photo by Darlene B.
We’ve grown to rely on some prepackaged foods. It’s become a force of habit to toss them into the shopping cart. But weekends are the perfect time to add a little down-home cooking flair to your standard meals. Making homemade bread, muffins or biscuits accomplishes that. Store-bought baked goods will never be good enough again.

Hamburger Buns

1-1/4 cups milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3-3/4 cups bread flour
1-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

In bread machine pan, place the first seven ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting. (Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed.) When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Divide dough in half. Roll each portion to 3/4-inch thickness; cut with a 2-1/2-inch biscuit cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. Brush tops with melted butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. — Nancy, Virginia

English Muffins

8 ounces cold water
6 ounces cold milk
1 package instant yeast
16 ounces bread flour (or all-purpose if you like it less chewy)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon shortening.
cornmeal

Place all ingredients in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Blend on low or medium speed for 15 minutes. You will see the dough go from a wet slurry to a ball of dough that cleans the sides of the bowl. When it has achieved the ball stage, you know it is ready. Place the dough in a bowl with a few tablespoons of oil, and turn to coat. Allow to rise for about 2 hours. You will see it triple in size in that time. If not, let it rise a little longer. You should end up with about 18 ounces of dough. Put plenty of dusting flour down on your work surface, and gently dump the risen dough onto it. You don’t want to deflate the dough too much if you can help it. If you have a scale, portion the dough into 2-ounce pieces, and gently form them like a hamburger patty. Place them on a cookie sheet that has been dusted with cornmeal, and allow to rise for an hour.
Preheat your electric griddle to 325 F. Once the dough has risen again, gently place them on the griddle a few minutes at a time. After a few minutes, gently pick up the corner of one, and look for browning. Once browning has occurred, flip them over and repeat. — George, Michigan
Optional: You can use English-muffin rings, or cut the top and bottom from a tuna can to shape.

photo by Kim

photo by Dee

Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup of whole milk or buttermilk (if using buttermilk, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda)

Optional: Add a little sugar if you prefer your biscuits slightly sweet

Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse meal. Stir milk or cream into the flour mixture. Mix quickly with fork until dough comes together. Using hands, gently pat the ingredients together. Do not overhandle. Pat out to about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with biscuit cutter, place on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet, and bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes at 450 F. — George, Michigan

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!