Mary Ellen Ward is a farm-raised content writer, mother, homesteader, wife, ghostwriter, and published author. Through her blog writing and publishing, she aims to find ways to make good, traditional eating, backyard farming, gardening, and fun stuff like easy home wine making and tea making to others like her--busy with the needs of modern life, committed to the best of years gone by.
Just a quick post because this idea is not mine and in fact I’d never heard of this before, but it certainly bears repeating and sharing!!
What To Do With Garlic Scapes
I love finding new (and preferably easy!) things to do with the produce of my garden. I especially love it when those things teach me how to use something I’m not entirely familiar with; and silly as it might sound, simple as they might be, garlic scapes are one thing I haven’t really found my stride with yet (that and kale, except for using it as a goose and poultry feed – they LOOOOVVVE it!). But this post might just change everything!
It’s a VERY simple recipe and instructional for pickling garlic scapes. I’ll leave it to the Homesteader Supply Blog to explain, but these sound like they might even rival dilly beans!! Now, to leave you all with a link and go harvest the last of those scapes.. Boy I wish I had planted more garlic (but don’t I always…?).
Bagels, Yeast Muffins, and Sweet Stand Mixer Treats
The recipes in this book follow the same simple method as the recipes in the first, using instant yeast and the stand mixer to make your life easy and help you get back to the wholesome traditional foods we all once enjoyed, despite the demands of a time-crunched modern life. Once again, the series offers you a way to make stand mixer bagels, cinnamon rolls, dinner buns, yeast donuts, and even crescents and croissants in the shortest time possible but yielding REAL and DELICIOUS results.
Volume I has gained great praise already, like this very kind and thoughtful review from Amazon buyer V. Kemp:
Finally!… excellent, quick AND flavorful recipes… I love it!
I have always made bread my mother’s old fashioned way… I bought a stand mixer recently to do the kneading for me… her method was a ten minute knead by hand… 2 hr rise… punch down… form… 1.5 hr rise…. and bake for 15 mins at high temp… then 45-50 mins at low temp… to say the least it was a day long project… I purchased this book the other day, and today I tried my first batch of everyday white… and wow… about two hours later, I have delicious, soft, tender, flavorful bread, with a gorgeous crispy crust… I ate almost a half a loaf myself. One batch made me four mini loaves, and twelve Cinnamon buns, without altering the recipe at all, and both were delicious. The fact that I had two successful products in one go makes the price of this book worth it… sorry mom, but your recipe might be a goner… lol
Volume II gives you even more great options to help you fully round out your pantry. Grab your copy today at this special birthday launch price!
From time to time I get questions in from blog readers and book readers asking me to help them out with a situation or clarify something in one of my recipes or in Your Daily Homemade Bread. And since my teachers always told me not to be afraid to ask because if I had a question, chances are someone else does, too, sharing those questions and answers seems to make a lot of sense.
And so, today we start with the first and probably one of the most common questions asked about the stand mixer and KitchenAid bread recipes I’ve published:
Does the Instant Yeast REALLY Get Mixed in With the Dry Ingredients?
Here’s a question from reader BB:
I came across your website and want to try the homemade white bread using my Kitchenaid mixer. My question is this…do I mix the yeast in the water or add it in with “all” dry ingredients? I have baked enough to know that usually the yeast gets mixed with the water first but recipe does not specify so I thought I would ask. Thank you for your time and I can’t wait to try this recipe.
(I believe this question refers to the recipe originally published on the site here, although the recipe is also included in the more comprehensive book along with additional ways to use the white bread dough…like for bread bowls, etc. There is a more complete discussion regarding the use and ease of Instant Yeast, which is used in most all of my stand mixer bread recipes, in my book: Your Daily Homemade Bread: Easy Stand Mixer Bread Recipes: Best Basics.)
This is a completely understandable question because regular active dry yeast does certainly require a period of proofing in liquid to activate it before you can add it to your bread recipe – more measuring, more waiting, more steps. Instant Yeast is a wonderful product because it lets you cut out all that fuss and also cuts out the first long rise and punching down. It literally makes it possible to throw all your ingredients together, knead (preferably with the mixer), and make a virtually hands-free bread, a REAL loaf of bread, with about a quarter of the work and waiting.
