This page is for recipes involving yeast, excluding loaf bread, which has its own page. Bread-machine recipes are on this page for now, too.

Pam's Better Butter: Here is a recipe I use to make a butter that is healthier for you. Margarine (hydrogenated fat) is not good for the body, and butter is all saturated fat, not good either. This recipe mixes half vegetable oil (either poly- or mono- saturate) and half butter. I also prefer it because it spreads easily directly from the fridge. It will melt if left out of the fridge for too long, however. **1 cup oil (I use a mono-saturated oil called canola. Safflower (poly-?) is another great choice, and olive is another good mono-, but the flavor is too heavy for my butter tastes) Currently mono-sat fats are considered the best for the body. **1 cup butter (unsalted is the best choice as it will still be sweet; salt is added to poor butter to mask the flavor) **1tsp lecithin (this helps to emulsify the oils, as well as help the body to break down the saturated fat of the butter) **1tsp milk powder (I believe this helps to stiffen the butter plus adds flavor) **1 tsp salt  Put all in your blender, blend and pour into butter cups.

Joan writes: I make Better Butter, too. I use a pound of room temp butter and add 2 cups oil, and a mix of 1/4 cup powdered milk and 1/4 cup water (blended prior to adding to the butter/oil blend to dissolve the milk powder). We make another batch as soon as we start on one (so we have one we're using and a whole one in the frig at the same time). I like the fact that it tastes SOOO good and spreads right out of the fridge, unlike 100% butter.  http://countrylife.net/bread/

ENGLISH MUFFIN LOAF (no kneading!) 2 T yeast 6 cups flour 1 T sugar 2 t salt 2 1/2 cup liquid (milk or water) 1/4 t baking soda cornmeal Combine 3 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and soda.  Heat liquids until very warm.  Add to dry mixture.  Beat well!  Stir in remaining flour to make a stiff batter.  Spoon into 2 bread pans that have been greased and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Sprinkle cornmeal on top of batter.  Cover.  Raise in warm place 45 minutes.  Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.  Remove from pans immediately and cool. This is delicious toasted.  I add different combinations of wheat/white flour with good results.  It tastes just like english muffins (something we can't buy down here in Nicaragua) and is EASY (it also freezes well). I've doubled it with good results too.

Here is a cinnamon roll recipe that uses whole wheat flour (I grind my own).

4 cups hot water  1 cup honey 1 cup dry powdered milk 4 tbsp. yeast ( I use Saf) 5 tsp salt 1 cup oil 12-13 cups whole wheat flour

SEE NOTES AT END FOR CINNAMON PART

Combine hot water, honey, milk, yeast, eggs, and 7 cups flour. Stir until thoroughly mixed (looks like cake batter) let sit for 30 minutes until bubbly (it is sponging). Add salt, oil and rest of flour. Knead for 6-10 minutes to develop gluten. Divide dough into 3 or 4 parts ( this recipe makes A LOT- I usually halve it and get a 13x9 and an 8x8- then I freeze the rest).

Roll out one part into rectangle.  Spread butter over all of rectangle (maybe 3 or 4 tbsp butter) and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon or 1/4 cup honey, then 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon. Then roll up so it looks like a big log. 

Now, I do this next part one of two ways: 

Way #1: combine 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp corn syrup, 1/2 cup pecans or coconut. Spread on bottom of 13x9 pan. Slice cinnamon rolls about 1 1/2 inch thick and lay on top. Cover and put in fridge over night. Take out while preheating oven or up to 30 minutes and then bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Take out of oven and invert onto cookie sheet.( if you use the whole recipe you will have to do this to all the 13 x 9's) 

Way #2: grease 13 x 9's and cut rolls 1 1/2 inch thick and lay in pan. Cover and put in fridge over night and set out up to half hour before baking. Bake at 350 for 20- 25 minutes. Glaze with mixture of powdered sugar and milk and vanilla. Or (really yummy) glaze with mix of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and cream cheese. I have exact proportions written down in a mystery place and can get them to you when I find them :-) You can also bake these right after assembly. Just let rise 1/2 hour and then bake. You can let these rise longer if desired, but they get really big. 

Q. When you mentioned that you sometimes make the full batch and then freeze some to bake later did you mean that you freeze just the blob of dough or do you make them into rolls and freeze them that way for baking later? 

A.  I have done it both ways. It is easier to shape it first. You can even do the cinnamon rolls up just like the recipe and freeze instead.

Put ingredients in this order making sure the yeast & dough enchancer (by Kitchen Specialties - a must for baking w/whole wheat!) do not touch the liquids. I usually make a tiny scoop of a hole on top of the flour to add my yeast & dough enchancer to so to prevent the early activation of the yeast.

Debbie vdH writes:  In my opinion, THE BEST bread machine cookbooks are the series of little books by Donna German. They are not too expensive, and WELL worth every penny. Each one is jammed packed with recipes, each one broken down into different sizes..small, med. and large, depending on your machine. I often double the medium recipe for my bread machine, and just use the mix, knead and rise cycles in the machine, take it out and shape it into 2 or 3 regular loaves and bake in the regular oven. These recipes never fail, and there is such a fun variety. Over the years I've collected the first 4 books. My first one has pages coming out of it, it has been sooo well used. I'll also be happy to post some of our favorites to hold you over until maybe you can find one of these books. 

Caveat:  Most of the information on this site comes from back issues of The MOMYS Digest, an email-only forum for mothers of many young siblings. It is offered in good faith and is not intended to replace medical advice, pastoral counsel, your husband's opinion, or your own good sense.

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