Day of Doubles

Today I made three different things, but two of them ended up making double batches of each,  so we have ended up with 5 baked goods!

First, I had found a rosemary garlic bread recipe on Pinterest last week, and I immediately knew that I had to make it.  Rosemary is one of my favorite flavors  (and smells), and I have had rosemary bread before and found it absolutely incredible, so I was excited to give it a try to myself.  It makes enough dough to split into two loaves - and that is a very good thing, because one loaf is already gone!  :)  It was delicious, and the perfect bread consistency.  The crust is crusty  and the inside is soft, chewy, and very  flavorful!  I will not be embarrassed to admit that I had three slices.  This is a definite make-again bread; it wasn't too hard, and it's "delish delish!"

Then my mom went scrambling through my dad's old cookbooks; she and Kenzie were craving cinnamon rolls and Mom said that Dad used to make them from time to time, so she went to look through these books.  I think it is hysterical that we can tell which recipes Dad used by how dirty the page is!  Apparently he was a very messy chef and got his cookbooks all dirty (not something I inherited, luckily, since I mostly use my iPad as a cookbook!).  Sure enough, in a Pillsbury book, we found a very messy page for cinnamon rolls.  Looking closer at the recipe, I found out that you make one dough but then only use half of it for the rolls; the other half can be used in a few different recipes so that you end up making one dough but two different breads!  I decided to use the other half to make a cinnamon and fruit braid - and the braid recipe has you breaking your half of the dough into halves again to make two braids! Hence this being the day of doubles (two rosemary breads, and two braids). 

I did the braids first once the dough was ready.  Basically you just fill the dough with cinnamon, sugar, walnuts, butter, and some kind of jelly (it called for peach or apricot, but I used raspberry per Mom's request).  I needed a little bit of Mom's help to braid correctly (you know me and making things look good), but they are both beautiful!  They look much more difficult than they really were (and I love Wow Factor!).  And they are delicious!  In fact, both Rachael and Mom claimed this was my new finest (back off, cinnamon raisin swirl bread!).  I think it means something that I made two braids, and only one is left!

Then I made the cinnamon rolls, but I think I did a really bad job breaking the dough in half in the beginning, because I definitely did not end up with as much dough as I needed!  I am going to have to retry this recipe because my rolls were miniature.  I haven't tried them, but they are cute - and they actually look good, besides being tiny!  I never managed to get that cinnamon swirl bread to look good, but these cinnamon rolls actually look like cinnamon rolls!  You will see these again... they need more attention than I gave them today after baking 4 others breads! 

It was quite a busy day; as if going through an entire 3-packet set of yeast (there has got to be a better way buy it) wasn't enough, I also cleaned out and organized our horrifying pan cabinet.  I even got my mom to choose a few ridiculously old and useless things to throw out (i.e. cancerous non-stick pans with the non-stick stuff peeling up).  It is going to make life a lot easier the next time I need to grab a baking sheet or a muffin tin (hey, I found a silicone mini muffin tin in there, by the way!  I see mini muffins in my future...)

Before...

And after!

Recipes:
Rosemary and Garlic Bread
From The Pillsbury Cookbook: The All-Purpose Companion for Today's Cook (except by today, it means 1989 ;)  ):

• Basic Sweet Dough 
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Easy Fruit-Filled Braid

Basic Sweet Dough Recipe
6-7 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 egg

1) In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; blend well.
2) In a small saucepan, heat water, milk and butter until very warm (120-130 degrees).  Add warm liquid and egg to flour mixture.  Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
3) By hand, stir in an additional 2 cups of flour until dough pills cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
4) On a floured surface, knead in 1-2 cups flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes (this is the best bread to knead because it is warm from the hot water and milk!).  Place dough in a greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic wrap and a cloth towel.  Let rise in a warm place until light and doubled in size, anout 45-60 minutes.
5) Punch down dough to remove all air bubbles.  Divide dough in half; shape each half accorind to the variation desired.


Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 20 rolls

1) Generously grease 13x9" pan.  On lightl- floured surface, roll out 1/2 recipe Basic Sweet Dough to 20x12" rectangle.
2) Spread with 1/4 cup softened butter.  In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon; blend well.Sprinkle over dough.
3) Starting with 20-inch side, roll up, jelly-roll fashion.  Pinch edges firmly to seal seams.  Cut into 20 1-inch slices; place cut-side down in prepared pan.  Cover; let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, about 35-45 minutes.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.
4) Bake 25-30 minutesor until golden brown.  Remove from pan immediately.  In small bowl, combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon softened butter, 1-2 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla; mix well.  Drizzle over warm rolls.  Serve warm.


Easy Fruit-Filled Braid
Makes 2 braids

1)  Grease 2 cookie sheets.  In small bowl, comgine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped nuts, and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon; set aside.
2) Divide 1/2 recipe of Basic Sweet Dough in half again.  In lightly floured surface, roll each half into a 12x6" rectangle; place on prepared cookie sheets.  Spread each with 1/2 tablespoon softened butter, 3 tablespoons apricot or peach preserves (or really whatever you have - we used raspberry), and half the cinnamon-sugar mixture lengthwise down the center third of the rectangle. 
3) Cut 1-inch-wide strips along both sides of filling.  Fold strips at an angle across filling, alternating from side to side.  Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.
4) Bake for 25-30 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheets immediately to cool. 
5) In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 3-4 teaspoons milk until smooth.  Drizzle over braids.