Super tender buttermilk dinner rolls are so fun to make and even more fun to serve to your family and guests. Made with 2 special ingredients to enhance the long yeasted rise.
These super tender buttermilk dinner rolls are so fun to make and even more fun to serve to your family and guests. The aroma is incredible. And the oohs and ahhs welling up from the table make it all worth while.
Secret Ingredients Work Wonders: The secret ingredients in these dinner rolls to make them light and tender — dried buttermilk powder and dried egg whites. The buttermilk powder adds a great little tang of flavor and seems to tenderize the dough. And I like using dried egg whites because this works perfectly for a long-rising yeasted dough.
Rise And Shine: I use usually use fresh dairy for bread dough but, lately, I feel more comfortable using high quality dried substitutions when a long rise time is needed outside of the refrigerator. Leaving milk or egg products to sit on a warm counter for hours always makes me a little nervous. Plus (it might be my imagination but) I think these dried dairy products work miracles in this recipe over fresh. An added plus – dried dairy products travel easily for family “away” gatherings and make for great camp cooking.
Slow Food Set Aside Time: The mixing of ingredients takes just a few minutes but there is an initial 10 minute “shag hold”, there are 2 dough rising sessions that last for about 1 hour each and, once the rolls bake for about 30 minutes, the hot rolls should rest for about 10 minutes before serving. All total, that’s about 3 hours — so be sure to set aside enough slow food time to ensure that these heavenly rolls are not rushed to the table. Trust me, it’s worth the wait!
Bake And Serve Dish: We used a deep dish pie baker that moves easily from oven to table. I love the idea of serving these biscuits straight from the baking pan.Here are the rolls almost ready to go into the oven for a holiday feast…
Ingredients for Yeasted Buttermilk Dinner Rolls:
3 cups bread flour (we used King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour)
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon dried buttermilk powder
1 Tablespoon dried egg whites
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (or bread machine yeast)
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup warm water
For the top brush before baking:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
Directions for Fluffy Buttermilk Yeasted Dinner Rolls:
1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Make a Shag Dough: Stir ingredients with a wooden spoon or Danish Whisk until the flour is incorporated into the mix but without forming a ball or squeezing the ingredients together in any way. Let the dough rest in this “shag” stage for about 10 minutes. Tip: The dough will be softer to work with once it sits on the counter for a bit.
3. Gather up the shag dough and form it into a ball. Knead the dough well with your hands by pressing it between your hands (if you think it will stick to the counter) and then, at the point when the dough is no longer sticky, knead it by pressing it against the counter and really working it out for 8 minutes. Tip: If absolutely necessary, you could add a sprinkle of extra flour to keep the dough from being sticky after the first 3 minutes of kneading it in your hands.
4. Wash your dough bowl, rinse it in warm water, dry it and butter it on the inside bottom and sides. Form the dough into one nice, big, smooth, round ball shape and place it in the prepared bowl to rest.
5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot for about 1 hour. If the oven is free, put it in the oven with just the light on (no heat) and close the door. The top of the refrigerator is another good option. The dough should rise to at least to double in size.
6. Punch the dough once with your fist to deflate it and watch it sink (it will rise again).
7. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 10 pieces, rolling and forming smooth, round balls. (The dough rises to its highest when the dough is nicely smoothed.)
8. Place 8 of the balls in a circle around the edges of a 9″ deep dish baker and place 2 dough balls in the center of the baking dish. (At this point, they will not touch each other…but they will grow.)
9. Use a water mister to spray the rolls lightly (or hand sprinkle) and let rise for 1 hour. The dough should rise to the top of your baking dish. I like to spray them again once or twice during this second rise phase to keep them moist and growing. Tip: Let the rise to the level that you’d like them to be as they will puff slightly in the oven but not too much more than the starting stage.
10. Just before baking, use a brush to baste the tops of each roll gently (so as not to deflate them) with 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of water. Tip: The yolk wash will seal in the moisture and make the tops of the rolls a gorgeous golden color.
Bake This Bread!
Bake at 350 degrees in a pre-heated oven on the center rack for about 30 minutes or until the internal temperature probe reaches 189 degrees and the tops of the rolls are a nice, rich, golden color. The egg yolk baste will keep the tops of the rolls nice and shiny.
I hope you will have a chance to make these yeasted dinner rolls one day soon for your family and friends. And after you make a batch, I also hope that you will teach somehow else how to make them as well. Sort of like bread baking-it-forward — to keep alive that most awesome kitchen craft of yeast bread making!
