Easy Yeast Rolls!

My mother's yeast rolls are nearly famous...at least around these parts...lol.  She has made literally thousands of these wonderful rolls through the years and has the art down to perfection.  I use her recipe when I make them and they are pretty good, but nobody makes these rolls like my mother.  Yesterday, I watched her make them from step one, which I had never done before, and I think I might have picked up a few of her secrets.   I can now pass those tips on to you. 

Don't let the steps in this put you off.  There are several steps, but it is not really that complicated and well worth the effort and this is what you will get.

Here is what you will need:

All purpose flour (we prefer White Lily if you can get it in your area), vegetable or canola oil, sugar, yeast, salt, milk (not pictured) and water.

You will need to sift 5 of the 6 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl.  The bowl needs to have plenty of room for these to double in size when they rise.  Warm 2 cups of milk in the microwave for 5 minutes and let it cool to where it is just warm to the touch. 

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Make sure the water is not too hot or it will kill your yeast.  To the warm milk add 3/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp salt.  Mix together and add to the flour.  Now add the yeast to this mixture and stir to blend.  This mixture will be very loose. Pour about 2 Tbs. oil over the top the dough and spread it around to coat it. Cover with a kitchen towel and let this rise for 2 hours. 

The mixture should almost double and look like this.  If your kitchen is cold or drafty, this will take much longer.  Sit the bowl near the oven if you are cooking and have it on to speed the rising.  Now take the other cup of flour, sifted and sprinkle 1/2 of it on the dough and 1/2 of it on a pastry sheet or wax paper.   Work the dough into a ball, but do not overwork it, unless you like a denser roll. 

It should look like this.  Now you are ready to flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out into a large circle about 1/4 inch thick.

Using a medium size biscuit cutter or a glass with a similar size, cut your rolls.  Melt about a 1/4 stick of butter in 4 round cake pans or 1/2 stick in 2  9"x13" pans.  Place your rolls in the melted butter turning them over to coat.  You should get 36-40 rolls.  They are best if allowed to rise again for 30 minutes to an hour.  They will double in size in the pan.  Don't let anything touch the tops of them or it will make them fall.  If it's warm in the kitchen, they will rise back up fast.  If it's cool it takes much longer.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they are brown on top to your liking. Some folks like them really brown, we like them just browned slightly. 

 

This will be your finished product!  You can brush some melted butter on top when out of the oven or just leave them as is.  These are great for dinner, breakfast or to use for parties with sliced ham or turkey on them.  The dough is very versatile also.  Tomorrow we will use it for Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls!

Ingredients:

6 cups all purpose flour

1 pk. yeast (1/4 oz. packet)

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk

3/4  cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt



Cheesy Beer Rolls!

These "Cheesy Beer Rolls" are so easy peasy you will not believe it and they taste so yummy!  It's just a few basic ingredients and you have wonderful homemade dinner rolls.  

 Here is what you will need:

2 cups biscuit mix (like Bisquick)

3 Tbs. sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup beer

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Place the biscuit mix, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.  Slowly add the beer and stir to mix.  Stir in the cheddar cheese.  If the mixture seems too thick, add just a little more of the beer.  It is a sort of stiff dough though. 

Spray a medium 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick baking spray.   Fill each about half full of the dough mixture.  Place in the preheated oven for 17 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Brush the tops with melted butter.  Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from the pan.

Serve immediately!!!   Yummy!!!







Sweet Potato Bread!

 

When Fall arrives and it actually starts to cool down enough to enjoy baking again, I love to make breads!   This "Sweet Potato Bread" is one that turns out really tasty and it's good for several days if it lasts that long!  

This bread smells heavenly while baking!   I love it right out of the oven, sliced and serve with butter or a cream cheese spread.  This is also really good the next day, sliced and toasted with butter and honey on it or cream cheese!   

This recipe makes two nice loaves of bread so you can gift one or freeze one!  It's a nice treat to share with family or neighbors!

Here is what you will need for this:

1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups sugar
3  1/2 cups all purpose flour
1  1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (can use canned or cooked fresh)
1 cup nuts, chopped  ( walnuts or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the oil, eggs, water and sugar,  Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.   Add the mashed sweet potatoes and the wet mixture (eggs, oil, water, sugar).  Blend just until the dry ingredients are wet.  Stir in the chopped nuts.

Spray  2   9" x 5" loaf pans well with nonstick baking spray. I like Baker's Joy.  Divide the mixture evenly between the two pans.   Bake for 1 hour.   A pick inserted into the middle should come out clean. 

Turn it out after it cools slightly! 

Slice and serve!!! 

It's delicious!!! 

Spoon Rolls!

These Spoon Rolls are a super easy yeast roll!!!  If you love the idea of homemade bread, but not the time something like traditional yeast rolls require, you have to try these!!!  They are one step and turn out light, buttery and delicious!!! 

 Here is what you'll need:

1 pk, dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/2 cup oil  (vegetable or canola)

4 Tbs. butter (melted)

4 cups self rising flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Ina a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast n 2 cups warm water.  Stir in oil and butter.  With a large spoon mix in self rising flour, sugar and egg just until well incorporated.   Don't over mix.   

Brush  each cup of a 12 cup muffin pan with melted butter or spray with nonstick baking spray.   Fill each cup 3/4 full of dough.   Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until just brown. 

Remove from oven and serve!!! 

Cheddar Zucchini Bread!

This is yet another great way to use up your zucchini that is so plentiful right now.  Another great thing about recipes like this is that the zucchini that you somehow miss and it gets to be so big it's really not suitable for much else, can be shredded and put in bread and it's just fine.  Have you ever wondered how the zucchini hide like that?  No matter how well you look every single day, there will always be that giant zucchini that just seems to grow out of nowhere in your garden.  I just hate to throw those away, so we make bread with them.  This is not a sweet bread like most people make with zucchini, which is wonderful also, but it is a savory bread.  This bread is good to slice thin for sandwich spreads, like pimento cheese, ham salad, even tuna or chicken salad.  I tried it with one of my favorite sandwich spreads...olive nut cream cheese spread.   I will give you the recipe for that also in case you want to make some.   This bread would also be great with just some butter and served with soups or stews.   It's also very easy to make.  Here is all you will need.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter melted
2 1/2 cups Bisquick or any baking mix
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
3 eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all ingredients and pour into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. 

Turn out onto platter or cutting board to slice.  It's good warm right from the oven or after it cools.

 

Olive Nut Cream Cheese Spread

1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs. mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup chopped salad olives
1 Tbs juice from olives

Blend the softened cream cheese with the other ingredients.  I used salad olives so they didn't need much chopping, but if you used the whole olives, rough chop them.  You want to be sure to get the olives with the pimento in them for this.

It should be well blended and be very spreadable. After you refrigerate it, before using it for your sandwich, take it out of the refrigerator for about 15 - 20 minutes so that it softens and is more spreadable.

This is delicious served on fresh baked bread.  A bakery in our town that has probably been in business for over a 100 years, has sandwiches with this spread  on their fresh baked bread every day. If I stop in there for anything, I have to have one of these sandwiches. My sister used to always love them also when she lived here.  It's perfect for this zucchini bread and it also makes a nice filling for celery.