The Loosle Chronicles

These rolls are delicious! I wanted sloppy joes for dinner, but didn’t want to go to the store to buy hamburger buns. So I decided to make these rolls. I’ve had the recipe for awhile now, but never got around to making them. Well, now that I’ve made them I’m definitely going to make them again and again. You can find the recipe here. I LOVE the recipes I’ve found off this website. She ROCKS!! Enjoy!

FRENCH ONION BUNS
(Adapted from the King Arthur Flour website)

Dough:
3/4 cup to 1 cup (6 to 8 ounces) lukewarm water*
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter
1 large egg
3 ½ cups (14 ¾ ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
¼ cup (1 ¾ ounces) sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 package onion soup mix (if you want less onion, just use half a package)
1 tablespoon instant yeast

*Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Topping:
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used about a cup of cheddar because Jon LOVES cheese)
1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water
topping seeds: sesame, poppy, etc., optional

1) To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix and knead them—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to make a soft, somewhat tacky dough.

2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other container large enough to allow it to at least double in bulk, cover, and let it rise for about 60 to 70 minutes, till it’s just about doubled.

3) Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat/roll it into a 12″ x 17″ rectangle.

4) Sprinkle the dough with the shredded cheese and pat/press it into the surface gently.

5) Starting with a short (12″) end, roll the dough into a log, sealing the ends and side seam.

6) Cut the log into eight slices.

7) Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Flatten the buns till they’re about 3″ wide. Cover them, and allow them to rise till they’re very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F.

9) Uncover the buns, brush them with the beaten egg white/water, and sprinkle with seeds, if desired.

10) Bake the buns for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re golden brown and feel set when you poke them.

11) Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack. When completely cool, wrap in plastic, and store at room temperature.

I meant to post this yesterday, but my server issues wouldn’t allow it. It’s a blessing and a curse having Jon host my blog. LOL. Let me explain. It’s a blessing for me to have a husband to fix my comp and blog issues BUT it’s a curse for Jon because I expect him to drop whatever he’s doing to get my stuff fixed. hahaha. He loves me! Anyhow, I found this recipe on Melanies blog. It was so easy to make! And it looked just like a loaf of french bread from the grocery store! I was so impressed with myself. Try this PLEASE! Enjoy!

Grandma’s French Bread

2 ¼ cup warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
5 ½ -6 cups flour-stirred before measured

Dissolve sugar and yeast in the warm water. Let this proof—or sit for a few minutes until it bubbles. Then add salt, oil and 3 cups of flour and beat well. Add in 2 1/2 -3 more cups of flour. The dough should clean off the sides of the bowl and not be too stick – but be careful not to add too much flour. Knead for a few minutes.

Leave the dough in the mixer to rest for 10 minutes and then stir it down (turn on your mixer for 10 seconds) and then allow to rest another 10 minutes. Repeat for a total of 5 times. Then turn dough onto a floured surface and divide into two equal parts. Roll each part into a 9×13 rectangle. Roll dough up, starting from long edge of loaf to seal. Arrange seam side down on large baking sheet that’s been sprinkled with corn meal (I didn’t have corn meal so I just sprayed the pan lightly with cooking spray), allowing room for both loaves. Repeat with second part of dough. With a sharp knife, cut 3 gashes at an angle on the top of each. Cover lightly; allow to rise 30 minutes (I let mine rise for longer because I didn’t want to bake it yet and it still turned out fabulously!) Brush entire surface with egg wash (one egg beaten slightly with 1 Tbsp of water). If desired, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

  This is my new favorite breadstick/pizza dough recipe! I found it on my new favorite website. When I was watching the video of how, Crystal (I’m pretty sure that’s her name), made this recipe I was intrigued because it was fast and easy. Since I had just purchased my first piece of food storage, a 25 Lbs bag of flour (not sure why that’s so exciting to me…but it is!), I decided I’d make this recipe. So, I made it with dinner last night and I promise you it was DELICIOUS! The only problem I had was that it made a lot. Jon and I ate less than 1/4 of the pan. I guess that wasn’t really a problem because we love left overs. However, I’ve decided that instead of making a full batch of bread sticks we’ll still make a full batch of dough, but we’ll do half for bread sticks and the other half for PIZZA! OR like I did today…if you want to make a full batch of bread sticks then you can just make pizza with the left over already cooked bread sticks (pictured below). All I did was cut a piece that I wanted from the left overs and added pasta sauce, cheese, pineapples and pepperoni. It’s making me hungry just thinking about how good it was. I’m not going to put the recipe on my blog because I really want you to check out the blog I got the recipe from. So here’s the link! Enjoy!