Bev ‘rolls’ out her homemade bread recipe
By Bev Kauffman
Hello from the kitchen!
I picked up a new hobby in the kitchen. Making bread and rolls! We’ve come to dislike grocery store bread and hamburger rolls so I’ve been playing around with yeast and come up with a basic recipe that I can tweak into various things. This recipe makes two loaves or one loaf and eight hamburger rolls or all rolls. I also used the recipe for making cinnamon rolls. With packing a truck driver’s lunch box every week, it takes a lot of food and a big imagination. Yes, I pack his lunch box. He gets a lot of homemade goodies while on the road and it’s healthier than truck stops.
Basic bread recipe
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water
3 TBSP honey
1 TBSP salt
2 TBSP vegetable oil
5 1/2-6 cups bread flour
In a mixing bowl, put the yeast, water, honey, salt and oil. Let sit 15-20 minutes till bubbly. Add most of the flour and using the dough hook, slowly mix the ingredients until a ball forms. Turn to medium and knead the dough for five minutes. Add flour to make dough nice and smooth. Rub some vegetable oil on the dough ball and put back in the bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise for an hour or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and divide into two loaves. Place in two sprayed bread pans and cover again and let rise again till an inch above the top of the bread pans. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. You can also make hamburger or hotdog rolls, steak rolls or strombolis.
Eat well and happy baking!
•••
Bev Kauffman, of Lewistown, operated a catering business in Juniata County for nearly 20 years. She has authored the cookbook, “Preserving the Past: In the Kitchen with Bev Kauffman” in 2013 and is currently working on a second cookbook.