Buttery goodness swirled with a fresh-ground sweet cinnamon filling! Just the thing for a special homemade breakfast treat made with love from scratch!
We’ve been playing with a 100-year-old recipe for German Coffee Cake and, because it was made with yeast, we just had to mess with the recipe until it became a lovely breakfast bread!
Wake up to cinnamon! Because cinnamon is a starring attraction in this lovely little breakfast bread, I’m thinking its nice to punch up that flavor by pulverizing some nice Vietnamese cinnamon bark chips to a fine powder with a blast in a mini grinder and a good mortar and pestle. Surprisingly, this only takes a few minutes. This is absolutely not necessary. Just that, since we’re makin’ this thing from scratch, I thought we may as well ante it up for an amazing hit of cinnamon. And it makes the kitchen, no, the whole dang house, smell heavenly! It starts with a grinder/blender device to pulverize the cinnamon bark chips.
And then you just use a heavy unglazed mortar and pestle (with a nice little weight to it) to turn the ground chips into a wonderfully fine powder. Can you smell the aroma yet?
Sister site with a cousin cake: You may also enjoy our cake post on how to create a simple yeasted German Coffee Cake. Like, when’s the last time you made a cake (well, a breakfast cake) with yeast instead of baking powder or the like? ha! Check out our little homegrown video.
SLOW FOOD WARNING! Actual prep time takes about 12 minutes once you have your ingredients assembled and then it will be 2 one-hour rises, though it may take longer, even an extra hour longer, depending on your yeast and flour and “growing environment”. I know you’re busy so be sure to set aside plenty of time on your first adventure to let your dough rise up and shine. Remember, flour and water and active yeast will rise given enough time, so if it doesn’t rise as fast as you’d expect, give it more time to grow — it will.
Make it a double-double! You may even want to make 2 loaves — one for you and your peeps and one for a kitchen giving gift made with love. This is my girlfriend’s stereoscope. Like who has a stereoscope card with a springer spaniel wearing a bonnet? (I guess it helps if you own the awesome Sherman Oaks Antique Mall.) If you do decide to double this recipe, I recommend preparing each batch of dough separately. You know, that ole’ divide and conquer theory.
What are your favorite bread baking gadgets? I get so many questions about my favorite baking tools and supplies. Like the cherry pitter for our homemade maraschino cherries — that is a lifesaver! So these are my current favorite bread making tools. None of them are necessary, which is why I didn’t include them in the list of required tools for this recipe (though I hope you have, or can get your hands on, the last one). And I hope you can share your favorite bread making tools with us in the Comments.
Level it up! This is how I level cups of loosely measured flour or sugar. A plastic straw (or a chop stick) works perfectly as a great leveling tool.
Super sharp and small! Although I’m hooked on the absolute quality and longevity of Cutco knives, they’re expensive and there are lots of interesting and inventive knives on the market today. Here’s my butter measuring tool. Ho! (It’s also my strawberry cutting knife and my broccoli cutter). 🙂 These inexpensive knives are super sharp and come with a case for inserting the knife blade. I think the knife gets sharpened each time you put it back into its case. And I like the variety of bright colors.
Safe and stable does it! Okay, here’s a great tool that I never knew I needed until I tried it. My nephew gave it to me for Christmas (thank you, John!). It’s a silicone bowl rim that holds different sized bowls absolutely stable on the countertop. It keeps me from chasing a large bowl around the counter. Although it could be my imagination, I swear that once your bowl is firmly rooted to the counter, you feel more confident about the whole shebang.
Long, sharp and serrated! A proper bread knife doesn’t have to be expensive to work well. The goal is to cut through the bread without ripping or tearing it — so a sharp and serrated knife is important and it must be long enough to completely cover the width of the bread (and then some) so that you can achieve an uninterrupted sawing motion.
Quick draw, fast read! My indispensable bread baking tool is a quick-read, flip-open baking thermometer. Just flip it open, poke and read it. I don’t usually use it to check the temperature of the dough at the end of kneading (though I know many who do) but I thought I’d show you how it works with the photo below. However, the temperature of the final baked bread turns out to be quite important because a baked loaf of bread can be dangerously deceptive. In fact, I don’t even know how to ensure a properly baked bread without such a tool. I have a collection of different baking thermometers but their probes are usually quite thick (and mar the beauty of the bread or cake). And most are way too slow to be effective. I wish this one had a lighted display to see the temperature in a dark oven, but it’s small, handy, fast and inexpensive. I haven’t figured out how to rely on a laser-type device yet so if you have a great one to recommend, do share in the Comments.
