Searching for that perfect cornbread.

I admit – having an iPad in the kitchen is wonderful. It is so handy for finding ideas and recipes.  And having thousands of recipes available through the Internet is a great way to find recipes that are new and even some that give us a new twist on our favorites. Google is your kitchen friend!  I Googled “cornbread recipe” and received “about” 1,100,000 hits in less than two-tenths of a second.  Now THAT is too many for me — so what’s next?

Where does one go for perfect cornbread?  How about Sturdiwheat? Oh – you thought that Sturdiwheat only had dynamite pancakes and awesome bread? Look behind Door Three!  This cornbread is excellent.  Moist.  Flavorful.  And as always, Sturdiwheat has made your kitchen an easier and more pleasant place to be.

With Sturdiwheat, of course, you can always just add water (and in this case some melted butter) and that’s it.  Or – you can try some new tricks of your own.  This time I used the Lemon Corn Bread.  And added some frozen blueberries.

Follow the simple instructions on the package.  When the batter is ready, spoon half of it into the bottom of the 8″ x 8″ pan.  Sprinkle a cup of fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries on the batter.  Top with the remaining batter.  Baking may take an additional 5 minutes because of the moisture in the blueberries.  The cornbread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

The light lemon flavor and the blueberries combine for an excellent result. Use it for brunch, for breakfast, for a mid-day snack, or for an addition to an appetizer table.  It didn’t stay around for long.  Color this Lemon-Blueberry Cornbread GONE!

Enjoy.

Sturdiwheat.  As always – Putting a smile on your kitchen time.

What can’t one do with this Sturdiwheat Baguette mix?

This takes a bit longer than the regular Sturdiwheat mix, but it is sooooooo worth it.

To start, dissolve yeast packet contents in 2.25 C warm water.  Add 1.5 C of the mix and stir until smooth.  Cover and let this sponge cure for up to 24 hours. If cured in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature for 1 hour before using.

When the sponge is ready, add the remaining contents of the Sturdiwheat bag to the sponge and mix thoroughly until smooth.  The dough will be wet and very pliable.  This is OK.  This is a wet dough.

Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly coated with olive oil or nonstick spray.  (When working with this dough, put a bit of olive oil on your hands to prevent sticking.) Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Drizzle some olive oil in a 9 x 13″ pan, smear your hands in it and coat the sides of the pan.  Press the dough evenly into the pan. (It will go into the corners with the rise.) Cover and let rise until doubled – about an hour.  It is important to let this rise fully before putting it in the oven because of the high temperature and fast baking time.  There is not much time in the oven for the focaccia to rise.

Before baking, top the focaccia with any number of goodies.  I like rosemary.  If you use fresh rosemary, blanch it quickly so it retains its color during baking.  I also like sautéed onion and sweet peppers.  To prepare them, slice onion and peppers thinly and sauté in a bit of olive oil until they are softened.  Or leave it plain!  It is great any way you bake it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

When the focaccia is ready to bake, brush the top somewhat generously with olive oil.  Sprinkle your favorite topping and then press your fingers or a wooden spoon into the top to make indentations in the bread.  Not too many.  This will give that authentic appearance.  You may be pressing some of the topping into the bread, and this is OK. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt (if you have it) or table salt.

Bake until golden brown and the sides pull away a bit from the pan.  25-30 minutes.  Transfer the bread to a cooling rack.

Especially, enjoy the compliments.  It tastes as good as it looks! I love trying new things with this Sturdiwheat mix.  Go ahead.  Be creative.  Enjoy!

Sturdiwheat – Making you look good! Always!

Natural and Healthy!

Sturdiwheat Focaccia / Snack Bread Mix is a wonderfully surprising and pleasant change from what we often consider Focaccia.  It is filled with healthy grains and steps up a BLT and other sandwiches beautifully. It has a great robust earthy flavor from the grains and you can truly taste this bread – whether it is on a delicate veggie sandwich on a mighty sandwich with intense meaty and flavorful fillings.

As an appetizer bread with cheeses it is a special treat for your guests – or even just for you and yours while waiting for dinner in the evening – or for a snack whenever!

For this baking session I added fresh rosemary to the top.  As you can see, it looks delicious and tastes equally as nice!  Use the package instructions – just be sure you let it rise in the pan before baking.  About an hour is good until it doubles in size.  You do want to let it rise in the pan because with the thinness of the bread, it doesn’t get a long time in the oven to rise.

I will report on my next experiment with some other toppings.  I am expecting similar results.

Oh – I used a pizza pan from a local take it/bake it outlet (pizza came in it and I just re-used it), and it made a great undercrust on this bread.  But you can use any metal pan.

This is such a great bread.  And Sturdiwheat, as always, is making your life in the kitchen easier.  Enjoy!

A new twist on Sturdiwheat Cornbread Mix.

This Cornbread Mix is so easy.

Measure water and melted butter.

Mix.

Into the pan.  Into the oven.

Enjoy

And it comes out of the pan without even greasing the pan.

When putting the batter into the pan, put 1/2 on the batter in – - sprinkle with a cup of  blueberries – - cover with the rest of the batter.  YUM!

I used frozen blueberries from last summer and they worked perfectly.

Sturdiwheat Cornbread Mix.  Making your life easier.

