Timmie's Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (Homemade Version)

Timmie's Cinnamon Raisin Bagel (Homemade Version)

Toasted, with entirely too much butter. That's how I like my Cinnamon Raisin Bagel from a doughnut shop far, far away. The closest authentic source for such a treat would be Winnipeg, Manitoba or Ypsilanti, Michigan; either would be a ten and a half hours' road trip. (Perhaps in the spring?) My version is really, really, close, and if I pair one with a cup of super-strong coffee my craving is satisfied.

Chewy on the outside, soft on the inside, bagels are simple to make, and with cinnamon and raisins kneaded in they are just right oven-fresh or for toasting. I based this recipe on a basic one posted by John D Lee. The "authentic" version uses white flour, but whole wheat makes a pretty good bagel!

For eight doughnut-shop sized bagels, or sixteen mini-bagels:

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp oil (avocado or olive work well)
4 cups unbleached flour or whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins

In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water, salt, and sugar. Gently stir in the yeast and allow it ten minutes to wake up and start to bubble. Stir in the oil, then three cups of the flour. (If you are using whole wheat, two and a half cups might be stiff enough.)

Turn the dough onto a floured board, and spread it out with your hands. Sprinkle the cinnamon and the cup of raisins on top. Fold the dough over, and knead for five minutes, adding flour as needed.

Let the dough rest for ten minutes, then cut into eight (or sixteen) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

Shape the balls into bagels: Poke a hole in the middle, and gently enlarge the hole with your hands. Alternatively, you can stick your finger in the hole and spin the bagel on the board, enlarging the hole. (The kids like to help with this.) Make the holes ridiculously large, and the dough will shrink back a little.

Allow the bagels to rise until doubled, about half an hour, longer if it is cool in your kitchen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425F, and set a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Boil the bagels in batches: Gently drop the bagels into the boiling water, leaving enough room for each to expand and float. After a minute, flip the over and boil for another minute. With a slotted spoon, gently remove the boiled bagels and place them on greased cookies sheets.

Bake the bagels for nine minutes, then turn them over and bake for another nine or ten minutes. If you are making minis, bake them for only eight minutes on each side.

When you take them out of the oven, try really hard to ignore them for at least fifteen minutes while they cool.

[The Cadet loves them with the raisins, and G-man prefers his bagels made with cheddar. I'll share the directions for the cheddar version here.]

I shared this recipe with Motivation Monday, a weekly roundup of natural recipes and craft ideas.


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Garlic and Cheddar Bagels

Garlic and Cheddar Bagels

Bagels are easy to make, and a great project for the kids to help with in the kitchen. Twice this year, G-man has taken Garlic and Cheddar Mini-Bagels when it was his turn for preschool snacks. I based this recipe on one by John D Lee which turn out chewy on the outside and soft on the inside.  The cheesy, garlicky variety are as great fresh from the oven as they are toasted the next day for breakfast. Yum.

For eight doughnut-shop sized bagels, or sixteen mini-bagels:

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp oil (avocado or olive work well)
4 cups unbleached flour or whole wheat flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup grated cheddar

In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water, salt, and sugar. Gently stir in the yeast and allow it ten minutes to wake up and start to bubble. Stir in the oil, then three cups of the flour. (If you are using whole wheat, two and a half cups might be stiff enough.)

Turn the dough onto a floured board, and spread it out with your hands. Sprinkle the garlic and the cup of cheddar on top. Fold the dough over, and knead for five minutes, adding flour as needed.

Let the dough rest for ten minutes, then cut into eight (or sixteen) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

Shape the balls into bagels: Poke a hole in the middle, and gently enlarge the hole with your hands. Alternatively, you can stick your finger in the hole and spin the bagel on the board, enlarging the hole. (The kids like to help with this.) Make the holes ridiculously large, and the dough will shrink back a little.

Allow the bagels to rise until doubled, about half an hour, longer if it is cool in your kitchen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425F, and set a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Boil the bagels in batches: Gently drop the bagels into the boiling water, leaving enough room for each to expand and float. After a minute, flip the over and boil for another minute. With a slotted spoon, gently remove the boiled bagels and place them on greased cookies sheets.

