Occasional Threads – Ellen Guerrant

DH says these rolls “taste like fall”.

DOUBLE PUMPKIN DINNER ROLLS

Makes 24

1 cup whole or reduced fat milk

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup canned, solid-pack pumpkin

1 egg

1/2 C butter, room temperature

1 T. instant or quick-rise yeast

2 tsp. salt

5 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted

4 T. melted butter*

METHOD:

Combine  milk, sugar, pumpkin, egg, butter, yeast, salt and flour in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.   (NOTE:  I disolved the yeast in about 1/3 cup of the milk (warmed) before adding it to the other ingredients).  Mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium-low and mix for 5 minutes to knead.  The dough should be soft,  but pull away from the sides of the bowl.  If it is too sticky, add a bit more flour.  Add the pepitas (I gave these a rough chop) and mix until incorporated throughout.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 – 1  1/2 hours.

Punch down dough, then turn it out onto a lightly floured board.  Knead slightly.  Divide dough into two pieces.  Form 12 rolls from each half for a total of 24.  I made small rolls, so results may vary.  Place  rolls on greased or parchment lined cookie sheets.  Cover with plastic wrap (spray with Pam so it won’t stick) and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until rolls are “light.”

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 20-25 minutes if you’ve made just 24 rolls); about 15 minutes  for smaller ones.  *Instructions recommend brushing tops of rolls with melted butter before AND  after baking.  I saved a few calories by not doing this.

Recipe source:  I found this in an article by the AP’s Alison Ladman in the Carolina Living section of  ”The Charlotte Observer” about this time last year. In it Ms. Ladman writes, “Adding squash or pumpkin to a dinner roll produces a bread that is soft, slightly sweet and wonderfully rich.  It also helps keep the rolls moist, making it easier to bake them ahead without worrying they will dry out”

For every Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember, my aunt Alda made “Three Day Buns.”  Oh my.  They were absolutely divine! Very yeasty, my favorite kind of bread.  I have the recipe, which was my Grandmother’s, but have never made it.  Too much kneading for someone with hand problems.

The recipe for Double Pumpkin Dinner Rolls caught my eye not only because the dough didn’t need kneading, but because it sounded different.  The color and flavor of these rolls are both wonderful, and the dough so easy to handle.  In a marathon session last night, I baked enough to last through the holidays.   Give them a try…. maybe they’ll be a favorite at your house too.  Enjoy!

 Suzie, Numa and Matthew

This  beautifully decorated birthday cake was delicious! 

Chocolate Truffle from Suarez Bakery, Park Road Shopping Center, Charlotte.

My birthday celebration went on all weekend.  Having our son and DIL here is always so great.  We laughed, ate, cooked, visited, shopped, ate, hit the farmer’s market and art fair.  Great fun.  It’s always hard to say goodbye, but it’s just for a few days.  We’ll see them again Saturday.

Toasted banana bread with cream cheese.  Yum!

Ovenex pans ensure a crisp, well-browned crust.

Deeeeee-vine!

An Ovenex pan just like Mother’s.  I found two with the classic waffle design recently.

“They just don’t make things like they used to.”  Wish I had a nickle for each time I’ve heard or thought that!  It is SO true.

Growing up, there was always something baking at our house.  My three sisters and I were all in 4-H, so spent lots of time testing foods to enter in the Sandwich Fair (IL).  Back in the day, neighbors would just drop by.  My Mother would have been mortified if she’d been caught without a dessert to offer with coffee to  guests.

Mother loved to bake, especially bar cookies (like frosted creams, similar to gingerbread but with icing), apple crisp and pies.   And nothing made a better pie crust than home rendered LARD! It came in lidded tin buckets which were scrubbed and saved when empty.**

I was thrilled, thrilled I tell you  (yes, I do need to get out more) when I found two Ovenex loaf pans at the thrift store.  I recognized the classic waffle design at 50 paces.  The pans are much heavier than those available today, and have hospital corner-like folds of the tin on the ends.   I baked a double batch of banana bread in them over the weekend.  Like my Mother, I like to have something to serve should friends stop by.  Banana bread freezes well, and is much better the next day anyway.

We like the bread toasted and spread with cream cheese.  (You won’t feel as guilty if you use fat free.)  Add a cup of tea and voila!  Dessert in a flash.

** We girls were huge Flash Gordon fans.  The show was a tv series about the intergalactic adventures of hero Flash, his girlfriend Dale Arden, and scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov on the alien planet Mongo.   Each episode was designed to end just at the brink of disaster,  luring viewers to “be sure to tune in next week.”  We actually wore the lard buckets upside down on our heads (horrors!),  pretending to be Defenders of the Universe against the evil Ming the Merciless.  Simple times.  Those were the days!

Banana-Nut Bread

from Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Vol. 1*

1/2 C. cooking oil

1 C. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 T. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. chopped nuts

Beat oil and sugar together.  Add eggs and banana pulp and beat well.  Add sifted dry ingredients, milk and vanilla.  Mix well and stir in nuts.  Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool well and store overnight before cutting.  Makes 1 loaf.  Good with cream cheese for tea sandwiches.

*This book is dated 1966 and was available at the grocery store, 1 volume each week.  I have the entire set and have yet to find a “dead” recipe.

Enjoy!

Several asked for the pickle recipe mentioned yesterday.  I’m guessing this is very old, as the name is Ice Box Pickles, not refrigerator.

ICE BOX PICKLES

7 pounds (approximately) pickling size cucumbers w/skins on
3 large Vidalia onions
4 C. sugar
4 C. cider vinegar
1/4 C. uniodized salt
1 T. turmeric
1 1/2 T. mustard seed
1 1/2 T.  celery seeds