Versatile Comfort Food

It's been one of those weeks, and last night, we decided we were going to make comfort food for supper. For us, food can be a fun family activity, which in itself is comforting. One of my favorite comfort foods (aside from chocolate, of course ;) are home made rolls.

The recipe is my Aunt Dorothy Bennett's for buns, and the dough is just so wonderful and versatile. My Grandma Ericksen uses this dough to make sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, nissua and dinner rolls, and my kids love them as pepperoni rolls.

3 2/3 cup milk, scalded (reserve part of the milk cold to cool the mixture so it won't be too hot for your yeast)
1/4 cup butter or shortening (I always use butter, so don't know what shortening does to the dough - I melt the butter while I'm scalding the milk)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 Tbsp dry yeast or one cake of yeast

I scald the milk and melt the butter, then add in the reserved milk. If the mix is still to warm, add an ice cube (what can I say, I'm impatient:). Add the yeast and allow to bloom. Add the sugar, salt and egg and mix well.

Now for the flour. The recipe never says how much flour to add, just to add until you achieve a soft, elastic dough. It takes probably 5-8 cups (this is a big batch of rolls). Use the dough hook on your mixer, and keep adding until its 'right.'

My Gram tests the 'rightness' by poking her finger into the dough - if too much sticks, you need to add more flour (a little sticking is ok, this dough does tend to be a little sticky). I know the dough is done in my mixer when it starts to climb over the top of the dough hook, and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl too much. When you are done, the dough should be light and very elastic.

Remove the dough from the mixer, cover with a towel, and place somewhere warm to double in size. Punch down. You'll want to grease your hands (butter or shortening work well for this - if the dough starts to stick to your hands, rub on a little more grease). Now form your rolls (1"-1.5" balls make a nice size roll, larger if you want buns); or you can roll out, add sweet roll fixings, and roll and cut; or you can roll out, fill with apricot filling and bake for nissua (with powdered sugar frosting). Like I said, it's a very versatile dough. For pepperoni rolls, I cube cheese (mozz is the kids' favorite), and slice the pepperoni - one of each wrapped in the center of each roll.

Place your formed goody on a pan, cover and set in a warm spot to rise for a bit (again, I'm impatient, so this rising usually doesn't last too long). When risen, bake at 400F until done -- time depends greatly on the form. Rolls take 10-15 minutes in the oven at 400F. If they are getting dark too quickly, turn the temperature down slightly. When you take them hot from the oven, brush the tops with butter. Honestly, they don't need anything after that!

Home made rolls - definitely my comfort food! What's yours?

Family Fun Snack

I know it's been a few weeks ... sorry for the lengthy break. I don't think anyone can deny that fall is upon us. The Market lot is full of the colors of fall, which are starting to bloom on all of the trees. I know, it's rainy, and there is definitely a chill in the air, but look on the bright side - it give you an excuse to light the home fires, crank up the stove and do some baking!

My kids are already bugging me about picking out their pumpkins. I can't wait myself. Sometimes I think we enjoy gutting the pumpkins more than carving them. And the kids absolutely LOVE the roasted pumpkin seeds. They are very easy to do, they just take time. First, seperate the seeds from the stringy stuff in the pumpkins - this is something we all work on as we are cleaning out the pumpkins for carving. I keep a bowl for the pumpkin seeds next to the bucket for the fleshy stuff.

Next, rinse the seeds in the sink to remove any adhereing goo (you can never get it all off - don't be too picky about it). I like my seeds salty, so I put them back in the bowl and soak them in heavily salted water, at least overnight.

The next day, lay out a bath towel. Drain the water from the seeds and dry them some on the towel - I usually spread them on half the towel, fold it over, and rub for a few minutes. Again, no need to be too picky, any remaining moisture will evaporate in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350F. I like my air cusion baking sheets for the roasting, because nothing burns on them. Coat the sheets with a little bit of olive oil, then spread the seeds out in a thin layer, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over top. I also like to sprindle a little bit of additional salt over the seeds, as it helps to draw out the moisture.

Place in the oven, and set the timer for 10-15 minutes. When the timer goes off, use a spatuala to turn/stir the seeds. Repeat this process until the seeds are golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then store in an air-tight bag or container.

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fiber. If you can't have the salt, then skip the soaking step and roast after rinsing them. You can season with your favorite salt substitute, or try something different, like chayenne pepper or rubbed sage.

What's your favorite fall snack? Please, share!!