Sacrament Bread

As many of you know, there was a beautiful accident that happened back in November. Here's the story: We were in charge of bringing the bread for sacrament (as many of you know, this is something a did regularly back in Wenatchee). It was fast Sunday, and since I'm a procrastinator, I was left baking bread all morning long on an empty stomach (I do not recommend doing this to anyone). I'm always afraid that what I make wont be good, so I made 3 different varieties of bread with the hopes that at least one batch would come out looking, smelling, and feeling good...just to be safe. Anyhow, I chose the loaf titled "Amish White Bread" that I had found on allrecipes.com. It looked really good when it came out of the oven, so it was selected with the hope that it tasted as nice as it looked. As the sacrament tray came my way I took a piece of bread and much to my horror it was not as excpected! This doesn't mean that it was awful; it was quite wonderful in fact, but it was as sweet as cinnamon roll dough or some other sweet dough. I was so embarrassed! I hoped no one would notice. Boy was I wrong. There was even an announcement made in priesthood about the taste of the bread! I wanted to lay low about making the sacrament bread and now it was the talk of church! When I went home I decided to read some of the reviews on the recipe. All suggested cutting the amount of sugar in half or more. Many compared it to a Hawaiian sweet bread. Later that week we made some with less sugar for a dinner we were going to and it was still sweet and good without being too noticably sweet. Anyhow, the bread has become popular and starting this next month, sisters in our ward will be signing up to come to our house to learn how to make bread. They will take one loaf home, and one will be saved for sacrament use. I think it will be a great opportunity for everyone involved. Oh yeah, and I'm planning on making the sacrament bread with less sugar... sorry for all those out there wishing to have a small piece of dessert every Sunday! Sorry, long story for an intro to my new favorite recipe:

Amish White Bread (BYU 59th Ward's Sacrament Bread)

2 Cups Warm Water
2/3 Cup Sugar (I'd suggest using less, way less)
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
6 Cups Bread Flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the water, add the yeast. Allow this mixture to sit until it resembles a creamy foam.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast mixture. Add the flour one cup at a time. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then with a towel and allow to rise until double in size (approx. 1 hr).

Punch dough down and knead for a few minutes. Split the dough into 2 equal portions and shape each into a loaf and place in two greased 9x5 bread pans. Cover and allow to rise until about 1 in. above the pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

*I'm going to try playing with this recipe (adding wheat flour, reducing the oil and sugar, etc.). If any of my experiments work out wonderfully I'll let you know!

Pumpkin Bread

Recently, the leaves have began to turn here in Provo. As the weather has changed with the leaves, so have my tastebuds. All I've been wanting is warm, hearty fall foods and pumpkin bread (I also crave the aroma that spice breads put off)! However, I have had a dilema. All the recipes I've used in the past for pumpkin bread were insanely unhealthy! So, after a bit of searching, I found a recipe on allrecipes.com (you can find anything there) for a "healthified" version of pumpkin bread. I tweeked it a bit and here it is:

6 Tbls. Water

1 c. Sugar

1 c. Pumpkin Puree

1/2 c. Applesauce

A splash of Vanilla Extract

1 c. All-Purpose Flour

2/3 c. Wheat Pastry Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Cinnamon

3/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Ground Cloves

A pinch of ginger

Mix together the water, sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined. In a seperate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and mix until smooth. Pour batter into a greased 9x5 in bread pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (approx. 1 hour).

*The original recipe called for 2 Tbls. flax seed meal to be added to the water. I didn't have any meal on hand, but I did have some oat bran, so I threw some of that in for the heck of it.

I'm putting this recipe to the real test tomorrow when I take it to class along with a very popular, non-healthy pumpkin bread recipe that looks identical. We'll see how well the crowd likes it in comparrison to the traditional, high-sugar, high-fat variety!

I did however just take a taste of the warm bread right after I took a picture just a second ago and it was exactly what I've been craving! Moist, good flavor...quite delish and guilt free!!!