One Dough, Two Acts- -Act One: Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls; Act Two: Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Lately I’ve been reading a bit here and there about the return to homemade bread, a day at a time.  I’ve started making small batches of bread that we can finish off fairly quickly–e.g.  pumpernickel made in a compact loaf so that we’re not overwhelmed by it.  The other night I was craving good dinner rolls, and I also thought with the weekend coming up that it might be a good time for cinnamon rolls.  Then it came to me, how about if I pick a little sweeter dough for the dinner rolls and then use the same dough for the breakfast rolls?  So here is the dough, ready for two appearances on the family table.  And, although with butter and sugar I wouldn’t call these rolls health food, the whole grains make them a good addition to your dinner and breakfast.

The Dough

• 1 tablespoon yeast (about a packet, if you buy yeast that way)
• 1/2 cup warm water (good, warm bath tub temperature)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup whole oat flour
• 1/3 cup wheat gluten (With all this talk about “gluten free” products these days, I feel the need to tell you that wheat gluten is not evil if you are not sensitive to it.  It gives the springiness to the bread, especially whole-grain breads  It’s protein!)
• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• one scant teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons honey (okay to use less)
• 1/4 cup hot milk, at a warm bath water temperature
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

You can make this dough in the food processor (fitted with the chopping blade) or by hand. Since I’ve been fighting a cold and wanted to handle the dough less, I used the food processor.  Start by putting the first three ingredients–yeast, sugar, and warm water–in the food processor, and process briefly to mix.

Why warm water?  How warm?  Yeast is a living organism  that is dormant in the state where we usually see it.  In order to wake it up, put it in a bath of water that would make a nice warm bath for you.  Give it a little to eat–wheat flour, sugar, etc.–and it’ll start to eat the yeast and then create bubbles to help your bread rise.  Remember:  if it’s too warm for you, it’s too warm for the yeast.

After the yeast mixture starts to bubble (proving that it’s working), start adding in the rest of the ingredients.  I think it’s easier to add the milk, butter, and honey if you mix them together.  Pulse the food processor as you add ingredients.  Continue pulsing until the dough forms a ball.  Stop!  It’s really easy to over-process bread dough and make the gluten break down.  Now put the dough ball in a buttered bowl about twice its size, turn it to cover in the butter, and cover.  Put in a warm place to rise for an hour or two.  You’ll know when it’s done rising when you push your finger in and the dough doesn’t pop back.  Punch down the risen dough by punching your fist into the middle of it.  Knead the dough for a couple of minutes, and then get ready for Act One.

Act One:  Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

We’re going to make six whole-wheat cloverleaf dinner rolls, using a muffin pan. First, get a 6-muffin muffin tin and grease the bottoms and sides of the cups.  Pinch off a good-sized handful and roll into balls each about the size of a golf ball or a tiny bit smaller.  Make 18 balls.  If you want to be more decadent, melt a tablespoon more of butter and dip the balls in butter.  Then push three dough balls into each muffin cup.  Let the rolls rise in a warm place for about forty-five minutes to an hour.  Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 20 minutes.  Eat.  Enjoy.  Listen to your family say “thank you.”

The Second Act

What?  You say you have dough left?  Good!  We’re going to use that.  For now, put it in the refrigerator, coated in oil or butter and covered well.  You can leave it there for a few days.  When you’re ready, take it out and let it warm up to room temperature.  It should be smaller than a grapefruit but bigger than an orange.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

You’ll need:

• cinnamon to sprinkle on your bread board
• 2-3 tablespoons softened butter
• 2-3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2-3 tablespoons sugar

glaze:

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoon milk–no more!
• shake or two of nutmeg

On a dough board sprinkled with cinnamon (or, if like me, you could not find your bread board, a cutting board will do), roll out your dough using a rolling pin.  Try for a square or rectangular shape that is at least 5 inches on one side and 7 inches on the other.  The dough will be about 1/4-1/3 inch thick.  You may need to turn the dough over as you roll it out.

