Raisin Scones

my homemade Raisin Scones

2 cups flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter ( scant )
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
3/4 cup raisins

In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to blend. Add raisins. Cut in butter. In small bowl combine milk and beaten egg. Add to flour mixture and stir with fork to mix all together.

Pat into greasing baking pan, using a little flour to pat it out to the edges of the pan. I use a pizza pan.
Cut into 8 triangle wedges. Bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 15 -20 minutes until golden.

Serve warm along side a stew or soup for lunch or supper or for breakfast with your morning coffee.

Bubbat ( a Mennonite flat bread )

This is a tastey bread to serve along side of roast chicken or farmer sausage!

my homemade Bubbat

1 cup flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons oil or vegetable shortening melted
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup raisins

In large mixing bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the shortening, beaten egg and milk. Stir together. Stir in raisins.
Pour into greased 8 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes till done.
( this recipe may be doubled and baked in a larger pan )

Gluten Free Dinner Buns - recipe, directions, pictures

In our spiritual life we need bread - nourishment for our souls. Jesus says  in John chapter 6 that He is the bread of life. John 6: 51 says: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

In this post I want to share with you how I bake gluten-free Dinner Buns. I will post my recipe as well as pictures that I took in my kitchen as I was mixing and baking the buns. My husband has Celiac Disease and cannot consume any gluten but he can have milk and eggs so my recipe uses both milk and eggs. Take all precautions to use only gluten free ingredients when making these buns. I developed this recipe after many years of baking and cooking for my husband. He uses these buns when we have hamburgers on the barbeque or with chilli, or even just with jam. The procedure for making gluten free buns is entirely different from  making regular bread so don't be surprised if it seems like an odd way of making buns, it is just the way it needs to be done.

Here is a picture of the finished Dinner Buns:

Here is my recipe: The recipe yields about 18- 20 dinner buns.
Sister Sparrow's Gluten-free Dinner Buns

2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/3 cup soft margarine, melted
1 and 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups packed Celimix white bread mix ( the first ingredient in the mix is cornstarch)
1 and 3/4 cups Celimix Rice bread mix  ( first ingredient is rice flour)

Instructions
Warm up the milk in the microwave till it is warm but not hot. and add the water, sugar, salt, eggs and melted margarine. Beat together with heavy duty electric mixer. Now sprinkle in the yeast and baking powder and beat again to mix well. Now beat in the 2 cups of the Celimix white bread mix ( where on the bag, you will notice the first ingredient is cornstarch). Beat together well.  Now add the 1 and 3/4 cup Celimix Rice bread mix and beat together well. The batter quickly becomes very stiff as you add the rice bread mix.

Here is a picture of the finished batter.

Here is a picture of the Buns batter in the pans:

 You will need to have purchased small tin foil baking cups.  Grease ( I use cooking spray ) the small tin foil baking cups. Fill the baking cups with the bun batter - filling each cup only half full. Set the indivdual baking cups filled with bun batter onto a cookie sheet. Place in a warm place to rise. ( I prewarm my oven just a tiny bit and set them in there to rise) Let rise for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. ( If you have set your buns in the oven to warm, be sure you remove them before turning on the oven to preheat for baking the buns).
Bake the cookie sheet filled with the individual buns for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool. Enjoy!
Store the buns in the freezer in an airtight container such as an ice-cream pail. When you are planning on having a bun for a meal, warm it in the microwave just prior to the meal. Do not take it out to defrost ahead of time as the buns become dry easy if they out of the freezer. The buns are best fresh or warmed up a bit in the microwave. When the bun is warm again, it will be nice and soft.

Here is a picture of the buns just after they are baked:

To give you an understanding of the two different bread mixes that I use: The reason I use a combination of both of the mixes is that I have found it makes better buns if I use the two kinds of bread mix together.

This is the White Bread Mix

And next is a picture of the Rice bread mix:

Dinner Buns Deluxe



My Dinner Buns Deluxe


2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons instant yeast
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup mashed potatoes, warm
1 cup oil
5 - 6 cups flour

Place warm water, sugar and salt in large mixing bowl. Stir. Add the instant yeast and beat with electric mixer just to blend. Let stand a few minutes. Beat eggs. Add eggs, mashed potato and oil to water/yeast mixture. Beat with electric mixer to blend well. Now stir in the flour stirring well with wooden spoon. It is important that you mix in the flour really well. Slowly continue adding the flour and stirring it into the dough. Knead the dough about 8 minutes using a little flour as you knead. Cover and let dough rest on counter for 40 minutes. Punch down. Let dough rest again for 20 minutes. Form into buns and place on greased baking sheet. Let rise 1 hour. Bake in 375F for 15 minutes or until done.

Homemade Bread

My Homemade Bread

1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Stir yeast into water/sugar mixture and let soften.

2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1/8 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
5 cups flour ( more or less as needed to make a good bread dough )

In large bowl stir together the water, salt, oil, sugar and beaten egg. Add the yeast mixture and stir well. Now add 2 cups flour. Mix with electric mixer till creamy looking. Stir in remaining flour and knead to finish. Knead about 8 minutes. ( I knead my bread dough by hand )
Cover bowl and set in a warm place on counter to rise about 45 minutes. Punch down and let rise another 20 minutes. Mould into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise again for about 50 minutes. Bake at 375F for approximately 45 minutes until done and golden brown. Cool and enjoy!

Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup buttermilk

In large bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add margarine and cut in to crumble. Stir in buttermilk to moisten. Turn dough on lightly floured counter. Roll out to 1/2" thickness. Cut into squares. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 15 - 20 minutes till done. Serve with butter on the side of stew or Shepherds pie etc.

Stuffing Recipe

I have made this stuffing many times for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner - it is a favorite!

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 cup finely shredded carrot
3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning or ground sage
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

6 cups dry bread cubes and crumb mixture
1 chicken oxo cube, can substitute the oxo chicken gravy mix
1 cup hot water

Saute together the margarine or butter, onion, celery and carrot until the vegetables are mostly cooked. Add the spices, oxo and hot water. Continue cooking ( uncovered ) over medium heat until the liquid is almost evaporated. Now add the bread cubes and stir with fork to fluff nicely. Add a little water if needed. Cover and keep warm till serving time - an excellent homemade stuffing.

An idea - My friend adds frozen cranberries to her stuffing. It is something I want to try sometime as I think it would be delicious. She puts her stuffing inside the turkey - cooks it that way.  Also an excellent idea.

2 Hour Buns

Great for serving with chili or for making your favorite sandwich...

My 2 hour buns

 3 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of white sugar ( you can cut down the sugar to 1/4 cup if you like )
3 eggs
2/3 cup canola oil ( or vegetable oil of your choice )
2 level tablespoons instant yeast
8 cups flour ( use a little more if necessary for kneading)

Measure the water, salt, sugar, eggs and oil into large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer or wire whisk. In separate small bowl place 2 cups of the flour and the instant yeast. Stir together. Now add to the water mixture, stirring to mix well. Continue stirring in the remaining flour to make a soft dough that is not sticky. Knead for at least 5 minutes, sprinkling a little more flour over dough as you knead. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Punch down the dough. Let rise again for 20 minutes. Form into buns and place them on greased cookie sheets. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350F oven for 12- 15 minutes until done. Makes about 3 dozen buns.