half of batter in greased and floured 9" (23 cm) springform pan. Sprinkle with half of the topping. Cover with remaining batter and topping.

Arrange reserved peach slices to form pinwheel in centre of cake.

Bake at 350F (180C) for 60-70 minutes.

Serve warm or cool.

Bread machine Focaccia

2015-01-24T13:27:00.000-05:00

I love this bread machine focaccia recipe. It's so fast and easy to make and tastes delicious. The techniques I've added below help give it its crispy bite. If you have sourdough starter, that'd be a great addition for flavour and texture.

We top it with what we like, half and half for picky eaters, and it's great just as it is, or sliced open for a sandwich. Bet you can't keep this around long!

Ingredients

225ml (8 fl oz) lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, stem removed and chopped (2 tsp dry rosemary)
400g (14 oz) bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dried active baking yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt

Method

Prep: 10 min › Cook: 25 min › Ready in: 35 min

Place water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, rosemary, flour, yeast and salt in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. I like to make a slight hole in the centre of my flour to add the yeast to, and sprinkle the salt around the perimeter of the pan. Select the DOUGH cycle; press START.

Remove the dough from the bread machine when the cycle is complete. On a slightly floured surface, gently pat dough into a rectangle approximately 23x33cm (9x13 in) by using your finger tips to make dimples and push to the outside. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest while oven preheats.

Place a pizza stone in oven on a rack and turn it on, preheating to 390F/ 200C / Gas mark 6. Halfway through preheating, fold the dough in half lengthwise and poke it into its general rectangular shape again.

Fill the bottom of a 23x33cm (9x13 in) metal pan with 1/8" of olive oil. When oven in preheated, place the dough into the pan and form to the outer edges using the poke and push technique. Oil will slosh up onto its top, that's quite alright.

At this stage you can get creative. While you poke and push with your fingertips, you can embed into the dough some sliced olives, grilled peppers, grilled or sundried tomatoes, or whatever you'd like. Top with rosemary or other herbs and Parmesan cheese.

Spritz the side and back walls of the oven with water, close the oven door and wait a few seconds, then place the pan on the pizza stone in preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove immediately from pan so it does not sit and soak up oil. Place on rack to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Pie, any way you slice it | Flourish - King Arthur Flour's blog

2013-10-02T20:49:00.001-04:00

Pie, any way you slice it | Flourish - King Arthur Flour's blog

Busy summer

2013-07-08T11:41:00.004-04:00

Been a bit busy of late, so not as much baking is taking place. Well, I do still make bread every day, but I'm cheating and doing the whole thing in the bread machine.

My favourite recipe for that is the Whole Grain bread recipe found here: http://moonbaking.blogspot.ca/2012/09/multigrain-bread.html

Making baguette the EASY way!

2013-02-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

I've completed my very first video, ever! Hopefully it will be useful in demonstrating how easy it is to make bread. I use the machine for the heavy, hard work by using the "dough" setting, then remove it to shape any type of bread you wish!

Bread machine recipe for three baguettes (in a nutshell):

1 3/4 cup water

4 1/2 cups BREAD flour (approximately)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine in order listed. Set to "dough" setting. When done, shape loaves as desired. Let rise 2-4 hours. Bake in 350F oven for 22-25 minutes.

Watch the video for full instructions. It's my very first video ever, so be gentle with me!

BTW, the music is Sevillana by Commandos Percu.

Anita's Apple Crisp Pie

2012-11-03T21:04:00.001-04:00

This pie has a topping you'd normally find on apple crisp. I love how crunchy good the crispy topping is. Much nicer than a pastry topping!

Normally, if I have almonds around, I'll leave a 4" diameter circle in the centre with no topping, so that the apples peek out. Then I like to arrange some almonds around in a pattern on the topping, makes for a nice presentation!

(For two, 9” deep dish pies, shells prepared separately. I just use pre-made shells since I'm so bad at pie crust!)

Filling
11 McIntosh apples (Note: try using a mix of three types of apples for an interesting blend throughout the pie)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
Lemon juice

Topping
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 cup melted butter, cooled
Almonds (optional)

Directions

Blend egg, cream, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
Blend together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add to egg/cream/vanilla mixture.
Wash, peel, core, quarter, and thinly slice apples
Add sliced apples to sugar/egg/cream/vanilla mixture. Turn to coat apples
Sprinkle a little flour into the bottom of each of the two pie shells.
Divide apples in half, distributing evenly into the shells.
Dot with butter, and sprinkle with lemon juice.
For topping, combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add melted butter, tossing well with a fork.
Sprinkle evenly over top of pie.
Arrange almonds on top

Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, turn down heat to 350F and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until apples are tender and stop is lightly browned.

