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A New Valentine's Day Tradition?
Will you watch the Super Bowl tomorrow or celebrate Valentine's Day sometime in the next few days?This is a party weekend at our house. The Super Bowl is a time to get together with lifelong friends. Valentine's Day is an excuse to indulge our grandchildren while giving their parents a chance to enjoy a date night. In addition to our longtime Valentine's tradition of chocolate fondue for dessert, I'm adding a new version of my monkey bread to our dinner menu. After mixing it in a bread machine, I'll bake it in a heart-shaped pan. Of course, it's equally delicious baked in a traditional bundt pan. Browned Butter Monkey BreadThis recipe remains true to my original monkey bread recipe, with one significant change. Browning the butter before coating the irregular dough pieces with it adds a nutty, caramel-like depth to the flavor profile. It's a treat you'll definitely want to share. If you have a sweet tooth, consider drizzling the finished bread with caramel syrup like you would put on ice cream and serve it for breakfast or brunch. |
Note: For those of you who like to bake your bread in the bread machine, I will show you how to do it with monkey bread in this post. Happy Valentine's Day, Paula |
Salad in a Jar
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Part 2 of the series: Why People Add Too Much Flour to Bread Dough Today's topic is: The Dough Should Stick (a Little) The dough looks sticky… so you add flour. Then more flour. Before you know it, you've got something that looks like playdough or a rubber ball. Last time we talked about why judging dough too early leads to adding too much flour. Today let’s talk about what properly hydrated dough actually looks like. If you've ever made one of my bread recipes, you've probably read this:...
Part 1 of the series: Why People Add Too Much Flour to Bread Dough Most of the time, people don’t add flour because the dough needs it—they add it because the dough looks wrong to them. Each week, I’ll share one common reason this happens. Today’s topic is #1: Judging the Dough Too Early. If you open your bread machine in the first 10–12 minutes of the kneading cycle, the dough will usually look rough and sticky. That’s normal. The gluten hasn’t developed yet. In other words, it’s not...
Easter always sneaks up on me. I know many of you are gardeners and are already planting—or at least planning what to plant next. Here in North Texas, we’ve had a warmer-than-usual spring, so I want to be outside instead of in my kitchen. Even pulling weeds with the weed popper my husband bought on a whim feels rewarding when you’re not sweating. But Easter is only one week away. Time to plan a menu. I pulled together a few favorites from my kitchen that work especially well this time of...