Dinner Rolls for Christmas Eve

Our amazing dinner rolls for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner came from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible. Here are the ingredients:

1 T active dry yeast
1 tiny whisk dipped in honey
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup warm buttermilk
2 T honey
grated zest of one lemon
4 T unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
2 tsp salt
4 - 4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

Soften the yeast in warm water. Stir it into the warm water with a tiny whisk dipped in honey.

Heat the buttermilk to warm. Add the sugar (the original recipe calls for sugar; I use honey), the lemon zest, the butter, melted, the egg, and the salt.

Add some flour and the yeast and beat well. Then gradually (1/2 cup at a time) add the rest of the flour.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a greased bowl to rise until doubled.

I baked these rolls in two greased cake pans. I always melt about a half a stick of butter.



Punch the dough down gently. Divide it in half (1/2 for each cake pan). Then divide each half into 9 equal portions. Shape each into a ball. Dip the ball in the melted butter and put it into the cake pan.

Preheat the oven to 375. When the rolls have risen, place in the center of the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. Turn out of the pans and serve.

Canadian Buttermilk Honey Rolls

Today I was supposed to bake Reinhart's white bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. All of his breads call for instant yeast and I always use active dry yeast, so I'm doing his white bread (Version 2) tomorrow after I purchase some instant yeast!

In the meantime my beekeeper's club has its annual picnic and auction on Sunday. I promised to bring some baked goods to auction in addition to some bigger items that I've donated. I always try to make something that has honey in it. Tonight I baked Canadian Buttermilk Honey Rolls - they are absolutely luscious - I've made them many times.

The recipe is from the Book of Bread by Judith and Evan Jones. It's only available used, so I'm giving you the ingredients.

2 cups buttermilk
1 T active dry yeast
2 T honey
2 tsp coarse salt
2 T butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 - 5 cups white flour, unbleached.

Interestingly, you get the buttermilk to a lukewarm temperature and soften the yeast in 1/3 of it.



The butter, salt and honey are stirred into the rest of the warm buttermilk. Then you add the soda. Soda is usually added to baked goods with sour cream, buttermilk or sourdough to do the chemical process to allow the bread to brown.

When you've mixed all that together, you begin to add the flour, a cup at a time. I ended with the dough hook and finished kneading on the counter. You press the dough into a flattened shape, about 3/4 inch thick.

I then do what my mother always does to rolls. I cut them out with a biscuit cutter and dip each roll in melted butter before putting it into a cake pan to rise. I love the soft sides of rolls baked this way, rather than sitting individually on a cookie sheet.

These rolls only rise once - in the pan. This means the recipe can be done start to finish in 1 1/2 hours.


They bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Here are the finished rolls. I'll package them in Ziploc baggies and offer each dozen as a separate item at the beekeeper's auction.
I kept the small pan of rolls for me at home.

Making Homemade Bagels

I've always wanted to make bagels and decided to try it today. I got the recipe from Martha Schulman's Great Breads.

Here it is:

• 2 T active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 T honey or malt extract
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 - 1 cup unbleached white flour
  

The boiling part of the bagel is done in 2 1/2 quarts water with 1 T malt extract stirred into it

Toppings can be anything. Use an egg wash (1 egg white mixed with 1 T water) and then sprinkle on the topping. I used

• black sesame seeds,
  
• caraway seeds, and
  
• coarse salt to make four of each kind.
  

The dough is a typical yeast dough. Dissolve the yeast in warm water in mixing bowl. Stir in the honey or malt extract and let stand for about 10 minutes until creamy. Stir in 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour. Add salt to the remaining 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour and the 1/2 cup white flour. Using the dough hook, knead at low speed for 2 minutes and then at medium speed for 10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.

Start the 2 1/2 quarts of water and the malt extract to heat up so that it will be at a low boil when you need it.

Divide the risen dough into 12 equal parts, shape into balls and allow to rest for 5 minutes

Take each ball and poke a hole in it with your thumb. Widen the hole with your fingers until it is wider than you want it to be in the finished bagel. Put the bagels on a floured surface, cover with plastic or a towel and allow to rise for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 with one rack in the middle and the other in the upper third. I used my oven's convection baking.

