Bread baking helpers I can't live without!

Over the years it has been my experience that they are a lot of kitchen gadgets that you can purchase for this job and for that job. Some of them seem like a waste of money and a waste of space in my already crowded kitchen. But when it comes to baking bread, something I do at least once a week and in large quantities, I want to save time, money and still enjoy the process of making homemade bread.

I'd been eyeing these Dough Rising Buckets from King Arthur Flour for sometime, probably a couple of years, at least. I wasn't convinced that it was necessary to have a bucket for rising dough. I have 2 large bowls in my kitchen, plus my mixing bowl. I often make 3 or 4 types of bread in one day and I finally got tired of washing all those bowls out so I could use them for the breads first rise and decided to order two buckets this winter.

They are awesome! The dough actually rises faster and no more guessing if the dough has doubled. I also use them when I make no knead bread. I can make a batch of no knead bread ( 3 loaves) and keep it in the bucket in the back of my fridge.

The Flour wand is another tool that I love. I have had this for quite a few years and its perfect for dusting your counter top and bread while kneading. You will never use too much.

The last two tools I enjoy using and make my job easier are both from Pampered Chef.

The pizza dough roller is awesome for rolling out bread dough as well as pizza and cookie dough. I like it because I can use it with one hand and my children also find it user friendly.

Lastly is the flour/sugar shaker. I have never actually kept flour in mine. I have two of these. One is for sugar/cinnamon mixture and the other I keep powdered sugar in.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread never had it so good! Of course I can't forget the last of my baking helpers. She is priceless. I'm sure a lot of you already have one of your own, if not check with your neighbors, friends or relatives. I bet they will let you borrow one, especially if you teach them to make yummy bread!

~What  tools do you use to make baking bread or other goodies easier which you have found you can't live without? 

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Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Today was a school day.. The kids did a few subjects this morning

Anna doing "preschool"

 then about 10 o'clock

we took a short break.

When I was ready to get back to work - I found them all playing nicely TOGETHER!

Well, this just doesn't happen very often.

 So, I decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet and

make some bread.

 My family LOVES cinnamon raisin bread and I've always made it with 100% white flour.

I've made up my mind to find a wheat bread recipe that is just as good.

I found a recipe that sounded really good. It had white and wheat flour in it, as well as rolled oats. It was also sweetened with honey.  I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I noticed about the recipe was it used vegetable oil - I changed it to olive oil. The next thing I noticed was  the quantity's of the ingredients were listed in ounces-with the cup equivalents off to the side. The cup equivalent came out to 1 and 3/8 or 7/8. - Goofy - I already made a few changes there. The recipe also said to soak the raisins and oatmeal, separately - why separately??- I'm asking myself- more dishes! I knead my raisins in after the first rise anyway- that way I can make a loaf or two without raisins. So, I soaked the oatmeal and left the raisins to add later.

I didn't like that the recipes instructions said to add the ingredients all at once. I like to add my flour gradually-so the dough doesn't get to heavy.

Sooo.. There are a few modifications to make. The dough turned out well

It was soft  - but would have been quite stiff if I had added the entire amount of flour the recipe called for.

The recipe said to "Bake at 450degrees for 5 minutes, lower the temp. of your oven to 375 degrees and continue to bake for 20minutes more - turn your loaves and cook for another 15-25 minutes."

I had to run my husband to another farm so this wasn't going to work for me. I put the bread in the oven at 375 and set the timer for 40minutes and headed out the door. The buzzer had just gone off when I returned and removed the loaves.

Look good, huh? Taste good too.. My 9 year old complained

"is there wheat flour in here" "why, yes there is" was my reply- when I asked a few minutes later how he liked it he chimed " I'm cutting myself another piece" Must not have been too bad.

One other change I made to the bread- instead of mixing the cinnamon into the dough as recipe states -I rolled the dough out- spread some butter on it and then sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. It added a little more fat and calories but not much.

Overall- the bread was very good. Its texture was near prefect. It was a little on the salty side. I think I will cut back on the salt a bit next time. I plan to make this again and make a few changes to suit my family's tastes and my needs of a healthier bread.

~Kathy