I love baking.

I do I love experimenting and I love the results, usually :). I love watching things cook in the oven, I love playing with my kiddos and having them help me whip up something yummy.
Baking is something I do to relieve stress, for some reason it just makes me happy.
Today I decided I was in the mood to bake something ...So I made another batch of my homemade outback steak house bread....(not my personal recipe, I used google to find it)
oh and I do NOT use the food coloring



Outback Steakhouse Bushman Bread

3½ hours 3 hours prep

Dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
2 cups bread flour
1 2/3 cups wheat flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Coloring
1/4 cup water
75 drops red food coloring
45 drops blue food coloring
30 drops yellow food coloring
cornmeal, for dusting

Directions:

Combine the flours, cocoa, sugar, coffee and salt in large bowl. I get better results if i do this, even with the bread machine!

Make a depression or"well" in the middle of the dry mixture.

Pour the warm water into this"well," then add the butter, honey and yeast.

Combine the food coloring drops with ¼ cup of water and add that to the"well.

"Slowly mix the ingredients with a spoon, drawing the dry ingredients into the wet.

When you can handle the dough, begin to combine it by hand, kneading the dough thoroughly for at least ten minutes, until it is very smooth and has a consistent color.

Set the dough into a covered bowl in a warm place for an hour, to allow it to rise.

When the dough has risen to about double in size, punch it down and divide it into 8 even portions.

Form the portions into tubular shaped loaves about 8" long and 2" wide.

Sprinkle the entire surface of the loaves with cornmeal and place them on a cookie sheet, or two.

Cover the cookie sheet (s) with plastic wrap and let the dough rise once more for another hour in a warm location.

Preheat the oven to 350° degrees F.

Uncover the dough and bake it for 20-24 minutes in the hot oven.

Loaves should begin to darken slightly on top when done.

Serve warm with a sharp bread knife and butter on the side.

If you want whipped butter, like you get at the restaurant, just use an electric mixer on high speed to whip some butter until it's fluffy.

yummm This bread is soooo good, (this is my 4th time making it this week)

Then i decided I have all this wheat flour...why not make some graham crackers...
so found this recipe....
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Graham-Crackers/Detail.aspx
(btw i needed half a cup of milk, and i sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar before baking )
and here are the results....


these are wonderful, I will have a hard time ever buying graham crackers again...they will make an awesome morning snack for the boys at school with some peanut butter and applesauce... Yum :)