With the water at a gentle boil, put the bagels one at a time with a slotted spoon into the simmering water. Do two or three bagels at a time. When they have boiled for 30 seconds on one side, turn over for 30 seconds on the other side. Carefully remove from the water and allow to drain on a towel as in the picture below. Repeat until all bagels are done.



Oil two baking sheets, sprinkle with cornmeal. Brush the bagels with the egg wash and sprinkle with your desired topping. Gently transfer to prepared baking sheets

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, switching the position of the sheets halfway through the baking and turning the bagels over after about 20 minutes. On convection, these were done at 23 minutes so they barely got to be turned over. Next time I'll turn them at the same time as I switch the sheets.

Cool on a rack when dark and shiny (done).

Orange Cinnamon Sweet Rolls

My youngest daughter is getting married in three weeks and I'll have people I need to feed breakfast to on Saturday, the day of the wedding. I've been trying to get ready ahead of time so I won't be frantic on the wedding weekend.

This weekend in preparation for the Saturday breakfast needs, I made orange cinnamon sweet rolls from epicurious.com

Here are the ingredients:
3 T warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup plus 1 tsp sugar (I used honey in place of the sugar).
5 - 5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T finely grated fresh orange zest
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup warm milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing bowl
4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes

Stir together warm water, yeast, and 1 tsp honey in bowl of mixer with paddle attachment and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. While yeast is proofing, whisk 4 cups flour with zest, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

Add milk, vanilla, butter, and remaining 1/2 cup honey to yeast and then mix at medium speed until combined. Beat in 3 of the eggs, one at a time and then add the orange cinnamon flour and mix until well combined.

Change to dough hook and mix at medium-low speed, adding more flour (1 - 1 1/2 cups) a little at a time, until you have a slightly sticky dough, but smooth, in about 5 minutes. Transfer dough to counter and knead by hand until smooth and elastic (about 3 minutes). Form dough into ball and transfer to large buttered bowl, turning dough to coat with butter.

Cover bowl with towel and let dough rise until doubled (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Turn dough out onto work surface and knead several times. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces. If I had done this, the rolls would have been enormous - I cut the dough into fourths, and then cut each fourth into four parts. I made the recipe twice, so I had 32 rolls when I was done.

Roll each roll into a smooth ball, rolling between your hands or on the counter. Arrange balls about 1 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet on a 17X14 inch cookie sheet.

Cover with damp kitchen towel and allow to rise about 1 - 1 1/4 hours until doubled.

Whisk together remaining egg with 2 tsp water in a small bowl. Snip a 1 inch X in the top of each roll. Brush rolls lightly with egg wash and bake until golden (about 10 minutes for the size I made).



Here's the snip:



These rolls were good out of the oven but my oldest daughter said that she kept thinking they needed some kind of sugar coating. They call for serving with orange butter:
1 stick of salted butter and 1/3 cup orange marmalade pulsed in a food processor.

I went out into the kitchen and made up a honey glaze.

1/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
3 T honey

I painted this onto the rolls. They are beautiful and delicious. I put them in the freezer to stay for the three weeks until the wedding. I'll probably make the orange butter to serve with them, but they are delicious with the glaze.

Making Dough Bunnies and Turtles with Dylan

We made rabbits and turtles today and they were both cute and delicious!

Here's the recipe, adapted from a recipe in The Book of Bread by Judith and Evan Jones (now out of print - so no link to it).

• 1 T active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup local honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup light cream or milk (we used 1/8 cup half and half and 1/8 cup whole milk)
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 tsp grated orange peel (we grated a whole orange - and used all of it - a little more than 1 tsp)
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups white flour

Put yeast in a medium bowl with warm water and honey. When dissolved add eggs, vanilla, milk/cream, salt, butter and orange peel. Beat until mixed. Stir in 2 1/2 cups of flour. Switch to dough hook and knead both in the mixer and more on the counter - about 6 minutes or so, adding flour as needed.

Let rise as in picture below for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. As you know, doughs with eggs and sugar take longer to rise than other recipes.


Divide dough into four parts. Cut parts of the dough off for ears, tails, etc. We used the bench knife for that. Shape the creatures you want and put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. You may add raisins, pine nuts, whatever as eyes, noses, etc. Here's Dylan adding dried cherries for eyes to his turtles.