Thank you to all who entered the Sturdiwheat Hot Cereal Recipe Contest.  We had so many wonderful entries that we ended up with a tie!  Each winner received $100 and the recipes are below for everyone to enjoy.

Roast Pork Loin with McIntosh Sturdiwheat Stuffing

Recipe submitted by:  Mary Leverette from Columbia, South Carolina

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ cup Sturdiwheat Original Cereal

¼ cup onion, finely diced

1 egg

1 McIntosh apple, peeled and diced (or any tart apple)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2-pound pork loin

Sauce

¼ cup shallots, finely diced

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix breadcrumbs, Sturdiwheat cereal, onion, egg, apple and salt and pepper. Open out pork loin or create a pocket and wrap around the filling. Tie in several places. Place on a small rack in a large seasoned skillet and roast for about 20-30 min. When the roast reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees F., remove loin to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.  Prepare sauce by removing roasting rack and adding butter to the drippings in the skillet, sauté shallots, scraping up any brown bits for about 30 seconds. Add red wine and salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to reduce to ½ of volume. Slice pork loin and serve with sauce.  Serves 3-4.

Lemon  Orange Streusel  Bars 

Recipe submitted by:  Lenore Adams from Red Wing, MN

Crust  and  Streusel:

  1  cup ( 2 sticks ) unsalted  butter—softened

  1 1/2  cups  firmly  packed  brown  sugar

  1 1/2  cups  Sturdiwheat  cereal

  2  cups  rolled  oats

  1  cup  flour

  2  teaspoons  baking  powder

  1  teaspoon  salt 

Filling:

  1  14 ounce  can  SWEETENED  CONDENSED  MILK

  1/4  cup  fresh  lemon  juice  and   2  teaspoons  grated  lemon  peel

  1/4  cup  fresh  orange  juice  and  2  teaspoons  grated  orange  peel

Preheat  oven  to 350*  degrees

 Crust  and  streusel==Beat  together  butter  and  sugars  until  creamy.   Combine  cereal,  flour,  oats,  baking  powder,  and  salt.  Add  to  creamed  mixture.  Mix  until  crumbly.  Reserve  two  cups  for  the   streusel   topping  and  set  aside.  Press  remaining  mixture  onto  the  bottom  of  an  ungreased  13×9  inch  baking  pan.

 In  medium  bowl,  combine  filling  ingredients  and  mix  well.  Pour  filling  over  the  crust  and  spread  evenly.  Sprinkle  with  the  reserved  two  cups  streusel  mix  and  pat  down  gently.

 Bake  35 to  45  minutes  until  light  golden  brown.  Cool  completely.  Cut  into  bars.  Store  tightly  covered.      Makes  about  2 1/2  dozen  delicious  bars.

Versatile!  That’s Sturdiwheat Baguette Mix

Add some Rosemary and Voila!

This was a great success.  Add  a few tablespoons of chopped rosemary – This was with fresh rosemary – Don’t be shy about the spice.  Let it sing!  Add it at the same time the water is added. Crush the rosemary with a small bit of oil in a mortar and pestle if you have one to force the flavors.  If using dry rosemary, be sure to crush the spice.

Let is rise for up to 24 hours.  Punch down a couple of times during the rise.  The long rise isn’t necessary, but the flavor and texture improve with the longer rise.  Let the loaves rise for an hour or so after shaping the loaves.  Put a pan of  HOT water on the bottom shelf of the oven when preheating is started.  This moisture is so important for getting that wonderful artisan crust.

Slit the loaves across the top with a serrated knife or a scissors just before putting the loaves in the oven.  Also, spray the top well with water.  Spray twice more during baking.  This water also goes to giving you that beautiful crust.

Bake as directed on the package at 425 degrees –  but bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is a golden brown. A longer baking time is required because these loaves are thicker than the baguette loaves.

This bread turned out so beautifully.  The texture was exquisite.  The crust – Exceptional. Use this Baguette Mix in many ways.  Test it out!  Let us know what happens.

Enjoy this Rosemary Artisan Bread and the compliments you will be hearing!  And be sure to visit Sturdiwheat for this and other great mixes.

Add Wild Rice!  Sometimes Beautiful Things Happen!

Several days ago I was making some bread using Sturdiwheat baguette mix. Oh my, these baguettes are SO good! And easy. I had some leftover cooked wild rice and I added a cup of cooked wild rice when I mixed the bread. Let it rise overnight (as in the instructions) and Poof! This bread, in addition to being a great baguette is also versatile. Don’t pass up this simple mix at Sturdiwheat.com.

Jo from Illinois made the winning pizza.

Great job Jo!  Thank you to all to played and stay tuned for future contests. 

We will be announcing the winner of the Sturdiwheat Hot Cereal Contest in early March.  We had a lot of entries so we need a little more time to try them all.

Did you know Sturdiwheat bread mixes make great pizza crust?

Win $100!

Send us your favorite recipe using our hot cereal.  Your recipe could be as simple as your favorite additions to your morning hot cereal or as involved as a 7 layer cake! Anything goes and the winner will get $100 for their creation and their recipe will be posted on the Sturdiwheat blog for everyone to enjoy.

Good luck!

Entries must be submitted by 1/30/10.

Submit your recipe either by email to:
pancakes@sturdiwheat.com

or mail to:
Sturdiwheat Foods, Inc.
321 Main St.
Red Wing, MN 55066