Because Thanksgiving dinner often features so many heavy foods, too many households pass up the opportunity to serve up a delicious and festive bread with the meal. Check out these autumn-inspired breads that will fill your Thanksgiving kitchen with a yummy aroma and please guests of all ages and tastes.
1. Cranberry Walnut Braid from Epicurious. I made this yesterday, and was thrilled by how beautiful it looked and wonderfully seasonal it tasted.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
This simple, well-balanced bento comes from Kayepants. We've got some roll-ups of flour tortilla, Laughing Cow cheese, salami and pickles - American makizushi! - along with green beans, honey-roasted peanuts and cottage cheese with salt and papper.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento, from Los Dragónnes' photostream, features five handmade Miffy the bunny rolls of pink rice, plum, furikake and nori, interspersed with tiny chili sardine rolls. One the side are tofu and lamb balls and a slice of fish pie. The bunnies, as one of Los Dragónnes' readers points out, look slightly frightened of being eaten.
Snowdrop Bakery says that some of the filled rolls and baguettes that they sell did not have a label on them warning customers that the product contains milk and soya (is that the same as soy?). They ask that customers not eat the rolls and return them to the store for a refund. The breads have a use by date on or before April 22, 2008.
They company is also calling stores that might have the food on their shelves, including stores in Pembrokeshire, Swansea, Carmarthenshire, and Ceredigion.
After 15 years of entering the contest, Maryland's Carolyn Gurtz finally wowed the judges.
How'd she do it? With...pre-made refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough.
Nope, I'm not kidding: she wrapped little balls of peanut butter and sugar with the pre-made dough, and - poof! - the Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies were born.
I know using a Pillsbury product in your recipe was the point, but isn't this taking it a little far? She didn't even make her own dough! 1957's winner, Freda Smith, made her own dough for her Peanut Blossoms cookies!
I know, I know - I get that the contest has to appeal to today's working woman with no time to make their own cookie dough, or whatever. That's fine - we all take shortcuts in the kitchen occasionally, and I'm sure Miz Gurtz's But does it deserve a million dollars?
So here it is, the day after, and if you're like me, you ate way too much food yesterday.
I got to my sister's house around 11am or so, and started the day with a couple of cups of tea. Then we moved onto the meal, where I had turkey, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, carrots, cranberry sauce, and rolls. I also made a Cornbread with Apple and Sausage stuffing that seemed to go over well, though I think it was a little dry (if you make that recipe I would either cut the number of stuffing bags to 1 1/2 or up the liquid quite a bit). I had a couple of can of Diet Coke during the meal, so I think that made me feel better about the day.
Of course, I wasn't through yet. Later in the afternoon came all the desserts. I had a piece of my sister's Pumpkin and Cheese Cake Pie, then a slice of Boston Creme Pie. When I left for home around 7:30, I took a place with me that had two slices of banana bread, another slice of the Pumpkin and Cheese Cake Pie, another slice of Boston Creme Pie, and two brownies. All of which I ate when I got home, along with a turkey and stuffing sandwich from the stuff my roommate made earlier in the day. Wow. What did you have to eat yesterday?
(Oh, and I also started feeling rundown last night, and woke up this morning with a head cold, scratchy throat, tired feeling, etc. Am I being punished by the diet Gods?)
In our quest for a great set of Thanksgiving recipes, we've already seen the recipes from a lot of our favorite bloggers. First, we tackled the turkey and stuffing and then we moved on to the side dishes. Today, we're looking at some great ideas for breads to serve along with the meal. Carbs may be filling, but you need something to soak up all that extra gravy, right?
Nothing goes better with gravy than real Southern Biscuits from Andrea's Kitchen with White Lily flour. If you can't find white Lily, try this recipe instead, as it uses all purpose.
This is a great time to try your hand at the ever-popular no-knead bread (recipe in the comments)
Popovers, like Orangette's, are light, quick-cooking and very impressive when served. They're good for sopping up gravy and juices, but are also fantastic with jam in the morning.
Parker House Rolls are the gold standard of dinner rolls and will be a favorite with everyone at the table. Take the advice from Humble Pie and keep some butter on hand when serving.
If you prefer to have a whole grain bread for dinner, try a loaf of Maple Whole-wheat Bread, which Seriously Good said had a "nutty sweetness" and certainly looks seriously good.
After acquiring a really tasty bottle of dipping sauce from Trader Joe's this week, I realized that Asian wraps, rolls and other dipable items are found in takeout containers more often than they are made in the home kitchen. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, especially if you know a good takeout place, but making the food is part of the fun of eating. This is especially true of finger (or chopstick) foods.
Asian Wraps & Rolls uses easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials and techniques to walk you through the process of making these fun foods at home. The book spends a lot of time going over ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to you, as well as popular sauces and condiments, before getting into wrap construction. Recipes include Warm Mango and Shrimp Rolls, Wok Fried Wontons, Vegetable Spring Rolls and Pork and Betel-leaf Wraps, just to name a few. Once you have the basics, you can always use the methods used in this book to branch out and try your own flavor combinations.
