Baked Sweet Potato Bread

I feel poorly for the lack of dessert/baked goods in my blog. I have to admit there is a problem with my obsession with pastry and sugary treats, well, a few problems. One of them is the sheer health of it all; although I do believe in "healthy" indulgences, having baked goods around the time is not conducive to my healthy lifestyle because believe me, if there are cakes, tarts, pies, and cookies around me; they will be eaten. Moderation is not my strong suit especially when it comes to dessert. Another reason is budget; which is very humble lately. I'd love to run out and buy each ingredient at the store for baking just to have on hand when inspiration sparks but I have to spend fairly frugally as of now. Third, I have no one to eat my baked goods, which makes me utterly sad. My boyfriends mother is allergic to nuts (among 100's of other things) and is fairly picky; so, she's out. My boyfriend's father is away 3 weeks out of each month for business, not at all picky and loves to eat but is not around. His sister, currently, is on a low-fat diet; enough said. As his sister, my boyfriend is routinely on a rigid "diet" as a part of his regular healthy lifestyle and will only eat my baked goods on Mondays (a.k.a "cheat day", to those in the know in the diet world). And then there was one, me, what's a girl to do?

With that said, I've been baking more bread; It is equally near and dear to my heart when it comes to baking. There are countless reasons of my love for bread that have evolved from the simple enjoyment of eating it to baking it. I could keep going on this subject but I'll save that for another time. I've always been known as the bread girl in my family and nothing has changed. Today's bread baking venture was an all day affair. I was looking forward to baking some breads with slow rises because slow rises are supposed to improve the taste and texture the bread. Being that it was a slightly chilly 30 degrees this morning - it was the perfect day. I also wanted something a bit unique but easy to work with as I ease my way back into baking.

The Baked Potato Bread, from the Fresh Loaf, looked enticing but there were no baked potatoes to be found but there were sweet potatoes. An idea was born. I loved the idea of being able to use sweet potatoes as a unique ingredient in my bread that I hadn't previously thought of as a possibility. I adapted the recipe as I desired, hoping for the best. I wanted it to be healthy, unique, but overall, just delicious.

and it was.

Baked Sweet Potato Bread
adapted from Potato Rosemary Bread from The Fresh Loaf

1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup water
1 cup mashed sweet potato, heaping (could be boiled or baked)
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sage

Mix packet of yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water (110-115 degrees); let sit for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl mix the whole wheat flour, 2 cups of the bread flour, water, yeast mixtures, salt, pepper and sage; reserve 1/4 cup of flour. Mix until dough begins to form turn out dough on floured work surface and knead for 6-9 minutes, incorporating the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Once dough feels "ready", place the dough in a greased bowl and cover the bowl with a moist towel until double in size, about 1 - 2 1/2 hrs (depending on temperature environment where bowl is).

Remove dough from the bowl; de-gas it and shape it. You may make a large loaf, 2 small loaves, 12 large rolls... whatever you like! Placed them on a greased baking sheet and set aside to rise again until doubled (about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs).

When ready, pre-heat oven to 500 degrees (this will give a good last rise to the bread from the heat) and put dough in oven. Bake at 500 for 5-8 minutes then drop temperature down to 375 for 15-22 minutes depending on loaf size (rolls will take less time). When rolls are done they look brown/dark brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove rolls and allow to cool before serving (as usual, I did sample out of the oven and I would definitely recommend letting them cool before eating/serving). They keep well at room temperature for 1-2 days without any deterioration in in flavor or texture.

I created one small loaf and 5 medium sized rolls for the household. Although, the sweetness of the sweet potato did not stand out in the bread; I think it definitely enhanced the overall flavor of bread compared to a normal baked potato. The loaf had a slight peppery bite which was pleasing to all the family members, who really liked the bread. It had a wonderful dense but soft, chewy crumb. My boyfriend and I made little sandwiches with roasted chicken breast shreds and BBQ sauce... definitely perfect for sandwiches. I have to go get prepared for this evenings baking adventure!

Rustic Chickpea Vegetable Soup

After a weekend of many sinfully wonderful indulgences all over Atlanta, GA (post to follow eventually), sampling desserts and famed greasy drive-in food; I felt the need for vegetables in heaping abundance.

I've been trying to incorporate some of my normal healthful habits into my cooking rather than just eating the stand-bys; The easily prepared grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. Although delicious, these are just not satisfying me; cooking is satisfying. I came up with this recipe because I did not have my computer on hand to look one up and no recipe fit exactly what I wanted. The measurements are approximate, hence the word "rustic" in the title, and it is absolutely delicious.

