Little Loaves

Dear Lauren,

When I was young, we went to Astroworld in Houston, TX. Some people who go to amusement parks remember the rides. I remember the little loaves of bread. I'm not sure if Mrs. Baird's, Rainbo, or Wonder sold them, but I do remember the aroma wafting through the park, luring me in. I always bought one of those little loaves of bread and so did everyone else. Delicious!

Good Cook challenged me to post a bread recipe and for some reason, those exact memories popped up! I talked to Donna Currie of Cookistry, who has a new cookbook coming out later this year. She's a dear friend of mine and an amazing bread baker. I knew she would steer me in the right direction to find a wonderful bread recipe similar to those loaves I remember from childhood.

Donna's book is called Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Bake-It-When-You-Want-It Yeast Bread and it's available for pre-order right now on Amazon.com. I've ordered it! With any pre-order purchase on Amazon, you can get a free loaf pan from the generous people at Good Cook! To receive the free loaf pan, simply post your pre-purchase information to this link. If you happen to see anything else you'd like to purchase at Good Cook, you will also get a 25% off discount using the promo code: BakeBread.

I'm particularly excited about this book because I am NOT a bread baker. But I'd sure like to be. After making "Little Loaves", I have confidence that I can be! Thank you, Donna!

Little Loaves

adapted from Poppy Seed Hot Dog Buns on Cookistry

1 cup lukewarm water (110 degrees*)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup instant mashed potato
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Stir water, yeast, sugar, and instant mashed potatoes in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Add the salt and bread flour. Knead until your dough is smooth and becoming elastic. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Add the oil and knead until it is fully incorporated and the dough is shiny and elastic.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, put a bit of olive oil in each cup of this pan or something similar. (I will tell you that this pan was the perfect size to produce four little loaves. I was so pleased!)

Flour your work surface and knead the dough briefly, then divide it into 4 equal pieces. Place the pieces of dough into the pan.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let then rise until doubled, about 20-30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until the little loaves are golden brown.

Cool on a rack with a clean kitchen towel covering the pan while they're cooling, which will make the crust soft.

Love,

P.S. I found this chart* to be interesting and I think it will be helpful in my future bread baking endeavors!

P.P.S. This bread freezes beautifully. I have some in the freezer right now. I plan to thaw and slice them to use in a delicious appetizer recipe. My plan involves shrimp. You will have to stay tuned for that!

P.P.P.S. Here's one last bite! YUM!

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

Dear Lauren, 

I have so much to say! Where to start?! Do you remember I told you I am going to be doing some cooking for Good Cook? Well this is the first post! OMG! I am so excited!!!! They sent me a Sweet Creations Mini Loaf Pan (it's nonstick!) and some White Snow Flake Parchment Paper and right off the bat I had about 16 ideas what to use it all for! Luckily for me, one idea stuck out and so Dad and I made Sweet and Sour Meatloaf.

Before I tell you how to make this recipe, I want to tell you a few other things. 1) This pan is perfect for portion control. 2) It's also a great pan to use to split up your full-size recipe in half, freeze overnight (like I am doing with this recipe) and then pop out the loaves and freeze them. 3) You can make banana bread and other sweet concoctions in with this pan! But I rebelled and went the savory route!

Do you remember Susan Whempner from when we lived in California? Well, she and I have been working together on 37 Cooks and guess what? She started a blog for empty nesters. She is going to LOVE this pan. I sent her one today! Merry Christmas, Susan! Lauren, what Susan does is pare down her favorite recipes for two people, which of course is great for empty nesters. But it's also good for single people like you! Anyway, you might want to follow her blog. I am (on Bloglovin).

When I got this pan, I also thought about our friend Al. Now, because he is a widower and travels for work often and is just learning to cook, I've been trying to think of things he can make and easily freeze the leftovers. He's always on a diet too and the more I think of it, this pan is a must have for him. So I bought one for him too. Merry Christmas, Al!

I hope they aren't reading this post. The element of surprise is now gone.

Oops.

As for the meatloaf, everyone has their own favorite recipe and so do I. It's a recipe my mother used to make when we were growing up and I still love it. It's so easy to make and I am thrilled that it also works well with this Good Cook pan.

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup crackers, crushed (use the food processor or just smash 'em)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 can tomato soup

1 beaten egg

Mix all ingredients together with your hands. You can either use a dish and make a mound of the meat mixture in the center with all of the meat OR you can divide it - half of the mixture in a baking dish and half in the four openings in the mini loaf pan. The mini loaf openings should not be filled more than 3/4 of the way.

1/2 can tomato soup
2 tablespoons mustard
1 cup water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix all ingredients and divide and pour over your meat mixture in your one baking dish OR half in your main baking dish and half split between the four openings in the mini loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for  about 45 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 160 degrees. 

The higher the fat content in your ground beef the more this meatloaf will fall apart. We ate this growing up and we never knew that meatloaf was sliced until we were adults and tried other recipes! Serve with your favorite veggies. We had some roasted asparagus with ours.

Love,

P.S. I bought a pan for you too. Merry Christmas, Lauren! 
P.S.S. If you or anyone reading this post wants to buy this pan, use the code: SWEETLOAF to get 25% off! Merry Christmas, everyone!
P.P.S. Follow Good Cook on Twitter or Facebook.