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?

Crustless Spinach Pie

Just had to share this recipe. It is easy and delicious. Try different green, cheese, and spice combos to add variety! Great for some of the cold-weather crops we talked about last time!!

Crustless Spinach Pie

Preheat oven to 350F

1/4 C butter (Amish, yum)
3 eggs (fresh brown eggs)
1 C flour
1 C milk
1 t garlic powder (or chopped fresh garlic)
1 t baking powder
12 oz shredded cheese (try some Adam's Reserve Sharp)
4 C chopped fresh spinach

Melt butter in 9x13 pan.
Beat eggs well, add flour, milk, garlic (powder or fresh chopped), baking powder. Add to the 9x13 pan. Stir in cheese and spinach. Bake for 35 minutes. Serves 6.

Some possible add-ons include: pan-fried pancetta, sauteed onions, asparagus, mustard greens, just to name a few. Spice options include ginger (you've never lived if you haven't tried fresh chopped ginger in scrambled eggs - I imagine it would be equally delicious in this recipe), fresh dill, basil, perhaps with some lightly pan fried grape tomatoes (just enough to evaporate some of the liquid).

The possibilities are endless. Try it out and share your favorites!

Th