Homemade bread..

I love warm, fresh, homemade bread...
Talk about fond memories from my childhood.
The girls and I made some today for the fun of it, you know, no school and all...
I used my favorite recipe, one that my best friend's mom used.  I loved being at their house.  We had a blast there, and it was a bonus if it was bread making day!

I like it the regular way, but it is really good making it the whole wheat alternative.  I usually half the recipe, my family is not as big as theirs was, and I do love my carbs, but if I ate four loaves of bread, with butter....
Let's not go there.
And a slice of whole wheat, fresh out of the toaster with butter..  forget about it.....

LeAnn's Bread

2 tablespoons yeast
1 cup warm water
13 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
3 1/2 cups milk (may use dry milk, I like to, it's how you can use what you store!)
2 eggs, well beaten

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Put in large mixing bowl and add milk, sugar, salt, and oil.  Stir to dissolve.  Add well beaten eggs and mix.  Add flour, four cups at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.  Knead 15-20 minutes.  Place in an oiled bowl and let rise until double.  Punch down and knead five more minutes.  Divide into four parts, shape into loaves, and place in pans.  Let rise until double in size, again, and then bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.

WHOLE WHEAT:  Use six cups whole wheat flour and six cups white flour.  3 1/2 cups water instead of milk, and brown sugar instead of white sugar.

Traditions: Rolls

This month's theme for "Flavor of the Month" (okay last month theme really..) was "Traditions".  I was all ready and very excited for this theme, and my computer was not.

Windows Vista is not my friend, and never was, really.

Now that I am back up and running, here is my contribution, a day late. :)

It is only the best roll recipe EVER!!  It has become a tradition of sorts..  if it weren't already, I would certainly make them one.

Over Night Rolls

Heat, then cool 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of butter or margarine.  In a separate, small bowl (I use my Pyrex measuring cup) mix 1 tablespoon of yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Moisten with a little warm water (like 1/4 cup) to activate the yeast.
In a large bowl, beat 3 eggs, then add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Add the mil mixture, yeast, and 4 cups of flour.  Stir well.
No need to knead.
Cover and let rise overnight.
Next morning, divide the dough.  Roll into two circles on a floured board and cut the circles into 16 triangles (much like a pizza).  Brush with melted butter or margarine and roll into a crescent shape.
Let rise 4-5 hours and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

It might seem like quite a bit of time to some, but well worth it!
I have memories of the smell of this dough filling the house on Sundays, tantalizing my taste buds during church..  I am so glad my kiddos enjoy them just as much now as I do.

Sunday dinner.. Homemade Pizza.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a totally non-traditional Sunday dinner..
No chuck roast or ham here.. no chickens were roasted.
We were layin' back taking it easy..


We made pizza!
Our (my) favorite dough recipe involves 6 ingredients:
- yeast
- water
- sugar
- flour
- salt
- olive oil
You take a cup of warm water, and add a tablespoon of yeast. Add a teaspoon of sugar and let it activate.
Meanwhile, mix two cups of flour with abut a tablespoon of salt.
Add your yeast/sugar/water mixture to the flour and salt, and mix well.
After it is well combined, drizzle about a tablespoon and a half of olive oil, and knead until smooth.
Let raise for 30 minutes. Bake at 500. It cooks fast, so watch out!
Depending on how thick you like your crust, it will make between one and two 13 inch pizzas.
We like it thin around here, so we get two pizzas.
We buy our mozzarella in a big block, and slice it, none of that puny grated stuff, that makes a nice cheesy layer of melted goodness...
Our toppings usually stay the same, I was bummed cause we didn't have any black olives in food storage.. Merrill wasn't too broken-hearted.
Meanwhile..


I am working on Peyton's quilt.
I'll share details on that soon. :)