Month: May 2022

Easy Pretzel Rolls

basics, bread

ingredients

  • 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (around 100°F)
  • 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast 
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg white, whisked
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  • 3 and 3/4  – 4 cups (469-500g) all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
  • coarse sea salt for sprinkling
  • 1/2 cup baking soda in 9 cups water for waterbath

instructions

  1. Whisk yeast and warm water together. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Next, add salt, brown sugar, and melted butter. Finally, slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon or dough hook attached to stand mixer until dough is thick. Add 3/4 cup more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. If it is still sticky, add 1/4 – 1/2 cup more, as needed. Poke the dough with your finger – if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
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  2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 3 minutes and shape into a ball. (At this point, it dough can be frozen. See freezing instructions below.) Place in a large greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm environment for 1 hour or until nearly doubled in size. (If you like, preheat oven to 200°F, turn it off, place the dough inside, and shut the oven.)
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  3. Once risen, punch dough down to release any air bubbles. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and, with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 8 sections and shape into balls.
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  4. Preheat oven to 400. Line a 9×13 baking sheet (or pan!) with parchment paper, lightly grease and set aside.
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  5. Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1-2 pretzel rolls into the boiling water for 20 seconds on each side (do not overdo this). Using a slotted spatula, lift the pretzel roll out of the water and allow as much of the excess water to drip off. Place pretzel rolls onto prepared baking sheet or close together in the baking pan. Using a sharp knife, score a couple slits into the top of each.
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  6. Lightly brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg white and top with a little sea salt.
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  7. Bake for 22-26 minutes or until a deep golden brown on all sides.

Adapted from https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/easy-pretzel-rolls/

mom’s baked french toast

breakfast, Seitan

ingredients

  • 4-5 cups cubed french bread
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk/buttermilk (for buttermilk, mix some greek yogurt into your milk to the consistency of heavy cream)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp salt

instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8×8′ pan with pam. Arrange bread cubes in pan evenly.
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  2. Beat egg. Add milk, sugar, cinnamon, and salt to eggs and beat again.
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  3. Pour egg mixture over bread. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes.
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dad’s buttercream birthday cake

dessert, holiday food


ingredients

cake

  • vanilla cake mix
  • 2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • 8 oz powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

*NOTE: dad said the frosting was too chocolatey and next time make frosting lathe way it says to on the powdered sugar box

instructions

  1. Make the cake.
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  2. Frost with chocolate buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the butter, milk, cocoa powder, and half the powdered sugar on medium for several minutes, until mixture is smooth. Add in more powdered sugar (perhaps all) and more cocoa powder as needed.
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  3. Frost the cake at room temperature with frosting at room temperature.

With some help from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11467-magnolia-bakerys-buttercream-vanilla-icing

Brown Rice Pilaf

dinner, new american, pasta/grains

ingredients

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 cups long grain brown rice
  • 1 small/medium onion, chopped
  • 4 cups stock (chicken or veg)
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • salt & pepper

instructions

  1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet with a lid. Add the rice and onion. Saute until the rice the becomes opaque and the onion starts to become translucent.
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  2. Add the chicken broth and parsley and bring to a slight boil. Cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 40 minutes, covered, until the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

From: https://goodcheapeats.com/simple-rice-pilaf/