Pretzel Rolls

Above are the ones I made with the original recipe.  Below is a picture of the ones on the Food Pusher site.

Update:  New recipe found at Food Pushers
Ingredients:
2 ½ – 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (optional)
2 ¼ tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 cup water (110-120 degrees)
2 Tbsp room temperature milk
4 quarts water (for boiling)
½ cup baking soda
additional butter (optional)
Kosher or pretzel salt to taste
Directions:
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, salt, brown sugar and yeast. Mix in 1 cup water, milk and butter until a dough ball forms, and then kneed on medium low for another minute.


The dough should form a slightly tacky, but firm ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, knead again for about 8-10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise for one hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bring the 4 quarts of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, slowly add the baking soda.
Remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface and gently degas it. Cut dough into twelve relatively equal pieces. Form into balls and set on a lightly floured piece of wax paper.
Drop balls three or four at a time into the baking soda bath for 30-60 seconds, turning once to guarantee both sides covered. Drain the excess water from the dough and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Sprinkle the kosher salt over the bread to your specific tastes, and use a sharp knife to cut a small incision on the top of the bread so the dough has somewhere to expand.
Cook the bread for 18-22 minutes, or until deep pretzel brown, rotating the baking sheet once. Brush with melted butter, if desired. Remove to a cooling rack to cool.
These freeze really well, and are a great little snack. Just pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds on 50% power, and it's soft and warm.

The old recipe below:
The Dough
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups milk, slightly warmed
1 cup water, slightly warmed

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

The "Bath"
7 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
4 tablespoons baking soda

In a small container, mix yeast with warmed milk and let rest for 10 minutes.Whisk flour and teaspoon of salt in a large bowl.

Add canola oil and warmed water to yeast mixture. Pour mixture into bowl with flour. Knead in the bowl until dough is very smooth. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let rise for one hour.

Punch down dough and knead in bowl for one minute. Cut dough into 15 pieces. Form balls by pulling the dough under. Place on a well-greased surface. Let the dough balls rise for 15 minutes.

While the dough balls are rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and get the pretzel "bath" ready. In a large pot, bring water, salt, and baking soda to a rolling boil. Plunge three dough balls into the water and let them "poach" for 1 minute on each side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a well-greased baking sheet. With a serrated knife, cut 2-3 lines across each roll and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until pretzels are a rich brown. These are best eaten the same day they are made.

The Best Vanilla Cupcake recipe I've found

Yield: 2.5 dozen
From:  http://sweetapolita.com/2011/06/ruffles-roses-a-madish-tea-party/
Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (175 g) cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups (157 g) all-purpose flour
2 cups (400 g) sugar
1 tablespoon (15 mL) baking powder
3/4 teaspoon (5 g) salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 227 g) unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes, room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (250 mL/8 liquid ounces) whole milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract (I use Nielsen-Massey Vanillas 8-oz. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract for all of my baking)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). Line standard cupcake pans with your favourite paper cupcake liners.

2. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt) and mix on low speed until blended. Add cubes of butter, one at a time, and mix again until all butter is coated with flour.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, to mixer and blend until incorporated.

4. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together milk and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl with spatula after each addition. Beat until just incorporated (try not to over beat).

4. Using a 1.5 oz cookie scoop (or your cake batter tool of choice), divide batter among liners (should be 2/3 full). Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17-20 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and immediately transfer the cupcakes onto a cooling rack by inverting the tray. Carefully turn the cupcakes right-side-up and let cool completely before frosting.

*Recipe source: Billy’s Bakery Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes via Martha Stewart


These are best with Royal Icing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (125 mL) water
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
2 tablespoons (30 mL) meringue powder (I avoid Wilton brand and I like Ateco 480 Meringue Powder, 20 oz.)
*Optional: Flavoring/extract to taste (nothing oil-based) such as, almond extract, rosewater, vanilla extract (clear if you want the icing to remain very white), etc.
1 lb (454 g, about 3 3/4 cups) icing (powdered, confectioners’) sugar
Few drops food color gel (optional)

Method:

1. Place meringue powder, cream of tartar, and water (and extract, if using) in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and mix on low speed until frothy.

2. Add the icing sugar, and mix on low speed for 10 minutes. You can use the paddle attachment or the whisk attachment and see which you prefer (I tend to use the paddle attachment because it’s how I was taught by Bonnie Gordon, but I’ve done it both ways, and they both work!). The icing will be fairly thick, but glossy and not as thick as regular royal icing at this point.

3. If too thick, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing well after each addition, until the icing just runs off a spoon and is glossy and spreadable (but not too watered down). I was also taught at Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionary Arts that you can run the tip of a knife through the icing and count how many seconds until the line disappears, and when it takes about 8 seconds (in this case), I find it to be the best consistency for these fairy cakes.

Cinnamon Rolls — Artisan Bread

Here they are complete..yummy




















This image is of the rolls rising.