Look how many times I had to test this cinnamon swirl bread in 5 minute increments past 30 minutes to get the internal temperature to 185! ha! Can you see the probe marks? You can see that I like to check for doneness on the side inserted towards the center so the top of the bread is not spoiled with holes.
Summary of the steps to making a fabulous cinnamon swirl bread:
We’ll start (that’s me and you) by greasing the bottom of the pan, proofing the yeast and chopping some raisins and nuts. Then we’ll mix all ingredients in a big bowl except the raisins and nuts and stir until the flour is mostly incorporated then we’ll fold in the raisins and nuts by hand with a 30-second finger kneading. We’ll set the timer for 8 minutes and give the dough a firm kneading on the countertop, place it in a clean, buttered bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rise for an hour. Then we’ll roll it out (or press it out ’cause it’s really soft and easy to spread), smear it with butter, cinnamon and sugar, roll it up, place it in the baking pan and let it rise for another hour or more until the dough reaches the top of the pan. Next we’ll pre-heat the oven and bake it for about 40 to 50 minutes (maybe tenting it to keep the crust from getting too dark). When it’s hot from the oven, we’ll spread a little butter on top to protect the crust and remove it immediately from the pan to let it cool uncovered for about 15 minutes before slicing with a sharp serrated knife. Then we’ll toast it, butter it and serve that puppy up. Oh yeah!
Tools for Homemade Cinnamon Breakfast Bread:
9″ bread pan
1 large bowl for mixing all ingredients
1 small bowl or cup (for mixing yeast)
Large flat-blade knife (for chopping raisins and nuts to a smaller size) Danish bread whisk or wooden spoon (for initial mixing of dough)
Cooking spray or unsalted butter (for smearing the bottom-only of the bread pan)
Measuring cups and spoons
Timer (your smart phone works well, for timing the kneading and baking)
Your hands and a little muscle power (for kneading the dough for 8 minutes)
Rolling pin (or bottom of a cookie pan or cake pan to flatten the soft dough)
Pastry brush (for spreading soft butter on rolled dough and to soften top crust after baking) Dough scraper tool (to help roll up the swirled dough)
Aluminum foil or parchment paper tent (to loosely cover baking bread after 30 minutes if needed to prevent crust from over darkening)
Optional but highly recommended: Temperature tool
Optional but highly recommended: Long, sharp, serrated knife (aka bread knife) for a perfect slice
Ingredients for Homemade Cinnamon Breakfast Bread:
1/3 cup warm milk (2% is fine)
1 Tablespoon rapid rise dry yeast
3 cups bread flour (I used unbleached, substitute all-purpose flour)
5 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons fine quality fine quality cinnamon (or finely ground cinnamon chip bark using a mortar and pestle)
6 Tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter (about 1/3 cup or about 2/3 of a cube)
1/3 cup warm water
1 cup chopped raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter (to spread on top of hot bread crust after baking)
Directions for Homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread:
Okay, let’s bake this bread, shall we? It’s going to be an awesome kitchen DIY project! And I do hope you’ll share your baking experience with us…like how long it took for your bread to rise to the top of the pan so we can get a feel for how that’s working.
Prep the pan!
Use unsalted butter or cooking spray to grease the bottom-only of a 9″ bread pan.
Pan Prep Tip: You can rub the end of a butter cube on the bottom of the pan or use a pastry brush or paper towel to spread it, or just spray the bottom with cooking spray.
Dissolve the yeast!
In a small bowl or cup, mix until incorporated (and check for a little bubbling action):
1/3 cup warm milk (we used 2%)
1 Tablespoon dry rapid rise yeast
Yeast Proofing Tip: If you’re sure of your yeast, then no need for this advance “proofing” step and you can just add the warm milk and yeast right into the main ingredients bowl (that’s what I do).
Prep the raisins and nuts!
Using a large, sharp flat-blade knife, chop to a somewhat fine chop:
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts (I used pecans)
Chop Tip: Chopping the raisins and nuts makes the best texture for this bread and ensures that they spread better throughout the dough. No need to be precise; a rough chop works fine.
Mix it!
