Monday, October 6, 2014

Easy Homemade "Hot Cross Buns!"

Well, here's our way to make homemade bread, step by step! This is our go- to bread for everything. Rolls, pizza dough, loaf bread, you name it. It's an all around great bread recipe. Easy how-to instructions makes it a snap. And if it takes you a while to get it down, no sweat. It took me about a while to perfect the recipe and open the oven to rolls, not bricks.:) One note: we mix the wheat flour with King Arthur for two reasons; King Arthur Flour is not bleached or bromated or enriched (that means they don't 1- bleach it, 2-microwave it to kill bugs, 3-add chemical vitamin replacements) and  it gives the bread the lightness and elasticity that it needs to rise. We use ground red or white wheat for the other half.
    6 1/2 cups of flour (mixed 1/2 King Arthur white & 1/2 wheat)
    2 1/2 cups of warm water
    2 tablespoons of yeast
    1/3 cup either honey or sugar
    1/3 teaspoon of salt
    3/4 cup of Safflower oil
    Note: we use a Kitchen Aid Mixer to cheat on the kneading process.
Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
Measure the yeast into a ceramic bowl and add water on top. Then add sugar to the yeast bowl.
Mix the flour and salt together, then make a well in the center. After the yeast has had about 2 minutes to settle, pour the oil into the well, then the yeast water. Do not mix!!!
Put the mix into the mixer, or knead by hand until the dough is good and evenly mixed. It should be not too wet, but if it's a little sticky then that's okay.
Oil a ceramic or plastic bowl and then turn the dough around a few times to coat. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, divide the dough into a little smaller than roll size portions, because they rise a little bit. Shape by flattening with your hands, then pinching the edges under like you're making a mushroom top. Put the dough on a cookie sheet, or a pizza stone for the best results.
Let rise another 25 minutes.
Cook in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, maybe a bit longer according to your oven, then when they come out brush them with oil or melted butter. Viola! Homemade bread couldn't get any better!!


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