Bread abounds with no loaf pans around

     Do you ever have the urge to make bread but realize that you don't have a bread pan available, or your recipe makes more loaves then you have pans?
Never fear the casserole dish is here!
Here is a fun tip for those of you without a bread pan or with not enough bread pans.

     In writing this post I was trying to decide where to begin. Should I tell an extensive back story like some crazed evil scientist?
     Should I ramble on and on about my all encompassing love affair with bread and anything gluten? Perhaps I'll reveal my darkest fear that my husband and children will be diagnosed with celiac disease and I will have to say good bye to my beloved flour forever!
     I'll relate the tragedy of my broken bread pan leaving me with only one pan and a recipe that makes 5 loaves. Maybe after typing paragraph on paragraph I will stumble upon the stroke of genius I had for the make shift bread pan.
     Eventually you become so bored you skip to the very end to get to the soul purpose of this blog post where I explain how to turn your casserole dish into a bread pan ... I thought not.

So here is what you need:
9x13 or 8x8 casserole dish
tin foil
non-stick spray

Directions :
   Make your bread and while it's rising the first time cut 4 or 3 pieces of tin foil depending on your size of pan (9x13= 4; 8x8= 3)
    These pieces of tin foil should be the width of your pan and be fairly tall so it holds the bread in as it rises.

In this first picture (which was taken on my beautiful stove in my old house) I didn't put tin foil on the sides so the bread spilled over the edges.

I did not like that so the next time I made bread I used tin foil on the outside edges as well as in the middle. This picture was taken at my new house on my not so beautiful stove, and my loaves got a little over cooked on top unfortunately

  

But as you can see both times I got perfectly shaped loaves by just using a casserole dish and tin foil!

 

I hope you try this if you're in need of more bread pans cause it really does work. Also here is a link to the bread recipe I found that I now love! It says to make two loaves but I always get 3 huge loaves, (as shown in the last picture) or 4 smaller ones (as shown in the middle picture).  

Hope you enjoyed my post and happy baking!!

Cinco de Mayo tortillas with organic coloring

For my Cinco de Mayo party this year I wanted to provide fresh homemade tortillas for everyone to enjoy. My husband suggested we color the tortillas too. It was super simple and completely organic.

I made green, red/pink and orange tortillas using Pure Synergy Organics Carrot Juice Powder, Beet Juice Powder, and Kale Juice Powder. It would have been preferable to use the Tomato Juice Powder to make red tortillas but I was all out.

Here is my super simple recipe for homemade tortillas.
(You don't have to use the juice powder, you can just have plain white tortillas)

2 cups white flour + 2 tsp separated (feel free to substitute the white flour for wheat or organic)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup warm water

Here are my measurements for the juice powders, you can use more or less if you like:
Green tortilla: 2 tsp Kale Juice Powder
Red tortilla: 1 tsp Beet Juice Powder OR Tomato Juice Powder
Orange tortilla: 2 tsp Carrot Juice Powder

Step 1: Combine your flour and salt in a bowl. Then mix in one of the organic juice powders for your choice of green, red or orange tortillas.The color will be very faint so be careful not to put too much organic juice powder or not enough (I accidentally didn't add enough carrot on my first batch of tortillas, which you will notice in the pictures).

Step 2: Pour in the oil and combine it with the flour using a fork. You want to mix it in until you have little balls of oil and flour that are about pea size in shape.

Step 3: Mix in the warm water. (Once you put the water in the color really starts to show up.) Combine it all together with a fork and then use your hands to knead the tortilla dough about 10 times. This is when you may need to add the 2 tsp of flour depending on how sticky it feels.

Step 4: Now you're going to shape your tortilla dough into individual balls. I use my digital kitchen scale and make each ball 1.5 ounces. Obviously you don't have to use a kitchen scale if you don't have one, just make the balls into equal sizes. ('m just a perfectionist when it comes to things being equal size.)

After you've formed your tortilla dough into balls cover them with plastic wrap and let them rest for 30 minutes. I take the plastic wrap off for the last 15 minutes so the dough isn't too sticky when I start cooking.

 

Step 5: Bake the tortillas. If you don't have a tortilla maker you can just use a rolling pin to flatten your tortilla dough and cook them in a hot frying pan.  If you've never used a tortilla maker before it's fairly simple:

First warm up the griddle with the top open. Once it's warmed up place a ball of dough near the back of the griddle as shown.

Then you're going to put the lid and handle down and press firmly and quickly to flatten the dough. Then quickly open the lid so the dough can rise and bubble. Sometimes the dough may stick to the top lid and you'll have to carefully scrape the tortilla off with a spatula. 

(This is why I let my dough rest with no plastic wrap so the dough becomes a little dry.)

 

Let the tortilla cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side and then you're ready to eat. 

 

 

Add your favorite toppings and have a fun Cinco de Mayo!