Never Have I Ever Made ~ #1 … Dinner Rolls

For real!
I’ve never made, from scratch, Dinner Rolls. Yeah, I’ve baked all sorts of stuff, but not this. My mind was
BLOWN

I know I’ve told you all that I belong to this Food Forum that’s pretty cool, well, I saw this recipe, more like the photo grabbed me first, and MAN!
I simple had to try this myself.

 

S&P’s Cast Iron Skillet Rolls

makes 16 small or 8 large Rolls

1/4 C. Beer (any type will do, I drink Trader Joe’s Dark Beer, MMM)
5 tsp. Sugar
1 envelope Dry Active Yeast
1 C. warm Water
1 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 – 3 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
Oil, whatever you have, just to coat the mixing bowl
about 2 Tbsp. melted Butter, divided or to taste
approx. 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt, or to taste

In the bowl of a Stand Mixer, bloom the Yeast with the Sugar and warm Water. Add the Beer and Salt; start the mixer with the Dough Hook attached, on the lowest speed and slowly add the Flour, just enough to form a ball and come away from the sides of the bowl.
Knead the dough on setting #2 for 10 minutes.
Lift up the ball of dough and coat the bowl with Oil, replace the dough ball and turn over to coat that too. Cover the ball of dough directly with a piece of plastic wrap, this will ensure that a skin does not form. Place the bowl in a draft-free place to rise, until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 375°
Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and divide into either 8 or 16 balls. Place them into a lightly greased 10 inch Cast Iron Skillet. Lightly brush the tops with melted butter and allow to rise again for 20 minutes.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove the pan, carefully, to a cooling rack and brush the tops of the Rolls with MORE melted Butter and sprinkle with Sea Salt.

We enjoyed our CI Skillet Rolls with a lovely Chef salad.

And the next morning, split and toasted for Breakfast.

Cook for your family !!

Freshly Baked, Homemade Apple Pie From Frozen

Yup, that’s what we’re talkin’ about today.  Homemade, from scratch, fresh Apple Pie and then we’re going to freeze them, unbaked!  for later.

I’ve showed you my version of Apple Pie before, super easy to do, and WAY better than using that ready-made canned stuff. 

Well, for some reason, we have not been able to finish a whole Pie before it goes South.

I put my brain to the task of figuring this conundrum out

💡

I bought these mini Pie Tins awhiles back.  Why can’t I make up four Mini Apple Pies and freeze them individually, unbaked ?  I did a few internet searches and this is what I devised.

One recipe of my Apple Crostata aka Apple Pie, will make 4 of these Mini Pies.

If you put the Mini Pies, unbaked, into the deep freeze on a sheet pan, you’re virtually doing an IQF.  ⭐

Once they’re frozen solid, usually over night will do it, simply wrap each Pie, still in their Pie Tins, in some heavy-duty foil, then into a gallon sized freezer zip-top bag that you of course have marked with the date and content.

Now, whenever you want a freshly baked Mini Apple Pie, here’s what you do:

Preheat the oven to 450°

Place any number of your still frozen solid Mini Apple Pies in their tins on a lined sheet pan

Bake for 20 minutes

Reduce the heat to 375° and bake another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

And Bob’s your uncle!

I didn’t even have to put any foil around the edge of the crust, it’s gorgeous and mighty tasty, even if I do say so myself.  😎

 

 

Homemade Everything Bread

On my adventure to the soon to closed Cost Plus World Market in our area, I found this

Hmmm, “& More” eh?  Let’s try it on homemade Bread.

I started out by making King Arthur Flour’s recipe for No Knead Bread.

I think that I’ve made this recipe a coupla times now, it’s easy and delicious.  I like to park the dough in the `fridge for 4-5 days to develop flavor.

 

I wanted to share a loaf with each of my Neighborhood Gal Pal’s to see what they thought of this version.

I have a Bakers Stone that lives permanently in my oven for Pizza, so why not Bread too?  Best to bake the Bread in twos.