In a large mixing bowl, use a Danish bread whisk or a wooden spoon to thoroughly incorporate:
3 cups bread flour
5 Tablespoons granulated sugar (3 Tablespoons for a less sweet bread)
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (6 Tablespoons) room temperature unsalted butter
Mix Tip: Using a heavy whisk or wooden spoon for the first stir alows the flour to coat the wet ingredients to prevent super stickiness on your hands and countertop.
Add in the chopped raisins and nuts on top of the dough and work them into the dough using the tips of your fingers (aka finger kneading) for about 30 seconds until this initial dough is thoroughly blended with:
the prepared raisins
the prepared nuts
Nuts and Raisins: This photo seems to show just raisins being added but add the nuts at the same time.
The dough will look like this after you’ve worked the raisins and nuts into the dough at this initial stage.
Knead it!
Using your fastidiously clean hands and a squeaky clean countertop, set your oven timer or smart phone timer to 8 minutes and knead the dough on the counter for 8 minutes until it is fairly smooth.
Kneading Tip: If your dough feels super sticky you may knead it first in your hands by just smooshing it then pulling and twisting until it becomes less sticky and then completing the kneading with the heel of your hands on the countertop at the point when it doesn’t stick to the counter. If the dough is super-super sticky you can dust it with a little extra flour.
Another Kneading Tip: Use the heel of your hand to firmly press the dough on the countertop then fold the dough over itself and repeat with firm pressure (like, get your hidden aggression out).
Super Special Bread Dough Tip: When the dough is completely kneaded, cup your hands around the sides of the dough and drag it on the counter towards you a couple of times to tighten the dough into a soft ball. The dough ball will spin slightly and the globe shape will tighten up so that it will have a better rise.
Rise it!
Place the round dough ball in a bowl and cover it with a clean towel to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Warm Rising Spot Tip: I like to use the oven with no heat and just a light bulb lit inside the oven to make a nice, warm environment. Second choice is on top of the refrigerator away from pets and away from a cool breeze.
Swirl it!
Roll the soft dough gently on the counter into the a rectangle shape with the width about as long as the bread pan you’ll be using and the length a little longer by about one-third.
Tip: This is a buttery dough so it will spread and shape quite easily. If you don’t have a rolling-pin handy, you can use the bottom of a cookie pan to flatten the dough and then use your hands to form a rectangle shape.
Prepare the swirl by using a pastry brush to cover the dough with:
3 Tablespoons softened unsalted butter
Sprinkle it with:
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
Sprinkle it with:
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Roll-out shape: Just a fat rectangle will do it. My roll-out shape is about 9″ wide x 15″ tall.
Use a bench scraper (or a knife) if needed to start a roll going and gently roll ‘er up. Pinch the closing seam lightly with your fingers and keep the seam side down.
Rise it (again)!
Make sure the roll of dough is about the proper size for your baking pan. You may have to slightly adjust the shape at this point.
Smooth-ish Dough Tip: It is important the final dough as smooth as possible, especially the top portions, to help it rise higher.
Gently place the rolled dough in the center of a prepared baking pan.
The dough roll should almost touch or actually touch the ends of the pans but it need not touch the sides of the pan because it will grow.
Pinch the ends closed and then tuck them under at the ends of the pan.
Let it rise uncovered for the second rise for at least 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top edge of the bread pan, spraying it or sprinkling it with a little water a couple of times during this second rising session. It will look like this when the dough has fully risen to the height of the baking pan. It may take an extra hour or so to rise to the height of the pan so please be patient with your dough while it grows.
Rising Tip: Be sure to let it rise right to the top of the bread pan because when it bakes it won’t rise much more.
Bake it!
Bake it on the center rack at 350 degrees for about 40 to 50 minutes, though your time may vary, so I suggest checking on it after 30 minutes until the internal temperature is about 185 degrees.
Crust Color Tip: This bread tends get quite dark on top so I suggest tenting the top of the baking bread with aluminum foil or parchment paper after 30 minutes to keep it from getting super dark on top.
When it is fully baked and hot from the oven, lightly baste the top of the dough with a gentle spread of unsalted butter (about 2 teaspoons) and then slide it out from the pan to cool on a rack to prevent moisture build up.
Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing to ensure a perfect cut.
Store the bread in a paper bag or just covered in cloth for the first few hours. Thereafter, place the loaf in a plastic storage bag (I like green vegetable bags from the market for this purpose). If you intend to hold it for longer than 3 days, refrigerate it to help keep it longer (perhaps as long as 7 days refrigerated if you will be toasting it for serving).
Toast it!
The flavor of the cinnamon really comes out when this bread is toasted. Honey butter is fun to serve on this toast, oh yum!