Allow the critters to rise again for about an hour or so. Then brush with an egg wash before putting into the oven. I also took a serrated sharp knife and cut a design in the turtle's "shell."


Note: You may need water to help glue the appendages to the body of the roll.

Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes. If you have thin extremities, you may need to cover them in foil as the baking proceeds.



These look cute and taste fabulous - the orange and the honey work well together to make a delicious roll/sculpture.

Parmesan Pull-aparts from Gourmet

Clearly I've been on a roll kick, inspired by Gourmet's issue this month. These are the only rolls that don't appear in the pictures in the magazine, but they sounded so good, I decided to try them sight unseen!

Here are the ingredients (which you can also find on Epicurious)

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp honey (I use the honey from my own beehives)
2/3 cup warm milk
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 T for sprinkling
1 1/4 cups grated (with a rasp) Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
5 T unsalted butter, cut into T pieces and softened
1 T water

• First you grate the cheese - lots of it.

• Stir together the yeast, honey, and 1/3 cup warm milk in mixer bowl and let stand until the yeast starts to foam.
  
• Whisk together the flour and the grated cheese and the salt (see picture above).
  
• Mix into the yeast mixture along with the remaining 1/3 cup milk at low speed.
  
• Increase the speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each.
  
• Beat well, about 3 minutes until a soft dough forms.
• Beat in the butter, one T at a time, until the dough is elastic, about 2 minutes - this is where I had trouble. The butter just didn't want to beat in. I changed to the dough hook, but that made it more difficult - see the picture below. I ended up going back to the paddle, which was what Gourmet recommended, but it was difficult because the dough was solid and in the shape at which I usually use the hook. The butter mixing was very difficult.
• Put the dough in a greased bowl, sprinkle it with the remaining 2 T flour, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
  

• When the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a floured surface and cut it into 12 equal pieces.
  
• Roll each into a ball.
  
• Arrange the rolls in a buttered 9X2 inch round cake pan and cover with a non-terry kitchen towel.
  
• Allow to double - 1 - 1 1/4 hours.

• Preheat oven to 375 with rack in the middle.
  
• Whisk together the remaining egg with 1 T water and brush over the tops of the rolls.
  
• Bake until golden brown - 20 - 25 minutes.
  
• Loosen edges of rolls from pan with sharp knife (this is to take care of cooked egg gluing it to the edges of the pan).
  
• Invert rolls onto a rack, reinvert and cool for 20 minutes.

These are DELICIOUS - well worth the frustration with the butter mixing in (or not, as the case may be).

Gourmet's Rye Walnut Rolls

Today I made Gourmet's Rye Walnut Rolls in this month's magazine on page 87. I didn't follow the recipe exactly because at my house we were all out of eggs by the time I got finished and I couldn't do the egg wash at the end. We also didn't have any onions (tomorrow is grocery day) so I used the lone shallot - a rather large one - that I had.

Regardless, my family loved them.

Here's the recipe:

1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup) (I used a large shallot)
1 T salt, divided
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups whole milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 T honey
5 1/2 cups all purpost flour
1 cup rye flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 large egg beaten with 1 T water for egg wash (didn't have this)
1/4 cup nigella or poppy seeds (didn't have this either so tried black sesame seeds - which I did have!)

• Line baking sheets with parchment paper ( I didn't have any so I sprayed Pam on the baking sheets! - I was out of everything.)
• Cook onion with 1/4 tsp salt in oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat until softened - 4 to 5 minutes
• Drain onions in a sieve over a bowl, reserving the oinons.
• Stir milk into the onion oil in the bowl
• Stir yeast, warm water and honey in large bowl and allow to start to ferment
• Mix flours, pepper, milk mxture and the remaining 2 3/4 tsp salt into yeast mixture until soft dough forms
• Knead the dough until elastic and smooth (about 6 minutes).
• Pat dough into a 9 inch square and sprinkle with onions and walnuts (see picture below)
  

(note: the little hands belong to my grandson and chief kneader who helped me)

• Fold dough over to enclose filling and pinch edges to seal
• Knead to distribute the walnuts and onions for about two minutes.
  
• If anything peeks out (see below) just push it back in.
  

• Allow dough to rise until doubled
• Halve the dough and cover one half with plastic. Roll the other half into a 12 inch log and cut it into 12 pieces.
  

