Winners, Awards and Bread
Well ladies the draw is done. I painstakingly wrote down every name on all 110 (!) comments! I had Ella draw out a name and couldn't believe who she drew out. Her own Godmother and my best friend, Amy! I considered re-doing it, but then that wouldn't be fair to Amy who entered fair and square just like everyone else and who won fair and square. So Amy - there's a book on the way, sure beats silver cufflinks!
On another note, Annie has graciously awarded me with the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. You may have seen these going around. Basically when you get awarded you have to award five other "rocking" bloggers.
Here are my nominees:
Irish Flirty Something - This is the hysterical blog of a single thirty-something living in Dublin. I enjoy reading all about her antics and while sometimes jealous of her freedom, usually thank God I'm happily married!
Parker at Divine Domesticity - I really enjoy reading her recipes and looking at her food photography. Her blog is unpretentious and entertaining unlike many of the food blogs out there. She also has quite the flair for design as you can tell by her very cut blog. Well worth a look!
Lisa at The Food Snob - Another unpretentious food blog, Lisa gives an entertaining account of her life and food. She has an incredible recipe for strawberry shortcake that I really need to try before the season ends!
K8 the GR8 is Grandad's daughter and never ceases to entertain. In fact I'm pretty sure she's my long lost twin and that only bad things would happen if we went to the pub together. Well worth a read!
Amy is just on a roll today because I couldn't not mention my rockin' best bud! Although her blog, The Life of a Newlywed, is a relatively new one, I have no doubt it will develop into a fine read! Most importantly though is that I can personally attest to the fact that she ROCKS!
There are many others I would nominate, but most of them already have the award, so no point in duplicating the effort! So thanks a million Annie and congrats to everyone.
Now onto some food...
I mentioned in a previous post my fondness of a book inherited through my husband, Just a Matter of Thyme. I have been meaning to try a recipe in there for Light Wheat Bread Rolls for years. I finally got around to it the other day and all I can say is WOW! The recipe uses both yeast and baking powder which results in needing only one rise of 45 minutes with the final rising occurring during the actual baking. These are light, slightly sweet and quite versatile as you can tell from the other recipes following.
Light Wheat Rolls
Ingredients:
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 9-10 cups white flour
- 3 pkgs dry yeast (6 3/4 tsps)
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 egg, beaten
- Sesame or Poppy seeds if desired
If your eggs have been refrigerated, pop them in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside
Heat milk, water and butter until very warm. Butter does not need to fully melt.
Stir together in LARGE mixing bowl sugar, wheat flour, 2 cups of white flour, baking powder and yeast.
Add eggs and wet mixture to dry mixture and mix well for about three minutes.
Gradually start adding the additional flour a cup at a time. When it starts to become doughy tip out the bowl and begin kneading. (I only needed about 8 cups flour)
Continue kneading on a lightly floured surface for about ten minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic and not sticky.
Shape into rolls and place in a greased baking tin. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size or about 45 minutes.
Apply beaten egg over the surface of each roll* and sprinkle the rolls with seeds if desired.
Bake at 180C/350F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes approximately 3 dozen.
* When I make these again I will skip this step, as I didn't feel it was necessary, it didn't add to the overall taste or texture.
Variations:
Cinnamon Buns
I split the dough into three and made cinnamon buns with one third. Basically you just roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick and spread with butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and roll it up. Slice into one inch sections. Place in a baking pan and allow to double and bake as above. To make a vanilla glaze, just mix some powdered/icing sugar with vanilla extract until you have a nice syrup. Drizzle over and serve. YUM!
Ham and Cheese Rolls:
Do the same as the cinnamon buns, but instead of sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar after you have buttered the dough, layer prosciutto, serrano or parma ham on top of the dough. Then either layer with thin slices of cheese or sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Scatter with diced scallions and roll up. Slice and bake as above. These were our favourite. The light sweet dough really offset the salty ham and cheese and the scallions added a great crunch. I sent some with the husband to work and he rang later to tell me he loved ham rolls and the woman that made them! ;-) I guess I forgot to take a picture of these ones, but they look really cool too! Enjoy!
On a final note I found a wonderful recipe resource yesterday called Feeding America. It's a database of vintage American cookbooks and homemaking books from around 1860 to 1950. They are all catalogued and fully accessible. I don't know about you, but I LOVE vintage cookbooks and have been having a grand old time looking through these. It's quite amazing to imagine life back then - you imagine cooking would be basic and simple - but some of the books have incredible recipes. Calf brain croquettes anyone?
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