Eat it!
Serve it with great morning coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice and the like and you’ve got some morning paradise on your hands. You may even attract a crowd with the aromas you’ll be creating in your kitchen.
Congratulations! You did this thing. And I know how you’re gonna feel when you sink your smile into your homemade awesomeness! Like this…
Thank you for joining me on this homemade bread baking adventure! I do hope you’re with us on bakethiscake.com (we’ve got charming and historic cakes for you to bake) and Instagram for day to day adventures.
A simple, light and lovely loaf of homemade wheat bread made from scratch using a bread machine with 2 minutes prep time (or by hand with 10 minutes prep time).
Simple country elegance with a light and lovely loaf of homemade wheat bread prepared in the bread machine. Your task time is only about 3 minutes flat, I swear! Or spend just 10 minutes to prepare it by hand. Either way, it’s simple and fun. And the return on your time investment will be well worth the effort.
Bread machine bread (or hand-kneaded dough) starts with simple pantry ingredients that can be gathered and deposited into the bread machine within 3 minutes flat.
Dry Ingredients for Country Homemade Wheat Bread:
3 cups whole wheat flour (fine quality wheat flour is preferred for a lighter result)
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced, room temperature or cold
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoons evaporated dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 package of rapid rise yeast (about 2-1/2 teaspoons)
Deposit your mix of dry ingredients and butter into the bread machine. There no need to mix the ingredients. Just slide in the whole gathered bowl of fixin’s.
Wet Ingredients for Homemade Country Wheat Bread:
1 cup warm water
That’s it! Just add 1 cup of warm water to the mix and you’ve got everything you’ll need for your upcoming fresh bread dough. Don’t you think 3 minutes covers the gathering task?
Set the machine to “Bread” or “Bread Rapid” (or other baked bread setting) and select a crust color (I like a “Light” crust for this bread) and you’re locked and loaded for the heavenly aroma of fresh bread. The time varies from machine to machine for a finished baked loaf of bread, but it often takes about about an hour-and-a-half for the machine to heat up the mixture, knead it and bake it.
If you don’t have a bread machine, no worries. Just mix this same list of ingredients with a wooden spoon or dough fork (adding a little flour at a time if needed until it is no longer sticky to the touch). Then knead the dough on the counter by hand for about 7 to 8 minutes, shape it into a ball and let it rise for one hour in a warm place covered with a towel. Remove the dough ball and shape it into an oblong bread loaf for a second towel-covered one-hour rise in a bread pan and bake it in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for about 25 minutes.
I suggest removing the bread immediately from the bread machine (or bread pan) when the loaf is hot from the bread machine (or oven) and cool it on the counter uncovered for about 20 minutes before packaging it in a parchment wrap or in a paper bag. Closing it up in a plastic wrap or in a plastic container when there is any trace of steam might cause the bread to become soggy. If your fresh loaf of bread is not devoured within a day, you can transfer it to a plastic container or plastic wrap it and keep it on the counter for a few days (or longer in the refrigerator).
Living in the city, as I do, oftentimes reminds me of just how much I cherish a country setting. But making up a nice loaf of bread to share with friends and family can take me back down that country road in a flash. Here’s to the simple craft of making homemade bread!
Yellow flowers growing on the pergola at the river house.
Thank you for joining me for this vintage baking adventure. We’ll explore lots of variations on this theme for a country loaf of bread with more tips and tricks along the way. I hope you’re following us on Bake This Cake! for homemade vintage cake recipes and also on our Instagram and Pinterest for photo inspiration.
Rich and buttery and way-cheesy with a snappy little crunch, this delightful all-American retro cheese puff makes a come-back as a charming little crisp. Punched up just a tad with a bright and savory kick, you can forget the dip ’cause these classic darlings are flavorful enough to go it solo at your next wine and cocktails event. They also look cute saddled right up alongside a nice homemade bowl of soup. And, did I say simple to make with endless variations? Indeed!
Rich and buttery and way-cheesy with a snappy little crunch, this delightful all-American retro cheese puff makes a come-back as a charming little crisp. Punched up just a tad with a bright and savory kick, you can forget the dip ’cause these classic darlings are flavorful enough to go it solo at your next wine and cocktails event. They also look cute saddled right up alongside a nice homemade bowl of soup. And, did I say simple to make with endless variations? Indeed!
