Home Bird: Our Baking Day

I friggin' love baking! It's my thing. I could bake all day and night. I am slowly teaching myself the ins and outs of it, i am getting there though! Got my cookies down! Love me some cookies!

But saying all of that...i am on a diet. This doesn't mesh well with my baking. I know right! Crazy! How does sugar and butter mess up a weight loss diet!? Well let me tell you how! I have no filter...i will eat all those cookies and then bake some more. I haven't reached that low...yet, i felt myself getting there though. Moderation would do me some good. It's true, sugar and butter aren't the best for you, but you can treat yourself. My friend, Missy, taught me that. Missy is my muse...she has lost 52 pounds, and she still allows herself sweet goodness! What a champ! Myself and Missy will venture off to our fave bakery in Old Town Grapevine and get our cupcake & cakeball fix on! Patty Cakes is just the bees knees! I will show you them very soon...i plan on going there as a i am done with my Advocare Herbal Cleanse. I will take pictures and show you my fave cupcakes, they have cookies too...cookies that will blow your mind. Can't wait. It will be good!

So before taking you to Patty Cakes, i will take you into my kitchen with 2 of my wonderful friends Missy & Chrissy. Missy was my very first friend here and she means the world to me. I have no idea what i would do without this beautiful lady! She is my little rock! After meeting Missy i met her sister Chrissy! Chrissy is awesome! She is the funniest, always making me smile! If you are feeling blue, she will sing to you or put on her creepy manish voice. It makes me laugh every time i think about it! They are the sweetest and i am super lucky to know them...i am gushing. That happens.

So we have something in common...we like sweet treats and we like to eat them. Making them is fun too! I invited Missy & Chrissy over for a little baking cooking day the over weekend and it went pretty well! We get distracted and talk too much, but isn't that half the fun?

We made healthy (ish) treats though, this diet thing is getting tricky but i can totally handle it! After looking up some goodies on Joy The Baker i found some good lookin' whole wheat flat breads, then i found a mushroom curry on another website...i was on a roll! Then Chrissy wanted to make some Advocare Fiber Muffins! DONE! Lets do this i said!

I had never made bread before, active dry yeast frightens me. I buy my bread from the shops...easy! Making it is a whole other story! But we are brave! We can do this! We got it down!

Making the dough was super duper easy, all you need is;

3/4 cup warm water, about 95 degrees F
1 package (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons uncooked old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil

Step 1! All you have to do is whisk together 1/4 cup warm water, yeast and sugar, set aside for 5 minutes the mixture will grow and foam it's pretty cool! Missy and I were pretty amazed...this is how you know we have never done this before.

Step 2! Mix together the flour, oats, salt and pepper. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the yeast mixture. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of water (i had to add a few more tbs of water as my mixture was quite dry). Mix the mixture together with a fork, until all of the flour bits are moist. Take the mixture out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to bring together the dough.

Step 3! Coat the bowl with a tsp of olive oil and place dough ball in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Dough will double in size. It is pretty impressive!

Step 4! When dough has risen, place it onto a floured surface and knead for a few seconds. Use a knife to cut the dough in half, then cut each half into six equal pieces. I found my dough to dry when doing this so make sure you have added enough water so it it moist enough! But not too much...you don't want it all sticky! Then heat a non stick pan over medium heat.

Step 5! On a lightly floured surface, roll out each dough piece into a roughly 4 to 5-inch circle. Place dough round in the ungreased, hot pan. Cook on one side for 1 to 2 minutes, until browned on the bottom and slightly puffed. Flip and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm with a spread of your choice! We chose Nutella (nom), Peanut Butter and Honey...getting all our goodness right there! Mmm Mmmm! So good! They reminded me of mini pita breads, i will be making these again for sure!