How to Spend an Afternoon

November 11, 2012

We make our own bread, from good whole-wheat flour, and I am very proud of mine, made according to an English recipe with only one rising; so short in time and easy to make. You  just knead your ingredients together- flour, salt, lard, sugar, yeast, and water- and make the dough stiff enough so that you can pat it down into loaves with well-floured hands, put it in the pans, let rise for half an hour, and then bake for an hour. It can be done of an evening, or before breakfast. It certainly is good to eat with a bit of onion - a poor man's feast. Dorothy Day

Ceil gave us a bread-baking lesson yesterday. I think I was the only one of the five with much experience baking bread; but we were making cinnamon rolls for Sunday breakfast, which would be new to me, too. Although my list of uses for cinnamon is long, my patience with the lengthy recipe is short. But, now that it’s all said and done, it actually wasn’t as taxing a process as my years of avoidance would suggest.  The thing about baking is that it is time-consuming, yes, but not energy-consuming. A good chunk of the process is rising time, which is the perfect time to pick up a good book!

So don’t be deterred by the length of this recipe. Like many things in life, you must approach bread-baking with loving desire. If you don’t want to spend an entire afternoon creating something, then you won’t enjoy this. But, if you’re willing to make the commitment, the reward will be great!

So day I'll try to recreate the bread Dorothy was proud of. But for now, let them eat cinnamon rolls! 

Cinnamon Rolls, from Better Home’s & Gardens. Copyright 1973!

Makes 24

In a large mixing bowl combine:

2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 package (1 T) active dry yeast.

Heat & stir:

1 cup milk, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup shortening (I used butter), and 1 t salt til warm (not hot or you’ll kill the yeast.)

Add wet mixture to dry mixture along with 2 eggs.

Beat at low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl and then beat for 3 minutes at high speed. (Or get an upper arm workout and whip, whip, whip with a wooden spoon for several minutes until you can see air bubbles.)

Stir in 1 ½ - 2 cups flour to make a stiff dough.

Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, 8-10 minutes (or until your arms ache and you want to give up, like me.) Pause mid-way for a rest and a photo op.

Shape into a ball. Place in a bowl with some oil and roll it around to coat entirely.

Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled in a warm place, at least an hour. (I typically put the dough in the oven after it’s been heated to low and then turned off. Our countertops worked just fine today because the rooms are warm. You can also let the dough rise overnight in the fridge.)

Punch down dough and divide in half. Cover halves and let rest 10 minutes. (We skipped the resting part.)

Roll each half into a 12x8 rectangle.

Brush each half with melted butter (about ¼ cup total.)

Sprinkle about ½ cup of sugar over both halves along with 2 T cinnamon (I used more like 4. See earlier post for my opinion on cinnamon.)

Sprinkle with whatever else you’d like. Raisins, nuts, cranberries, whatever. (That’s my instruction.)

Roll up each piece from the long side; seal the seams tightly, water helps.

Slice each log into 12 rolls (more if you want smaller rolls; less if you want Cinnabon artery-clogging size.)

Place rolls in greased pans. (It’s fine if they touch.)

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. (We put ours in the fridge overnight at this stage.)

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.

Drizzle with a milk/powered sugar icing, if desired, while still warm. Enjoy!

Song for the day:

“Today My Life Begins”, Bruno Mars

A whole new world is waiting. It's mine for the taking.

Thanks, Ryan Kearns!