First of all, there are no interruptions/kids there to bug you. That is heaven on earth for you right there, to start a project and finish it without being interrupted.
Second, it is just plain fun to help make the food that people get to eat. Maybe I missed my calling working in a cafeteria somewhere. I don't know. But I get a big kick out of it.
When I was there, one of my jobs was to roll out the rolls. Remember when I talked about the rolls at the temple cafeteria? Yea, I pretty much adore those rolls. I could pretty much eat them until I want to puke. So that night I was working in the kitchen, the kitchen manager said "Who wants to roll out the rolls?" And I jumped up and down, waving my hand, saying "Ohhh, ooohh ME, pick ME", in my best Horseshack impression. I have done this before, so I knew how fun it is. The rolling out the rolls, not shameless begging. Well, to be honest I have done both before.
So I headed off and proceeded to roll out 12 pans of rolls. Talk about a sense of accomplishment. And then I put them in the warming oven, and then we baked them, and then there were wonderfully, aromatic, soft, warm rolls. And guess what? I got to eat ONE. It was srum-dilly-ish-ious. But that was not really enough, although I was very full, because we also got to eat some of the food.
And that is why I have been making rolls at home, since then. I am totally addicted. And so today when the craving struck and I had two extra hours on my hands, I decided to document my favorite roll recipe for you all.
That way, you too can experience heaven on earth, just like the temple. Because we are suppose to make our homes a temple right. This is how I do it. None of that bringing in the spirit stuff for me, no just yummy, mouth watering, rolls.
This is a recipe I got from my mom, who got it from her friend Naoma Eastley. You know how when you live far, far away from any family and you find friends who can be your family. That is how the Eastleys were for us. They have a lot of kids also, and we almost always spent Thanksgiving with them for years and years. (big wave to Sis. Eastley, if you are reading this) Thanks for sharing this recipe with me.
Rolls
1 and 3/4 c. milk or water, I always use milk
1/2 c. margarine or butter, I like butter best
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. salt
2 eggs
2 T. yeast
Flour, about 4 or 5 cups (bread flour works best)
Microwave the milk for four minutes.
Add to mixer with butter, sugar, salt, eggs.
Mix up until the butter melts.
Check to see that the mixture is only warm to the touch. You don't want it to be too hot, or it will kill the yeast.
Add the yeast, and mix.
(You want to be sure you have good yeast. If you are like me, you might go through spells of baking and not baking. If you can't remember when you bought your yeast, then it is probably time to spring for some new. You don't want to go through all the work to have it not turn out.)
Then start adding the flour.
Because of differences in humidity, this is not an exact science. You want the dough to be fairly stiff, but still soft. The dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.
Once this ball is formed, knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
Here is what it will look like in the mixer. Notice the iron, on the counter because that is where I do all my ironing. JK. I actually don't iron, but lately Diana is on one of those plastic bead kicks. You know that stupid craft thing that involves a million little beads that you then iron together. But,this will have to be a topic for another post.
Next, you put the ball of dough in a pam sprayed bowl. I like my That's a Bowl. No I don't sell tupperware, but this bowl is honestly awesome. I always say if I went on survivor I would want to take this as my personal item. Of course they don't let you have personal items anymore and there is no food to speak of. But I'm just saying, I love this bowl. In fact I have two of them, for days like this, when the other bowl was left in the backyard full of popcorn by the trampoline.
After the ball of dough is in the greased lined bowl, cover with a towel and place in a warm oven. About 100-120 degrees. If you are the temple or a cafeteria, you have a warming oven, if you are me, you just turn your oven on for a few seconds.
After about 45 minutes the dough will have risen.
Now the fun part begins. Cut off a piece of dough, about like this.
Here is a blurry glob of dough. Sorry about that, I am not the pioneer woman, K, just build a bridge and get over it.
And now I will deftly demonstrate how to make the dough blob tie the knot. No it is not going to one of the many drive through wedding chapels in Vegas. Just watch.
And there you go, a fabulous, fantastic, shape for your roll. Before I learned this method, I used to roll it out and make crescent shaped rolls. I like this method better because it seems faster.
A close up of the knot. You may all bow in adoration at my knot tying skills. Go ahead, I know you want to.
Today this recipe made 24 rolls, but sometimes if I added more flour, it might make a few more.
Next, it is back into the warm oven to raise for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, I take them out so I can preheat the oven to 350 degrees, for the last 15 minutes of the rising.
Pop those puppies in the oven, and bake for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown, and your whole house smells like a bakery.
Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
And there you go, heaven on earth.
You can have them with some freezer strawberry jam, but I am a purist and just like them best with only butter.
It does take about 2 hours from start to finish. But really it takes about 15 - 20 minutes to mix it all up. Then you can do other things while it rises. Again, about 15 minutes to roll them all out. Then more free time to blog or read blogs while they rise the second times. And finally put them in the oven. Yes, it is some work, but I think the end product is totally worth it.
Who says man can not live on bread alone? For dinner tonight, I ate 3 of these bad boys and nothing else.