The perfect homemade nosh! Retro cheese balls, vintage cheese puffs, old-fashioned cheese straws. They all have one thing in common. Well, two things, actually. Cheese and butter. Lots of both. In fact, there’s hardly much else in this recipe. Close cousin to Fannie Farmer’s turn-of-the-Century cheese straws (made with puff pastry), this little darlin’ is a little more country and a lot less fussy.
Vintage Toothpicks
The basis of this recipe comes from my dear Grandma Bess’s own recipe card collection, although I see just about the same simple recipe over scads of decades. It is the simplest of recipes –using just cheese (a pound of it, which is a big block), butter (a lot of it) and a little flour. I added a touch of fresh parsley and some kick-up spices that you won’t actually taste as spicy but they add a little zest. We tried adding bunches of other things, like baking powder and other leaveners to puff it up but the goodness seems to be in the baked cheese and the little snap of crunch. Try the recipe with and without baking powder and test it for yourself.
Easy peazy cheesy crackers for your next hor’s d’oeuvre event comin up!
Grandma Geary’s cheese puffs recipe collection
Tools Needed for Homemade Vintage Cheese Puffs Crackers (just a few):
Baking Spray to coat the baking pans
1 or 2 sheet pans or cookie pans or pizza pans (depending on what you have handy and how many you wish to bake at one time) Large Mixing Bowl
Whisk Wooden spoon
Your hands for rolling, or a rolling-pin and knife for easy roll and cut
Optional: Counter space with a dusting of flour (if you use the rolling and cutting tip)
Ingredients for Homemade Vintage Cheese Puffs Crackers Recipe:
1 pound (about 4 cups) of grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup (2 cubes) softened unsalted butter
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley, fine chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
optional (but I can’t tell the difference with it): 2 teaspoons baking powder (for very slightly puffier cheese puffs)
Spices:
1/8 teaspoon paprika, fine quality
1/8 teaspoon dried mustard powder, fine ground
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh super-fine lemon zest if using a micro zester, otherwise, super-fine chopping is required – or it will taste too lemony
Okay, let’s rock ‘n roll vintage style!
Step 1: Grate a whole bunch of extra sharp cheddar cheese:
Grate and set aside
1 pound (about 4 cups) of sharp cheddar cheese
2. Warm butter to soft (but not melted):
Bring to room temperature and set aside:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3. Chop some fresh parsley:
Chop a handful of parsley in order to achieve:
2 Tablespoons fine-chopped Italian parsley
4. Measure and mix your dry ingredients:
In a large bowl, stir with a whisk:
2 cups all-purpose flour
optional: 2 teaspoons baking powder (for very slightly puffier cheese puffs, although I tried with and without and could not see the difference)
1/8 teaspoon paprika, fine quality
1/8 teaspoon dried mustard powder, fine ground
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
optional: 1/2 teaspoon fresh super-fine lemon zest if using a micro zester, otherwise, super-fine chopping is required – or it will taste too lemony
5. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon:
Using a wooden spoon, stir until thoroughly combined:
the mixed dry ingredients
the grated cheese
the softened butter
6. Option Roll and shape:
Golf balls are the starter size and shape if you’re going to make specialty shapes…
Place your crafted creations a few inches apart on sheet pans sprayed with cooking spray.
Option Roll out and Cut (the easy way):
Sprinkle a little flour and roll the dough out about a half an inch thick and shape it with your hands to form a rectangle.
A good shape for the final cookie is about a finger-length long (about 3″) and about a digit wide (about 1″), so shape the rectangle to be about 6 inches wide so that when it’s cut down the middle you will get 3″ long shapes.
Cut the dough right down the middle if you’ve got dough 2-fingers wide.
Place the cut shapes onto a sheet pan prepared with cooking spray (this is my pizza pan baker). 🙂
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until lightly golden and lightly crisp.
Cool for 5 minutes on the pan before removing to wire rack for cooling, or heck, just straight into the hands of your party guests or to a parchment-lined basket covered with a cloth to hold for serving. You may store these in an air tight plastic container after they are completely cooled.
Here’s a close look at the disc shaped puffs.
And a close-up look at the long shapes (I like these best)…
The underside of each little puff should be basically the same color as the top, not over dark or overly brown.
I brought a basket of these to the soups and stews gathering with my friends in the Los Angeles Food Bloggers and I came home with none, so hoping that means they liked them. 🙂 You can find all the recipes for all the soups and stews from our awesome members by visiting the Shockingly Delicious blog.
