Bread and butter
Posted by Farmgirl on January 18, 2010 | 6 Comments
Day three of my make and taste recipe adventure.
Never-fail Refrigerator Rolls … but first, a butter churnin’ tutorial.
Before we get to today’s recipe — the real recipe — I have a question for you: Have you ever made your own butter? Don’t worry … you won’t need an antique butter churn or even a cow, although if you had one or both it would be swell.
You can make butter in a quart jar … perfect for toning your arms. Or, you can grab your handy dandy food processor.
Everyone should make butter at least once. Especially if you have kids. They’ll love it. It’s cool. It’s magical. And trust me when I say it couldn’t be easier.
Farmgirl’s Butter Churnin’ Recipe
You will need:
2 cups heavy cream
food processor
cheesecloth
bowl and sieve
optional: wildflower honey and cinnamon
Yield: about two sticks of butter.
Directions:
Pour two cups of cream into a food processor. Process continuously until butter separates from the whey — five to six minutes or so.
It will start to thicken …
… and about 30 seconds later, chunks of creamy butter will appear. The liquid whey will remain in the bottom of the bowl.
Get your sieve ready — place it over a bowl and line with cheesecloth.
Pour the butter and whey into the cheesecloth-lined sieve.
Use a butter paddle or wooden spoon and work the butter into the sieve. This squeezes the remaining whey liquids from the butter.
At this point, you’ll have a nice little mound of freshly-made butter. It’s perfect … but let’s make it even better!
Add about a tablespoon of wildflower honey to the bowl. Then work it in with your paddle or wooden spoon until it’s incorporated into the butter.
It looks mighty tasty at this point … but let’s spice things up a bit!
Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the bowl. Work it in with your paddle or wooden spoon until it’s incorporated into the honey butter.
Now … spread it on a piece of bread, toast — or if you made Saturday’s recipe and have some left, try your cinnamon honey butter on a Blackberry Blue Corn Meal Muffin. Delicious.
Alrighty. That was the fun part!
Now for the real recipe … the make and take recipe of the day. It was taken from this delightful cookbook, Prairie Home Cooking. There are so many wonderful recipes I’d like to try — 400 to choose from! — but since I made some butter and I really need to make bread more often, how about:
Never-fail Refrigerator Rolls
These traditional Sunday supper rolls are easy enough for a beginner but good enough for a gourmet. They get their name because the dough can be made well in advance and refrigerated. The finished rolls freeze well, too.
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening or unsalted butter
2 (1/4-oz.) packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
5 to 6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Combine the milk, sugar and shortening in a saucepan over medium-high heat and scald, but do not boil, the milk. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm, about 90 degrees. Sprinkle the yeast on top (do not stir), and let stand for at least 5 minutes to proof to a foamy consistency.
Stir the mixture to dissolve the yeast and add the salt. Pour the mixture into a large bowl. With an electric mixer, beat in the flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is firm.
Lightly oil a separate large bowl. Turn out the dough onto a floured board. Knead dough gently until it is smooth and elastic.
Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (The dough may be made ahead to this point and refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days.)
Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Lightly oil a large baking sheet. From each half of the dough, portion off 15-16 pieces and roll the pieces into round balls.
Transfer the balls to the baking sheet. Cover the balls with a towel and let dough rise in a warm place until it is again doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly, and serve warm or at room temperatue with your freshly-made cinnamon honey butter!
Enjoy!
Tags:bread, butter, butter churn, cheesecloth, churning, cow, cream, dough, food processor, knead, rise, whey, yeast
Filed Under: Food