Oh so pretty! But what about the taste?

Meh, neither DH nor I were fans.  The Gal Pals and their hubbies all liked it!

Happy Birthday To ME!!!

 

Yup!  I’m a July baby.  AND I make my own Birthday cake, every year!

Homemade No Knead Crusty White Bread

Since the World fell off it’s axis back in, what was it March, I think, anyways … since then, it has been nearly impossible to find Dry Active or Instant Yeast, let alone any Wheat Flour!

WELL!

I may have made mention that my Pal Carolyn from up the street a ways, gifted me some Yeast and I did find two 5 pound bags of All-Purpose Flour, YAY!!

 

 

I already made one batch of No Knead Dutch Oven Bread with the recipe that Carolyn gave me, adapted for High Altitude, now let’s make KAF No Knead Crusty White Bread, shall we?

 

 

This recipe made me 4 decent sized baguettes, not bad.  But oops, can you see the two loaves to the left there?  I didn’t make deep enough slashes in the dough prior to baking round one on my Baking Stone.

 

 

But look how gorgeous this came out!  I’m very pleased with the results.

 

 

YUM!

 

 

I shared three of the loaves with the Neighbors, along with a jar of homemade Fresh Strawberry Jam that I tried my hand at.  I mean what goes better with Bread than Jam and Butter?

Share your food everyone.

 

Speaking Of Homemade Bread …

One of the Neighborhood Gals recently gave me a loaf of her most delicious Homemade Bread! I asked her for the recipe and she very generously not only printed that out for me but also gave me some sorely needed Active Dry Yeast!
Have you tried to find Yeast in the markets lately? 

JEEZ!

Now that we live at almost 5000 feet in elevation, you need to make adjustments to baked goods. My pal was kind enough to even add those instructions!

Carolyn’s No Knead Dutch Oven Bread

makes one 1 1/1 pound loaf

1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 C. warm Water
3 C. All Purpose Flour (plus more for dusting)
1 1/2 tsp. Salt

In a large bowl add the Water and Yeast, stir to dissolve.
Add in the Flour and Salt and stir until well blended.
This is a VERY sticky dough, don’t worry.

I used this, a Dough Whisk, also referred to as a “Danish dough whisk” or “brodpisker”.  It worked like a charm on this wet, sticky dough!

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or as I used a Shower Cap that I sprayed with Vegetable Oil. Let rise in a warm place for at least 8 hours or up 18.

Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface; using a bench scrape, I gently turned the dough into itself a coupla times, covered it loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Generously Flour a Tea Towel. Using your Bench scraper and enough Flour so that the dough doesn’t stick to everything, shape the dough into a ball and place it seam side down on the Tea Towel. Cover with another Towel and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready to go into the oven, heat the oven to 475° with a heavy covered 6-8 quart Dutch Oven in it, either Cast Iron, Enamel, Pyrex or Ceramic. I had cut a piece of Parchment Paper to fit prior to doing so, just to make the transfer of the dough ball to the pot easier.
Once ready, carefully remove the Dutch Oven from the oven and remove the lid. Gently slide your hand under the Tea Towel and with that Parchment Paper on the top of the loaf, turn everything over so as the seam side is now on top. Place the Parchment Paper filled with the dough into the Dutch Oven and give it a shake to distribute the dough.
Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until gorgeously brown.

Remove the Bread to a rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

** For elevations above 3000 feet use:
3 1/4 C. All Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 3/4 C. warm Water

and follow instructions as above.

When I took the Bread out of the Oven, I turned it over and tapped with my knuckle on the bottom of the Loaf, it had a wonderful “hallow” sound to it, saying that it was perfectly baked.  Also, as it was cooling, you could hear some lovely, tiny crackling sounds, the sure sign of nicely crisped crust on the outside… YUM!!

Let’s Make Some Bread!

Originally, I posted this back in March of 2019 and really haven’t made too much bread since.
Dunno why, both DH and I love it, so let’s do it again!

