This week: The Staff of Life!
Please post your bread-baking recipes, tips and musings. I would especially like a good dinner roll recipe. My Grandmother made perfect ones; she’d knock them out like it was nothing, early on Sunday mornings while everyone else was still asleep.
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send a private message.)
-JT
Hi, JT!
I have a recipe for biscuits (too easy) from the 1950 Magic Chef Recipe (my mom’s book) and I’ll look in my James Beard on Baking - positively the best and simplest baking book ever written. Eat your heart out Julia and Martha!
I was always a lousy bread, biscuit and pie dough maker but recently picked up some tips on the net.
Measuring flour: Always used to just scoop that measuring cup into the bag, now spoon the flour into the measuring cup and flatten off the top with a knife, etc. ...what a texture difference!(one of these days I’ll buy a scale and do it right)
Pie Crust/Biscuits: I take frozen butter and grate it, throw it in frozen...I usually use a food processor for crust.... a couple of whirls and it’s good to go. But this works manually too.
Actually, I’ll grate the butter in the food processor if I’m making a lot, throw it in a bowl in the freezer while I’m getting everything else ready.
I know this isn’t exactly the kind of bread recipe you’re talking about, but I ran across it a couple weeks ago and tried it. It was a big hit with my guys.
Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread
http://www.recipetineats.com/cheese-garlic-crack-bread-pull-apart-bread/
Incidentally, she’s also got a really good list of 20 different homemade salad dressings.
Here’s a nice dinner roll to go with an Italian meal. They look fancier than they really are - they are easy to make.
Italian Garlic Knots
Dough:
3/4 cup warm water (105°F-115°F)
1 package (2 teaspoons) of active dry yeast (check the expiration date on the package)
1 3/4 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose but bread flour will give you a crisper crust)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Garlic-Butter Coating:
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 Sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir to combine and let sit for another 5-10 minutes, until it begins to froth a bit.
2 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the olive oil, then the yeast-water mixture. Mix this together to form a soft dough and knead for 5-10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and lightly coat with olive oil. Put it in a large bowl, top the bowl with plastic wrap and set it at room temperature to rise.
3 When the dough has doubled in size, anywhere from 90 minutes to several hours, cut it in half. Set out a large baking sheet and line it with a silpat or parchment paper. Take one half of the dough and cut it in half. Working with one piece at a time, flatten into a rough rectangle about 5 inches long 1/2 inch thick.
4 Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into strips of about 1 inch wide by 5 inches long. Cut these strips in half. Take one piece and work it into a snake, then tie it in a knot. The dough will be sticky along the cut edges, so dust these with flour before you tie the knot. Set each knot down on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough. Remember that the dough will rise, so leave some space between each knot.
5 Once all the knots are tied, paint them with a little olive oil. Loosely cover them with plastic wrap and let them rise again until doubled in size, anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours or so. Toward the end of this rising period, preheat the oven to 400°.
6 Uncover the knots and bake in the oven 12-15 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.
7 Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pot and cook the garlic gently in it just long enough to take off that raw garlic edge, about 1-2 minutes over medium-low heat. Add the salt and parsley and stir to combine. Turn off the heat.
8 When the knots are done, take out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Paint with the garlic-butter-parsley mixture and serve.
It's easy.
/johnny
I haven’t had a chance to come to the party for a couple of weeks. I have some recipes for those threads, that I might get around to posting some day. LOL
Here’s a quick bread that we always like to make - uses 1 lb coffee cans, but I’ve used loaf pans and it was good too.
COFFEE CAN BREAD
4 c flour
1 pkg yeast
1/2 c water
1/2 c oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 C Milk
1/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1. Combine 1 1/2 c flour with yeast.
2. Combine next 3 ingredients and heat till warm.
3. Add warm liquid to flour/yeast mixture and beat till smooth.
4. Stir in eggs and rest of flour.
5. Beat well till smooth and elastic.
6. Spoon into greased 1 lb coffee cans (use 2 cans)
7. Cover with plastic lid and let rise in warm area for approximately 35 min.
8. Dough should rise almost to the top. Remove lid and bake @ 325 degrees for 35 min. Let cool till bread turns loose from sides. Turn out and slice.
When I cook in loaf pans, I brush salted butter on top, and sometimes I add rosemary, thyme, and garlic to the butter too.
Speaking of bread and life, here’s a sweet little story about a lady who loves cooking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
For those so inclined, there are web site communities whereby one can keep their own creations to share on line, as well as collect recipes from other sites. No longer the ‘only game in town’ Blogger and a number of other multi-interest sites are slowly being emerged into areas of particular interest. ‘KEEP RECIPES’ is one such site. http://keeprecipes.com/
Another suck site was found this week (sorry, unable to remember name at this time) The new avenues have the ability to show pics, actually be a part of a like-minded community. The net is ‘evolving’