Lion House Rolls

Just thinking of Thanksgiving coming around the corner.  It won't actually be at my home this year.  Very seldom is it, but still we must have a proper Thanksgiving Dinner at the Clawson household.  It's usually the Sunday before, but I MUST have leftovers at MY home when the big meal is over.  To be truly honest, and forthwith I could do without the main meal.  Yup!  I just said it, BUT the main meal produces the leftovers so I guess it really is a necessity:)  There is nothing better in this world than a leftover turkey sandwich with mustard, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on it.  These rolls will fit that bill. A slice or two of pie for a midnight snack, and if we are lucky enough to have my Granny's famous Spinach Balls, I'll eat a few of those for brekky the day after.  

So I've been trying out a few new things, and I've never made these Lion House Rolls before.  How could that be?  I mean, Mormon Utahan that I am, I should have tried these by now.  They turned out spectacular!!  I especially love the shape and how they look.  But they tasted great!  It could have helped to have a perfect bottle of raspberry jam to slather on the rolls too, and the fact that I was starving, but they were good the day after too.  My sister Hollie and my brother Eric both had their wedding dinners at the Lion House, and the Pantry always has such wonderful pies.  The Lion House cookbooks are huge favorites at my house.  Tons of recipes that have become staples.  These rolls will now go into the mix with Hollie's Orange Rolls, and my favorite Dilly Rolls.  Maybe they'll adorn your Thanksgiving table this year, or if you're lucky, next Sunday!

Here's a link to a Youtube of the Lion House head baker-ess rolling the rolls.  She's awesome!  I've learned something from her:)

Lion House Dinner Rolls

recipe source: The Lion House and KSL

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 tablespoons dry yeast (I use instant)
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine
1 egg
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour (I used 6+ cups of flour to get the right consistency.)

Method:

In large bowl or electric mixer, combine water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand). Add about ½ cup flour and mix again, by hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour).

Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out). Cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.

Scrape dough out onto floured board. Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides; gently flatten to about 1 inch thick. With rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide, and ¼ inch thick. Brush with melted butter. With pizza cutter or very sharp knife, cut dough in half to make two strips about 4 inches wide. Make cuts through strips of dough every 2 inches, making about 18 pieces of dough.

Starting with short end, roll up one piece of dough, with butter on the inside. Place roll on parchment-lined pan with other short end down on the paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Be sure all rolls face the same direction on baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Serve with Honey Butter. Makes 1 to 1 ½ dozen rolls.

Helpful Tips for Making Rolls

Always add flour gradually and keep dough as soft as you can handle. A soft dough will produce a lighter roll.

It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour called for in the recipe—add only enough flour to make dough manageable.

THE Loaf! Fig Walnut and Blue Cheese Peasant Bread

I get asked a lot at the bakery if I cook.  More specifically if I bake.   "Do I bake!"  I reply.  I look at whomever is asking me, and tell them that James is worthless in a home kitchen.  He doesn't know how to make anything in less than a 180 quart bowl.  A 9x13 inch pan would be a math division nightmare for someone who cooks in quantities like James. But being married to a baker really does have its perks.  My husband makes awesome cupcakes AND lets me take all the credit for them:) And his Honey Whole Wheat bread, still to this day, makes me smile in pure bliss as I take a bite of a BLT made with it.  But being a bakers wife also has its downside.  The main downside is that you quickly become the biggest bread snob on the planet.  I won't even both eating a lot of bread because either it's not fresh enough, tasty enough, or worth the calories.  I only want to eat the tastiest most homemade bread I can find.  And another downfall of being a bakers wife is that I can spot a day old loaf of bread a mile away.  Just the other day I was at a farmers market where some beautiful bread was being sold.  I wanted every loaf, but on closer inspection the bread had been made the day before.  It just didn't have that, "I'm the best loaf on the planet!" feel, or texture anymore.  It's become somewhat of a problem.  

It was the farmers market visit that sparked the idea for the loaf of bread I made at home.   The bakery at the market had used such fun and interesting flavors together.  Fresh raspberry, lemon, and sage.  Strange cheeses and fruit.  Nuts and herbs.  It was so fun!  I wanted some really different flavors in the loaf I was making.  My all time favorite flavors to make are Cranberry Orange and Blueberry Lemon.  I love the little bit of sweetness in my bread.  I also like a lot of chunks.  I purchased a container of dried figs recently and decided to give them a go.  I actually had figs, walnuts, and blue cheese all at the ready.  This indeed was going to be a lovely loaf of bread!

