Bake a Zucchini bread in your bread machine or Crispy Cornstalk rolls and then wake up to Cinnamon-Applesauce bread.
We’ve covered a lot of unique things you can bake using your bread machine from pretzels to pasta to pie crusts. But there are some fancy breads you can make using either the dough cycle and finish the baking process in your oven, or the full cycle through final baking in your bread machine. All of these recipes are surprisingly easy because the bread machine does so much of the work whether you’re making a dough that you will reshape into a cornstalk, or a cinnamon bread that you can finish in the machine.
Cinnamon Applesauce Bread Recipe:
(Makes a 1.5 pound loaf)
INGREDIENTS:
- 2/3 cup fat free milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup chunky applesauce
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground Cinnamon
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon bread machine yeast
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS:
Add ingredients to the bread machine pan in the order indicated, but reserve the nuts and raisins and either add at the beep towards the end of the kneading cycle or to a fruit and nut hopper if your machine has one. Select white bread cycle for 1.5 pound loaf and dark crust. When done remove and serve or if you like you can let it rest for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
Crusty Cornstalk Rolls
This bread actually resembles a cornstalk and is made with cornmeal as an ingredient. You tear off a stalk of bread and eat it like a roll. This is a great centerpiece for a summer meal or an Autumn harvest dinner. I’m actually going to make it for a Cinco de Mayo feast for my sons and their friends. You mix the dough in your bread machine using the dough cycle and then remove it, shape it and bake it in the oven. It’s actually a simple recipe although there’s a trick to making the cornstalk shape that we’ll demonstrate. This bread goes great with chili, barbecue and family gatherings. It’s fun to tear off a cornstalk of bread and it has a crunchy, corny sweetness to it. Dip it in soups or stews or just butter it and eat it plain. If you want to make smaller servings as an appetizer rather than an accompaniment divide the dough in half and make smaller stalks.
Crusty Cornstalk Rolls Recipe:
(Makes about 1 dozen rolls)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees F), divided
- 1 teaspoon mild honey or sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon bread machine yeast or active dry-yeast
DIRECTIONS:
- Add ingredients (but reserve the 2 tsps of cornmeal)to the bread pan in the order indicated and select the dough course. When done, roll out on a lightly floured surface until about 9 x 14 inches. Fold over the dough in thirds like you would fold a letter and roll into a long, loaf shape.
- Sprinkle a large baking sheet evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cornmeal and put the dough in the center. On alternating sides, long diagonal cuts, about 1 1/2 inches apart, into sides of log using kitchen shears. Make sure the end of the cuts don’t touch to maintain a center “stalk”.
- Gently pull apart the cuts to stretch the dough, forming rolls that are separate (about 1 1/2 inches apart) but still connected to the stalk.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. About 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees with rack in the middle. Glaze cornstalk with a mixture of a 2 egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of water and sprinkle some corn meal on top. Bake until golden, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve.
Zucchini Bread
This zucchini bread recipe has a unique addition. It includes some Pumpkin pie spice to give the loaf an added burst of flavor. This is a great harvest season recipe when you have more zucchini than you know what to do with. It’s also good year-round if your local grocer has zucchini in stock. Unlike some recipes, you can add the shredded zucchini at the e beginning of the initial cycle rather than waiting to add it like you might do with fruits or nuts. You can also add the walnuts at this preliminary stage as well. Don’t be surprised of you end up with a dough that resembles a batter. That’s okay and you don’t need to add any additional flour to thicken the batter to a dough-like consistency.
Zucchini Bread Recipe:
(Makes a 1 pound loaf)
INGREDIENTS
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
- 1 cup shredded unpeeled raw zucchini
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS:
Add ingredients to the bread pan in the order indicated including the shredded zucchini and the chopped walnuts. Select Wheat Bread Course; 1 pound loaf, medium crust. When done insert a wooden skewer or a piece of uncooked spaghetti into the center of the loaf. If the center is still moist, leave it in the machine to see if the residual heat will finish the baking, or select the warming cycle for 30 minutes. If you want to play it safe and the center seems particularly unbaked you can remove the loaf from the pan and finish in the oven on a cookie sheet at 350°F. until the wooden skewer comes out clean. Slice and serve.
If you would rather finish the bread in the oven to begin with, pour out the dough/batter into a greased bread pan and bake at 350°F. for 45 minutes to an hour until it passes the skewer test.
Conclusion
There are other fancy breads you can make but just make sure of a couple of things. Some of these breads will have a batter-like consistency after the initial kneading cycle and that’s okay. Don’t try to add additional flower to compensate. Also, pay close attention to when you add ingredients like fruit or nuts. Typically a bread like zucchini bread or a banana bread will have a batter consistency and you can add these ingredients at the beginning. If the goal is a dough-like consistency you should add any vegetables, fruits or nuts at the beep at the end of the kneading cycle, or in an automatic hopper if your machine is so equipped.
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