Bread

Pan de Muerto

Pan de Muerto

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

This week, I wanted to bake something for what has become one of my favorite holidays: Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos.  While Day of the Dead is not a part of my cultural heritage, I love the concept of the holiday.  Rather than mourning the loss of loved ones and wallowing in sadness, the focus of Day of the Dead is to celebrate those who are no longer with us and invite their souls to visit.  It’s actually a two-day holiday that happens on November 1 and 2.  The first day celebrates children and infants, and the second day celebrates adults.  Families create altars, or ofrendas, which hold pictures of the deceased loved ones, as well as favorite items and foods, candles to light their way, and glasses of water to quench their thirst.  Other traditional elements include marigolds, tissue paper decorations (papel picado), and the ubiquitous sugar skull.  I incorporate the elements that are most meaningful to my family in my personal celebration, but this year I wanted to try something a bit more traditional and make pan de muerto.

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Yggdrasil Bread

Yggdrasil Braided Bread

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

Weeeeee’re baaaa-ack!  I swear I didn’t plan to wait this long between posts, but as usual, life got in the way.  The MCU baking series is trucking right along this week with a companion recipe for Thor: The Dark World.  For this recipe, I’ve rendered Yggdrasil (the Norse “world tree”), and the nine realms it connects, in bread.

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Paul Hollywood's Cheddar and Chive Scones

Paul Hollywood’s Cheddar and Chive Scones

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

As I mentioned back in January, I’ve recently come into a new wealth of cookbooks written by the hosts of the Great British Bake Off thanks to my thoughtful in-laws.  I’m planning on trying and posting at least one recipe from each new book, and so far I’ve written about Mary Berry’s date and walnut sheet cake (there will probably end up being several recipes from each book, but one each is a good starting point, right?).  This week, I bring you Paul Hollywood’s cheddar and chive scones from Paul Hollywood’s British Baking.

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Beer Pretzels and Cheese Dip

Beer Pretzels with Cheese Dip

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

It’s the final week of Comfort Food Month!  To end the month in a manner fitting with the spirit, I decided to bring you a treat that hits a few different comforts: soft beer pretzels and beer cheese dip.  We’ve got chewy bread, gooey cheese, salt and spices, and a hint of beer.  What more could you need?

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Pickle Bagels

Pickle Bagels

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

Yes, you read that right: pickle bagels.  I promise, I haven’t gone off the deep end (no more than usual, anyway).  Those of you who follow I Wanna Bake on Facebook might recall seeing Tasting Table’s recipe for pickle juice bread.  I was quite enamored of the idea or pickle-flavored bread, and I knew it would have to be recreated in some fashion.  Serendipitously, I still had the thought on my mind when I was going through one of my periodic musings on bagels ( like ya’ do).  In that moment, the pickle bagel was born.

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Garlic Herb Breadsticks

Garlic Herb Breadsticks

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

Have you ever been in the position of reeeeeally craving a particular food, but not wanting to exert the effort of leaving home to get it, much less cooking it yourself?  For Josh and me, this happens with garlic breadsticks at least once a month (somehow my focus has shifted in recent years from bread formed into knots to bread shaped like sticks instead).  Often, this results in at least half an hour of waffling between sucking it up and going out and wistfully giving up on them.  The thought of making them from scratch almost always crosses my mind, but I usually toss it aside as too much effort.  This time however, I decided to accept the challenge with gusto.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Made with Leftover Frosting

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Made with Leftover Frosting

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

Apologies for the late post!  I’ve been struck with an acute case of laziness, so when 10:30 rolled around last night, I realized that there was no way this post was going up at normal time.  After a small bout of illness early in the weekend, I had a surprisingly productive Sunday, the fruits of which should be showing up on this blog in the coming weeks.  I guess it’s not surprise that I had to make up for all that productivity with a decent period of unencumbered sloth. 😉

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Strawberry Banana Cornbread 3

Easy Strawberry Banana Cornbread

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

Once again, I fell into the trap of buying a bunch of bananas.  Just like last time, I got through about half of them before the rest managed to turn a particularly unappetizing shade of brown.  I’d been planning to make a dessert cornbread with strawberries for awhile now, and having used bananas in the place of eggs before (a pretty standard vegan substitution), I had a feeling it was finally time to make it happen.

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Pesto Pinwheel Bread

Pesto Pinwheel Bread

Posted on by Katie Gaffen

I first saw a version of this bread on the Great British Baking Show, and I knew I had to try it.  It’s simply too pretty not to make.  However, being who I am (and knowing that my husband hates butternut squash), of course I had to make some revisions to the recipe.  I decided to add some herbs and spices to the dough, and I went with an almost entirely different filling.  What I ended up with turned out pretty much like inside-out pizza without sauce, but I’m ok with that because it was delicious.  It tastes best warm out of the oven, but it also tastes good cold.  I am in the process of experimenting with freezing and thawing it, so I will update you on how that works out.

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