Bread-makin' Time!

Well, as we all have done, during quarantine time I have learned how to make bread. Today I learned how to make an Italian loaf. It was incredibly easy and so delicious! Here is the recipe:
(https://lilluna.com/italian-bread/)

Ingredients

• 2 cups very warm water
• 5 tsp instant yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 5 cups all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Whisk together water, yeast, sugar, oil, and 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl till smooth. Let sit in a warm place till bubbly, about 30 minutes. Add the salt and enough flour to make a soft dough.
2. Knead a few times on a floured counter till smooth. (if we're being honest, I put this in my mixer with the dough hook) Return to bowl. Cover and let rise till doubled, about an hour.
3. Divide dough in half and roll each piece into a long loaf about 12 inches long. Place both loaves on a greased baking pan.
4. Let loaves rise till doubled, 30-45 minutes. Cut a few diagonal slits across the top of each loaf. 
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 375° for about 30 minutes or till crust is golden brown.

Here are my pics! 

 After putting them into loaves (not pretty, but I'm still learning how to do this, guys)

And here they are baked! They were delicious. I think the next bread that I want to tackle is French bread. 

I Made Bread! From Scratch!

Y'all, I have bread. From scratch. Using YEAST! Oh my goodness, I am so proud of myself. I'm going to just link straight over to the gals recipe I used, there are too many steps to write down !

https://www.somethingswanky.com/chunky-french-toast-caramel-syrup/
Here it is, much delicious. And here are some pics to highlight!

 Here is my dough as soon as I had mixed it!

And here it is after I've broken it into pieces and dipped in a cinnamon butter dip.

 So then, I forgot to get pics of the other stuff (my bad, guys, it was stressful to make bread!) and then here it is, after baking, after cooling, after cutting, and ready to be put into the oven to bake into delicious French Toast.
And then I didn't get pics of the finished product. But !! It is delicious. Guys, I felt like a real bona fide baker and master of my domain with this, and I absolutely recommend this recipe.
Enjoy!

Banana Nutella Bread

I had a bunch of leftover bananas, so I looked for a banana bread recipe this morning that's a little different than the usual ones. I found one for a banana Nutella bread, and made it today! Here it is: 

4 large ripe bananas

1 Cup Butter, softened

2 Eggs

2 Cups of Sugar

4 Cups of Flour

½ tsp. Salt

½ Cup Warm Water

2 tsp. baking soda

1 Cup Nutella

1 Cup Chocolate Chips 

Peel and mash the bananas. then cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour and salt to the creamed mixture. Mix well. After you add these two ingredients the mix will turn into soft crumbs. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to mixture. Blend in the mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Pour half of the mixture into two separate bread pans.

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the Nutella for 10 to 15 seconds or until it is thick but easy to pour. Pour ¼ cup of Nutella length down the middle of the dough and use the tip of a knife to make a design with the Nutella. 

 Fill the pans with the remaining dough and repeat the Nutella step.

Bake at 350º for 50 minutes to an hour, or whenever an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Now, of course I forgot to get a pic of the finished product before we cut into it! This is the best I can do: 

IT IS SO DANG GOOD! I totally recommend this.