Now spread the softened butter all over one side of the dough rectangle.  Sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon. Roll up the dough from one side, forming a thick worm. Cut into at least four pieces of roughly equal size, an inch or inch and a half high.  Put in a small, buttered, heavy pan (preferably glass like Pyrex or Corning or cast iron), with the ends down.  Note:  I used muffin cups for mine.  I would not use them again.  I think the extra exterior space made them too dry. Make sure that your rolls fit the pan you choose well but not tightly.  Let the rolls rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix up the glaze.  This is easy.  Just stir together the glaze ingredients listed above.  When the rolls are baked, pull them out of the oven and immediately pour on the glaze.  It should caramelize before you eyes.  If you want, though, you can pop the rolls back in the oven for one minute to do the caramelization.

Serve warm.  Mmmmmmm.

Tracks in the Snow, Revisited

During our last snow storm, I photographed and posted several examples of animal tracks in the snow.  I couldn’t resist sharing a new snow photograph with you, this time with the perpetrator clearly in sight.  If I had seen these paw prints without seeing the action, I might never have figured them out.  Yes, that’s front paws only, with back paws that ultimately ended up in front of the front paws.  The next leap took her several feet away.  She was attacking chunks of snow as they fell off the trees.

After the storm: tunnels of veggie love, still lovin’

After more than an inch of ice and at least half a foot of snow precipitated on us and then lingered for four days in late January and early February, I had my doubts about whether my veggie tunnels would still have viable veggies in them.  Temperatures, after all, have been running about ten degrees below normal for several weeks, and adding ice and snow on top of that did not bode well for plants that like sunshine.  It took some time to brush off the snow and break off the ice, but I’m delighted to report that almost everything survived.  Given that it was still quite cold when I took photographs, I didn’t want to take the tunnels all the way off, so “after” photographs are through the tunnels.

On November 29:

January 31:

Are those really veggie tunnels under all of that snow and ice?

Yes, and those are cold frames in the distance.

February 1:  time to take off the snow

They’re looking pretty sad.  Did anything survive?

Yes!  the veggies live!

I also dug several radishes and some carrots from the cold frames yesterday, so those too continue to thrive.

We’ve already got at least four inches more snow today (February 8), and radar shows a heavy band of snow moving in within a few hours and then more overnight, for a total of 8-12 inches.  I’ll sleep easy through this storm, though, knowing that my winter garden is surviving, snug under its tunnels of veggie love.

If you’re in the path of this latest storm (or any other) make sure you tuck in your veggies before you tuck in yourself.

Roasting Peppers: from freezer to flame

This fall, much later than I’d hoped, I ended up with an abundance of all sorts of peppers and very little time to process them.  Instead, I washed them and popped them in freezer bags, hoping for the best.  Now I’m happily using them in all sorts of recipes.  Some of the thin-walled peppers, like sweet marconis and mildly hot Hatches, seem to work best sliced in recipes that use stir-frying, like fajitas and Asia recipes as well as Italian sausage with peppers and onions.  You don’t need to do anything to them other than slicing and seeding but toss them straight in a pan.  The hotter, thicker-walled jalapenos stand up well to flame roasting, straight out of the freezer.  Flame roasting requires a gas stovetop (or other open, accessible flame), but I’ll give a broiler method too.

Begin by giving the frozen peppers a rinse.  Now remove the pot rest from the stove top and get out metal tongs.  Turn on the burner, and position the pepper in the flame using your tongs.

Keep turning the pepper . . .

until it’s charred all over–but not burned through!

This is what the pepper should look like.  Pathetic, isn’t it?Immediately cover the pepper and let it sit for a few minutes.

Now you’ll be able to rub off the char easily.  You can rinse the pepper afterwards, but not everyone feels that need.  Now you can seed the pepper and use it for jalapeno poppers or chili or fajitas or even szechuan stir fry.Pardon the blur!