Bake the bagels for nine minutes, then turn them over and bake for another nine or ten minutes. If you are making minis, bake them for only eight minutes on each side. Allow them to cool at least fifteen minutes before you tear into them.

(An illustrated recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bagels can be found here.)

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Fresh Ricotta and Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Rolls (with the whey!)

Fresh Ricotta and Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Rolls

Fresh Ricotta (or Paneer) cheese is so easy to make. The challenge is to find a good use for the leftover whey. About a year ago I started to use the whey for making bread and it is now a routine. The whey is not a "leftover" any more, but part of the process since I generally make them at the same time. Sometimes we save the ricotta for pizza, pasta or kale paneer, and sometimes we smear it on the freshly baked rolls and call it a meal. Either way, it is a delicious way to spend an afternoon. The bread recipe makes enough to last us for two weeks if we pop most of it into the freezer right away.

Start with the cheese:

Ricotta (or Paneer)

1/2 gallon whole milk- (non-homogenized if you can get it)
1 cup plain yogurt (optional, but adds flavour)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp salt

Simple Sweet Dough

Cinnamon Rolls, Butter Doughnuts, Raisin Bread, Blueberry Kolochi

A basic sweet dough can make so many things. Last week the boys and I made a double batch and baked up cinnamon rolls, butter doughnuts, sticky buns, kolachi, and raisin bread. The same dough can be used for bierocks, fancy breads, and stuffed with potatoes and cheese for tiny pyrizhky. We are planning on holding a bake sale for No Kid Hungry, so this was "practice."

Sweet dough is one of the easiest yeast doughs to make by hand. My greatest challenge is to just let go and use white flour. Trial after trial, using various ratios of whole wheat-to-white, I find that the fluffiest, most tender pastries need the fine texture of white flour. Once the aroma of cinnamon buns in the oven takes over the kitchen, I can get over the health kick.

Tips for sweet dough:

* Use white flour.

* Avoid the urge to knead in too much flour. Your dough will be really soft, and that's okay. There will be eggs to add some lift.

* Use fresh eggs. Can you get them from your backyard or right from someone else's? Use those.

* Butter. Butter, butter. Butter in the dough, melted butter in the rising bowl and on top. Melted butter in the pan.... Margarine is not butter. If you are dairy-free, the only thing I have found to come close is pure coconut oil, and for that add a pinch of salt.

* Avoid instant yeast. It doubles too quickly, not leaving enough time for the flour to stretch and soften.

* If it is really warm in the house or you need the first rising to take longer so you can run errands, use half the yeast. That will buy you twenty minutes.

* After forming the pastries, let then rise until they seem almost frothy. Unlike regular bread, there is little risk of a collapse from too much rising because there are eggs in the dough.

* To make dough the night before for breakfast, pop it straight into the fridge before rising. In the morning, give it a light knead to break carbon dioxide bubbles, and give it extra time to warm up and rise after the pastries are formed. You can make the pastries ahead and refrigerate them to slow the rising. Allow them extra time, at least half an hour, to warm up before you bake them.

Gluten Free Corn Bread

Gluten Free Corn Bread 

Cornbread. For anyone who can't have wheat flour and misses this moist-yet-crumbly quick bread, I have a treat for you! Enjoy it with a big pot of beans or on its own with butter and honey.

1 cup non-GMO corn meal
1 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (if on hand)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a 12-inch square baking pan with either coconut oil or butter.

Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl. Add the milk, eggs and molasses. Mix it together really well, then pour it all into the baking pan.

Bake until a knife comes out clean, about 20 minutes.


[This particular pan made me proud. Living in a rural area, it has taken me months to find all of the ingredients to get it just right: non-GMO corn meal, non-GMO and non-aluminum baking powder, local barnyard eggs, fair trade molasses and grass-fed milk.]


