Of Toast and Rolls...

We got to play with 2 different kinds of dough this time for our HBin5 bread braid assignment. The first one I played with was a familiar one since we messed around with it back in February...Whole Wheat Chocolate Espresso. If you want to see what I did the first time around, click --->HERE<---(muffins and biscotti)

This time the Whole Wheat Chocolate Espresso dough became cinnamon rolls....sorta. Rolls in the shape of crescents. And for once, I did (this time) exactly as I was told and didn't mess with the recipe....too much. I mean, I'm still struggling with the whole....."whole wheat" flavor thing. So maybe I should call my breads "half wheat" since I cut the whole wheat flour in half and replace it with more all purpose flour.

Anyway...the dough contains not only cocoa powder and strong coffee, but nice chunks of bittersweet chocolate....mmmm...a girls best friend.

Soo...you roll the dough out into a rectangle, divide the dough in half length wise then into quarters, width wise....then you have 8 little rectangles. Divide each of those little guys in half, diagonally so that you end up with 16 triangles....just like the ones you get from the Pillsbury people.

I sprinkled half of the triangles with cinnamon sugar and then spread the other half with Nutella and proceeded to roll them up (it got kinda messy)

(I apologize for the weird colors....lighting is really getting on my nerves lately)

After letting them rise and bake, they were glazed with a mixture of cream cheese, vanilla and honey

And the best part about this? You don't have to wait until the bread cools off before eating!

Lovely flavors without being overly sweet...perfect with your morning java or for that something sweet that you crave after dinner.

And now...after all that yummy-ness, would you believe me if I told that I liked loved this next one even more?

It's true! We made Milk & Honey Raisin Bread!!

When I was a young girl, mom was pretty strict about what we ate. But I remember, as a treat, once in a while she'd buy Cinnamon Raisin bread. I can't remember the brand.....but it made good toast. So when I saw this dough, I knew I had to visit my childhood memories and turn this into Milk & Honey Cinnamon Raisin Bread.

I rolled the dough out flat (making the width the same as the bread pan)....then I brushed the surface with melted butter and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over it. Then, instead of just rolling it up like a log, I rolled both ends to the center

Placing the dough into the bread pan was a little bit of a challenge.....but it made it in, in once piece. After it did it's "rise thing", I brushed the top with butter and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on it before  making a slit down the center (this was an attempt to avoid my ever present "faults" that I end up with in my loaf breads....but it didnt really work)...baked as directed although I noticed the top getting a bit dark so I covered it with a tent of foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking

Nothing says lovin' like the smell of cinnamon in the oven...oooooh eeeeem geeeeee.

I was kinda hoping for more of a dome. But thats cosmetic. This was a wonderful recipe with wonderful results. And it made awesome toast that tasted just like I remembered from my childhood.

Of course I can't eat this whole loaf just as toast....

It's French Toast tiiiiiiiiime..

And another blast from the past (let's do the time warp agaaaaaain). Instead of maple syrup, mom would heat up some apple sauce with a little butter and honey and we'd pour that over our pancakes. Well...with Cinnamon Raisin Bread....Apple Sauce is kind of a natural addition, don't you think?

There really isn't a recipe per say.....we just sorta mixed it by taste but for the sake of a starting point, I thought I'd do my best to gauge the amounts:

1 1/2 cups apple sauce
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons honey (if sweet isn't your thing, start with 1 tablespoon of honey)

Heat all ingredients on medium low in a small sauce pan, stirring occasionally until butter is melted and mixture begins to bubble. Garnish with cinnamon sugar if desired.

Pour over your favorite pancakes, waffles or french toast

If you'd like more info on how HBin5 works, click on the picture below

And while you're at it, go visit Michelle's web at Big Black Dog to see what some of the other members have done with this assignment.

Just so you know...you don't have to have a blog to participate. You don't have to take pictures and talk about it...you can just join the group (its a google group thingy) and learn from / with the rest of us :) Besides, this thing will be going on for many many more months with 2 assignments per month. You don't have to do all the assignments....you just participate when you want and when you can. No pressure, just a lot of fun. 

Just sayin