Cajun Cornbread Biscuits

It is nice to have a variety of bread options available for meals. In previous posts, you will find cornbread muffins, and Southern-style biscuits. This recipe meets in the middle and results in a spicy cornbread biscuit that is reminiscent of hush puppies.

 

 

 

 

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray baking pan with cooking spray.

 

Ingredients

1 1/2C fine-grind* cornmeal or corn flour

1 1/2C white all-purpose flour

4t sugar

1 1/2t baking powder

1/4t baking soda

3/4t salt

1t cajun seasoning

1/4t cayenne pepper

1C finely diced sweet onion (approximately 1/2 onion)

1T ground flax seed + 3T water (or 1 large egg)

1C milk

1/4C oil for brushing

 

Directions

 

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and seasonings in a bowl and mix well.
2. Stir onion into cornmeal mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, mix egg/flax seed and milk. Add to cornmeal mixture and combine well. Dough will be set.
4. Form into balls and place on baking sheet. Brush biscuits with oil.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 13 minutes.

* To achieve fine-ground cornmeal, place regular cornmeal in a food processor and pulse several times.

 

Multigrain Bread

Growing up, I had some family friends who baked bread every week.  It was wonderful to visit their house on Friday afternoon and smell the delicious aroma of freshly-baked bread.  Although I have been successful with many recipes, including pizza dough, loaf bread has eluded me ... until now! 

This recipe, makes two loaves of multigrain bread.  The texture is light and soft.  This is an easy recipe to make, assuming you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.  Total time required to prepare is about 4 hours.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4C multi-grain cereal mix
• 2 1/2C boiling water
• 3C white all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2C whole wheat flour
• 1/4C honey
• 4T olive oil
• 1pkg instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1T salt

Directions

1. Place the cereal mix in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  Add boiling water and mix well.  Stirring occasionally, allow this mixture to thicken and cool, until it is about 100 degrees.  This takes about 45-60 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, add flours and stir until combined.
3. Add honey, oil, and yeast to multi-grain cereal mixture.  Mix on low speed until combined.
4. Add flour, 1/2C at a time, until all flour is added.  
5. After dough is mixed well, cover tightly with plastic and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
6. After 20 minutes, remove plastic wrap and add salt.  
7. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.  If the dough looks too sticky, add 3-4T flour, but not more! 
8. Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, and cover tightly with plastic.  Let it rise at room temperature until nearly doubled, 45-60 minutes. 
9. Grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans.  
10. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and divide into two pieces.  DO NOT PUNCH DOWN THE DOUGH!  Shape to fit your pans.  
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
12. Place dough in the pans (seam-side down) and cover loosely with plastic wrap or damp cloth.  Allow to rise (at room temperature) for 30-40 minutes. 
13. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Most breads are baked when the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.  Rather than tapping on the bottom of a loaf or guessing, using a meat thermometer to check the temperature allows for consistent, measurable results.
14. Remove pans from oven and place on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes.  After five minutes, remove loaves from pans and allow to cool completely, approximately 2 hours.

Cooking Tip - Ideal Temp for Bread Rising

In my house, during the winter, we keep the room temperature at 68 degrees. This is less than the ideal temperature for yeast breads to rise.

 

Fortunately, there are two convenient ways to achieve the ideal temperature (around 75-80 degrees).

 

1. Place the bowl in an UNHEATED oven. Set the temperature to 400 degrees and allow to preheat for 1 minute (60 seconds). Turn off the oven. This will achieve the ideal temperature for dough to rise.
2. Place a coffee cup of water in the microwave and bring it to a boil. While leaving the water in the microwave, set your bowl of dough in the microwave and keep the door closed for the specified rising time.

For both of these methods, remember to keep the ovens off during the rising!

Posted with Blogsy

Cooking Tip - Buttermilk Substitute

You can create buttermilk by combining 1C of milk with 1T of lemon juice. Mix well and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Posted with Blogsy