Yeast Breads, Rolls, Pastries

In my opinion nothing smells better than bread baking. When bread is baking there is an immediate feeling of coziness that just cannot be compared to. I love baking bread. I love baking bread. I love baking bread. Did I mention that I love baking bread? I used to have a bread machine and gave it away because I felt too detached from the hands on process of going from just flour and a few ingredients to something that fills us up and says "I love you" at the same time. When homemade bread is paired with homemade butter, jellies and jams. Wow, it almost makes me want to cry. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century.

Once again, my mother-in-law comes into play with a recipe that makes the best bread and buns ever. The secret to this recipe is multiple risings and punch downs. When she makes this, she puts the dough together in the evening and raises it and punches down several times before she goes to bed. Then, once in the night, she gets up and punches it down again, lets it rise and makes the buns in the morning. Yeow!

She gave me the recipe years and years ago, everytime I make it my hubby hovers around until the buns are done. Of course, we have to have one fresh out of the oven. The first batch never makes it out the door to other family members, I always have to make two. Now, my niece is 23 years old and her 90 year old grandmother is teaching her how to make these buns. I just love it.

Cecelia Ruddy's Basic Roll Dough:
8 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups water
2 pkgs. yeast
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil or melted shortening.
Scald the milk. Measure salt and sugar and put in large bowl. Pour the scalded milk into the bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Cool until lukewarm. Put yeast in small bowl. Add 1/2 cup lukewarm water and let the yeast soften for 5 minutes. Add yeast and the remaining lukewarm water to the milk mixture. Add 4 cups flour to milk mixture. Beat for 1 minute. Add eggs, beat. Add oil, beat. Add remaining flour and mix well. Form dough into ball and let stand on floured board for 10 minutes. Knead dough until it is smooth and satiny. Place in greased bowl until it doubles in size. Keep warm. Punch dough down and cut into 2 equal portions. Cover dough with dry towl and let stand 10 minutes. Dough is now ready to form into any shape desired. Let rise. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

The next recipe is a bagel recipe my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) found years and years ago and, of course, they were an immediate hit in our family. At that time I had never heard of bagels and really had no idea what they were. However, it didn't take me long to find out that they're really good! I have also used this recipe to make bread. It works because I love heavy dense breads. I also love heavy, dense cakes. I'm not a light and fluffy type of person at all.

Maggie's Egg Bagels:
Step one: 3 cups warm water: 1 pkg. yeast; 6 eggs, well beaten; 5 to 6 cups flour. Beat this dough together well, and let rise for 1/2 hour. Step two (fold in): 1 cup oil; 1 Tbsp. salt; 4 to 5 cups flour. Knead for 5 minutes and let rise for 50 minutes. Punch down and rise for 20 minutes. Shape into bagels. Dip into boiling water for 10 seconds. Place on cooky sheets and rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

When the bagel recipe was given to me, I was taking care of our two young daughters and Sesame Street was always being watched at our house. One of the informational parts of Sesame Street showed how bagels are made. I learned the process of making and rolling bagels from Sesame Street! Who says your too old to watch it!

Rye Bread:
1 pkg. yeast; 1/4 cup warm water; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1/4 cup molasses; 1 Tbsp. salt; 2 Tbsp. shortening; 1 1/2 cups hot water; 2 1/2 cups rye flour; 2 Tbsp. grated orange zest; 3 1/2 cups to 4 cups white flour.
Soften yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, molasses, salt and shortening. Add hot water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cool. Stir in rye flour, beat well. Add yeast and orange zest. Stir in white flour to make a soft dough. Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Let rise until double in size. (1 1/2 to 2 hours). Punch down, divide in two portions. Make each portion into a round loaf. Place on greased cooky sheet, cover and let rise until double (about 1 1/2 hours). Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Brown Bread: This makes a huge batch--be prepared!
8 cups water; 1 potato; 3 cups milk; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 cup molasses; 5 Tbsp. salt; 2 cups vegetable oil; 5 pkg. yeast; 1 1/2 cup wheat germ; 1 1/2 cup oatmeal; 1 cup cornmeal; 1 1/2 cups rye flour; 8 cups whole wheat flour; 14 cups white flour.
This is a very moist, nutritious and wholesome dark bread. Boil the potato in the 8 cups water, mash it up; add milk, brown sugar, molasses, salt, shortening and eggs. Let it all cool a little; add the yeast. Put in a big mixing bowl, add wheat germ, oatmeal, corn meal, rye flour, whole wheat flour, and white flour. You may need to add more white flour to make a stiff dough. The more you mix this, the better the bread is. Let rise in warm place until double in size. Dump onto a floured surface and divide into 8 loaves. Put into greased bread pans and let rise again until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. (If you wish make part of it into loaves and part into buns. You can also cut the recipe in half if you wish for easier handling. It's fun to make this on a week-end then you should have enough bread for a week or two!)

My next article will also be about homemade breads.