Thank you for dropping in to check out this fun little kitchen DIY baking project. Join our cake party on Facebook and hang out on Instagram and Pinterest with me in the evenings and on the week-ends. Happy baking and let me know if you decide to bake this bread. 🙂
I can’t think of anything more loving than a homemade food gift from the kitchen! So I’ve scoured all the history books and checked on Grandma’s recipes and baked up some old-fashioned Black Banana Nut Bread (the black bananas make all the difference!). This is such an easy wooden spoon recipe that anyone (even the kids) can craft a vintage gift of love from your own special kitchen just in time for holiday gift giving.
Wrap it up real perrty and pack it good.
Then it’s off to the post office with your homemade gift basket. OR if you’re like me, with kids away at college, you know the mailing ropes…Don’t leave home! Your mail carrier can pick up your shipment free during regular mail delivery if you’re using an expedited service like Priority Mail®, Express Mail®, Global Express Guaranteed®, or Merchandise Return services. whoo hoo!
Yesterday’s Banana Bread versus Today’s Tea Cake Style Bread: Today’s version of banana bread (at least the last 90 years of it) is more of a sweet tea cake than the banana bread of yesteryear (which resembled yeast bread made with dried plaintain flour (though I see banana flour back in the news as a gluten-free flour of the future). Go bananas! 🙂
Vintage Recipe Mixing: This recipe is based loosely on the “Banana Nut Bread” recipe found in the ever cool metal-cased 1933 Pillsbury “Balanced Recipes” cookbook. We left out the wheat bran and sour cream, switched up butter for shortening, etc.– and we added tidbits from other vintage recipes –with some Grandma Tips thrown in (like mixing the eggs with the mashed bananas before adding them to the dry ingredients). ha! And the black bananas are a must! ‘Cause that’s the country way. Because we’re using really ripe black bananas (there’s less acid in really ripe bananas), both baking powder and baking soda are needed to add extra leavening power. Aye yie yie! This banana bread thing is more like an art-science-intuition thing. 🙂
So let’s have a go at this wooden spoon recipe. You KNOW there’s no electric beaters required — so please check your electric mixers at the door. 🙂
Vintage Black Banana Nut Bread Recipe
Tools Needed:
Cooking spray (or butter) and parchment (unless you’re using the
Wood Bakers already lined with parchment)
Bread/Loaf pan(s) 1 large (9″x5″x2-1/2″ or 8″x4″x2″) or 2 smaller Wood Bakers (7″x4″x2-1/2″)
Cookie Sheet Pan (if you’re using Wood Bakers)
Large Bowl (for batter)
Dinner-sized plate (for mashing bananas)
Mashing Tool (fork, potato masher, ricer, etc)
Whisk (or fork for mixing drying ingredients)
Small strainer (for de-seeding lemon juice, optional)
Small bowl or cup (for fork beating eggs)
Medium (soup-sized) bowl (for secret tip of mixing banana puree with eggs)
Wooden Spoon (gotta make it wood, right?) 🙂
Measuring cups and spoons
Pastry brush (or any brush for brushing top of bread with butter, optional – fingers are okay too!)
Temperature Tool (optional but handy)
Ingredients for Banana Nut Bread:
1-1/2 cups mashed bananas from dark-skinned ripe bananas (about 4 to 5 large)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon dried cultured buttermilk (optional)
1/2 cup fine-chopped walnuts (substitute pecans or favorite nuts)
2 eggs, fork beaten
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)
1/3 cup milk (2% is fine)
1 to 2 Tablespoons room temperature butter for basting the top of the bread
Ten Steps to Making a Fabulous Vintage Black Banana Bread:
1. Defrost the Bananas (if yours are stored frozen):
Haul out your best 4 or 5 large black bananas from the deep freeze. if you’re like me, you’ll have a regular stash hidden behind the frozen peas. 🙂 We defrosted our frozen bananas on the counter in about 30 minutes, easily peeled them and they were nice and dark and sweet.
Tip: Black ripe bananas make the best banana bread because they make the cake sweet and golden-dark brown-crusted with those nice dark speckles. (Remember, for our Banana Layer Cake recipe, we used only lightly ripened yellow bananas.)
2. Prep the Oven and Baking Pans:
Set the oven rack to center position and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 1 large or 2 small loaf pans by spraying with cooking spray or rubbing them with a little butter. We used King Arthur Flour’s (our sponsor) darling Bake and Give Wood Bakers that don’t require prepping ’cause they are lined with parchment papers.
