French Bread

French Bread Theresa Style

Today my grandchildren asked for garlic bread. Now I could have ran to the store, but I thought of those wonderful evenings of my childhood that if we wanted it or needed it, my mom would simply make it. Running to the store to purchase something that could be easily "whipped up," was unheard of in our little white farm house down the bumpy gravel lane.

Theresa's French Bread

Mix together

1 cup water

2 yeast cakes 

Add

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 T. softened butter (Theresa used shortening, this is my substitution)

Mix in

4 cups flour adding 1 cup at a time until ball forms that is sticky! The sticky dough is Theresa's secret to delicious light bread.

Bake

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes 

Tonight as we enjoyed my misshaped loaves I thoughts turned to my wonderful parents and their endless love and days filled with joy.

I wish I had more pictures of my beautiful mom and handsome dad

Christmas Bread

Christmas Morning would not be complete without the Yummy Dickinson Christmas Bread! Honestly I cannot remember a Christmas morning without it! So today I pulled out the recipe, gathered the supplies, called in Scott my husband to help, and started making our Christmas tradition. Today I used my bread mixer, but most times I knead the bread by hand in honor of my mother and her amazing biceps!  

Below is the recipe I wrote down as my mom walked me through the process 40 plus years ago. The picture below is the day I wanted to make sure that the recipe and tradition lived on as my daughter Lyndsey and I baked the bread together a few years ago.

Dickinson Christmas Bread

Add 3 T. (or 1 pkg.) yeast to 1 cup lukewarm water. Stir and let sit to make a sponge.

• Scald 1 cup milk on medium heat. Remove milk from heat and add 1 stick butter, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 sugar. Let milk mixture cool to room temperature.

• Mix yeast, milk mixture and 1 egg together.

• Mix in approximately 5 1/2 cups flour (1 cup at a time) until the dough pulls from the edges. (You want the dough to be slightly sticky).

• Knead the dough. Let rise covered in a buttered, covered bowl in a warm area for about an hour.

• Punch the dough down.

• Melt 1 stick of butter in a small bowl. Mix sugar and cinnamon in another and set aside.

• Coat the inside of two bunt pans with butter and then generously sprinkle brown sugar in the bottom. Place red and green pineapple and cherry candies in the bottom forming holly.

• Roll the dough into small 1” balls. Roll each ball in the melted butter and then the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place in the pans. Making one row of tightly fitted balls. (If dough remains after filling two pans, simply use the remaining dough to make rolls).

• Cover the filled bunt pans and let rise for 30 minutes.

• Cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

• Remove from oven, dump carefully on a plate and let cool.

• Drizzle powder sugar glaze over the bread, and you are ready for Christmas Morning.

Spudnuts

Nowadays, if one is looking for a treat, it is easy to run to the local market to pick one up! Or in my case, run to the local frozen yogurt shop or even better, LOPS, the local soda shop.

That is not what life is like growing up on a farm in a rural area. If we wanted a treat, (aside from the occasional bag of penny candy from Lucians Corner Store), we made it. One of my favorite treats were Spudnuts! I loved when we had mashed potatoes for dinner, because what usually followed within the next day or two were Spudnuts.  Now how my mom made these treats perfect every time is a mystery to me; perhaps it was the cup of love for her family that she put into each and every one. Enjoy this great recipe.

Spudnuts

Ingredients:

3 T. (1 package) yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup shortening 

(or butter if you prefer)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes

About 5-6 cups flour

Directions:

Add yeast to lukewarm water, stir, and set aside.

Scald milk. Add shortening (or butter), sugar, and salt. Cool to room temperature and add yeast mixture. Stir and let set for a few minutes. Add the beaten egg and mashed potatoes to the mixture. Add flower until the dough becomes stiff and leaves the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough lightly for about 1 minute to form a ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise for 90 minutes under a covered cloth. Roll our the dough about 1/2 thick and cut with a donut cutter. (Theresa used a class cup and a salt shaker lid to cut the hole in the center. This is still my favorite method)! Let donuts rise for about an hour. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot (You must stay close to this pot, at all times. Theresa told me how oil jumped out of the pan one time and started a towel on fire. Keep a close eye on it!.

When oil is heated, place the doughnuts a few at a time, cook to golden brown on both sides and then place on a paper towel. Then, dip the doughnut is a power sugar glaze or in granulated or powdered sugar. YUM!

Cinnamon Rolls

Honestly I have no idea how i am going to make it through this post without running to the kitchen and making a yummy pan of cinnamon rolls. My mom's cinnamon rolls are always a special treat even for the most ordinary of days.

