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
Written cooking instructions as a concept can be found far back into the distant past, in fact as far as early Egypt, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that is, generally, these ancient records were just very simple hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to historians is a collection of tablets in the Sumerian language which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making people feel exhilarated and blissful. Progressing into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a roman called Apicius created a few scripts showing how to cook the recipes prepared by the Romans. In his works, he recounts how the roman meals were split into hors d`oeuvres, main course and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius also tells us how the ancient cooks used a wide range of spices and herbs, including a few you will know like basil, mint and dill. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, we find a couple of books which appeared in the fourteenth century ; one book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these books are unconnected to the indian curry that appears on menues today, but rather recipes for the types of meals served to the rich and powerful of the time. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and herbs from the holy lands, including spices like parsley and basil. The introduction of these new culinary ideas caused a torrent in books on cooking, some of which still exist in private libraries. Over the following few centuries, the families of Europe strove to lay on the most extravagent meals, and consequentially the best chefs and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. However, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cooking and recipe publications really came of age. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, dedicated their lives to assembling, testing, and writing down recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. When we get to the 1900s, cookbooks were starting to become popular mostly as a result of better eduction, people having increased spare time and having more money. The arrival of TV gave us celebrity TV chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing us all to search through thousands of recipes just like those on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this Basic Bread & Rolls recipe.
