3/4 cup milk
1 fresh cake yeast
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup lukewarm water
Directions
Scald milk and pour over sugar, shortening, & salt. Let it cool to
lukewarm while softening yeast in a small bowl with the warm water.
When soft, add the egg and beat together slightly. Pour the yeast/egg
mixture into the milk mixture and stir them together. The flour may
be sifted or poured into the liquid. With a large spoon, stir until
flour/milk is well mixed. You should have a firm, but not stiff
dough. Without removing it from the bowl, cover the dough with a
plate or towel and set aside to rise until double in bulk (about 2
hrs depending on the temperature in the kitchen). Instead of letting
the dough rise at this point you may put it in the refrigerator and
use it later, or the next day. Watch to make sure it doesn't spill
out of the bowl. If it starts to spill before you're ready to use
it, punch it back down. Refrigerated dough is easier to handle but
takes longer to rise. BREAD: If you want to make bread, dump the
dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and with more flour as
needed to keep it from sticking, knead it until springy and easy to
handle. This dough does not require a lot of kneading; only enough to
make it easy to handle. For 2 medium size loaves cut the dough in
half and knead/shape each into loaves and put into greased baking
pans. Allow about 2 hours for the dough to double again. Bake in a
375 degree oven until lightly browned on top (if uncertain whether or
not bread is done, tip out of pan and see if bottom is browned too).
ROLLS: To make rolls, work and knead dough until springy and easily
handled. Roll out with a rolling pin and cut with a biscuit cutter
and fold over and place on a greased cookie sheet (Parkerhouse
rolls), or break dough into small pieces, make into little balls and
place 3 in each section of a greased muffin pan (Cloverleaf rolls).
SWEET ROLLS: For Christmas bread or sweet rolls, roll out dough as
for Parkerhouse rolls, except trying to make an oblong instead of a
round. Spread it with raisins and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Dot with butter and roll as for a jelly roll. Slice and place on a
greased pan or make into a circle and make slashes through the dough
at intervals. Let rise and bake as for loaves. Top with an icing made
of confectioners' sugar, melted butter, milk, and vanilla or rum
flavoring and drizzle over the bread or rolls while hot. Decorate
with nuts or fruits. If you want to make a whole wheat bread, use
half white and half whole wheat flour, and use brown sugar instead of
white. The amounts above will yield 1 large or 2 medium loaves of
bread, or 2 dozen large rolls.
Servings: 24 servings
Basic Bread & Rolls Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads
The History of Recipes
We are able to read the history of `recipes` far back into ancient history, in fact as far as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. In practice though, in the main part, these ancient records were just primitive hieroglyphic instructions for preparing food.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to experts are a few clay tablets in Sumerian which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel `blissful`. As we move into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled some scripts showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. He describes how the meals of wealthy Romans were split into appetizers, main meal and afters, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius also informs us how the early Romans were skilled in the use of a wide range of spices, including many that are still in use today such as basil, fennel and asafoetida. Later, in the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new spices and herbs from the holy lands, including spices like coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new tastes led to an explosion in manuscripts on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. During the next few centuries, the rich and powerful families of the West strove to lay on the most exotic banquets, and consequentially the best chefs and their collection of recipes became highly prized. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 19th century that cooking and recipe publications reached a high level of popularity. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to assembling, testing, and recording the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the advent of the 20th century, cookery books were starting to become popular mostly due to better eduction, people having increased spare time and disposable income. The revolution that is television gave us celebrity TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everybody to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Basic Bread & Rolls recipe.
