I make scratch biscuits all the time. But some friends had us over for post-Thanksgiving dinner and there were homemade bread rolls.
Which got me to thinking and messing. Yesterday I looked at various recipes and then went the way I usually do: I winged it.
First I took some yeast I use for winemaking (because I never shopped for bread yeast before). Mixed it with warm water and a bit of sugar to get the little bugs active.
Then I mixed up some flour, salt, butter, a little milk, and some warmish water (didn't want to shock the yeasties). Added the bubbling yeast to it all (a little leaven, I was thinking). Mixed, added flour, tasted a little, added a little more salt, and then got something I could knead and let rise in a bowl. After half an hour of it growing like a mushroom, I pushed it all down again and made little balls.
They grew too, with a little help from a slightly warm oven.
So I baked them. Turned out nicer than I expected:
This was the first time I baked with yeast. My mom used to do it all the time. I guess something rubbed off.
Now my only problem is that my wife said to me tonight as we finished the last ones, "We should have these every day!"
Which got me to thinking and messing. Yesterday I looked at various recipes and then went the way I usually do: I winged it.
First I took some yeast I use for winemaking (because I never shopped for bread yeast before). Mixed it with warm water and a bit of sugar to get the little bugs active.
Then I mixed up some flour, salt, butter, a little milk, and some warmish water (didn't want to shock the yeasties). Added the bubbling yeast to it all (a little leaven, I was thinking). Mixed, added flour, tasted a little, added a little more salt, and then got something I could knead and let rise in a bowl. After half an hour of it growing like a mushroom, I pushed it all down again and made little balls.
They grew too, with a little help from a slightly warm oven.
So I baked them. Turned out nicer than I expected:
This was the first time I baked with yeast. My mom used to do it all the time. I guess something rubbed off.
Now my only problem is that my wife said to me tonight as we finished the last ones, "We should have these every day!"