Broiler method: Begin by pre-heating the broiler.  We want to char the outsides of the peppers, not cook the whole thing, and a hot broiler to start is crucial.  Pre-heat your pan too.  Now lightly grease the pan and place peppers to be roasted and skinned on the pan and under the broiler.  Keep a close eye on the peppers, turning to get even charring.  When they are charred all over (this will take just a few minutes), take them out and put them in a covered container.  Then remove char as indicated above.  The results aren’t quite as good as using open flame because the peppers will cook a bit more, but they’ll still work for most recipes.  This method is also much faster if you have several peppers to char.

Twins in the snow: deer neighbors

We’ve got more snow on the way here in the Ozarks.  The forecast reminded me that I have more photographs of deer neighbors to share.  Enjoy!A fawn (almost yearling) entering the yard.

In the background is the huge stone wall that my husband built from stones he found in the cleared area of the property.  I really do think we grow better rocks here than we do anything else.

The fawns (almost yearling) twins.

They always seem to know where the good grass is under the snow–or is that where I spilled some bird seed?

For more wildlife photography, see here, here,  here, and here.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader, including all photographs.  Please contact me about permission to use photographs.

Winter Tonic: spring-green creamy spinach soup

If you’re like me, winter starts to wear you down after a while.  One of the best winter boosts for me is bright green, fresh tasting spinach soup. Wait!  Don’t turn up your nose at this soup just because the star of the show is spinach.  My father had always hated “cooked spinach,” until he had this soup.  Since the spinach is just wilted, not cooked into bitterness, it retains wonderful flavor.

If you have spinach in your garden, you can use it in this recipe.  We’re between spinach harvests here, so I am using good organic baby spinach from the store.

• 1 pat butter (about 1/3 tablespoon) with enough oil oil to lightly coat the bottom of your pan (or all olive oil)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (Use less if the onion is strong.)
• 1 tablespoon potato flour (wheat flour okay if you do not have potato flour)
• 1 cup chicken stock (vegetarian option:  use vegetable stock)
• 5 ounces baby spinach, washed and dried (Yes, this is how much spinach is in your average store box of organic baby spinach)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon thyme–fresh use a little more
• salt, pepper, other herbs to taste
• optional garnish:  parmesan or other sweet sheep’s milk cheese or nutty-sweet swiss cheese
• optional garnish:  sliced boiled eggs

Begin by dicing your onion and sauteing the onion in the butter and oil until the onion is light caramel color.  Contrary to my usual cast iron obsession, I like to use a tall, heavy-bottomed stainless steel pitcher for this soup.  The shape will make it easier to use a stick blender.  Now stir in the potato flour, coating the onions in the flour.  Cook for a minute or two.  Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring as you go and keeping the burner set to simmer.  If you stirred the flour well with the onions, it should disappear as you add the broth.  Now add your spinach, stir, cover, and simmer for a minute or two, stir, and keep wilting the spinach.

Going . . . Going . . .

Once all of the spinach is wilted (this will not take long!), turn off the heat. You want to keep the bright color.  Add the milk and get out your emersion blender and blend away.  Don’t have an immersion blender?  Use your regular blender, but be really careful not to blow the lid off!  What if you don’t have either an immersion blender or regular blender?  Chop the spinach before you wilt it. Reheat the soup and serve in bowls.  Add the optional cheese garnish, grated, or the optional boiled egg slices.  Dip in your spoon.  Savor the fresh flavor.  Feel the snows of winter melting off you as the green of spring enters you and nourishes you.  Dip some crusty bread in the soup.  Mmmmmmm.

