Thanksgiving Culinary Attempts...

I tried a few new recipes for our family Thanksgiving. Being the youngest and potentially most irresponsible I am not yet charged with the important stuff like turkey, or, well, anything requiring cooking. When asked what I, as a new bride and officially "grown up member" of the family should bring, my sweet momma thought for a second then graciously asked if I could bring bread.  Bread.  "Just whatever you can get at the store would be great!"  Being the Home Economics major and Martha wannabe that I am, I decided to prove my awesomeness by making the bread myself.  


Part I: Recipe Selection
I actually have a pretty awesome basic French bread recipe I make when I'm feeling especially culinary and actually have time to be culinary.  It turns out as expected about 8 times out of 10.  Because I am not smart and have not learned from the age old adage that you never try a new recipe on guests- I decided to tweak the recipe by substituting three cups of white wheat flour for regular flour (so that meant three cups white wheat and four cups regular flour). The recipe for the awesome French bread is found here: http://www.grouprecipes.com/77888/kitchenaid-french-bread.html 

I bought like 20 pounds of cranberries a few days ago so decided to include them in the baking in some form or fashion.  Since cranberry French bread hasn't caught on just yet, I decided to go with cranberry white chocolate muffins. http://busycooks.about.com/od/muffinrecipes/r/cranberrymuffin.htm


Part II: Recipe Execution.  
Also, because I am not smart, I didn't count carefully while measuring in said cups of flour and probably added a cup too much.  Needless to say, the bread didn't quite rise right, didn't roll out quite right, didn't stay together quite right, and didn't taste quite right.  Pretty sure it was the combo of too much wheat flour and, well, too much flour in general.  I don't want to talk about it.
The cranberry white chocolate muffins were the balm to my injured pride.  I substituted a cup of yogurt for the sour cream the recipe called for (my attempt at healthy baking).  The fresh cranberries were WONDERFUL...they lost the eye opening tartness with the baking and were a pleasant counterpart to the sweet white chocolate.  The crumb topping ended up as brown sugar glaze as I forgot to mix in the flour before spooning it over the top.  (Probably because I had used the all the flour in the bread).  Surprisingly, that was a nice addition...making it a slightly crisp, crunchy muffin top.  

Part III: The Review.
The muffins went fast.  Yay for new muffin recipes!  The bread, uh, lingered.  My mom and dad dutifully ate it through the weekend with smiles and compliments but I know the truth.  Next year I'll probably buy Sister Schuberts rolls and call it a day.  


Hope your Thanksgiving was as lovely as mine!  Graham and I have started a strict no sweets, three mornings at the gym regimen as a result but it was totally worth it.  


Can't wait to hear about your Thanksgiving too!