Wonder bread

I decided to try my hand at some homemade bread this week and I don’t mean the kind the bread machine pops out for you. I mean the real-life, from scratch, the way it used to be done kind of yummy bread!

Taken from my hubby’s great-grandma’s recipe box, I tweaked the recipe to fit today’s day and time and here is what I came up with. The recipe looks a little difficult but if I can do it, I promise you can. Plus, your home ends up smelling divine and there is also some kind of sick self gratification that arises from saying you can make homemade bread…at least there was for me : )

Refrigerator Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 oz. packets of active dry yeast
• 1 cup of lukewarm water
• 2 cups of milk
• 2/3 cup of butter flavored shortening
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 4 tsp of salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 10 cups of bread flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.
2. Scald milk.
3. Melt shortening.
4. In a large bowl mix together yeast water, the scalded milk that has hopefully cooled to lukewarm by this point, the melted shortening, sugar and salt.
5. Add eggs to the mixture and beat well.
6. Add flour to make a soft dough and let stand for 10 minutes.
7. Knead your dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. I would happily show you how to knead dough, but since I can’t knead and take photos at the same time, you can go here (gotta love YouTube) to find out more.
8. Place in a greased bowl, greasing the top of the dough as well as the cover of the bowl. Store in the refrigerator.
9. Shape rolls about 1 - 2 hours before serving. To shape you have a number of different options; I chose to tackle two:
• Clover Leaf Rolls (I prefer this way simply because they are prettier – and I like pretty) -
  • lightly grease muffin pans
  • shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls
  • place 3 balls in each muffin cup …it’s obviously time for me to get new muffin tins, if for no other reason than it is highly embarrassing posting photos of them on here.
  • brush with melted butter
• Parker House Rolls -
  • on a lightly floured surface, roll dough into 1/4 inch thickness
  • cut with a 3-inch round cutter
  • brush tops with melted butter
  • crease each circle a little off center, folding around the dull end of a knife and lightly pressing together the ends
  • place on a lightly greased pan and brush again with melted butter
• ****after you have finished with either of these, you will then cover them and let them rise until doubled in size in a non drafty place that is around 85 degrees – I chose to let them rise in the oven.**** …it’s obviously time for me to clean my oven too. I hate cleaning the oven.
• ****When finished with your dough, punch down the unused portion, cover and return to fridge. This recipe should last you for days…unless your family is just as addicted to carbs as mine is : ) ****
10. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. 

To see what else I’ve been up to besides baking bread and not cleaning my oven, check out the house blog.