Favorite Fall Recipes

I love Fall, even in Portland where Fall means lots of rain. I think it's because I love to bake, not to mention sip yummy hot drinks while watching movies all snuggled up on the couch. It also might be because October is my birthday month (yes, I celebrate all month). If you agree, here are some of my favorite Fall recipes (they are good all year long, but once the rain starts I just can't stop making this stuff!).

Yeast Dinner Rolls. Great for big get together meals, I love making my house smell like fresh baked bread.

Hot Chocolate. This is the most chocolatey smooth hot chocolate ever!

Mac n' Cheese. Ooey gooey delicious cheese and pasta. I love this on it's own or served on the side of just about anything.

Chai Latte Concentrate. Super yummy and making it at home lets you control the spices and flavorings.

Mocha Roasted Almonds. These make the house smell great and are an easy snack to make.

The Ridiculous Grilled Cheese. I like about any grilled cheese, but this one is my favorite.

What are your favorite Fall recipes? I'd love to check them out!

Friday Food Craft: Yeast Dinner Rolls

With a week of Portland's cool Fall rain behind me, my mind is starting to turn a little towards Holiday time. In particular, Holiday dinners, though this recipe is great any time. What dinner at any time of year couldn't be improved with some delicious dinner rolls? This recipe yields 16-18 small dinner rolls, but if you are cooking for a crowd I would recommend doubling it, who can resist seconds or thirds?


To make these dinner rolls you will need:

1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), room temperature (you can microwave to soften, it's ok if some is melted)
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour (plus a little extra for your counter tops when kneading)


Start by warming your milk. This can be done in a microwave or in a small saucepan on your stove top. It should be around 108-110 degrees, too hot and it will kill your yeast (not a yummy thing). Put your milk, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl (or stand mixer) and mix it together a little bit, let stand for about 5 minutes.

Next, add in your butter and egg, plus one cup of your flour. Mix this together until your egg and any butter lumps are worked into the dough (sometimes I just melt all of my butter to avoid the lumps altogether). Then add in the rest of your flour and mix until it has come together. Remove onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a couple minutes, if your dough is too sticky you can add a bit more flour (with all the rain we get here I often have to add up to an extra 1/2 cup). Don't add too much extra, this dough is a pretty soft dough, you just don't want it to be a sticky glob.

Place dough into a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size. Punch down, and allow to rise an extra 30-45 minutes (until doubled in size again).


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Form your dough into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (you could also just grease the bottom of your pan, but I like keeping my pans clean and ensuring easy removal). Allow formed rolls to rise an additional 15 minutes or so before baking. You may brush the top with an egg wash if you like. Bake 12-14 minutes until tops are golden brown and delicious! I generally brush the tops of mine with a little butter when they come out of the oven as well. Allow to cool slightly before serving (I almost always burn myself a little tasting one as I simply can't wait, don't be like me).


Enjoy!

Friday Food Craft: French Bread

I'm a sucker for freshly baked breads, almost nothing is better than the smell of bread right out of the oven. Usually once Summer strikes, I kind of stop baking, not wanting to make the apartment any hotter than necessary, but I can thank this year's belated arrival of Summer and unseasonably cool weather for allowing me to make this tasty treat. There are very few ingredients, most of which you likely have on hand just about any time. Also, if you have a stand mixer it's pretty low fuss. Use it for grilled sandwiches, garlic bread, serve along side soup or salad, toast some into croutons, you really can't go wrong with this simple yummy recipe.

You will need:

1/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup very hot water
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 heaping tablespoon Sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the warm water and the active dry yeast. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes while you measure out your other ingredients (I usually use a 2 cup glass measuring cup and mix all of my wet ingredients together and add them at once).

In your measuring cup, or another bowl, combine the hot water, oil, sugar and salt.

Measure out your flour. Place 1 1/2 cups into your yeast mixture, then add your wet ingredients on top and mix slowly with a dough hook.

Add the remaining flour and stir until the dough is smooth and all flour is incorporated.

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Stir and let rest for 10 minutes again.

Repeat rest and stir process three more times (for a total of five times).

Turn out your dough onto a floured surface. Press out to a rectangle, roll up (like making cinnamon rolls) and place on a greased baking sheet.

Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

With a sharp knife, make 3 diagonal slashes across the top of your loaf. Brush with egg white (optional, but gives the bread a deeper brown crust and a little crispness).

Bake in a 400-degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet to a cooling rack immediately to avoid overcooking.

Friday Food Craft: Pretzel Rolls

Friday Food Craft time again, and this week's installment features pretzel rolls! If you tried your hand at my homemade bagel recipe, you will find that these are actually quite similar. These are even a little bit easier as far as forming into their final shape. Also, if you like soft pretzels these will definitely get you your fix. I like to have these as burger buns, but you could just as easily eat them plain or with a dipping sauce, or make teeny tiny rolls as pretzel bites (watch the cook time If you try this, they won't need as long I am sure).


For this recipe you will need:


3/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (not instant yeast)
2 1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp salt


1/4 cup baking soda (will be added to boiling water)
1 egg, beaten
Salt to top rolls (I used kosher flake salt as I had it on hand, but you could certainly use Pretzel salt, which is larger and a bit stronger in salty flavor)



Start by putting your warm water and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand about 5 minutes until the yeast foams up a bit (I generally add my sugar at this point as well, but you can add it with the rest of the dry ingredients if you want). If you don't have a stand mixer, place it into a mixing bowl instead.



Add the flour, salt, sugar(if you haven't already added it) and butter and mix with the dough hook attachment until combined. Once most of the flour is incorporated I generally turn my mixer to a medium high speed and let it mix for about a minute to develop some gluten. This makes for a chewier pretzel roll. (Again, if you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix by hand, or use a hand mixer with a dough hook attachment).



Cover with a clean towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Separate your dough into 8 pieces and form into balls by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. Place the formed rolls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down. Cover and allow to rise again for about 30 minutes.



Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Fill a large saucepan with about 2 quarts of water and add 1/4 cup baking soda. Bring water to a boil and boil each roll about 1 minute, turning halfway to poach both sides.



Place rolls back on baking sheet (seam side down--we want our rolls to look pretty) and brush the tops with beaten egg. Lightly salt tops of rolls and then cut a slit or "X" into the top of each one. Bake in the center rack of your oven for 15 to 20 minutes.



This recipe makes about 8 dinner rolls. If you want to make burger buns, you may want to divide your dough into only 5 or 6 rolls depending on burger size (you could get about 10 sliders out of this recipe).



Enjoy!