Recipes

Instead of “Branding Buns” I should have named this post, “I am So Sick of Baking Bread!”

Newt has over 50 people coming to brand in a couple weeks.  Since I still work nearly full-time, I have to make the branding meal as much ahead as possible.

I have 3 cheesecakes in the freezer.  And now I have 83 buns.

I made 5 batches of the Quick Bread Recipe.  For the buns, I prefer to use bread flour that has extra gluten for more strength in my buns (aka Buns of Steel).

This recipe made 16 rolls each, give or take.  I also decrease my yeast down

Great homemade bread recipe used by my grandma and mom.

to 2 TBS which I mixed ahead of time with 1/2 cup of warm water and a couple tablespoons of the sugar.  Then the yeast reproduced like crazy in the warm, energy packed water and fluffed up.  After that, I added a couple cups of bread flour (mine was unbleached), 1.5 cups of hot tap water, and 1/2 cup of oil.  I also added the rest of the sugar, and 1 TBS of salt.  (It sounds like a lot of salt, but if you skimp the bread tastes flat.  I used sea salt, but I’m sure the NaCl in your salt will work just fine.)

I turn my dough out to knead by hand for 10 minutes, to get the right consistency.  I also keep the dough a bit on the sticky side, because at branding we will thaw these and grilled them with butter (like the hamburger buns on “Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives”).  Too much flour and overcooking the buns will make them tough, dry, and too crumbly.

The reason this recipe is “quick” is the fact you doubled the amount of yeast.  So don’t leave the dough unattended.  Batch #3 exploded through the saran wrap I placed over the dough to “rest” (or “take a nap” as ReeRee calls it).  I let the dough rise once (lack of time), but if you let it rise twice the yeast/bready flavor will be more intense.

I have a new electric kitchen range and I had to experiment on the temperature and convention.  In the end, I toasted the buns for 15 minutes at 335 degrees with the convention fan on.  (I hate to admit it, but it cooked better than my old gas stove.  I can’t say the same for the cooktop- I miss my gas range.)

After Batch #2 I noticed my buns were too thin to be sliced for a sandwich, unless you like flatbread.  So I tried making my dough look like a poached egg (flattened around the outside of a fat yolk).

This was the best way to proof the rolls for a nice round bun shape.

The yeast will continue to reproduce and belch gases, causing the buns to raise (or proof).  Once you bake them, this funny shape disappears.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Be glad you weren’t around to smell the wonderful smell- neither Newt, nor I, nor ReeRee got a single one.

Now I just need to cook 7 roasts, caramelized onions, make 20 gallons of tea, peel and slice 4 pounds of carrots, peel and dice 20 pounds of potatoes, cook the corn, and make cheesecake toppings.

Brandings are like weddings.  You enjoy other people’s more when you went through the work yourself.

With the cold, blustery winds and chilly temperatures, chicken noodle soup sounds good for supper.

If you buy your own noodles, don’t.  Making homemade noodles is super easy.  The bite and taste of a homemade noodle will make premade noodles taste like cardboard forever after.

Here are step-by-step instructions for easy, homemade noodles.  This is my great grandma Emma’s recipe.  I usually double or triple the recipe if serving a crowd.

Start with 1 cup of flour.  Mix in 1/2 teaspoon salt.

You are done mixing the dry ingredients. (I told you this was easy.)

Mix together 1/4 cup of milk and one beaten egg.

(Back in the day, Grandma Emma must have had bigger chickens and bigger eggs.  Her original recipe calls for 1 egg and 2 TBS milk.)

Add the milk/egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  Mix together.

Flour the counter liberally.  And your dough and flour.

Knead a few times to ensure all the ingredients are evenly mixed together.  Be sure to flour your hands, too.  Or the sticky dough will stick to your fingers.

Flour the counter again and flatten the dough.  Flour the top.  Now get out your rolling pin.

My 3 year old helper is getting the noodles nice and flat.  Keep rolling and flouring until your dough is very thin.

I have found the easiest way to cut noodles is using a pizza cutter.

Add your noodles to a bubbling liquid.  If you don’t have a liquidy soup, you can boil a pan of salted water.

