"Rising" to the occasion

With this pandemic happening and so many people now at home it seems that many are trying their hand at making homemade bread.  I grew up learning how to make bread with my grandmother and have always enjoyed the process.  I find kneading bread to be calming.  Over the years I have gone through seasons of making our own bread and then other times when life was just too hectic I bought our bread.

With six kids now; two being teenagers and two being tweens, I have gone back to baking all our bread.  I thought I would share three of our favorite recipes for breads.  The first is the basic white bread recipe that I make every week, second is the cinnamon roll recipe that is a favorite, and the third recipe is for quick dinner rolls that bake up fast and taste delicious.  I'll post the changes I make under each recipe link.

One last note: if you are just starting to bake with yeast it's important to make sure your water isn't too hot or else you will kill the yeast.  Also, regardless of what the recipe says I always mix my yeast with the warm water and sugar first to let it bloom; this let's me know that the yeast is still alive and that I didn't kill it.  I have skipped this step in the past (some recipes call for just adding the yeast directly to the flour) and have had to throw out a whole batch of dough because of expired/killed yeast.  I'd rather take the extra small step and be sure. :)

 Basic White Bread:
https://premeditatedleftovers.com/recipes-cooking-tips/basic-white-bread-recipe/

Changes I make:
- double the recipe
- only use 1 tablespoon of yeast
- do NOT double the salt
- use all-purpose flour
- I also mix all the water, yeast and sugar together, once the yeast blooms I just add it all to the flour, salt, oil mixture.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls:

OVERNIGHT CINNAMON ROLLS

¼ C warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 pkg yeast

2 C warm milk

¾ C sugar

½ C oil

1 ½ tsp salt

6-7 C flour

Filling:

¼ C sugar

½ C brown sugar

1-2 TB cinnamon

Butter, softened (enough to spread liberally on rolled out dough)

Pecans (optional)

Raisins (optional)

Icing:

½ - 1 cup powdered sugar

Milk (enough to reach desired consistency)

Mix the first 3 ingredients, let stand 10 minutes.

Mix next 5 ingredients together while the first mixture is resting.

Combine the two mixtures and mix well; knead a few times.

Cover, let stand approximately 3 ½ hours.

Roll out dough to approximately 24 inches by 12 inches and spread liberally with butter.

Combine filling sugars & spice. Sprinkle generously onto buttered dough.

Sprinkle dough with pecans & raisins if desired.

Roll up dough starting with long side.

Cut into 1-inch rounds and place in two greased 9 x 13 pans.

Cover, place in refrigerator to rise overnight.

In the morning, remove from refrigerator and uncover. Preheat oven to 350. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Cool a bit then add icing if desired.

Yield: 24 rolls

**These I make the rolls as the recipe is written; I often omit the icing...they are good either way**

30- Minute Dinner Rolls:

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/30-minute-dinner-rolls-recipe/

Changes I make:

- Divide these into 15 rolls since they make really big rolls with just 12

- Also use this recipe for quick burger buns by shaping them a bit flatter and baking on a cookie sheet.

- Cook them for longer usually 15-20 minutes rather than the 10 minutes; just watch for browning on the bottoms.