Roasted Garlic Butter

I love everything that includes garlic in the recipe, there is just something about the aroma of garlic in your kitchen. When you roast garlic, you take it to a whole different level.  It mellows the garlic and actually makes it sweet.  I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does!

Roasted Garlic Butter
1 whole head of garlic
1 stick softened butter

Turn the garlic on its side and with a sharp knife, cut the top 1/4 of the garlic off.  You should be able to see all of the individual garlic cloves now.  Place the bottom part on a piece of foil.  Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Wrap the foil around it so there is a clump of foil on top.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 min.  Let cool.  Grab the roasted garlic from the bottom and squeeze out the garlic, it should be soft and slightly carmalized.  Mix the garlic with the softened butter and add some salt.

This can then be used to spread over a whole chicken before roasting it, but our favorite way is to make garlic bread out of it.  Here is our absolute favorite Italian bread recipe.

Italian Herb Braid

 

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 T sugar

2 tsp salt

1 envelope yeast (it calls for quick rise, which I didn't have, so I used the active dry yeast, and just let it rise longer than the recipe calls for)

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

2 cups water

1/2 cup milk

3 T. shortening

 

Set aside 1 cup flour from total amount.  In large bowl, combine remaining flour, sugar, salt, undissolved yeast, basil, oregano, and thyme.  Heat water, milk, and 3 T shortening until hot to touch, 125-130F(I used my meat thermometer to make sure it wasn't too hot)  Stir hot liquids into dry mixture.  Stir in enough reserved flour to make soft dough (I needed the whole 1 cup).  Turn out onto floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.  Cover, let rise 10 minutes( I did about 45 since I didn't use the rapid rise yeast).  Divide dough in half.  Divide each half into 3 pieces.  Roll each piece into a long strand.  Braid the 3 pieces on a cookie sheet pan, tapering the ends.  Cover, let rise in warm, draft-free place until double in size, about 45 minutes (or longer!)  Baker at 400 for 20 minutes or until done.  If desired, brush with melted butter and sprinkle additional dried herbs on top.  Remove from baking sheets, and cool.

 

When I make this, I usually make it into 3 smaller loaves and then freeze them, so I always have homemade bread on hand.  Feel free to leave out the herbs for a basic italian bread recipe, but we love them in here!!

 

I hope you enjoy!

The Best Homemade Rolls I have ever made...

I honestly and completely enjoy making things from scratch.  I know that some people may think  that I'm crazy, but I LOVE to shower my husband with homemade things as a way of saying "thank you" for all that he does for our family.  This being said, I have made numerous roll recipes and none of them turn out how I envision them - I want a roll that is soft and fluffy on the inside and yet a little crusty on the outside.  Then, yesterday I made a new recipe and I have found a winner!  I hope that you enjoy it as much as my family did last night! :) 

Parker House Rolls
     recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook

     makes 20 rolls

     Print this Recipe!

3 tablespoons warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 (1/4-ounce) package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 – 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Stir together warm water, 1 tablespoons sugar and yeast in a small bowl until yeast in dissolved.  Let stand until foamy, about five minutes.  If the mixture does not foam up, throw it out and start over with different yeast.  Foam means that the yeast is alive. 

Melt 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) butter in a small saucepan.  Add the milk and heat until lukewarm.  Pour into a large bowl and add yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, bread flour, and salt.  Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. 

Stir in 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, dump out onto a clean work surface and begin to bring the dough together into a ball.  If your dough is too sticky to handle, add up to 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough is just slightly sticky. 

Knead dough until a smooth and elastic dough begins to form, adding more all-purpose flour as needed.  The dough will be smooth, satiny and just slightly sticky after 10 minutes.  Good job!  Form dough into a ball and place in a large, buttered bowl, turning the dough so that the entire ball is covered.  Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rest n a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan.  Divide dough into 20 equal pieces.  Roll each one into a ball and arrange evenly in 4 rows of 5 in a baking pan.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft free place until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 

Using a floured chopstick or the edge of a ruler, make a deep crease down the center of each row of rolls.  Let rolls rise, loosely covered for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. 

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cool slightly.  Brush the tops of the rolls with butter and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool rolls in the pan for 5 minutes then remove and serve warm.  Reheat rolls wrapped in foil in a 375 degree oven if you’d like to eat them the next day with butter and jam. 

Enjoy!

The Beginning and Homemade Granola

I've been toying with the idea for awhile now of doing a blog, so I decided to just try it and see how it goes! 

I'm not a fan of breakfast.  Well, let me re-phrase that, I LOVE breakfast - just not at breakfast time.  Until I'm pregnant.  Then from the time I wake up until the time I get food in my belly, I'm a grouch.  One of my favorite breakfasts is homemade granola.  I've searched high and low for a good granola recipe and tried many different recipes.  They all disappointed me...until I found this one.  It's sweet, it's savory and I love it!  The best part about granola is that it is versatile, you can have it with milk, yogurt or plain!  Really, whatever you desire!  I hope you enjoy!


Homemade Granola

3 cups uncooked old fashioned oats
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1t cinnamon
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flax seed
1 cup chopped almond pieces
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add honey and salt and just heat through.  In a large bowl, mix together oatmeal, wheat germ, flax seed, nuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Add the butter and honey to the oatmeal mixture.  Mix well.  Spread the mixture onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes(watch carefully).   Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  Break into pieces and store in an air tight container. 

Recipe adapted from Mommy's Kitchen