3. Bring Eggs to Room Temperature:
Place into a small bowl (or cup) of warm water for about 10 minutes to bring to room temperature:
2 large eggs
4. Prep the Nanners:
Using a flat plate, use your favorite mashing tool (mine is a potato masher) to puree:
4 to 5 large very ripe bananas for 1-1/2 cups banana puree
Tip: Give the bananas a thorough mashing as all banana bits will show in the finished sweet bread but don’t go food processor on me here…leave a few bits showing for an extra taste punch. 🙂
Measure out the banana puree and notice how nice and rich the banana puree has become when using extra dark bananas.
5. Prep the Butter:
Microwave for a few seconds and stir to ensure fluffy room temperature consistency: 1/3 cup unsalted butter
6. Prep the Dry Ingredients:
Measure out into a large bowl:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon dried cultured buttermilk (optional)
Whisk dry ingredients thoroughly (the lazy sifter’s way) 🙂
Fine chop by hand or in a mini food processor:
1/2 cup walnuts
Whisk the fine-chopped nuts into the dry ingredients.
7. Squeeze Some Lemon Juice:
De-seed and squeeze to produce (and set aside for a moment):
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (using 1 large lemon)
Tip: My favorite lemon wedge squeezer is shaped like a little bird (and it also seems to catch the seeds). Mine’s inherited and way-old but they seem to have a new version here (we get a lot of requests for where to find one). 🙂 8. Work with the Eggs and Nanners and Lemon Juice:
Crack the prepared room temperature eggs into a small bowl or cup and, using a fork, beat them until they are thoroughly mixed.
Stir the fork-beaten eggs into the banana puree and then stir in:
the prepared lemon juice
{{This is Grandma’s secret tip!}}
9. Stir That Puppy with a Wooden Spoon!
Stir the banana-egg-lemon mixture into the dry ingredients.
Stir in the prepared room temperature butter.
Pour in and stir until thoroughly incorporated (about 30 strokes):
1/3 cup milk (2% works well)
The final batter lightens up in color and has a lovely aroma even at this stage.
10. Fill ‘er Up and Bake this Puppy!
I like to use an old-fashioned ice cream scooper to deliver the batter to the pans. It seems to help keep the drips at bay. 🙂
I filled the Wood Baker pans about half full for tea cake style cakes.
You can pour all the batter into one pan if you are using just one large loaf pan (the batter should reach to about 2/3 full if it’s all going into one pan).
Bake at 350 degrees. For the smaller pans, bake for about 65 minutes. For the larger bread pan bake for about 75 minutes. Since oven differences can impact the baking time, check on your cakes beforehand. The banana bread will be done when it is somewhat cracked on top, the sides pull away slightly from the edges, a toothpick tests shows clean, the bread springs back a bit when gently pressed at the top center point and the internal temperature reaches about 210 degrees.
Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan before brushing the top of the bread with: 1 to 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Tip: Spreading a little butter on top of the warm bread loaf will help soften the top crust. The initial shine will fade as the cake cools.
Serve this bread warm from the oven or some folks prefer it with a one-day (or more) counter sitting time.
Do you take yours hot with butter? Cooled with softened cream cheese? My auntie likes her banana bread with cream cheese and orange marmalade.
Such a homey kitchen craft. Heck, next time I’m going to double the recipe like Grandma used to do — since it seems to go in a flash. 🙂
If you make 2 small loaves, you’ll have the advantage of being able to sample one and give the other as your special kitchen gift. 🙂
Okay, time to keep one and pack one for a friend. We tucked our homemade kitchen gift into a darling clear cellophane Treat Bag purchased from our good friends at www.ShopBakersNook.com (the gift bags come in a set of 3 with lovely ribbon ties and round cards for inscriptions that loop through the ribbon). In this goodie box I packed up a sampling of fruit teas, chocolates and coffee with the banana bread. All these things travel well in winter (chocolates, cold weather, get me?).
Thank you for joining me on this vintage baking adventure. I hope you’ll hang with us on Facebook (where you’ll get a sneak peek of our testing vintage cake and bread recipes relating to our sister site Bake This Cake!) — and where you’ll find me asking for advice from our baker friends as we make our way through historic recipe quandaries. You might even want to check your grandma’s recipe cards and tip us on what you think might be fun to bake up next. 🙂
If you bake this bread, shoot me a photo at Lesliemak@facebook.com and I’ll post it. 🙂
Prep the raisins and nuts!
Bake This Bread! 