 

Back in the day, I would make fresh bread often.  For some reason, I stopped doing so, probably because I didn’t have that kind of time to devote to the process.  Now that I’m retired,

Let’s make some bread!

I made a full batch of King Arthur Flour No-Knead Crusty White Bread, and got 4 nice sized loaves for us two.

Very yummy!

I left the dough to sit in the refrigerator for 4 days for the first round and then 6 days the second round.  We liked the 4 day dough better in flavor.

I think we’ll be making fresh bread more often 😀

Menus For The Quarantined Life ~ Part 10

 Day Nine

Yesterday, I made some Bran and Nut Muffins
with the knowledge that Mister Dear Friend was
coming over for coffee… Missus DF 86’d that one!

 

 

Breakfast

So, DH and I slept in and had a very nice leisurely Brunch

 

 

Lunch

… was the last of the Spam® Musubi 
I have no idea why I don’t make this more often

 

 

Dinner

I went Deep Freezer Diving and came up with a
Trader Joe’s Hatch Chile Mac `N Cheese
steamed some frozen Corn Off The Cob
and grilled two B/S Chicken Thighs
with Miners Mix Maynard’s Memphis BBQ Rub
MAN!!!

Dessert later will be Fiddle Faddle I’ve stock-piled from the Dollar Tree 

Menus For The Quarantined Life ~ Part 5

 Day 4

 

 

Breakfast

I found some leftover Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake ala Chef John in the deep freeze that I had made awhiles back and had the forethought to put it out to de-frost overnight.
It was wonderful with some diced Cantaloupe and Juice.

 

 

Lunch

I made Ham & Cheese Pinwheels ala Pillsbury™ Crescent Rolls, by request.

They were very good and fast!

 

 

Dinner

I had gone grocery shopping just before the madness started,
and got me a beautiful bunch of fresh Asparagus, gorgeous!
I made a Chicken & Asparagus Stir Fry
served over the ever present steamed White Rice,
comfort on a plate for us!!
I got three servings out of it; I’m thinkin’
I’m going to share with Ms. Neighbor-Across-The-Street,
she does really cook, so …

Bacon Biscuits For Your Pup

I was tootling around the Internet the other day and saw a heard of recipes for homemade Doggie Treats.  One in particular caught my eye.

In our house we love  BACON!  I mean come on, who doesn’t?

When ever I make a tray of that crispy-golden-delicious treat, I save the rendered fat in an old plastic container, with a well fitting lid, and stash it in the `fridge.  Have you ever cooked your morning Eggs with Bacon Grease? MMM!

Our beloved, handsome, smart and spoiled rotten Puppy-Boy Vito passed away back in 2005, but he is still in our hearts and thoughts, everyday.  I would make all kinds of treats for him, but ya know, I never made Dog Biscuits, no really!

I wanted to give this recipe a whirl and share them with our neighbor-Doggies.  My thought is to make a few different flavors of Puppy Treats to sell at our Communities next Bake Sale 💡

So here’s my own spin on this recipe ~

 

Bacon Dog Biscuits

Original recipe by the Santa Clara County Humane Society

Yield: Approx. 50 – 2″x1″x1/4″ Small Dog Bone Shaped Cookies

2 1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 C. Milk

1 Egg

5 Tbsp. rendered Bacon Fat

2 pieces of cooked Bacon, minced, about 1/4 C.

1/8 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 C. Water

Pre-heat the over to 350°

In a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients to form a slightly firm dough.

Dust a section of the counter with some more Flour and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut into desired shapes, the easiest and quickest is to use a Pizza Cutter Wheel, making small-ish/bite sized cookies— the sky’s the limit as to shape and size.

Place the biscuits onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 1/4 inch between each Cookie; bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the Biscuits are firm to the touch.

Cool on the pan for 1 minute and then transfer to a cooling rack.  Once cooled completly, store in an airtight container or Zip-top baggie.

Now, IF  you should have any of these goodies for Fido leftover, I might put them into the refrigerator, after all, there’s BACON in there  😀

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