The Master Recipe: Boule
Adapted From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François
Yield = Four 1-pound loaves. Recipe can be doubled or halved
3 cups lukewarm water
1½ T. granulated yeasts (1½ packets)
1½ T. kosher or other coarse salt
6½ cups (29.25 oz.) unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop-and-sweep method
Mixing and Storing the Dough
1. Warm the water slightly: It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature, about 100ºF.
2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a five-quart bowl, or preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve. (I added the yeast, then the flour and then the salt on top of the flour to avoid killing any of the yeast, but apparently this is unnecessary.)
3. Mix in the flour: Add all of the flour at once, measuring it with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula; don’t press down into the flour as you scoop or you’ll throw off the measurement by compressing. Mix with a wooden spoon. If necessary, reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don’t knead! It isn’t necessary. You’re finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. Dough should be wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of the container.
4. Allow to rise: Cover with a lid (not airtight) that fits well to the container you’re using. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approximately two hours. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period, but fully refrigerated dough is less sticky and is easier to work with. So, the first time you try this method, it’s best to refrigerate the dough overnight before shaping a loaf.
If you want to make standard boules, continue with step 5 here.
Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls
1 1/2 lbs. of pre-mixed dough (recipe above)
Note: My portion of dough weighed 1 lb 12 oz., so the recipe is relatively flexible in this sense. I did have to whip up a little bit more butter-cinnamon-and-sugar filling, however, to compensate for the larger surface area.
The Caramel Topping
6 T. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
30 pecan halves (I crushed up my pecan halves, but feel free to leave them whole if you wish)
The Filling
4 T. salted butter, softened (I used unsoftened)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (I did not use)
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans (I did not toast)
Pinch of ground black pepper (I did not use.)
1. On baking day, cream together the butter, salt and brown sugar. Spread evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. Scatter the pecans over the butter-sugar mixture and set aside. (Note: I experienced terrible spillage, which resulted in a burnt oven floor. Soooo, if you have a pan with high sides, that might work best. Otherwise, place a pan (disposable or not) on the rack below your pan to catch the spillage.
2. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1.5 lb piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. (Note: I didn’t really do this. I simply placed my piece of dough (Which was a little bit larger than 1.5 lbs.) on my work surface and stretched it out into a rectangle.)
3. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 1/8-inch thick rectangle. As you roll out the dough, use enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface but not so much as to make the dough dry. If the dough is being stubborn, let it sit for 20 minutes, then come back to it with the rolling pin.
4. Cream together the butter, sugar and spices. Spread evenly over the rolled-out dough and sprinkle with the chopped nuts. (I had to make a little bit more of this mixture to cover the surface area of my dough.) Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log. If the dough is too soft to cut, let it chill for 20 minutes. (Note: My dough was very soft, but I was too impatient to chill it.)
5. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. With a serrated knife, cut the log into 8 equal pieces and arrange over the pecans in the prepared, with the “swirled” edge facing upward. (Not sure what the “swirled” edge means — they were both swirled as far as I could tell?) Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest and rise 1 hour. Note: I basically just let my rolls rise for 20 minutes. As soon as the buns started filling up the pan, I popped the pan in the oven.
6. Bake buns about 40 minutes or until golden brown and well set in center. While still hot, run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the caramel rolls, and invert immediately onto a serving dish. If you let them sit too long, they will stick to the pan and be difficult to turn out.

Tri-County Quilters Charity Bee, Christmas Stockings for Children in need.

Tri-County Quilters Charity Bee is making stockings to fill for a couple organizations which includes Boy's and Girls town...I am so excited that I actually got to work on some of these. It sure warms your heart knowing that this tiny effort for a few hours today will make the difference in 10 children's lives. I hope to be able to help more with this project I so think it is worth it. The Charity Bee had little packs all made up for you to take home to make the stockings....I mean everything was already cut out and included very clear instructions. These were fun to do. This is my first set, (I'm hoping to be able to do another 10 but it might be too late)

Summer Lap Blanket for Ms. Ramona

At the retirement center there are so many wonderful people there.  I wish I had more time to spend with each one.  Every now and again one of the lovely people there ask for something special...I feel so blessed that they feel comfortable with me to make these sorts of requests.  I absolutely love making someone's day.  A wonderful lady that resides at the retirement center, Ramona said she once had a thin blanket that was just made up of a top fabric and a backing fabric with no quilt batting.  She said she gave it away because she thought she had another one.  When she found out that she didn't she wished she still had the one she gave away.  I told her I'd sure make her one like this as it is easy peasy to make.  She said her favorite color was blue.
Then a couple weeks ago a good friend of mines mother sent over some material to make these lap blankets as well as receiving blankets, and to my surprise a lovely blue fabric was in this stash.  I will certainly replace it but I decided this was perfect for Ms. Ramona and so here is my finished project.  Mind you she never mentioned liking flowers so I'm a tad bit worried, but I can't seem to do anything without adding a little bit of "Janet" all over it...lol

so here it is...