I shared this recipe with these natural recipe collections: Fight back Friday,  Foodie Friday,  Fat Tuesday,  Slightly Indulgent Tuesday the Hearth and Soul Hop,  Gluten Free Wednesdays and Real Food Wednesday.


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Homemade Pitas on the Grill (vegan)

Homemade Pitas on the Grill

What goes better with a falafel than a soft, warm pita? They make great summer tomato sandwiches, too. G-man and the Cadet prefer theirs covered in fresh yogurt. However you decide to enjoy them, they bake well on the grill, which means no heating the oven! (The original recipe for baking them in the oven can be found at Tammy's Recipes.)

For a dozen six-inch pitas:

Whole Wheat Corn Bread

Whole Wheat Corn Bread

Corn Bread is a perfect compliment to just about any entree cooked on a grill and makes good use of that time when coals are hot. All you need is a good, solid cast iron pan to keep the bread from burning on the bottom. If your covered grill happens to have a thermometer, you will find that handy, too. The trickiest part is to keep your family from eating it all before the rest of your meal is cooked.

Corn Bread mixes generally contain too much white flour for our taste. This recipe started as the corn muffin recipe from the Five Roses Cookbook but you might not recognize it. A good ratio of whole wheat flour and non-GMO cornmeal makes the bread tender and a little bit gritty. Molasses lightly sweetens the mix and gives depth to the flavour. When made on the grill it takes on a subtle smokiness, too.

Bread Making Tips not fit for Home Ec

Delicious Bread for the Family, not the County Fair

Baking your own bread is rewarding. You get to control the ingredients and limit food additives. You can save quite a bit of money, and it is a great workout. And then there is the aroma... It can also be intimidating. My favorite beginner's cookbook has a whole page dedicated to "troubleshooting" in case the tops dimple or crack, the loaves rise then fall, don't rise, are dense or become crumbly.

Forget, for a minute about what you may have learned in Home Ec*. This is not about winning a prize at the County Fair; it is about providing wholesome and delicious food for your family. Since shunning store-bought bread, this is what I have learned:

Skip the loaf shape. Bread is supposed to be loaf-shaped, with a perfectly round dome on the top, right? That particular shape is hard to achieve (hence the whole county fair thing) and the slices do not fit in the toaster, anyway. Sticking to rolls, or mega-buns is more practical. Rolls fit into freezer bags more easily and can be thawed as many at a time as you need. When sliced with a good bread knife, you can get four little circles for toast, which is a hit with our kids. A mega-bun gives your bread that "artisan" shape. You can free-form loaves and bake them on a cookie sheet, too.

Sauteed Red Peppers and Mushrooms on Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Biscuits

Sauteed Red Peppers and Mushrooms on Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Biscuits

Who says lunch at home has to be boring? At  Chez Stealthy Mom, we enjoyed Sauteed Red Peppers and Mushrooms on Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Biscuits. While the biscuits were in the oven, I sauteed the peppers and mushrooms in butter. Just before serving, I added a small slice of marbled cheddar atop each biscuit and served  them with a side of Roasted Garbanzos. 

For a dozen Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Biscuits:

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas (vegan)

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas (vegan)

Who doesn't like a tortilla? They are faster to make than a pita and work well to scoop up curries and dips, and to wrap burritos and fajitas. Generally, the soft ones are made with wheat flour, but  I worked out this recipe using Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour. (Bob's uses a lot of garbanzo flour in the blend, so the tortillas overpower subtly flavoured dips like hummus.)

For this Gluten Free version, follow the instructions for (wheat) Flour Tortillas using these ingredients:

2 cups Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp lite salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cups warm water

While you will not need to knead the dough per se, you will need to work the ingredients into a ball like play-doh. It will also need to sit for a few minutes to set up before you break it into 8-12 smaller balls to roll out. If it is too hard to roll out after it sets up, add a little more water, a tablespoon at a time, giving it time to soak in. Before rolling out, you may find it helpful to spray a small area of your table with either oil using a pump sprayer or non-stick cooking spray.