Croutons

2012-10-30T16:03:00.001-04:00

At the grocery store the other day, picking up a bag of croutons, I thought, this is enough. They want $2.50 for 140g of croutons?! And they are always way too salty, to boot! That is crazy.

So from here on out, I have decided to make my own croutons for salads and soups, from MY OWN day old breads. Everyone always wants today's fresh-out-of-the-oven bread anyway, so this will be a perfect way to re-purpose yesterday's bread.

Pre-heat oven to 300F.

Start by cubing 3-4 slices of bread.

Toss them into a large bowl.

Mix together 3 tablespoons of melted butter, or olive oil; 1 teaspoon of garlic power, and an optional pinch of salt; 1 teaspoon of dried parsley flakes, or herbes de Province, or any combination of whatever herbs you desire!

Pour this mixture over the cubed bread, tossing to distribute evening. Add a little more oil and herbs if needed. Spread the coated bread cubes out on a cookie sheet, in a single layer.

Bake for 15 minutes. Check to be sure they are drying, turn them over and bake for another 15 minutes until dry, crispy, and golden brown. They make the house smell soooo good while baking!

Once cooled, store your croutons in an air-tight container or ziplock bag.

You'll never buy store-bought croutons again after playing around with your own delicious variations of home-made croutons!

Multigrain Raisin Bread

2012-10-25T16:44:00.002-04:00

Lately I've been making the previous recipe as it was intended, as a raisin bread. I must say, it is absolutely delicious and the family goes through it pretty quickly!

I have altered the recipe and put in 1 1/4 cups of raisins, so that is more than you see in this photo. It makes quite a difference and really makes this loaf perfect.

It's so nice toasted in the morning with coffee, or for a snack in the afternoon!

Here are the steps to this very easy, completely done in the bread machine, bread (as opposed to my usual way of just using the dough cycle on the bread machine to do the hard work of kneading and the first rise).

But before we continue, I must say, I absolutely love my particular bread machine. It is a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme® Breadmaker BB-CEC20. Its loaf pan lays horizontal, with two paddles, not like most bread machines which make a vertical, tall and skinny, loaf of bread.

Completely unnatural!

The ingredients...
1 1/4 cups of water
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups White Bread Flour
1 1/4 cups Multi-grain Bread Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon bread machine yeast
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups of raisins

Add 1 1/4 cups of water to the pan, then add 2 tablespoons of butter.

Add 3 tablespoons of honey.

Add 1 1/2 cups of white bread flour, then add the 1 1/3 cups of multi-grain bread flour.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, being careful to distribute it around the outer edge of the pan.

Make a small depression in the middle of the two flour layers. Be sure that the depression does not penetrate through to the water.

Add 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast into the hole.

You want to be sure it does not touch any liquids, and also make sure it stays away from the salt.

Sprinkle the 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon around the outer edge of the pan.

Put the pan back into the bread machine, set it to run on the "wheat cycle". Sit back and wait.

After kneading is under way, this particular machine beeps in case you want to add something. This is the time to throw in the 1 1/4 cups of raisins.

After 3 hours, 40 minutes (this includes the machine's preheat time), the bread is ready to come out of the pan.

Set it on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Sliced open, here it is.

It didn't turn out too bad considering I completely ignored, or didn't hear, the "ADD" beeps! When I realized what had happened, I pulled the dough out during the first rise and kneaded the raisins in by hand.

Syrian Pita

2012-09-15T20:30:00.000-04:00

Today I dumped everything into the bread machine to make my new favourite Multigrain bread (listed in a previous post) and left for a nice, long motorcycle ride. Came home and had some wonderful, fresh bread waiting for us.

After another ride in the late afternoon, I remembered I had to make pita for the the BBQ later. So I rushed home, threw the ingredients into the bread machine and put my feet up while it did all the mixing and kneading for me.

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add to bread machine in your manufacturer's recommended order. Select Dough cycle, press Start.

After it finished rising, I cut the wonderfully tender dough ball into 9 equal pieces.

While the sausages were cooking on the BBQ, I warmed up a skillet and started rolling out the balls. I like to keep the balls covered with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out while I fry each pita.

I roll out the first one as thin as I can, throw it into the skillet and by the time I finish rolling out the next pita, the one in the skillet is done.

