Tips for working with yeast dough

I've had many failures when it comes to baking yeast-based (and wheat flour) items! Over the years, here are some tips I've found to be helpful:

1) Ensure the yeast is fresh!
When you start a dough recipe, use warm water (not hot) and stir in yeast granules. Within a few minutes, they should become foamy. If they don't become foamy within about 10 minutes, toss it and buy fresh yeast before starting again.

2) Mix it, mix it real good.
I've been reading recently about how long a person should actually mix the dough. I used to mix until all of the ingredients were thoroughly combined, but I've been experimenting with mixing the dough for extended periods of time, like 10+ minutes. This is supposed to help with gluten development. If you're geeky like me, look into the "window pane" technique. The dough will be very smooth, will not be sticking to the sides of the bowl, but remains soft.

3) Warm is best!
Start with warm water and find a warm place for the dough to rise. My Kitchen Aid mixing bowl fits nicely into my microwave, so as I mix the dough, I heat up a mug of water to create steam inside the microwave. I put my mixing bowl, uncovered, into the nuker beside the steamy water, and set the timer for 45 minutes. At that point, I take the dough out, heat up the water again, and let the dough rise for another 15 minutes.

Also, when I make buns, I place oven-safe bowls full of steaming water in the bottom of the oven. This creates another warm, steamy area for the buns to rise for the second rising.

4) Give it time!
Don't rush! Take the time to let the yeast do its thing. Mix and knead thoroughly. Give it time to rise and if one hour isn't enough (assuming the yeast you used is fresh and active), give it another 30 minutes. Don't rush the second rise. Give the buns plenty of time to get fluffy. And take the buns out of the oven before preheating the oven!

Thai Curry Chicken

Updated December 16, 2019: This is no longer on Pinterest! I am very relieved to have made a copy! This is one of my most often used recipes.

A Pinterest keeper! This is a delicious meal with both chicken or shrimp. I'm posting it here with my own personal changes, originally found on the Susannah's Kitchen blog.

There are two ways to do this, one quick, one slow. The quick version includes either pre-cooked chicken or shrimp; the slow version includes cooking the meat.

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp red Thai curry paste
1/2 large yellow onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 x 13.5oz can coconut milk

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 cup fresh green beans or sliced carrots

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 small deli-roasted chicken, warmed, cut up

1/2 lime, freshly squeezed

Fresh Thai basil *

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the red Thai curry paste. Stir for a minute to release the curry's aromas, then add the garlic and onion. When they're translucent, add the coconut milk and brown sugar. Stir to combine.

Add the bell pepper and green beans or carrots. Cook vegetables on low until al dente, stirring occasionally. Add the warm roasted chicken or precooked shrimp and fresh lime juice right before serving. 

Garnish with basil and serve with Jasmine rice.

Serves 2-4.

Notes:

*Google tells me that if Thai basil isn't available, a small piece of star aniseed works. I like to combine the sauce ingredients and let it simmer with the aniseed in it to really blend the flavours.

Nutella Cookie Balls

I actually have Nutella in the house so I'm trying to find the "perfect" experimental recipe. I want to try a variation on the peanut butter cookie balls recipe we all love.

1 cup dry oatmeal

2/3 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional)
2 Tbsp melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1" in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to one week.

Makes 20-25 pieces.

Notes:
I usually roll the peanut butter balls but these I had to kinda squeeze and press into shape.