Breads and Rolls Archives - Hopeful Homemaker

Cinnamon Focaccia Sourdough Bread

October 3, 2024 jennifer Breads and Rolls

I get to gather with my family this weekend, and I am so excited to spend time with them. We’re pausing the busy-ness of life to be together and listen to General Conference, and it’s like we have an extra holiday weekend. I love this time so much, and food is always an important part of gathering a large family! For almost 18 months now I’ve been baking all our bread. Baking sourdough is a huge part of that, and the rhythm of this practice has been so good for me. Today I’m sharing with you my recipe for cinnamon focaccia sourdough bread.

It’s delicious and chewy and my new favorite cinnamon roll style treat. In fact, I don’t want to make cinnamon rolls anymore after making this! It’s SO fast and SO simple, and also has much less sugar. Plus you get the health benefits of sourdough. Yum.

All you need is a sourdough starter, plus water, flour, salt, butter, sugar and cinnamon. I also like to mix up a simple glaze using powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to drizzle over the top. My sister asked me for this recipe last week, and I couldn’t find it until late at night I remembered where I’d written it down. So now I’m putting it here, where it can always be found! I hope you’ll enjoy it. We surely do!

Cinnamon focaccia sourdough bread

100 g active sourdough starter

440 g water

1 tsp salt

515 g all purpose flour

stick of melted butter (but I cut that in half)

1.5 Tb cinnamon

4 Tb sugar

Mix flour and salt in one bowl, then mix water and starter in a second bowl until starter is somewhat dissolved. Pour into flour mixture. Mix together. This is a wet dough.

After about 15 minutes, do one stretch and fold of the dough. It will be very wet, and that’s fine. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rise overnight (or all day). I typically let mine rise on my kitchen counter, but you will need to decide what to do in your climate/kitchen.

Butter a deep 9 x 9 or similar sized baking pan (I use a deep dish 7 x 11 pan) and pour dough into it.

Melt butter and mix cinnamon and sugar into it. Drizzle over dough. Wash hands and poke holes all through the dough.

Bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and remove loaf from pan. Top with glaze (powdered sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla).

Crispy Cheese Sticks

November 30, 2011 jennifer Breads and Rolls

With the holidays approaching, it’s fun to make special recipes and elaborate meals. My experience has been, however, that there are also days during the holiday season that are rushed, leaving little time for cooking. (Don’t you wish that on the days we don’t have time to cook our stomachs could all just not get hungry?)

So, I’m going to post a few super easy dishes that might help take some pressure off during the season. These cheese sticks are a great side to soup or any other meal, but could also be made as an appetizer with dip or even served alone if you’re responsible for taking a dish to share at a holiday party. My family devours them when I make them.

These cheese sticks have just two ingredients: frozen puff pastry and parmesan cheese. It’s one of those things you can always remember to buy, or is easy to keep on hand for nights when you’re in a pinch.

Here goes:

Crispy Cheese Sticks Ingredients:

1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed 1/2 cup parmesan cheese Preparation:

Thaw puff pastry according to package directions.

Lay pastry on baking pan lined with parchment paper. Carefully cut each pastry sheet lengthwise into 1 inch strips, then cut the strips in half to make them a nice finger food size. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over pastry.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve!

One comment cooking

Pumpkin Biscuits

October 28, 2011 jennifer All Things Pumpkin, Breads and Rolls

The temperature has dropped this week, and right now I sit curled up in one of my favorite fall quilts. That’s a good thing, because it means I made it to the basement to unpack some Fall and Halloween decorations for my children. The little ones have switched costumes at least fifty times in the last 24 hours and I look around at the disarray with a smile. I’m so grateful they get to do this, and I’m grateful it will end in a few days. Halloween is just around the corner.

Several weeks ago I purchased this publication . At the time I wondered a little at my decision, but now I’m thrilled to have it. I’ve tried more than half a dozen recipes from it and they’ve all been delicious. It’s full of bookmarks, a spill, and tattered corners. One of the things I love about it is having a picture of every recipe included. I highly recommend it.

One of the first recipes I tried was this recipe for pumpkin biscuits. Our whole family enjoyed them and one son in particular begs everyone else for their biscuit while the rest of us enjoy dinner.

Pumpkin Biscuits (recipe from Taste of Home Fall Baking publication) Ingredients:
1- 3/4 cups flour 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 2- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup cold butter 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree 1/3 cup buttermilk Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in 1/2 cup water until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin and buttermilk, stir into crumb mixture just until moistened. *Note: I’ve made these twice now and both times I had to add a couple of tablespoons more milk.

Turn onto lightly floured surface, knead 8-10 times. Roll out to 1 inch thickness; cut with a 2 or 2-1/2 inch biscuit cutter. Place 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet (or just use parchment paper).

Bake at 425 for 18 minutes or until golden brown. **Another note: the recipe calls for 1-1/2 tsp. melted butter to be brushed over the biscuits, but I haven’t added it. It seems to me there’s already plenty of butter in them.

According to the recipe, one batch makes 6 biscuits if cut with a 2 1/2 inch round cutter. The first time we made them, we cut them into 1 1/2 inch circles for taste testing and it made two dozen. Last night I used a 2 inch cutter and squeezed 10 biscuits out of a batch. Next time I make them, I’ll double it for my family.

I hope you enjoy this pumpkin recipe.
Jennifer