My response to the very kind and inquisitive BB was this:
The yeast does not get mixed in with the water. It does not need to proof like regular yeast does. It is correct to mix it in with the dry ingredients and fat, and then add the water to the mix. The reason is that this recipe is using a faster acting yeast (instant yeast, bread machine yeast, or rapid rise versions are all the same and all fine to use). It is specifically designed to cut the time and kneading and to be an easier bread to make.
So while it can be tough for us more traditional cooks to buck something our mothers or grandmothers (maybe your father or grandfather!) taught us, in this case it is most definitely the right thing to do! Embrace the change and this great product and enjoy this easier way to make it possible to eat well traditionally while keeping up in this busy modern world!
About The Popular KitchenAid Bread & Stand Mixer Bread Book:
Best KitchenAid Stand Mixer Bread Recipes
“If you have a KitchenAid® or other stand mixer in your kitchen, you have the one essential tool necessary for baking wonderfully fresh, wonderfully flavored bread on a regular basis. Included here are eleven stand mixer bread recipes plus two dinner roll options covering all the basics from traditional white to rye, wheat, and an excellent multigrain bread, too. In addition, you’ll learn eight additional ways to use the basic white bread recipe to easily create anything from bread bowls to cinnamon buns. This is a carefully selected collection of the most popular bread basics to bring you a solid dietary base without becoming overwhelmed. A complete discussion of the basic stand mixer bread method is included, along with a thorough discussion about the right yeast to use (there’s a specific type that makes this method work!). Also included is a quick talk on the subject of substitutions and sweetener flexibility to help adjust recipes to suit your dietary needs and preferences, including what is and is not possible. …A complete collection delivering reliability, flexibility, flavor, and FRESHNESS to your table, leaving behind all the unnecessary and undesirable preservatives, chemicals, and conditioners that you’ll find in commercial breads (including many that call themselves “homemade”).”
And What A Nice Review Already!
“Mary has written the simplest bread book. The white bread was so easy, I thought I had done something wrong. I was not expecting the fluffy, heavenly rolls that I MADE! My kids devoured them. I’m trying everything in the book.” (Many Thanks to Momma Chix!!)
For a limited time over the next few days Daily Bread and its collection of 12+ basic KitchenAid mixer bread recipes will be featured as an Amazon Kindle Countdown Deal. That means that it will be available for seriously reduced prices, but that the price points will also be changing (incrementally raised to full price again over the next few days). It’s best to get in and buy early – the earlier the better for you.
It’s an opportunity that can’t (because of Amazon policy) come around again for at least 90 days, and maybe not at all…so get while the getting’s good, and please tell your friends so they can get in while it’s good, too!
Click the link to see the book and details. While on Amazon, use the “Look Inside” feature for a complete Table of Contents listing the discussion topics and different recipes. When you do buy, your thoughtful review would be greatly appreciated, and makes a real difference to other searchers and buyers so they can find the stand mixer KitchenAid bread recipes they are looking for, too. (And who knows, like a couple of other readers, perhaps I’ll be asking you for your permission to use your review for other promotions!! …In fact, if you’d like to give me your permission ahead of time, please use the Contact Me page or email me and just let me know that you’re good with it, and which username you used so I can identify the review.)
Here it is! The announcement all you homemade bread lovers have been waiting for! (Who could NOT be a homemade bread lover!?)
My new KitchenAid (R) and stand mixer bread recipe book is live and available on Amazon! Get it now for under $3.00 – yes, for less than the cost of a decent loaf of bread!
This book truly does simplify the process and delivers more than just a KitchenAid version of a traditional recipe – it’s a completely different method that is a complete time-saver. It requires very little hands-on work and works up much faster than traditional homemade bread recipes.
There are a variety of recipes from the Everyday White Bread many of you have come to know and love to multigrain and wheat options, too.
Read more about Your Daily Homemade Breadhere or go straight to buy your copy now:
We’re in New England. Hot Chocolate is an absolute “must” for us. And with four kids, I go through a lot of it. The only trouble is, because we grow nearly all of our food here (with the exception of those staples like flour and sugar, etc.), I don’t actually go to a store all that often. In fact, I hardly ever do even for those things; I actually order most of my staples online from WalMart.com. I know we all have a love-hate relationship with Wal Mart but let’s face it – their prices beat almost everyone else, they employ large numbers of Americans, and if you spend $50 you get free shipping – so my staples cost me no more than a trip to the store; probably less considering the time I don’t lose and the gas I don’t burn.
