Dinner Rolls

You all know that I am not good with baking or breads, but these were so easy and delicious. I had tried another roll recipe last week, but they turned out really crunch and dry. No bueno in this house. We like Bays Southern Bread's rolls - if you aren't from here then you have no clue what I am talking about, but this company makes the bread for Cracker Barrel. They have the best rolls, but I never have cash or time to go buy them. While these weren't sourdough, they were a good substitute.

Dinner Rolls

adapted from Allrecipes

Prep Time: 30 minutes, plus 2 hours rising time

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 16 rolls

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 pkg dry active yeast

Directions

Mix together water, milk and sugar in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer. Add the yeast and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Stir in the butter, egg and salt. Using the dough hook, begin by adding flour half a cup at a time until the dough is "cleaning" the sides. It will be slightly tacky, but not really sticky. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Punch the dough down and divide it into 16 balls (maybe the size of tangerines?).  Place them on a baking sheet (I greased mine with a little butter), cover with a towel and let them rise another hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes. When they start to turn slightly golden brown, I brush mine with a little butter. You could also do an egg wash. 

Enjoy!

How To... Make Homemade Pizza Dough

This crust was very yummy. I definitely want to figure out what Domino's does to their crust now and incorporate it. This does take some prep time as the dough needs to sit for a few days. Although I've seen others make and use it in as little as 2 hours. The recipe makes 2 crusts (large enough for a sheet pan), but we actually used it all in one meal. We each like our own pizzas and leftovers!

Photo from The Pioneer Woman

Homemade Pizza Dough

from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1 tsp Active Dry Or Instant Yeast

4 cups All-purpose Flour

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/3 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it.

***It’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

Enjoy!

Sweet Cornbread

I started making this cornbread a couple of years ago. I went in search of something that was sweet and cake-like as opposed to crumbly and dry like I found most cornbread to be. If you are a fan of dry and crumbly then this is not the cornbread for you! Sometimes I'll even make honey butter to spread on it. Yeah I've got a sweet tooth and that another post for another day. Oh and this is one of the few things that I can actually bake meaning it's Morgan-proof!

Sweet Cornbread

adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil (heaping- I just let it overflow a little, like maybe an extra TBS)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 and spray a 9 inch round pan.

Soak the cornmeal in the milk for 10 minutes. In another bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Mix them into the cornmeal and milk mixture. Stir in the eggs and vegetable oil. Pour the batter in your pan. 

Pop it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve with butter or honey, butter and honey or nothing at all!

Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread, Or This is Why Morgan Doesn't Bake

So the other night I had a bunch of uneaten very ripe bananas and I thought some banana nut bread would be delish! I had all the ingredients except the nuts so I picked those up that afternoon. I made the dough and put it into my loaf pan. I used the exact same size pan that was recommended in the recipe, yet it seemed a little full. I thought "Oh well it will be fine, it shouldn't puff up too much!"

30 minutes later it starts to smell like something is burning so I check out the oven. The bread has exploded over the edge and has dripped on the floor of the oven. Oops! So I grab a baking sheet and put it under the bread pan hoping to prevent more drips. 10 minutes later the burning smell gets worse. I go to check it out and this is what I see...

AHHHHH!!! Help, honey there is a FIRE in the OVEN!

I grab the extinguisher, but hubby says that he will take care of it. At this point he looks over at me and says "See Morgan, this is why you are NOT allowed to bake!"

How is it that I can cook with no problems, but when I bake something inevitably goes wrong?

Beyond this snafu, the bread was actually very yummy and did not taste like smoke. Next time, I would want to add chocolate chips and possibly use a bigger pan.

Banana Nut Bread

adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup mashed bananas

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. <-- I might suggest a larger loaf pan?

I like using my KitchenAid for this part. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. 

Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.