Forty years ago when I brought my then boyfriend (now husband of 40 years) home to meet my parents, he was greeted with homemade cinnamon rolls. When he proposed a few short weeks later, he told me flat out that the cinnamon rolls sealed the deal. "I am hoping that you cook like your mom!" He said. 

Of course nothing can compare with cinnamon rolls made by mom's hands, but here is the recipe so we can all try!

Theresa's Cinnamon Rolls

To make Theresa’s special cinnamon rolls, make her basic roll doll. Let rise for 60 minutes and then roll the entire amount of dough in a large flat circle.

Melt 1 square of butter in a small dish. Mix 1 cup sugar and cinnamon to taste in another small dish or shaker.

Rub desired amount of melted butter over the entirety of the dough, and then sprinkle with desired amount of sugar/cinnamon mixture. (Or you can substitute brown sugar for the sugar mixture. Theresa made it both ways). 

Add raisins and/or chopped walnuts.

Begin rolling the entire circle of dough to make a long loaf. Using a string (or very sharp knife), cut into individual rolls; placing each on buttered baking sheet. Let rise 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from baking sheet.

Cool and ice with delicious buttercream frosting (1 cup powder sugar, 1 T. heavy cream, 1 tsp. melted butter, 1 tsp. vanilla).

Theresa's Homemade Rolls

I have tried to make my mom's delicious rolls now for 40 years. Try as I might, they just are not the same as those delicious rolls that my nose smells at this exact moment!

My mom had the touch. She knew just the size of dough that would make the rolls perfect size, they were done to perfection and tasted light and fluffy. Oh well, I guess I will just keep on trying because luckily I have her recipe for homemade dinner rolls right from the oven. Maybe you will have the touch to make them just like moms!

Homemade Dinner Rolls

1 cup water

3 T. (or 2 pkg.) dry yeast

3/4 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 t. salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter

5 cups flour

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Add the yeast to 1 cup of lukewarm water, stir to dissolve and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, scald milk (following instructions on the homemade bread recipe).

Add sugar, salt, butter to the milk and cool to room temperature. When cooled, add the yeast mixture and two eggs. Let set for about 5 minutes to form a sponge.

Add flour a cup at a time, stir, mix and then knead as the instructions on the homemade bread recipe). Let dough rise in covered, buttered dish for 60-90 minutes (until the dough has doubled). Punch dough down.

Divide dough into fourths. Taking one forth at a time, roll the dough to be about 1/2 inch thick. Using the top of a glass cut circle shapes from the dough. Take each circle and fold in half; place on a baking sheet about 1/4 apart from one another.

Cover and let rolls rise for 30 minutes.

Bake rolls in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from over and brush gently with butter. Cool slightly and eat with delicious homemade jam and butter.

Mama’s Delicious Homemade Bread

Who wouldn't love coming home from school greeted with a delicious smell of homemade bread in the air. Well that is how it was for me, a childhood filled with fresh home-baked bread.

I remember occasionally we had store-bought bread for a treat and I remember thinking it was terrible. Still to this day I prefer a slice of the home cooked delicacy.

Of course the bread was usually topped with homemade jam or honey straight from Grandpa Hansen's honey farm. Yum.

Here is her delicious recipe

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups of lukewarm water

2 pkgs. (or 3 T.) active dry yeast

1 cup scalded milk

1/4 cube butter

1 T. salt

2 T. Sugar

7-8 cups sifted flour

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water; stir to dissolve. 

Place the cup of milk in saucepan and turn to medium-high. Stirring frequently, heat milk until bubbles form and a light froth form around the edges of the pan. Add in the butter, salt and sugar. Mix. Cool to room temperature.

Only when milk is cool, add the dissolved yeast to the milk mixture.

Add about 3 cups flour to the mixture and stir to mix. Add 3-4 more cups of flour, one cup at a time until the mixture becomes solid and becomes difficult to stir.

Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a clean surface. Rub a slight amount of butter on your hands.

Work the dough with your hands forming it into a ball, press and then reshape. Continue this process until the dough is no longer sticky. (If the dough does not lose it’s stickiness, add more flour).

After dough forms a ball that will not fall apart, begin punching the dough by pressing the heels of your hands into the dough, pushing forward and gathering back to punch once again.

Throw the dough by gathering the dough, raising it, and then throwing it on the counter (this can be quite therapeutic).

Continue to knead, punch and throw the dough for about 10 minutes or when the ball of dough shows a shiny and smooth appearance and is tacky to the touch (having an elastic feel). 

Place the ball of dough in a covered, buttered bowl for 60 minutes. At that time, punch the down to make it flat. Divide the dough in have; shape each half into a loaf. Place in two greased bread loaf pans. Cover and let rise for 60 minutes. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Remove from pans; turn loaves over and rub the tops with butter. Let cool.