Since I love to bake, I prefer to make breads for sandwiches and things, rather than buying bread. Granted, I won't turn down a crusty baguette from one of my favorite bakeries, but I like homemade better than the bagged rolls and loaves that they sell at the market. Although it takes more time to bake the buns than it does to go out and buy them, the buns are not that difficult to make and the result is completely worth it.
These buns are neither too heavy nor too light and spongy (like some pre-made rolls). They will absorb any juices or condiments that leak off your burger without getting soggy. And on top of all that, they taste great.
Congratulations! You have successfully made delicious, homemade dinner rolls. After gathering all your ingredients,
you proofed the
yeast, kneaded the
dough, shaped
the rolls, baked the rolls
and now that the rolls have had sufficient time to cool you get to taste the rolls. They have a hint of crispness to
the crust and a soft interior. You can see the color difference in the rolls that are brushed with egg (top left, in
the photo) and those that were not (all the others). The rolls brushed with egg bake up darker in color, though the egg
does not add anything to the flavor of the roll.
Eat these with butter and jam, or use them to mop up gravy. Enjoy!
Lightly beat an egg with 2 tablespoons of water and brush onto your risen dinner
rolls. This will give them a lovely brown sheen as they bake. You could brush them with butter instead, for a
deeper color, but an egg will always give them the best shine. If you like, you may also sprinkle sesame or poppy seeds
on top of the rolls at this point.
Bake the rolls at 400F for about 20 minutes. They will be golden when they are done. Slide them off the baking
sheet and onto a wire rack to cool. Yeasted breads can turn a bit gummy inside if they are cut when they are hot, so it
is best to let them cool to room temperature before eating them.
Take your risen dough and
turn it out onto your lightly floured surface. Use a knife or a bench scraper to divide the dough in half, then divide
each half into six even pieces, for a total of 12. You can shape these pieces into any shape you like. Rounded balls
are probably the simplest, but it is even easier to drop them into lightly greased muffin tins. To make knots, roll
each piece of dough into a rope and tie it. (Yes, that is my hand. No, it is not easy to shape a dinner roll and take a
photo at the same time. ) Shaping the dinner rolls is a great time to get your kids involved in baking, even if they can
only manage snake-like breadsticks or less-than-circular rolls.
Place all your formed rolls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or one that has been lightly greased.
Cover the baking sheet with a large, clean dish towel and let the rolls rise for about 20 minutes.
Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 400F, then you can finish preparing the
rolls.
To your yeast
mixture, add buttermilk, honey, salt and 2 cups of flour. Stir vigorously. This is made easier if you have a stand
mixer, where you can proof the yeast in the attached bowl and use the dough hook to knead it for you. It isn't too
difficult to do by hand, though. All you need is a big wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour a few tablespoons at a
time, until the dough stops sticking to the sides of the bowl and clings instead to your spoon or dough hook.
Kneading is the best part, so place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it with the heel of your hand.
As best as I can describe without a video clip, here is how you knead dough. Press the dough down with the heel of
your hand, fold over the top half of the dough. Rotate the folded dough 90 degrees (1/4 turn) and repeat. Continue
kneading, adding a bit more flour to prevent the dough from sticking, for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
Place it in an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1 - 2 hours, until doubled in size. If
you kitchen is cold, this rise will take 2 hours, but it will probably take less time if your kitchen is warm. The dough
is now ready to be
shaped.
The first step, once you have your
ingredients, is to proof the yeast. Combine your active dry yeast with 1/4 cup warm water in a large bowl. You can
test the temperature of your water by putting a few drops on the back of your hand, as you would do to test the
temperature of a baby's bottle. If the water is too hot for your hand, it's too hot for the yeast. You cannot kill
yeast with water that is too cold, only slow its activity slightly, so it is best to err on the side of caution and not
overheat your water.
Mix the water and yeast with a fork to blend. After 5-10 minutes, the yeast should look slightly foamy. Time to add
the rest of the ingredients in the next
step.
Nothing accompanies a hearty dinner or stew than a freshly baked dinner roll. It seems that many people turn to
refrigerated dough in tubes these days instead of making their own. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But
freshly made ones are just a little bit better. These buttermilk dinner rolls have a delicious, buttery taste without
having any butter in the dough, and are very light and fluffy. Cook along with this edition of Cooking Live
with Slashfood, as I show you the steps to make these at home.
Here are the ingredients. The instructions start in the next post.
Buttermilk Dinner Rolls ¼ cup warm water (110F) 1 packet active dry yeast 1 ¼ cups buttermilk, room temperature 2 tbsp honey 1 ½ tsp salt 2 ½ - 3
½ cups flour 1 egg (optional, for egg wash)
Because Thanksgiving dinner often features so many heavy foods, too many households pass up the opportunity to serve up a delicious and festive bread with the meal. Check out these autumn-inspired breads that will fill your Thanksgiving kitchen with a yummy aroma and please guests of all ages and tastes.
A bakery in Haverfordwest has 
After 15 years of entering the contest, Maryland's Carolyn Gurtz finally wowed the judges. 
So here it is, the day after, and if you're like me, you ate way too much food yesterday.
In our quest for a great set of Thanksgiving recipes, we've already seen the recipes from a lot of our favorite bloggers. First, we tackled the 
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