Baking Day!

Salam 3alaikum ya banaat!

When I started feeling better I felt terrible that I had (unwillingly) neglected my cooking duty. I felt the need to do some serious up-to-your-elbows-in-food-stuff kind of work so I decided to make a huuuuge batch of bread.

I had no recipe. I just decided to wing it so I started making the dough, kneaded for a while and then left the dough for the first rise while I made dinner. I can't remember what I made for dinner (LOL) but after we ate I split the dough to shape it for the next rise.

Out of the one batch of dough I made:

• 1 loaf of sandwich style bread
• 13 cinnamon rolls
• 8 crescent shaped rolls, 4 with cheese 4 plain
• 1 braided loaf with mozzarella on top
• 1 loaf filled with strawberry jelly and cream cheese
• 2 bagels
• 2 soft pretzels
• 4 dinner rolls

I wanted to eat everything as soon as it came out of the oven!!! However I ignored my baser instincts and put most of it away to eat fresh or in the freezer for later.

My husband started showing signs of getting a cold as well so I felt so proud to be able to give him soup and fresh made bread to feel better or tea with cheesy rolls alhamdulillah. 

This was the first time I ever made a real loaf of bread and I have to tell you... there is no feeling like pulling that loaf out of the oven and realizing it looks just like the one from the grocery store but tastes a million times better! 

Also I was so surprised that every bread was made from the same dough but subhanAllah they all came out with a different flavor! Some had obviously different cooking methods like shorter cook times, boiling the bagels, dipping the pretzels in baking soda water, filling, topping, etc.

The Dough Recipe

1 1/2 tbsp yeast (2 packets)

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp honey 

5 c all-purpose flour

2 c stone ground whole wheat flour

1- 12 oz can evaporated milk

1 stick butter

2 eggs lightly beaten

Salt to taste, I think I put like a tablespoon or something

enough warm water to form a slightly sticky dough

1. combine yeast, cup water and honey, leave until yeast bubbles up

2. combine dry ingredients together in a bowl

3. melt butter and warm milk in a pan, but don't let it get hot (no boiling/steaming)

4. make a hole in the dry ingredients and add the milk/butter mix and being stirring

5. continue adding yeast mixture and finally eggs

6. add enough warm water (not hot) to create a slightly sticky dough

7. turn out on a floured surface and knead, continuing to add flour as needed to hands and surface until you have a dough that is soft and slightly sticky but doesn't stay stuck to your bare hand.

8. let rise for 30 min to an hour, punch down, shape and let rise for another 30 min to an hour then bake at 400 F. If you have small shapes, bake about 8 to 12 min, for larger loaves bake 20- 30 min but keep checking to make sure it isn't overdone. 

*obviously this isn't the most healthy bread... I think you could easily leave out the butter and/or eggs and have a less dense bread with a lot less calories. Just substitute in more warm water to form the dough.

Do you have a bread recipe that you use for everything?? I really want to try some more recipes and see how they come out inshaAllah :-)