Whole Wheat Loaves

I was concerned about pulling this one off…we have been experiencing really hot weather…like for weeks now!  I didn’t want to miss a recipe but the thought of baking bread just wasn’t sounding as inviting as it would on a nice fall day.  Thankfully today wasn’t as bad as it has been and I got on it first thing this morning.  Even in the heat there is something to be said about bread baking in the oven…it smells great and you just feel so accomplished!! 🙂  I can tell baking through this cookbook is having an effect on me…I don’t freak out when it is a bread recipe ha ha!! 🙂

Although I usually chose wheat bread, after tasting those delicious white loaves we had made previously I wasn’t sure if these would hold up..especially for the rest of the tasting crew.

Making this bread was identical to the white loaves that we made before:

First rise:

Second rise:

I have to say, the recipe calls for the bread to be baked for 35 minutes, so I checked on mine at 25 just to see how they were doing…and good thing because they were done.  They cooked up really quickly.  I did change one other thing…I couldn’t find malt extract at the usual stores that I check so I saw that someone posted that they used molasses in its place…worked out wonderfully…and I had that! 🙂

As soon as the bread was cool, my son and I cut a slice.  Like I said before, there is something about homemade bread…this was awesome!!  Like SO good!  It makes me think I should be baking more bread…there is no comparison to store-bought.  THIS ONE IS A KEEPER!! 🙂

Nectarine Upside-down Chiffon Cake

I have to start this post with a follow-up to popovers saying a big “thank you”!  Since I had never made, seen or tasted popovers, I thought mine had not turned out too well…hollow in the middle.  Surprise, surprise…thank you to those who took a few minutes to let me know…that is how they are suppose to  turn out!! Yay!…a hidden success! 🙂  You learn something new everyday!

Nectarine Upside-down Chiffon Cake

This first recipe for the month was fun!  Once again, I found myself “needing” to buy a new cooking item…no springform pans here and thank goodness I did because boy did this puff up while baking.  If you would like to try baking this cake check out our host blogs: The Double Trouble Kitchen and The Little French Bakery.

The recipe gives the option of using apples, pears, or apricots for this versatile cake.  The family voted and decided on an apple version.  Basically this cake has 4 different steps…nothing really too difficult but not a cake you throw together quickly.

First step: The topping-brown sugar and butter with apples arranged on top.

Second Step: The Streusel-using a food processor, pulse oats, butter, brown sugar, almonds, and spices and then bake.

Third Step: The cake batter-done in two steps…the yolk mixture and the whites mixture and fold together.

Fourth Step: Baking the cake-layering cake mixture with the streusel.

The cake is suppose to cook for 45-50 min…checked mine at 45, 50, and then at 55 could finally get a clean toothpick.  Looked so good when I took it out of the oven…look how this thing baked up. 🙂

Have to admit I was feeling pretty good about this cake…looks good, smells good…just need to wait the 25 min before inverting it….this is what I came back to…………….

UGGHHH 😦  so disappointed!  Still not entirely sure what happened other than the top of the cake stuck to the top of the pan and couldn’t slide back down when it deflated a bit.  Anyway, I figured it would still taste good but knew it wasn’t going to look the prettiest.

I have to say the lack of a pretty side crust didn’t stop my tasting crew from loving this cake!  My family and parents were encouraged to be totally honest about this one because I wasn’t sure I would invest the time it took again if it wasn’t fantastic…they LOVED it…I was still getting texts the next few days about how great even the leftovers where…good to know it was worth the time…its a keeper! 🙂