We always have the family over to our place for Thanksgiving. My Bride goes all out. She cooks a mean bird. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law bring stuff too.
My contribution is usually making a couple of loaves of homemade bread. It's good stuff. All the little kids tear it up. This year I decided to try something a little different. I wanted to make home made dinner rolls.
I searched on line for just the right recipe. Somehow, some way, I screwed it up. I have a pretty good idea where I went wrong. While they tasted pretty good, they never rose properly and turned out like little hockey pucks.
I remade them today and they turned out awesome. They were big and soft. I took a couple of liberties with the recipe today. That may have helped a little too.
I think what I did yesterday was killed the yeast. This recipe calls for 2 cups of warm milk, it might have been a little too warm.
Here is the recipe for the rolls I made...
Pillow Soft Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F to 115 degrees F)
2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
6 tablespoons shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
7 cups all-purpose flour
1.In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, eggs, sugar, salt and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
2.Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (dough will be sticky). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3.Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a roll. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.
When I made this again today, I changed the sugar to 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup. And instead of 6 tablespoons of shortening I used 6 tablespoons of butter. If you make this, be careful of the temperature of the milk and water...
The bread I usually make is awesome. Here is the recipe for it...
Amish White Bread
Ingredients
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour
1.In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2.Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3.Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
You don't have to mess with this recipe at all, it is perfect like it is. If you try either of these out, let me know what you think...