I make my own chicken broth by putting a whole chicken in a pot of water (cover the chicken), add 1 TBS salt, diced celery, diced onion, and sliced carrots.  Let cook on low for a couple hours.  Take the chicken out to cool.  Remove the meat from the chicken and add it back into the pot.

Bring to a rolling boil (not a sissy bubble here and there, but a REAL boil)!

Add the noodles slowly to the pan.  If you add the noodles all at once, they will clump together and you will have a noodle blob.

I usually add 10 noodles, stir, get the pot boiling again, add more noodles, and repeat.

Boil for another 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through.

DUMPLINGS: If you want to skip the rolling part, increase the milk enough to make a sticky dough (probably 1/3 cup of milk).  Drop by teaspoons into the boiling soup.  Done.  Dumplings are easier than noodles, but do take more time to cook.
Warm soup on a cold day… perfect!

My short, white Irish grandmother made the best tortillas! It seems a little strange she would be a connoisseur of this Mexican staple. This is her recipe.

If Grandma was making these tortillas, I would hang around to “help” her. Mostly I just want to eat the warm, delicious, tender- yet chewy goodness, called the tortilla.

To start, mix 5 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

Then add 1/2 cup of lard, but my grandmother said you could use shortening.

Mix with your hands until the shortening is broken into very small pieces. (Not big pieces like when you make pie crust- I want the pieces to almost be invisible.)

Now slowly add the warm water. Your hands are already messy from mixing in the shortening, so just use your fingers.

Add just a little water in the middle of the flour mixture at a time. Add water, mix with fingers, add water, mix with fingers.

I usually add more water at the end. One and one half cup just doesn’t seem to be enough. All the flour should be incorporated.

This needs more mixing.

The dough will be sticky. Really sticky!

Sprinkle flour onto your clean counter. Add your sticky ball of dough.

Tortillas need to be sticky because the water will turn into steam and cause the flour to rise. The tortillas also need lots of gluten to form the bubbles. Lots of kneading = Lots of gluten.

Set the timer for 5 minutes and start kneading. Otherwise, it will feel like 50 minutes, but it will only be two minutes. Good tortillas need lots of kneading.

Keep kneading! Just use enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter or your hands.

The dough will be soft and smooth when you are finished.

Now add a belly button to your ball of dough. That was the most important step for ReeRee.

Next, put a piece of wax paper and a towel over your dough. Let it “rest” for 20 minutes. Otherwise, you will roll out the dough and it will shrink back to its original size. Too bad pregnancy didn’t work that way.

Make 20 balls of uniform size.
Also cover these with the wax paper and towel to keep them from drying out. We need that moisture for a good tortilla!

Pinch the balls to flatten them.

The most frustrating part (for me) is next. You MUST roll the tortilla paper-thin. I have not found an easy way to do this, just keep rolling.

Don’t beat yourself up if the tortillas aren’t a perfect circle!

Now the tortilla is ready to cook. If you have an electric skillet, set the skillet to 400 degrees. I have a gas stove and set my heat just past 3. The flame looks like this:

I always make my first tortilla too thick- it is rigid. Towards the end, my tortillas look like tissue paper and are perfect.

Cook the tortilla until bubbles form. You will need to adjust your heat, so the tortilla form bubbles without burning the other side.

My daughter thought her tortilla looked like a ghost. It really did!

Flip when golden brown on the first side.

You want light brown bubbles. But you can scrape off the burnt parts and smother them in salsa- you can hardly taste the char.

Homemade tortillas should be cooled on a wire rack. Store in a ziploc bag. They also freeze well.

I will half this recipe, but I will never double it! You will be rolling tortillas for a decade! I wish I had an electric tortilla flattener, but I haven’t found one that works well yet.

Enjoy! Make into beef and bean burritos. Reheat on the skillet and spread butter, cinnamon and sugar on them. Lots of yummy ways to eat them.

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Homemade Tortillas by my Irish Grandmother
5 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup lard (or white shortening)
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of warm water

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add lard and cut into flour mixture, until the lard is in very small pieces. Add enough warm water to make a soft dough (add a little at a time and mix). Note: I usually have to add more warm water to get the right texture (maybe 1/4 cup more).

Cook at 400 degrees on a skillet (or medium heat). Turn when the tortilla forms bubbles. Cool on a wire rack.