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Kolachi (braided circle bread)

I was a lucky kid: my mother grew up in a home where Christmas was celebrated on December 25th. My father's family celebrated Christmas on January 6th. In our house, we celebrated both. On December 25th we would exchange gifts and have a big dinner. The second, "Ukrainian Christmas" was all about food. Kutia, perogies, borsch, cabbage rolls... There were a few times when we travelled to my Baba and Gida's home and joined my aunts, uncles and cousins for a traditional Christmas Eve supper. Twelve meatless dishes are served to remind us of the twelve apostles. That is a lot of good, good food.

My First Kolach!

One of my favorite parts of Ukrainian Christmas was the kolach: a braided bread that decorated the table. Sometimes three were stacked on each other to represent the Holy Trinity. Rich and sweet, I could not wait for my mother to take the candle out if the middle and let us cut it up.

Breakfast Bread

Red River Cereal, which is a blend of cracked wheat, rye and flaxseed, is one of my favorite breakfast foods.  So is toast. Why choose? Each loaf of this hearty bread contains four bowls of porridge, a bowl of oatmeal and a third of a cup of sunflower seeds. Pop a couple slices in the toaster and you have hot porridge, to go!

As a bonus, you can use sour milk if you happen to have some in the fridge. Your bread will have a faintly tart taste like sourdough.  Adding a cup or two of wheat bran before the flour will add even more fiber. Bread always slices better the day after it is made.

Homemade Flour Tortillas (vegan)

Tortillas are so versatile. A stack on hand can lead to breakfast burritos, soft tacos, fajitas.... They can even be a quick dessert: lightly butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and toast in the broiler. The Cadet likes them plain, G-man likes them folded over with a bit of melted cheddar in the middle, and Stealthy Dad will eat them any way I throw at him.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Before we started watching our sodium, we added flour tortillas to the cart every time we went to the grocery store. Checking the label was a shock. The small Azteca flour tortillas contain 390mg of sodium each, and we could easily eat three apiece. The shelf-stable store brand tortillas we were buying contained 700-900mg. (That must be why they were shelf-stable.) For several months after reading the labels, we just went without tortillas.

My father in law sent us directions to make our own. Tortillas, it turns out, are a cross between a bread and a pastry in structure. The recipe called for lard, which was understandable, but still made my heart sink. When used in baking, lard gives a light texture because it is solid when the dough is created and melts during cooking, leaving tiny air pockets. For reasons I will save for another rant, the Stealthy Kitchen stocks neither lard nor its chemical step-sibling, shortening. It was time for some trials and errors.

This is what I came up with. Hot and fresh from the pan, these tortillas are soft and tender. The kids run off with them as soon as they are cool enough to eat and Stealthy Dad loiters around the kitchen to sample. They are really easy, too!

For a dozen small, 6-8" tortillas:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt or lite salt
3 tbsp olive or coconut oil
2/3 cup water

[Though these cook quickly, allow yourself an hours' lead time because the dough really needs time to rest. It is not going to rise like a yeast bread, but the gluten in the flour has to relax for rolling out.]

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in mixing bowl. Make a well in the flour, and pour in the olive oil and water. Mix well, making sure to work in all of the flour.

When the flour is all mixed in and the dough is a soft ball, turn it onto the counter and knead for 6-8 minutes. Let the dough rest for at least fifteen minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 portions. Form each portion into a small ball by rolling the dough outside-in with your thumbs. Pour a small amount of olive oil onto your hands, and pick up each ball, giving it a light coating of oil. Let the dough balls rest for an hour.

Spray a cast iron skillet with olive oil and get it hot. Meanwhile, roll out your first tortilla, as thin as you can make it without it becoming too fragile to pick up, between 6-8".

Place the tortilla on the hot pan.  As soon as you see bubbles, flip the tortilla over. Silicone-tipped tongs work well for this. The other side will brown quickly.

Using your tongs, grab the tortilla, flip it over and place it on a plate. You will get into a rhythm of rolling a tortilla while one is cooking so the process goes more quickly. Every two or three, re-spray the pan.


