It's taken me several tries, but I've finally found the dinner roll recipe I'm going to go with. It's drop-dead simple, doesn't require any special ingredients, doesn't need to be sliced, and doesn't require that bane of my existence: the slash in the top. If that last piece doesn't make any sense to you, think about the slice (or slices) in the top of most large bread loaves. No, not sandwich bread. I mean a nice crusty loaf, the kind you serve with a fancy dinner. You slice the dough after … [Read more...]

My wife was making an appetizer for a party that called for a can of pre-made "crescent rolls" from the refrigerator section of the grocery store. I thought, "Surely I can make something at least as good as that." I overshot by a bit. I accidentally made something so much better than those blue cans that I couldn't believe it. Now admittedly, you can't slice these like a roll and make a breakfast sandwich out of them. The texture is way too flaky for that. But warm with a little butter, … [Read more...]

This wasn't supposed to be a full-length post. I was just going to re-do Mom Gorman's Hot Rolls that Barb did back in October, but using whole wheat instead of white flour. But apparently I've got a bad case of what a former editor called "shutter diarrhea". I just kept shooting pictures. Along the way, and in a bit of research afterwards, I learned quite a bit about baking with whole wheat. And now I have something to try for next time. … [Read more...]