I love bread. That is my downfall. I could eat bread all the time. I have a bread maker and often make a loaf or two for family and friends. Who am I kidding it is for mostly me and then family. I always thought it was a bit tricky making your own bread. If you make sure your yeast is good and everything is at the right temperature, you could have a big loaf of bread in no time.
There is nothing worse that going to all the trouble of making bread and realizing your yeast had expired and didn’t rise, or your liquid temperature was to high and you also killed your yeast. Just look at it like giving a baby a bottle. Remember you would squirt a bit of the warm liquid on your wrist to make sure it wasn’t to hot. Well you have to make sure your liquid isn’t to hot or to cold. If it is cold it will take longer for the bread to rise.
I suppose you could be lazy and mix all the stuff in the bread machine and turn the switch on. Where is the fun in that?
For me there is something very therapeutic about the kneading and mixing of the dough. Oh and the smell, I adore the smell of bread baking in the oven.
Pull Apart Yeast Rolls
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 packet)
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour
Directions:
Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in a medium bowl. Allow the yeast to prove for 5 minutes. It should look bubbly. To your mixer add the Yeast mixture, shortening, flour and salt to the bowl. Using your kitchen aid with a dough hook, kneed the dough until combined about 3-5 minute. Remove and allow to rise until doubled in size. Anywhere from 1-2 hours.
Transfer dough to a work surface and shape into a rectangle about 1 inch thick cut into uniformly sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball pinching the seams on the underside making a smooth top. Transfer dough to a greased pan, I use my 9 x 13. I made three rows in a line almost touching. The more the bread rose the closer the rolls became. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Serve warm.
Peace be with you,
Veronica