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Grillin' Buns (vegan option)

Which is better, the aroma of a smokey barbecue, or of fresh bread baking? Both! Fresh off the grill, these flat little buns are great for burgers, cheese sandwiches, or as a dipper for hummus.

Grillin' Buns

Per dozen:

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/8 cup cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk (or another half cup water if you prefer a vegan bun.)
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

3.5- 4 cups flour (white, or 3 cups whole wheat plus white for kneading)

Dissolve sugar and yeast in lukewarm water, let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat milk to lukewarm and mix with warm water, oil, sugar and salt.

Add yeast mixture to the rest of the liquid ingredients. Add the first three cups of flour, one cup at a time. Turn the dough onto a board and knead for 8 minutes, working in as much of the fourth cup of flour as you can.

Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of the bowl. Turn the dough bal around in the oil to coat the top and flip it dough-side up in the bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise until double, about half an hour to forty-five minutes. If you are using whole wheat flour, knead the dough again after half an hour and let it rise for another half an hour.

[If you use charcoal, start the grill at this point to make sure the grill is hot enough when the buns are ready to cook.]

Punch the dough down and shape into a dozen balls. (I will split the dough in half, then half again, then twist each quarter into three portions.) To shape the balls, roll them in your hand, outer dough-in, as if you were flipping them inside-out. Pour a bit more oil in the bowl and lightly coat your hands. Quickly roll each dough ball in your hands to coat with the oil, re-dipping your hands as needed. The light coating of oil will keep the dough from drying out during the next rise.

Let the dough balls rest for 10 minutes. Next, gently roll each ball out to about 1/2 " thick, and place the circles on cookie sheets. Allow the rolls to rise until double, about half an hour. (If you double the recipe, place half of the sheets in the fridge to slow down the rising.)

When the coals are hot (or the gas is on) close the lid to heat up the grill like an oven inside. Take the buns out on the cookie sheets. If your grill has a temperature gauge, note that 450F internal temperature is ideal. Keep the lid down until just before you put the buns on the grill. You have to move quickly to get a good rise without burning the buns. Grill is hot, the buns are ready, you have a flipper and a pair of tongs on hand.... GO!

Open the lid, and gently place half a dozen buns on the grill. Try to avoid the middle and other "hot spots." Close the lid. After about five minutes, open the lid again and turn the buns over. They should look like toasted english muffins. Close the lid again and wait a couple minutes. The buns should rise quickly due to the high internal heat. You can move them around some to ensure they are golden on both sides. After you take them off, close the lid on the grill to raise the internal temperature again. Grill the next half dozen.

When you are done with the bread, put your burgers, veggies or whatever else you have to cook on the grill. The buns will soften up on the outside while the rest of the meal is cooking.

The buns freeze very well in a sealed zip-lock.



I shared this recipe with the Ultimate Recipe Swap- Grilling Edition.

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Soft Rolls

Soft Rolls

A batch of these soft rolls makes three dozen, and they freeze very well. They are the perfect size for a toddler sandwich, a 1/4 pound burger, a dunk for soup, or a treat with butter and honey. If sliced thinly, they make four slices for crispy toast.

White Bread (vegan, low sodium)

White Bread (vegan, low sodium)

Simple and cheap, nothing fills a home with a heavenly aroma like fresh bread. To make two loaves, you will need:

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 tsp sugar

1 tablespoon active, dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

1/8 cup sugar
2 tsp lite salt

3 tbsp olive oil

6-7 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

additional olive oil

Hearty Artisan Bread (low sodium)

This recipe varies a bit from “classic” recipes your grandmother may have passed down. There is no butter or shortening, and whey takes the place of milk. Flaxseed meal contributes to the soft texture. With its subtle, nutty taste, you might forget that this bread is low in sodium!

(The whey is left over from making cheese. If you have none on hand, use 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups milk.)

Basic Cornbread (with flaxseed)

Basic Cornbread (with flaxseed)

This is another of those recipes that is so simple that a kid can help make it. Flaxseed meal replaces the usual oil and adds a subtle, nutty flavour.