• Roll each piece into a ball and place it on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart
• Allow to rise, covered with a non-terry kitchen towel for about another hour
  

• Preheat oven to 375 and brush each roll with egg wash. Sprinkle seeds on the rolls (I used olive oil but the seeds didn't really stick. You can see how they looked at the end in the first picture).
• Bake 20 - 25 minutes and cool 20 minutes before eating

These smelled scrumptious while baking and turned out great - thanks, Gourmet, for focusing on rolls this month. Here's the third good recipe so far.

Fantail Rolls - Part Two

Although I used a pizza wheel to cut the strips, I used a bread knife to cut the stacked strips into six rolls.
Then you turn the strip stack on its side and put each one in a muffin cup.



After you've done the first six, then you make the second half of the dough into six rolls.

Here they all are - I've fooled with this picture and can't get it to rotate to the right perspective without changing the rotation on all the others in this post - forgive its sideways orientation! The recipe says to fan the rolls out in the muffin cups before rising.



These rise again covered with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Bake the rolls in a 375 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes. Then brush the tops with the remaining 2 T of butter and cool at least 20 minutes.

Well, these rolls taste great - I love the sour taste that goes with cooking with buttermilk or sourdough starter - but they fell apart. I don't know if I were too generous with the butter before cutting the dough into strips. However, my best guess is that you shouldn't separate the stacks fan-like when you put them into the muffin pans. The rolls that stayed together were not fanned before rising.

That's what I'd do if I were to make them again! On the cover of Gourmet, they show the rolls mostly on their sides - I think if they stood theirs up, they would fall apart too!

Buttermilk Fantails - Part One

In this month's roll feature in Gourmet, I also made the buttermilk fantail rolls on pg. 86. This was an interesting recipe to try.

Here are the ingredients:

1 stick plus 2 T unsalted butter, melted, divided
2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 T honey
3 cups all purpose flour (I used bread flour)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Butter muffin cups (12) with 1 T melted butter.
Stir together the yeast, warm water and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy about 5 minutes - if this doesn't happen start over with new yeast. (Again, as a beekeeper, it pleases me to find recipes that include honey.)
Mix flour, salt, buttermilk and 6 T melted butter into yeast mixture until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto well-floured surface and knead (I used the dough hook on my mixer) for 6 - 8 minutes
Put dough in large oiled bowl to rise, covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel - takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Turn out dough and halve it. Cover the half you are not using with plastic wrap.

Roll dough out with a rolling pin into a 12 inch square about 1/8 inch thick. Brush dough with 1/2 T butter.


Cut dough into 6 strips - as you can see, I used a pizza wheel.



Mine weren't exactly equal, but it worked out anyway.


Stack the six strips, buttered side up, one on top of the other.



Continued on next post.

Cornstalk Rolls from Gourmet Feb '09

This month's Gourmet features rolls on the cover - lots and lots of rolls. Yesterday I baked two of the recipes. This recipe is for the Crusty Cornstalk Rolls on pg 86 of Gourmet.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 T stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided (I used white stone-ground corn meal)
  

and a spray bottle filled with water.

Stir together the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy.
Note: I am a beekeeper and am partial to recipes that specify honey as an ingredient!)

Mix together flour, salt, 1/2 cup cornmeal, and remaining cup of warm water. (I messed up and put all of the warm water for the yeast to soften in and it didn't make a difference in these delicious rolls)

I mixed mine in the mixer, changing to a dough hook pretty much right away.

Continue to knead on the counter.

Put dough in oiled bowl to rise (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours) until doubled.

Turn out dough and gently roll into a 12 inch long log. Sprinkle a baking sheet with the remaining 2 T cornmeal and put dough diagonally in the center. Alternating sides, make 3 inch long diagonal cuts with kitchen shears. Gently pull apart cuts to stretch dough, forming rolls that remain connected to the central stalk. Allow to rise, covered with a kitchen towel (not terry) for about another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 with rack in the middle. Spray rolls with water, then bake, spraying into oven 3 times in the first 5 minutes of baking. Bake until golden - about 20 minutes.



We had these with spaghetti on Saturday night. I reheated the rolls on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for about 7 minutes.



Delicious - had a baguette like feel to them and even a little sour taste - don't know why since there's no starter or buttermilk involved?