Author: mjkisner

Baking bread has always been my favorite activity when I want to do something that reminds me of my mother. I learned the “feel” of a well-kneaded loaf of bread when I was young and carried that skill over to my family when I became a mother. When sticky buns made an appearance in my mother’s kitchen, I was always glad I had hung around and could try the first batch.

Fifty years ago, we had few choices at the grocery store…white bread was everywhere. There was much in the news about how white flour had lost much of its nutrition by sifting out the wheat germ and bleaching it with chemicals. Of course, then we used wheat germ in cookies and added the bran back to our diets with bran cereal! When I cruise the bread aisle today, I’m always struck with how many choices I have of whole wheat and multi-grain artisan bread and buns. However, I still enjoy the process of making my own bread.

I’ve already shared my Oatmeal Bread recipe (https://marykisner.com/marys-oatmeal-bread/) but I’m still struggling to find a good whole wheat recipe that tastes good and isn’t as heavy as a brick. Last week, I did an internet search with “the best whole wheat bread recipe” to see what came up. Lo and behold, a recipe called, “The Very Best Whole Wheat Bread Recipe” was at the top of the list! The recipe was from https://www.fivehearthome.com/. It looked pretty simple so I thought I’d give it a try.

The day before I was going to bake, I went to the health food store and picked up about 10 lbs. of white whole wheat berries and a small bag of Vital Wheat Gluten. This powder will add more wheat gluten so the loaf sticks together better.

I set up my wheat grinder and got it running. Within an hour or so I had about 10 lbs. of beautiful flour ready to go.

Here is the recipe:

Here are the rest of the ingredients:

Directions:

Step 1: Measure out the flour, vital wheat gluten and yeast into the mixer bowl.

Steps 2-3: Add 2 1/2 cups of very warm water. Mix up for 1 minute (I did this by hand) and let rest for 10 minutes.

Step 4: Add salt, oil, vinegar and honey. Mix for 1 minute.

Step 5: Add and mix in 2 1/2 to 4 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time.

Step 6: Knead in the mixer until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and feels smooth rather than sticky (5-15 minutes). Turn the dough out on to a floured surface. Form into a smooth ball.

Steps 7-8: Grease 2-3 bread pans. Divide dough into three oblong loaves and put them in the pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. for one minute and then turn off the oven. Place the pans in the warm oven and allow them to rise for 20-40 minutes, until the dough is nicely domed above the tops of the pans.

Step 9: Without removing the pans from the oven, turn on the oven again to 350 degrees F. and set the timer for 30 minutes. The oven will go through the whole preheat cycle now, which sets the crust.

Step 10: The bread is done when the tops are golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 190-200 degrees F.

Step 11: Once the loaves are baked, immediately remove the hot bread from the pans to cool on a rack.

I think this recipe will be my go-to recipe for whole wheat bread. I was so happy with it that I ordered a 25 lb. sack of white whole wheat berries from Amazon! Beats trying to bag it up myself at the health food store!

Give it a try…even mistakes taste good! Enjoy!

Please leave a comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

I love egg rolls! Since I was diagnosed with egg and dairy allergies several years ago, I have been very careful about eating anything that was mixture of ingredients. I have avoided casseroles of all kinds, especially if I didn’t make it myself…too often they have hidden eggs, cheese and other dairy products. Somehow, egg rolls fell into that “unknown mixture” label and I avoided them. I recently came across a recipe for egg rolls and discovered there were no eggs anywhere in the recipe! I went to the grocery store and read the ingredients on the wrappers…no eggs! To think I’ve avoided egg rolls all this time when I didn’t need to!

I also wondered why they were called egg rolls…when no eggs were involved! An early reference to egg rolls appeared in a 1917 Chinese recipe pamphlet published in the United States. The 1917 recipe described a meat and vegetable filling wrapped in an egg omelet, pan fried, and served in slices. (Wikipedia, Egg Rolls).

According to Wikipedia, while they are closely related to the spring rolls served in mainland China, the American egg roll was probably invented at a Chinese restaurant in New York City in the early 1930s. Originally, egg rolls included ingredients like bamboo shoots, roast pork, shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, salt, MSG, sugar, palm oil and pepper. Notable, they did not include cabbage at the time, which is the main filling ingredient in modern egg rolls.

A 1979 article in The Washington Post speculated two possible theories for the word “egg” in the name: “1) that the Chinese word for ‘egg’ sounds very similar to the Chinese word for ‘spring’, and 2) that Chinese chefs in the South relied on using actual eggs when trying to make the thin noodle skin from flour and water.” (From Wikipedia, Egg Rolls).

The other issue I had with egg rolls was the necessity to deep fry them…sounded messy! But this recipe said I could use my air fryer or even bake them in the oven! That sounded possible!

So, here is the recipe for the egg rolls:

The ingredients were pretty simple: egg roll wrappers, cooked chicken, cole slaw mix and salt. I added little minced onion just for flavor.

Preparing the stuffing

Step 1: In a large frying pan (or wok) saute the cole slaw with a little olive oil until wilted (I added the minced onion here).

Step 2: Add shredded chicken for a few minutes until all mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I just added the can of chicken, broken up with a fork.

Making the egg rolls

Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons of slaw/chicken mixture to the middle of the egg roll wrapper. Fold up the sides one at a time and for the last fold add a little water so it sticks. Makes 11-12 egg rolls.

Step 4: Fry your egg rolls until golden brown.

Air Fryer Instructions:

Lightly spray or brush the basket or tray with olive oil. Place egg rolls in the air fryer. Be sure they are not touching. Cook at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, turning halfway.

Oven-Baked Instructions:

Lightly coat egg rolls with cooking spray and place, seam side down in a greased pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown, turning halfway.

Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate for 3-4 days. Freeze for up to 2 months.

Reheat in 350 degree oven, 10 minutes if thawed; 18-20 minutes if frozen, turning halfway.

Another idea:

One of the suggestions in this recipe was to try filling the wrapper with apple pie filling. That would be like a mountain pie cooked over a campfire! Sounds like a great dessert!

I can see lots of potential for stuffing! I’m sure I’ll get better at rolling the egg rolls up too! Give it a try! Enjoy!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

Quinoa is a grain that has lots of potential, but personally, a pile of it on my plate doesn’t excite me. I have a powerful grain grinder that I can make it into flour, which expands ways I can use the grain. I also found a box of Quinoa Flakes that I thought could be used in my standard Oatmeal Bread recipe (see https://marykisner.com/marys-oatmeal-bread/).

The back of the box showed several ways the flakes could be used…as a hot cereal, in cookies and muffins.

Today was the day I needed to bake bread so I thought I’d try using it…mostly to see if it changed the flavor or texture of my favorite bread. I followed my standard recipe and added 1/2 cup of Quinoa flakes when I added the 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats. Here’s the difference in the size of the flakes:

I wasn’t sure if that little bit in four loaves of bread would even be noticeable but amazingly…it was!

The bread was very light and had a nice consistent texture. There was no noticeable difference in taste. It was a nice enhancement to my standard oatmeal bread and added a little more protein to the bread. I think I’ll make it part of my standard recipe!

I think I’ll try adding a tablespoon of the flakes to my morning bowl of oatmeal just to enhance the protein. Give it a try! Enjoy!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.