Skip to main content

Better Late Than Never

I missed a day yesterday; but in return for making you wait, I have something to share! Yesterday I got a letter from my mom, with a bunch of recipes - nearly all of which I can personally vouch for as delicious. There's (Boston-style) brown bread, Sally Lunn (as I remember, a sweet, dense, cakey bread), no-knead English Muffin bread (Mama claims she used to make this, but I don't remember it), and to start things off:

Crescent Butter Rolls

  • 1 cake compressed yeast (about 1¾ tsp)

  • 1¼ cups lukewarm water

  • ¼ cup sugar

  • 3 well-beaten eggs

  • ¾ cup melted butter

  • 4 cups unsifted Flour


Crumble yeast into water and stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and flour. (Note: Following the advice Leslie Bilderback gives, I usually give five or ten minutes for the yeast to proof before adding the other ingredients.) Stir until smooth. Dough will be very sticky. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. (Or, I guess, you could just let it rise right there - but this recipe seems designed for storage of the dough.) Take portion you intend to bake and roll ¼ inch thick into circle. Cut into wedges, like a pie. Roll pieces, beginning at wide edge. Put pointed side down onto greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise two hours. (This is where I always got so impatient for them to go into the oven so we could Eat Them. They looked—and smelled—so delicious sitting there on the table.) Bake at 400 °F (200 °C; Gas Mark 6) for 10 to 15 minutes. (Absolutely no longer; the pointed edges burn quickly.) Brush with melted butter when done. This dough keeps for 5 to 6 days. Makes about 2 dozen.

So that's your first recipe from me! I hope you enjoy it. God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread.
Labels:

Comments

  1. CabJuly 12, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    i have heard sooo many times about sally lunn and how she'd make it on wednesdays for matt who loved it so much. i don't think i've ever had it! if i visit will you make me some?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt GJuly 12, 2011 at 10:09 PM

    I will make you some anyways :-)

    (Spread the word, any friends of yours I will make some and ship it - but only if they read the blog ;-) )

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Consistency Of Coarse Meal

I decided to make biscuits this afternoon, and as I was following the recipe, I saw that I needed to mix flour, salt, and baking powder, then cut in shortening (butter is better than mar but marge is what we had). The recipe said to cut the shortening in "to the consistency of coarse meal." Now what the heck is that supposed to mean? I mean, I know what (for example) corn meal looks like; but does the casual baker? How are they supposed to know? It means this. Not that you'd go far wrong with these biscuits, anyway. I mean, it's the Pillsbury cookbook. The only problem I had is that, at some time in the past, I put a note in to myself to use 3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the recipe's 2. Well, I'm marking that back down. These are edible, but definitely taste of baking powder. Oh well, live and relearn, I guess. The finished product. Yum! Godspeed, and remember, All things are better with bread .
Post a Comment
Read more

Quick Bread Is Not So Quick

I decided I didn't have the time late tonight to do a rising bread, and then spent about an hour looking for a recipe for Irish soda bread, before Herself reminded me that we had got one from a family friend. I'll comment on how I did in the recipe itself. Irish Soda Bread 4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup raisins (optional – I don't use them) 1½ cup buttermilk (see below) Okay, so first of all, about the buttermilk. I knew we had some. What I didn't realize was that it was about three weeks past date. So I opened it up to smell it. It smelled fine, but it was the consistency of yogurt—and smelled a bit like yogurt, too. It wouldn't pour out of the container, either; so I added about half a cup of regular milk just to get it liquid again. It seemed to work, and it looked and smelled fine. Now, on to the instructions: Mix all ingredients and knead into a ball. Hmm. That doesn't look much like a ball. Let's try a bit more milk?...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Sickness and in Health - Sourdough Day 2

Well, I would have posted something last night, but I was feeling pretty ill, and Herself ... let's say gently suggested ... that I call it a night. Today I'm staying home, so here's yesterday's entry. Everything Bread says, "Stir [the sourdough starter] once a day for the next three days." So yesterday, I stirred it the once. It was bubbly and gloppy, just what it's supposed to be. I came out to check on it this morning and saw this: Or in close-up: Which I think is exactly how it's supposed to look at that stage. So I'm happy. (Note: I hope the picture quality is improved; I'm taking pictures with the actual camera rather than with my phone camera.) We're just about out of sandwich bread (the Amish White from Everything Bread ). But on the other hand if I had made two loaves, one would be hanging around forever in the freezer. I just go ahead and make it every week anyway. I might make the biscuits again as well, or maybe use my...
1 comment
Read more