I don't use flour on the counter when rolling. All that does is make your pita slip around with the end result being you'll have a very difficult time getting it as thin as needed.

I'm not that great at making it perfectly round, but it's close enough.

In the skillet, I start off with just a little olive oil to season the pan, then after that I add nothing. Just the teflon pan is good enough.

Here, on the right, you see it starting to bubble up. I love it when it does that.

I've heard that the thinner you roll it, the better your chances are of that happening!

Here it's been flipped and I'm cooking the other side. It really only takes 2-3 minutes on each side.

A little bit of blackness adds to its character.

The batch is nicely cooling on a cooling rack.

And there's a nice BBQ'ed sausage in a pita fresh off the skillet!

Multigrain Bread

2012-09-14T14:27:00.001-04:00

Just tried this new recipe I found at the Robin Hood site and it worked out great! Very tasty, the crumb is perfect. Love it.

For this one, I used my Zojirushi bread maker for the whole thing.

I like to have some good fall-back recipes I can rely on to make a nice loaf when I'm not going to be around to work the dough into whatever shape I want and put it in the oven.

My fall-back recipes are easy to toss into the machine, walk away, and return later to a perfect, delicious loaf of bread.

This recipe originally called for raisins and cinnamon, however, I opted out on them and the loaf still turned out great. No other adjustments to it were necessary.

Below is the recipe as found at Robin Hood:

MULTIGRAIN BREAD (optionally can be made as Raisin Bread)
Ingredients:
LARGE LOAF (1 1/2 lb/3 cup or 2 lb/4 cup machine)
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) water
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter or margarine
3 tbsp (45 mL) honey
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) ROBIN HOOD Best For Bread Homestyle White Flour
1 1/3 cups (325 mL) ROBIN HOOD Best For Bread Multigrain Blend
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon (OPTIONAL)
1 tsp (5 mL) bread machine yeast
1 cup (175 mL) raisins (OPTIONAL, can make it 1 1/4 cup)

Directions:

1. SELECT loaf size.
2. ADD ingredients to machine according to manufacturer’s directions.
3. SELECT White or Whole Wheat Cycle.

1/2" of foaminess

2012-09-10T14:19:00.001-04:00

I will leave this out for the night and feed again in the morning.

One hour after feeding

2012-09-10T13:26:00.001-04:00

It is looking pretty active. It's foaming up and making lots of tiny bubbles. Let's see what it is doing in an hour.

Resurrecting the sourdough starter

2012-09-10T11:40:00.001-04:00

I had 8 cups of starter, dumped 5 cups, bringing it down to 3 cups. Then I added 1 1/2 ups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of water which has brought it up to almost 6 cups, almost doubling it. Let's see if this works. Here it is after having just fed it.

Problems with my starter

2012-09-10T09:49:00.001-04:00

For some reason, my sourdough breads are not rising as they used to. I'm going to take a break from sourdough bread making and send my starter off to "boot camp"!

In this pic you can see there is a little action, small bubbles on top. I have put it in a wider mouthed vessel for now while I clean its regular jar and doctor the beast itself. The wide mouth container will also allow more surface area for capturing whatever natural wild yeast float into my kitchen.

I have poured out 1 cup of starter and will feed it soon. First I want to see how much action I have in it before feeding it.

2012-09-07T22:28:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, I had to abandon my wild yeast project. I tried to make bread with it, but it tasted like bread made from home-made playdoh. Not good!

I'll attempt it again some other time.

Tiny bubbles...

2012-05-16T16:33:00.001-04:00

Looks like we have some action in our wild yeast experiment!

End of Day 2

2012-05-15T21:59:00.001-04:00

This is how it looks after day one..

Day 2...Time to catch some microorganisms

2012-05-15T21:58:00.001-04:00

Cover with some cheesecloth, held with an elastic, and wait. Stir twice a day, keep bowl inside or outside. In two days there should be bubbles.

Day 2...Ready to go

2012-05-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

Here is the mixture of 1 1/2 cups of declorinated water and 2 cups of flour.

Day 1...A simple start

2012-05-14T10:46:00.001-04:00

Today is Day 1 of my homemade sourdough starter experiment. It all begins with 1 1/2 cups of water, left for 24 hours to declorinate.

Sourdough goodness

2011-12-08T20:51:00.001-05:00

I started a sour dough starter a week ago and have been using it the past few days.
It is really starting to flavor up nicely. I'm really happy with how the bread is turning out.
In the bread machine, it does not rise as high as the white bread I do for baguette, but it still works out.