Garlic Bread Sticks

1 c. warm water
2 tsp. yeast
1/3 c. oil
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 c. flour

Stir water, yeast, oil and sugar together. Let rest for 5 minutes. Stir in salt and flour. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes. Roll out the dough and place on a large, greased cookie sheet. Spread butter over dough. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning if desired. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 2 inch strips and then cut the strips in half. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Buttermilk Biscuits

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c butter or shortening
1/3 c buttermilk
2 tbsp. heavy cream or melted butter

*Any biscuit or pastry works best if the butter is cold. Don't let it got too warm.*

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in butter or shortening until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes or more. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add enough buttermilk to hold the dough together. Mix quickly with your fingers just until dough forms. DON'T OVER MIX! You'll end up with tough biscuits if you do. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 3/4 inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter (any kind of cutter will do) and place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with cream or melted butter. Bake at 400 for 13-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Whole Wheat Bread

This a whole wheat bread recipe as it was originally written. I had to tweak it a little bit because I have a smaller mixer and the amount of bread dough this makes doesn't really fit. In Utah, you can purchase the dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten from Harmons, or from Kitchen Kneads in West Jordan. I found the lecithin at Kitchen Kneads. Outside of Utah, I'm not sure where you would go. I've been using Fleischmann's Bread Machine Yeast because it works well for rapid rising recipes. That's exactly what this recipe is. You'll want to use this recipe if you have a Bosch mixer, a 5 quart Kitchen Aid, or Professional size Kitchen Aid. It will fit in one of those and you'll get 3 loaves out of this recipe.

Whole Wheat Bread

4 cups lukewarm water
1 T salt
2 T dough enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/2 C honey
3 T yeast 2 T lecithin
3 T lemon juice
1/2 C oil
8-10 C whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. You can remove the dough and knead by hand for 5 minutes, or allow it to continue mixing and knead in the mixer. Separate into 3 sections. Roll out each into a ball to remove bubbles. Roll balls into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. This is a link to the type of pans I've been using. I have a larger size than the 8 inch ones shown. I think that mine are 10 in. long. They're great because they force your bread to have height. I let it rise for a couple of hours, while sitting on my stove top above the oven that has been preheated. The heat from the oven keeps the bread warm enough and encourages it to rise. If you are using the rapid rise yeast, it will be ready really fast. I still just like to give it some time. Place into a preheated 350 oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

These are the changes I've made to the recipe. They work for my size mixer and for the area I live in. Bread is kind of a fickle thing and environment seems to play a big part in how well a recipe works.

2 1/2 C lukewarm water
1 T salt
2 T dough enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/2 C honey
4 T sugar
3 T yeast
2 T lecithin
3 T lemon juice
1/2 C oil
6 cups whole wheat flour

You'll notice that I didn't cut all of the ingredients in half. I tried that and it didn't work very well. The bread was really bland and flat. Really, the only things that were cut in half are the water and the flour. The water isn't actually half either. ☺ Anyway, this is how it works for me. I also added the sugar. It helps a lot. It's not bad without it, but it enhances it just a bit. If you don't want to add it, it's totally fine. I get two large loaves out of this recipe. The oven temp is the same. The rising and baking methods/times are the same as well.