Rustic Chickpea Vegetable Soup
from yours truly.

1 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1, 15oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
4 cups organic vegetable stock
4 -5 cups water
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup yellow squash, chooped
1 can diced no-salt added tomatos
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. ground thyme, heaping
3/4 tsp. ground basil
1/4 tsp. ground sage
1/4 tsp. ground paprika

Brown rice, optional.

Heat olive oil in soup pot on medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, carrots, and celery and sautee for about 2 minutes until fragrant; Add chick peas.

Pour the 4 cups of stock and 4-5 cups of water into pot, add rest of ingredients and bring soup to a boil. When it reaches a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

If you are going to prepare rice, begin this while the soup is simmering.

Sprinkle with a pinch of fresh chopped parsley, add spoonfuls of brown rice to soup if desired and serve!

Not a great photo but as you were eating it was visually delicious as well; the vegetables were chunky and tender but not mushy. I'm not in the mood to write too much more right now but I'll back for later as I have big plans for later to go along with that leftover soup!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Look at them in all their glory!

A leftover pumpkin project turned wonderful. I would hate to waste such a precious ingredient as pumpkin so, it needed a purpose in people's tummies which turned out to be the Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. I looked through many recipes before settling on this one. I was thinking something sort of pumpkin-cheesecakey-bar- but there was not enough cream cheese for that venture (however, I did find an awesome looking recipe on Epicurious for a later time). I wanted something that would appeal to the masses, something simple yet with a special twist. I turned to the Libby's Pumpkin website recipe section and these cookies stuck out; the ingredients were items I had on hand and simple enough to turn out before I had to leave for work. The general consensus is overwhelming success; I was requested to bring more cookies into work tomorrow because they finished all the ones I brought tonight. The cookies are soft but not overly so, as they tend to be in cookies that contain pumpkin. They are not overly sweet and have the perfect spicy cinnamon bite. The pecans and raisins are hinted throughout adding to the textural appeal of the cookie. Next time, I would use thicker cut oats (my quick oats were smaller than normal) for an even heartier texture and add more pecans (or walnuts as the original recipe stated) since I only had about a half cup.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
adapted from verybestbaking.com

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick or old fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup (or more) chopped pecans (or any nut of choice)
3/4 cup raisins

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Drop in large rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet.

Bake 14 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown and centers are set. Cool 2 minutes of baking sheet and then move to wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Yield - about 24-30 large cookies (48 cookie according to original).

This week, I also recieved my Baker's Catalogue from King Arthur Flour.


There are way too many thing I want; What an amazing catalogue. They just make every image so visually appealing and the addition of recipes inside is nice as well. I must go write a detailed Christmas list!

Pumpkin Bread

Although it doesn't seem much like autumn here in South Carolina; I felt autumn upon me. This means pumpkin, apples, sweet potatos and other warm, fuzzy comfort fruits and vegetables.

This sparkled my urge for pumpkin bread. I decided to start out simple and just find an ultimate pumpkin bread recipe to start off my fall-inspired baking. None of my cookbooks had quite what I was looking for, a recipe with butter instead of oil for the fat; however, I settled for a well-reviewed oil based recipe for my pumpkin bread. My searches to me to a recipe at allrecipes.com

I know my pictures are nothing to right home about but hopefully they'll get better as I take more. The end product turned out a bit more brown on the outside than I would have liked but the color on the inside was a warm orange - no complaints there. I made slight changes due to the pan size and spices that were in my cabinet. I'd love to make some sort of pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting for these loaves but I was just baking for pleasure so it stayed plain for now.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread
adapted from allrecipes.com

15oz pumpkin puree (1 can)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. all-spice
1/4 tsp chopped crystalized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9X5 loaf pans (this is just what I had - use other pans if you desire)

In large bowl mix pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In seperate bowl whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir dry ingredients into wet just until blended. Pour mixture into prepared pans.

Baked 50-57 minutes in preheated oven. Loaves are down when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Yield: 2 - 9x5 loaves

Next time I would even up the spices, substitute some white sugar for brown, and bake for a little less (I baked for 60 minutes) so the tops aren't as brown. Although brown on the outside the flavor on the inside was delicious; moist pumpkin, soft, midly spicy, it's hard to stop eating! It's slowly disappearing to the kitchen to my delight.