Health Care Facility “Nutrition”

For the past month, I’ve been in and out of health care facilities with a dear relative.  Today he told me that he called in the nutritionist after he got his lunch.  It was fried chicken, with so much oil that it squirted out when he tried to remove the skin.  Last night’s supper?  a pimento cheese sandwich on white bread.  Whether he’s been in the hospital, an acute care rehabilitation center, or a skilled nursing facility, the only fresh fruit he’s been offered has been bananas.  He’s had one vegetable per meal.  He has had an endless parade of white bread.  When he’s asked, he’s gotten “wheat bread”–in other words, bread made from mostly white flour with a tiny bit of whole grain flour added in.  He’s gotten white rice, white rice, and white rice, never brown.  Truth is, on his own he doesn’t eat enough and his choices aren’t well balanced, but he still recognizes that the food he’s been served is a heart attack, colon cancer, and a stroke, all on one plate.  Please excuse me if I come off as ranting, but I can’t help but wonder if the health care facilities are trying to make sure they have an endless supply of patients.  If we are going to fix health care in this country, we need to start with the food on our plates.  And what better place to introduce healthy choices to the people who need them most than a health care facility?

Chocolate Sauce in 1 1/2 minutes or less

When I started this blog, I knew I was going to have to share family secrets to keep it worthwhile for you, my wonderful readers.  Tonight I’m going to share my “recipe” for the quickest but still marvelously creamy and delicious chocolate sauce, perfect for Valentine’s Day.  This chocolate sauce is a ganache you can make without heavy cream and without chopped chocolate. It’s fast enough and inexpensive enough that it could be a regular treat (if there is such a thing!).  It’s kind of Ozark ganache:  simpler, more down to earth than French granache.

Begin with a glass (Pyrex-type) measuring cup.  Pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup of dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips (preferably organic) in the bottom.  Pour in milk to cover 2/3 of the chips.  In other words, if you poured in 1/2 cup of chips, pour in the milk to the 1/3 cup line.  Note:  this is not 1/3 cup milk, since the milk is being displaced by the chocolate chips.  It’s more like 1/4 cup. Microwave the chip-milk mixture for 45 seconds to 1 minute, depending on how much milk and chips you used.  Let the measuring cup rest briefly (perhaps while you’re getting out ice cream!), and then stir the mixture until it becomes creamy and all of the chocolate chips are melted.  Too thick for you?  You can add a splash more of milk and then stir again.  Pour over delicious ice cream, brownies, or cake.  Eat.  Savor.  Moan in ecstasy.  Eat some more.

Variations:

Do you want a creamy, thick dipping sauce–fondue–for strawberries and other fruit?  Don’t add the extra splash of milk.

All adult gathering?  Substitute butterscotch schnapps for 1/2 (or more) of the milk.

Want an extra rich flavor?  Pour in a splash of good vanilla extract on top of the milk before you microwave.

Brothers and friends

Having traveled through four states tonight on the way to a family member, I’m reminded of the ties that bind.  No matter where we go, no matter who we become in our lives, we are bound by certain ties of consanguinity, just as these deer brothers will always know each other.

Nutty Barley Bake from Linda at Flourish

One of the things I love about the internet is how small it makes the world and how we can “meet” people from far away–such as Canada–through their blogs.  One blog I enjoy reading is Flourish:  A Place to Enrich Your Life.  Linda infuses the blog with easy ideas for better living.  She agreed to do a guest post here by sharing her “Nutty Barley Bake.”  Please visit her blog and let her know if you enjoy this recipe.  I know we’re going to love it–although my husband already says I have to cut the butter a bit! I especially like that the recipe is baked, so you don’t have to tend a pot while it simmers.

Nutty Barley Bake from Linda of Flourish:  A Place to Enrich Your Life

• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup pearl barley (or use ½ cup wild rice and ½ cup barley)
• ½ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup minced fresh parsley
• ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cans vegetable broth ( I use vegetable bouillon  in water – about 4 cups)

In a skillet, over medium heat, sauté the onions, barley and nuts in butter – until barley is lightly browned.  Stir in parsley, green onions, salt and pepper. Transfer to a greased 2 quart baking dish. Stir in broth. Bake, uncovered about 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until barley is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with additional parsley if desired. Yield 6.

(My friend Candy gave this recipe to me in 2007. My family really likes this it; I make it with the wild rice for added color and appearance)

Thank you, Linda, for sharing!

By the way, the post that inspired this guest post was another barley recipe.