Snowy Dogwood at night

KitchenAid sixty minute rolls

1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 packages active dry yeast (2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups (600 grams) + 1/2-1/1/2 cups (<200 grams) all purpose flour.

Heat milk, sugar, salt, and butter over low heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolves.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in mixing bowl. Add 4 1/2 cups flour and lukewarm milk mixture. Mix with dough hook for 1 minute at speed 2.

Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix about 2 minutes until dough cleans the side of the bowl. Continue about 2 minutes more until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in oiled bowl, turning to oil top. Cover and let rise in warm place about 15 minutes. Turn dough on lightly floured surface. Shape as desired and cover. Cut into 24 balls or strips and roll up. Let rise 15 minutes at 90 degrees F.  Bake at 425 degrees F until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Notes:

The KitchenAid mixer manual does this as a modification of the basic white bread recipe. I find it easier to  have it all modified in one place.

24 balls on a half baking sheet make fairly tall dinner rolls. The curlicue version need two half sheets to spread out properly.

Pickled carrots

From Food in Jars: pickled carrots.

Small-Batch Pickling Brine

1 cup filtered water
1 cup apple cider vinegar (make sure it’s commercial vinegar that is at least 5% acidity)
1 tablespoon pickling salt (or 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt)

A palmful (each) of at least a few of the following:

• crushed bay leaves
• peppercorns
• hot pepper flakes
• allspice berries
• coriander seeds
• whole cloves

Homemade Crackers

Homemade Crackers from Food in Jars

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt (add a bit more if you like a saltier cracker)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup water

Pre-heat over to 450 degrees.

Combine the flours and salt in a bowl. Add the olive oil and water and stir until you have a cohesive ball of dough (you’ll need to use your hands to really get it all together). Set aside for 15-20 minutes.

While you wait, mix up an optional spice/seed blend  Here's an example.

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppyseeds
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon fennel seed

After the dough has rested a bit, divide it into two pieces, flour a board and rolling pin and roll the dough out until it’s as thin as you can get it. Put on a parchment-covered cookie sheet, brush with water and sprinkle with your spice/seed mixture or salt (kosher or a coarse sea salt is best here). Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into squares or diamonds and bake for 10-12 minutes).

Let the crackers cool completely and then store them in an airtight container. If you don’t eat them all up, they’ll last at least a week on the counter.

They are also delicious sprinkled with parmesan cheese. Each recipe makes between 40-50 crackers, depending on how small you make your cuts.

Rich cinnamon rolls

Another recipe book mark.
Cinnamon rolls

I've been making a version nearly identical to these for many years. They are very rich and have a very strong cinnamon flavor, similar to a mall brand.

Dough:
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F / 45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Filling: 1 cup brown sugar, packed 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1/3 cup butter, softened Frosting: 3 ounces cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/8 teaspoon salt

Make dough and let rise.After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough into a 16x20 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 18 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together Frosting ingredients. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Notes: The second rise doesn't seem to be necessary. I think the butter helps leaven the dough during baking as much as the yeast. I've tried mixing the butter into the filling instead of buttering the dough. It is a little hard to spread evenly but it is a little less messy. It takes longer than 15 minutes for my oven. You might want to double the frosting recipe, and you can use 1/3 less cream cheese. (The original recipe used 1 oz of cream cheese and 3/4 cup powdered sugar, a pinch of salt with 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 t vanilla. I think I like this version better.) I have cut 24 rolls out for smaller servings. 12 rolls makes a very loose packing. I found my original recipe which called for cutting 18 rolls and that makes a better fit than 12.  A layout of 3x6 doesn't work well for 18 in a 9x13 inch pan, it turns into 3 rows of 4 and 2 rows of 3 so cutting them is a little awkward.  24 allows a 4x6 layout that makes for a very tight fit. 20 rolls in a 4x5 might work a bit better. My rolls tend to end up irregular anyway, so I haven't worried about getting regular rows. I've replaced half the sugar in the dough with Spenda and use Neuchatel in place of cream cheese to help minimize the calories, but it's probably a drop in the bucket.

Easy Whole Grain Flatbread

Another Mark Bittman recipe I want to bookmark: Easy Whole Grain Flatbread.
http://content.markbittman.com/node/27

I made this bread once a long time ago without the optional flavorings.

Olive oil matzo

From Mark Bittman in the New York times a recipe for Sardinian flat bread. This works well as a base for serving tomato sauce poached eggs.

Here's the related article

Olive Oil Helps Produce a Classic Flatbread.

2 cups flour1/2 teaspoon salt1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water

Sea salt, optional.

Heat oven to 500 F. Add flour, salt and oil to food processor and start it. Add water and mix until a firm ball forms. Cut into 12 pieces, flatten and bake on a cookie sheet until golden brown and puffy, about 5 minutes. Flip and finish browning. These can burn quickly, so keep an eye on them.