So the actual recipe is one I've made dozens of times, and yet each time I pull it out of the oven, I'm surprised!  I take pictures, I make everyone in the house OOOH, and AHHH before cutting into the loaf, and I make the master bread baker tell me how AWESOME his wife is!!  The figs and walnuts were fantastic.  I'd leave the cheese out all together next time.  But that's just me.  Find the flavor that sounds delish to you, or be as plain as could be.  You won't be disappointed either way.  I love your guts!!  

I Can't Believe I Made This Bread, Bread

recipe from Williams Sonoma

3 c. all purpose flour

1/2 t. (yep only 1/2 t.) yeast

1 3/4 t. salt

1 1/2 c. water (not hot and not cold. Just water)

Add in's of choice: I used 3/4 c. dried figs, 1/2 c. chopped walnuts, and 1/2 c. blue cheese. You can use raisins, cinnamon, any cheese, garlic, herbs, spices, dried fruit, fresh fruit, or stewed tomatoes.  Montreal Steak Seasoning is even great. Let you imagination take you where ever you want to go. Sweet or savory, you decide.

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients together and stir until blended. Only a minute. It doesn't look pretty, but don't worry. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough sit for 12-24 hours. It will rise a little and start to look really wet and bubbly. This is good. I have used the dough as early as 8 hours and as late as 36 hour later. It always works. This is a very forgiving recipe. After the long rest, turn dough out onto a floured surface. Lightly turn the dough onto itself a few times. Don't knead this, your more or less just roughly forming the dough. Let it sit for 20 mins. and rest. In the mean time place a cast iron dutch oven in a 450'F. oven while it is preheating. The pan needs to stay in the hot oven about 20 mins. Take the hot pan out of the oven and place the dough ball in the pan. You don't need any grease, or butter for the pan. The dough will kind of wrinkle up and look terrible, but trust me it will look amazing in about an hour. With a sharp knife cut an X into the top of your dough. This will help it "tear" in a real rustic way. Place the lid on top of the dutch oven and place the pan back in the oven. Bake for 30 mins. at 450'F. with the lid on. Take the lid off and bake another 20 mins. The crust should brown nicely and when you tap the top of the bread it should sound hollow. Remove the bread from the pan and let cool. Yields 1- 1 1/2 lb loaf

Pumpkin Spice Scones

I am finally in to fall.  It came yesterday.  Maybe it was the fact that Jimmy and I flew in yesterday from a lovely holiday and had a little layover in Denver.  Denver was smack dab in the middle of winter.  5 inches of snow on the runway.  Planes waiting forever to get de-iced, and cold white stuff falling.  I decided right there and then that Fall is AWESOME!    I will love it as long as it will stay.

We came home to happy kids, (they were actually excited to see Jane's tan) a very clean house, raspberries still waiting for me to pick, (Yeah!!) and one last pretty stale Pumpkin Spice scone.  Our little babysitter Rachael is a great cook.  We Face Timed the kids one night right in the middle of making these scone and I was sure glad there was one left for me to taste.  Stale or not, these were so yummy!  I would have never thought to make Pumpkin scones.  I like berries, or cinnamon chip in mine, but I will forever be grateful for Rachael's scones.

My house now smells amazing, and I am happily enjoying eating my Pumpkin Spice Scone and loving Fall.  I should do this more often.  Enjoying the now, not wishing for tommorrow:)  Love ya!

Rachel's Pumpkin Spice Scones

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (can use 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar  depends on how sweet you want them
1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 c cornmeal

1 cube cold butter

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3-4 T heavy cream

1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and spices.  cut butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry cutter.  

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream, pumpkin, and egg.  Add it all at once to the dry ingredients and mix quickly with a fork until moistened. Knead it in the bowl several times to gather any dry crumbs into the dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a 1-inch thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges and place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar if you want.  I drizzled a glaze on mine when they were warm.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, and serve warm.

Cinnamon Glaze

1 c. Powdered sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

 1-3 T milk

Combine together and add more milk to thin.  Drizzle on warm scones.