Hamburger Buns / Dinner Rolls

The dough for these buns was inspired by a request for Fat Daddy's hamburger buns. Fat Daddy's was a neighborhood restaurant in Raleigh that had ok hamburgers, a 'fixins' bar and freshly baked tender buns. We went for the buns and fixins.

3 cps bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs olive oil (substitute butter for cinnamon buns)
0.5 cp warm milk
0.5 cp warm water
1 large egg
1 tbs active dry yeast
lg dollop of unfed starter

Make dough in bread machine. I've made rolls right away and also kept dough overnight in fridge with good results.

Roll out buns by rolling dough into ball (wipe on, wipe off) on cutting board. Start cupping your fingers while rolling then pull down from top while rolling. Better instructions can be found online.

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.

Melt butter and brush it over the risen hamburger buns. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft. Bake the buns until golden, 15-18 minutes.

Makes 8 hamburger buns, 16 slider buns, 12 cinnamon buns. One batch make 24 mini cloverleaf rolls + 10 pumpkin dinner rolls.

 

Pizza Dough

After much experimentation, this seems to be working…


4 cps bread flour
2 tsp gluten
dollop of unfed starter
1.5 cps warm water
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp active yeast

Put all ingredients into bread machine.  Age finished dough in fridge overnight. After warming to room temp, roll out wit several rests in-between to allow the dough to relax. Toss the dough if you feel brave.

...last time tried 1 tbs gluten

Home Made Goat Yogurt

This takes a minimum of 6-8 hours to complete.

I used Trader Joe's European yogurt as the initial starter. I believe the TJ yogurt it tastes just like the Strauss yogurt we fell in love with in SFO.

Put 1.5 tablespoon of yogurt as starter into a 1 cup container to be warming up while you heat the milk.

Pour 6.5 cups of Sugar & Spice Cookie's goat milk into a stainless steel pot.

Heat Milk: Heat as slowly as possible to 180F, stirring occasionally with a stainless steel spoon. Do not use a wooden spoon. You should stir more often once the milk gets warmer to keep it from scorching on the bottom. Hold the milk between 179 - 184 for 15 min.

Cool Milk: Place pot of milk into a cool water bath in sink and stir until milk reaches 110F. This goes pretty quickly.

Add Starter: Add about a cup of warm milk to starter and stir with stainless spoon. Add diluted started back into pot of warm milk.

Wait: Pour milk with starter into yogurt Vita Clay crock pot and put on yogurt setting. Leave it alone for 5-6 hours or to taste. Don't move it or stir it. It is pretty forgiving on time if you forget it. I have done from 4 - 9 hrs, but at 9 hrs it was fairly sour.

Enjoy: Remove crock insert from Vita Clay and place in refrigerator. It will be firmer in the morning.

Peach Dutch Baby

This is a great summer breakfast. We tried freezing peaches to use all year, but it is just not the same.  Found this recipe on Seasons and Suppers. Only made the sauce twice so far, once with blackberries.

Blueberry Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 1 cup wild (or regular) fresh blueberries
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Dutch Baby Batter:

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt (or pinch of table salt)
• 1.5 lb peaches (3 large, 6 small), halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges (no need to peel)


• Powdered sugar,for dusting

Instructions

Prepare blueberry sauce:
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in water. 

Add blueberries and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and berries are softened, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Set aside. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated. Simply re-warm before using to top dessert).

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in the microwave and then pour into a blender or food processor. 

Add the eggs, milk, flour, 1 Tbsp. sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. 

Blend batter until smooth. Let sit in blender, while you prepare the peaches.

Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter and melt. 

Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes.

Add peaches to skillet and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 2 minutes.

Briefly re-blend the batter, then pour evenly over peaches. Transfer the skillet to the pre-heated oven.
Bake pancake until puffed and golden brown all over, about 25 minutes. It will deflate as soon as it’s removed from the oven. Don’t despair. That’s what it is supposed to do.
You may dust pancake generously with powdered sugar, but we don't, Serve from the skillet and top with optional berry sauce.

Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 25 min | Total time: 40 min

Number of servings (yield): 4

Jen's Pasta Salad

Use these ingredients and but feel free to improvise. Have made this with torcheitte & orzo. Either works fine. The lemon, dill & feta are the only must have ingredients. Cook and rinse pasta before coating with a little olive oil, then add your choice of:

minced dill
lemon zest & juice
crumbled feta cheese
sliced olives
grilled/roasted eggplant cubes
minced raw garlic
bell pepper
chopped artichoke hearts
cucumber
something red: tomato or sun-dried tomato or roasted red pepper
celery or fennel
green onions

optional:
boiled/ sautéed  shrimp
marinated tofu
capers
???