Recipe: Whole Wheat Bread

If you read the label of your store-bought bread and wonder if any of the ingredients are edible, here's an easy bread recipe that is tasty-times. I've been making it about once-a-week and eating it with jam, butter, honey, microwaved for a few seconds, my kids will eat it...it just keeps giving.

This bread takes me back to my childhood. My dad religiously made whole wheat bread, toasted a slice, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, cubed it, and ate it like cereal in a bowl with milk...?....
His wheat grinder was a staple on our kitchen countertop. Dad and the Little Red Hen were in an elite club. Now that I'm feeding little humans, I appreciate the value in each step you can do yourself to ensure quality and the real-foodness of it.  But I still buy my whole wheat.

The recipe makes 3 loaves. I like to make one monster loaf for sandwiches and the like, and 2 shrimpier ones for snacking. It comes from one of my favorite sites, All Recipes.


Ingredients

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch. I put it in the oven at the lowest heat (170) to make it rise faster.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely                 

Noah's Nautical Party

Ok, so the party wasn't inspired by the sweater below, but it was one of the adorable details worn by the hostess (who is also a photographer and took the pictures here). Cutie-pants Noah had a nautical 1st birthday party. I'll post more pics of the party if I can get some. Darling details, friends. His mom's idea for the cake and cupcakes were to include the cutest little sailboats. I did my best to outdo the birthday boy but nothing is cuter than he. Happy birthday Noah! If your first year is any indication of how happy you'll be in life, you've got it made, my man. 

Coming soon...

A cake and party inspired by this sweater.

Buddy's Panda Party

I've done a few birthday cakes recently (pictures to come) and it's got me thinking of how much I love planning parties (maybe more than the party itself?).  Since the arrival of our second monkey baby last year, I've got twice as many parties to throw now. And don't think because said parties are no less than 4 months away, I haven't started planning. Of course the most important part for me is the cake, I mean the child. Here are some memories from our son's 2nd birthday. Black and White Panda Party.

 Let I remind you of one of my life philosophies: Most things taste better when eaten on a stick. Hello there panda cookies.

If you are planning a party in the next year...and I hope you are...and I hope you want some cake...because I can't get enough of planning parties...here's some inspiration from a few of my recent favorite kiddie parties.

Images via Ohdeedoh, One Charming Party, Hostess With The Mostess, Juicy Bits, Real Simple, My Sweet and Saucy.

More details from these celebrations? Here they are:

Alice in Wonderland Party

Art Party Tons of how-tos and free printables on this one. One Charming Party is local for you Utahns!

Construction Party (do you have to love a little boy to fully appreciate this amazing party?)

Ike Election Party

Woodland Party

Giveaway Winner

Can I say that everyone's kind words have made me a mushy marshmallow? I want to give every single one of you a cake, and I'm not lying. But my kids and husband might perish if I did that.

And the winner is....
 

If you're still reading this and want a cake anyway, 20% off for having participated. I know, you're like, "nice try. I wanted the free cake." Dernit.

Bayley's 16th

She's hip. She's an artist. She's vibrant. She's kind. And now, Bayley can add being 16 to her resume.  I wanted to make a cake for her party that said these things about her (I skipped the 16 part because that was very obvious to anyone at the party).

Months ago, I read about a project to brighten the slums of Rio de Janeiro by two artists. The images  and purpose were so arresting I filed them away for inspiration for a cake or bedroom or something. Hopefully, you can see why I thought of it for this special girl's birthday. Read more about it at favelapainting.com (that's where I swiped these images from). Doesn't it make you want to paint something? Do you think Mr. California would care if I did this to our car?

Rainbow Pops

I can't get enough of cake pops. Some civilized people delicately eat them bite by bite, whilst I pull it off the stick and shove the whole thing in my mouth. These rainbow pops met their doom in a combo of these methods. But, I promise I only ate like 2.

Giveaway!

A friend in high school and I had a joke that if she wanted me to go somewhere with her, all she had to do was mention free food. While that is not entirely true (but pretty dang close), if you're at all like me, when I say "FREE CAKE!" you get excited. Well, I'm saying it. Spread the cyber word that I'm passing out free cake right here on The Blog. I'll give a free wedding, birthday, season premiere of 30 Rock, whatever cake (fine print: free up to 50 servings) to one reader.

So leave a comment, and you're entered. Post a link on your blog, you're entered again. Post a link on facebook to either The Blog or the facebook page and you're entered yet again. Guess what, if you become a fan on facebook you've got yourself one more entry. But because I'm busy (read: lazy) and can't track down all this cyber chatter, please leave a comment for each entry. Thanks, you're a peach.

The winner will be announced next Friday (not this Friday). See you then!

Chili's Molten

My SIL recently asked if I had pickier tastes than I did before my cake life began. Because I am such a cake aficionado, I wisely responded, "Yes. I don't like ice cream with my cake anymore." She was probably unimpressed (rightly) and followed up with, "I mean, I remember when you loved that Chili's cake." I took the conversation by the reigns at this point and made it perfectly clear that my love for the Chili's Molten Chocolate Cake was strong and true. I think I said something to the effect of, "There's just something about magic shell." While I declared this unashamedly, the experience was a humbling one and caused me to commit to never forget my dessert roots.

As if a reward for my loyalty, my mom stopped by this afternoon with a Molten in tow. Bam! That's good karma.

Chelsea and Ben

How bout a recent wedding? Chelsea was the dream bride to work with. I knew she and her family would throw an incredible bash, and I wasn't disappointed. See more images from her wedding at her sister Heather's must read blog, the Coterie (like you haven't heard of it). Can I also just interject that it took all the discipline I had to go back to packing boxes (we moved) when I could have shamelessly spent the night loitering by the Sammy's truck? 

We decided on a "petal" cake inspired by another Pink Peach cake my bro referred to as "the coy fish cake." Can I emphasize that while fish are delicious, the last thing I want to compare my cakes to is a fish? Petals, not scales. AN-Y-WAY. Chelsea also picked up some cute toppers from etsy. So glad I somehow got to be a part of this heavy-hitter wedding.

Also, the bride's unbelievably nice brother took it upon himself to protect the cake from some threatening decorations. I was very appreciative that I had a cake guardian there. Not like his baby sister's fairytale day was on the line or anything.

Introducing...

Shall we blog? We shall. Or at least I shall. So folks, we all know why you're here. You've come to see the monkey dance. And dance I shall. You know, if you say "shall" enough, it starts to sound really weird.

Back on topic. If you don't know me personally, let me just fill you in. I'm a mother of 2. Utah girl married to Mr. California (not in a pageant sort of way; in the I-love-where-I'm-from sort of way). We're those annoying friends that you don't want to see a movie with because afterwards when you ask, "Did you like it," instead of saying, "Most definitely," we'll start in on our newest novel entitled What I Did and Didn't Appreciate About the Movie. Here's the good news: we'll make it up to you when you come over for dinner and there is always dessert.

Speaking of dessert, I'll be posting pictures of my cakes, my experiments, my good finds, and a little of my life. Brace yourself.