Doughty-Dough-Dough-Dough! YES!

It worked!  After my horrid failure the other day in creating "yeast biscuits" instead of decadent dinner rolls, I spoke to people.  I talked to a friend at work who wondered if I killed the yeast with liquids that were too hot.  At the time I declined that suggestion, feeling like the yeast had bubbled up enough, but now that I've done it right, I believe she was correct.  I also did what any good baker might would do:  I called my momma.

Mom agreed that I probably got my liquids way too hot for the yeasties to survive.  She explained what the yeast should look like, and it is safe to say that the yeast I had didn't look like her description.  I thought it was foamy enough at the time - but now that I know what it's supposed to look like, I realize it was not even close.  Mom also agreed that the lack of kneading the dough probably didn't help things either. 

So, here I am with a new recipe thanks to Mom and some new pictures and a new story.  A happier, lighter, more delicious story.  I made both cloverleaf rolls and some pan rolls.  Here, see what I mean:

So, first, the recipe ingredients:

2 pkg yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups scalded milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp shortening
5 3/4 to 6 1/2 cups flour

First, step is to "soften" the yeast in the warm water.  The recipe says 110 degrees water should be used to do this, however, I do not have a thermometer.  My tap water, when I just turn 100% hot water on, gets just hot enough that it is uncomfortable to keep you hand in for too long, but it doesn't burn.  My husband takes showers without hardly any of the cold water on - so it's really not too, super duper hot.  And that's what I used.  Hot tap water.  And it worked perfectly.

So, to be clear, combine the yeast with the 1/4 cup of warm water.  I let it sit for about 10 minutes while I was doing other things.  And what it should look like is brown tiny bubbled foam, very light and airy. 

The "other things" I was doing while the yeast was "softening" was scalding the milk and cooling it.  To scald milk, put it in a sauce pan on medium-high heat and bring it to just under a boil, to the point when the little bubbles start to form around the edges where the milk is touching the pan and the milk is steaming hot.  Once it reaches that point, remove it from the heat and combine it, in a large bowl, with the sugar, salt and shortening. 

Let the milk mixture cool to lukewarm and then add 2 cups of the flour, combining well.  Add the yeast and mix.  Continue to add flour, enough to make the dough a bit stiff.  I added the flour a cup at a time and ended up adding a total of right at 6 cups. 

Turn dough out onto a slightly floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes or so.  Mom says she doesn't do it for that long, and the recipe calls for you to do it for 2 - 10 minutes, so I did it for about 8 and it turned out fine.  You should knead it until the dough is smooth and somewhat satiny.  Shape the dough into a ball and place into a large lightly oiled bowl.  Roll the dough into the oil so that there is a light covering over it.  If you have it, cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Place in a warm place and let dough rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. 

This time, I "created" the warm place by turning the oven light on - the oven itself is OFF - only turn on the light, and place the bowl in the closed oven for the rising time.  The dough should double in size.  Here is a picture of a successfully risen dough.

I "punched it down" by poking it with a few fingers.  It deflated beautifully! 

Take the dough and shape it into your favorite rolls. 

For instance, I greased muffin tins and placed 3 small balls of the dough in each muffin cup to make cloverleaf rolls. Here they are pre-rise:

I also made some larger dough balls and put them into a greased pan (this picture may look a little familiar...):

You can also make cinnamon rolls with this dough, but I didn't do that this time.  That's for a later date! 

Let the dough rise again to the point that it doubles in size once more.  (This picture does NOT look familiar!  ha ha)

Brush tops with butter and bake at 350 degrees for 20-35 minutes or until tops are just browned. 

We ate them piping hot with butter and jam.  Yum, yum!  I am so much happier with this turn out than the last one!

Thanks for sticking with me on this!  I'll continue to try other yeast recipes, but for now, I'm very happy with how this one turned out!

And, while I'm in a celebratory state (and, Dad, that's celebratory, not celebrity), I want to extend late happy birthday wishes to a dear friend who I won't name because she's kinda shy about such things.  But she knows who she is.   Happy Birthday, Dear Friend.

I also want to acknowledge that tomorrow is the birthday of someone else very special to me.  If he were here, Tom would be celebrating his birthday tomorrow.  A day doesn't go by that I don't think about and miss him, and I know that would mean a lot to him just to know that.  Happy Birthday, Tom. 

And, lastly, but not leastly, a really big reason to celebrate: 

Happy Retirement, G.T.!   

I am so happy that you are now officially retired, Padre.  I hope you enjoy waking up each morning and having it always feel like a Saturday.  I hope you take lots of mid-day naps.  I hope you get a lot of mileage out of your camper.  I hope it's everything you want and need it to be.  You've worked so hard for a long time and you deserve your off time.  Just don't do anything to make your little trooper angry or you might get a bip in the schnoz. 

That's it for me tonight.  I had a great, productive day of work and a satisfying evening of baking.  I am now going to brush the naughty dog while I watch tonight's episode of American Idol. 

Enjoy!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child