But I digress. The short story is that I always seem to be out of hot cocoa mix. And then there is the added issue that I am buying something with unnecessary ingredients like dry milk, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavors, amongst other things that you personally may or may not be concerned with (for an example of what you’ll find in a leading brand hot cocoa mix like Swiss Miss, check this out).
And then there is the issue that I have this abundance of milk from those over-achieving little backyard Jerseys. An awful problem to have, I know. At any rate, it seems silly to me to be paying for a product with dry milk in it, which I’m not overly thrilled about, and wasting the perfectly good, healthy that milk I need to do something with anyway. And so I decided to go old-school and find an easy homemade hot chocolate recipe that is made with milk and minimal extraneous ingredients. After tweaking a few, below is what I came up with. It’s great for homesteaders, but of course it’s great for anyone who is just looking for a simplified homemade hot cocoa recipe. It uses only a couple common pantry staples, so odds are excellent that you already have everything you need at home.
Homemade Homestead Hot Cocoa Recipe
What we’re basically looking at here is a 2:1 ratio of powdered sugar to baking cocoa (powder). Using this basic ratio, you can make up your hot chocolate mix ahead of time in as large or small a quantity as you want for easy make-ahead use (a great recipe to add to your Make-Ahead Mix arsenal!).
The following recipe is enough to make a prepared half-gallon batch of homemade hot chocolate with milk. But what I like to do is crack out a quart or half-gallon mason jar and just keep alternating and filling until I have a jar full of mix ready for later use.
An easy, creamy homemade hot chocolate made with real milk and a couple common staple ingredients.
Ingredients
2 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1 cup powdered baking cocoa
½ gallon milk
Instructions
Pour milk into a large saucepan. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Heat and stir over medium heat until steaming. Do not boil!
*You may also prepare this in a crock pot (on high or low, but obviously low will take longer and do keep an eye on it so that it does not boil when on high) and keep warm on the "Warm" setting.
**You may also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if desired.
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Make-Ahead Creamy Homestead Hot Cocoa Mix
If you want to make a prepared make-ahead homemade hot cocoa mix, simply combine 6 cups of powdered sugar and 3 cups of powdered baking cocoa in a large (2 quart) canning jar or large container (yes, it will fit, but you may have to shake gently as you add ingredients to settle them). Shake to combine through until the mixture appears evenly distributed throughout.
Alternatively, if you are giving as a gift and you like the “sand art” appearance of the layers, alternate the cocoa and the powdered sugar, but do not shake. Do be sure, though, to include shaking as the first step in any attached instructions you give. You can cut the recipe in half to prepare in one-quart canning jars.
To prepare hot chocolate by the cup from the prepared mix, add 2 to 3 large teaspoons cocoa mix to a cup of hot milk. To make a batch, use 3 cups mix to each 1/2 gallon hot milk.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, and it brings you many warm winter mornings and afternoons! Incidentally, this is an excellent recipe to use with any of the grown-up hot chocolate recipes in A Drink for All Seasons: Winter and the Holidays.
This is the first in a new books series of four featuring selected cocktails and adult beverages (including party-worthy punches and eggnogs) that fit the tastes and moods of the season. It’s available right now on Kindle, and also in paperback via Amazon or the CreateSpace eStore just in time for all your holiday entertaining!
Please don’t think that it will only last you through the rest of this month, though. This is not only a book of Christmas drink recipes; it’s truly a collection of adult winter drink recipes to see you through the whole long winter.
The paperback version has all of the same great mason jar mix recipes and also includes an appendix of copy-ready labels (two per page for each recipe). Just in time for Christmas, and Christmas jar mix gifts!
Just a quick note to share recent relevant articles and activity with all my readers here…
I recently had the honor of being welcomed as a guest writer on RuralMom.com. This site has lots in common to share with us here, and most recently has posted some excellent holiday gifting recommendations. Be sure to check them out, and add them to your list of follows!
It will help you make the most of your creations from Make-Ahead Mix Day this holiday season, complete with recommendations for the best recipes from the book for gift-giving.
I love finding new (and preferably easy!) things to do with the produce of my garden. I especially love it when those things teach me how to use something I’m not entirely familiar with; and silly as it might sound, simple as they might be, garlic scapes are one thing I haven’t really found my stride with yet (that and kale, except for using it as a goose and poultry feed – they LOOOOVVVE it!). But this post might just change everything!
on Amazon.com in paperback, too!