Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Amazing Sandwich Bread

Rosebud’s Butter-Topped White Bread

I love to make homemade bread, but so often it goes dry and crumbly quickly.  This recipe is for 2 loaves, and it is simple and light (lighter than the buns...ha!).  Who doesn't love homemade bread?  

I actually got this recipe off of Pinterest, and the link to the original recipe is here: Rosebud's Butter Topped Bread 

Ingredients
3/4 cup warm water
4 and 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast (or the equivalent of two packets)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon salt 
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces
2 and 2/3 cup additional warm water
9-10 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, for brushing the tops of the loaves
Additional butter/cooking spray, for greasing your rising bowl and loaf pans

Instructions
1. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, dissolve the yeast in 3/4 cup of warm water, about 5 minutes. *OR get ready to use your muscles! :o)
2. Add the sugar, salt, butter, additional 2 and 2/3 cup warm water, and mix gently to combine.
3.  Slowly add 5 cups of the flour, mixing on low speed until smooth.
4. With the mixer on its lowest speed (you don’t want flour everywhere…as I have discovered), slowly add the remaining flour until the dough is smooth.
5. Switch to your dough hook attachment and knead the dough for 10 minutes. ***Now, if you have a smaller mixer, I would recommend kneading the dough in two portions so as not to burn your motor out-this is a lot of dough.  Alternatively, you can knead all of the dough by hand.
6.  While the dough is kneading, lightly grease a large bowl with butter or cooking spray, as well as two loaf pans (I used 9″).
7.  Once the dough is ready, place the dough in the greased bowl and turn over to completely coat the dough with butter/cooking spray.  Cover, and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
8. After an hour, punch down the dough (best part ever!) and divide it into two portions.
9. Working with one portion at a time, roll (with a rolling pin) the dough out into roughly 9″ x 12″ rectangles, making sure that the thickness of the dough is uniform throughout.
10.  Slowly and tightly roll up each rectangle, sealing the edges firmly.
11.  Tuck the ends of the roll tightly under the bread and place into your prepared loaf pans.  Repeat with the second loaf.  Cover the loaves, set in a warm place, and let rise until doubled, about another hour.
12.  Place one rack on the lowest position in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
13. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes, then cover each loaf with aluminum foil to prevent the tops from browning too much.
14.  Once covered with foil, bake for an additional 15 minutes.
15. Remove the loaves from the oven, place on a wire rack to cool, and lightly brush the loaves with the melted butter.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese    (Paula Deans)


I found this recipe while doing a search for homemade mac and cheese for annual Roberts Christmas dinner.
It was a huge hit.

2 1/2  cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 eggs 
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:

1
Boil the macaroni in water for six minutes. Drain.
2
In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts.
3
In slow cooker, combine cheese mixture and add the eggs (I omitted the eggs), sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper. Add the drained macaroni and stir again.
4
Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I love homemade bread and rolls, but they take forever.  Yesterday I did a search for hamburger buns while I was on Pinterest, and the recipe for these came up.  The problem was that the page was in French!  I can still understand some of what I read in French, but I did need to have Google translate it for me.  Just for fun, I'm giving you the literal translation.

It is via Pinterest I came across this recipe for hamburger buns , I should rather call it "magic rolls." 

Usually, breads homemade burgers are much better than those of trade but tend to be heavier and more filling. As Mr. Sweets is not able to eat two hamburgers as he usually does.

This recipe is absolutely amazing, it takes no time to prepare because there is almost no lift and breads are light, fluffy and very good. 

I made some changes to the original recipe I used fresh yeast, I replaced the oil with butter and I let rise for 30 minutes instead of 10 ... to be sure!
Do not hesitate to make the full recipe, I'm not sure you have time to freeze.

breads For 12:

40 g fresh yeast or 2 tablespoons (30 ml ) active dry yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (280 ml) warm water
1/3 cup (80 g) butter, melted
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml ) salt
 3 to 3 and 1/2 cups (450 g to 525 g) flour

 Glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) milk


In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water.
Add the melted butter and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes.
Add egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let up.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape them into a ball. Put them on two lined baking sheets with parchment paper, leaving 3 inches (7.5 cm) space between them.
Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
Glaze with egg yolk mixed with milk.
Bake at 425 F (220 C) for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

For fun, go here to see it in French:

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Dirty Hoe Dessert

2 packages of oreos Cookies
1 1/2 Gallon of chocolate ice cream
1 larger box of any chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
1 container of whipped cream
1/2 cup of melted butter

Start by separating all the oreos from the cream inside, once you have done this place the cookies in a large ziplock bag and discard the centers. Take a rolling pin and crush cookies to a  fine crumble. 
set aside a 1/2 cup crumbles to be used as a garnish later. Combine crumbles and 1/2 cup of melted butter in a 9x13 pan mix well and continue to make a crust by spreading evenly in pan. I found that using a flat spatula sprayed with pam helps really well.to flatten it.  Put pan in freezer.
Mix pudding according to its directions in a large bowl with 2 cups of milk. now add 1/2 gallon of softened chocolate ice cream, mix until well blended. add to the top of crust in pan and freeze til hard.
when your ready to serve you spread  the container of whip cream evenly on top and sprinkle remaining oreos crumbs on top.
ENJOY!!!!!!!!