Frances Cook's Bread & Rolls

Total Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 24
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 package cake yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup water, lukewarm

Recipe

• 1 scald milk and pour over sugar, shortening, & salt.
• 2 let it cool to lukewarm while softening yeast in a small bowl with the warm water.
• 3 when soft, add the egg and beat together slightly.
• 4 pour the yeast/egg mixture into the milk mixture and stir them together.
• 5 the flour may be sifted or poured into the liquid.
• 6 with a large spoon, stir until flour/milk is well mixed.
• 7 you should have a firm, but not stiff dough.
• 8 without removing it from the bowl, cover the dough with a plate or towel and set aside to rise until double in bulk (about 2 hrs depending on the temperature in the kitchen).
• 9 instead of letting the dough rise at this point you may put it in the refrigerator and use it later, or the next day.
• 10 watch to make sure it doesn't spill out of the bowl.
• 11 if it starts to spill before you're ready to use it, punch it back down.
• 12 refrigerated dough is easier to handle but takes longer to rise.
• 13 bread:
• 14 if you want to make bread, dump the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and with more flour as needed to keep it from sticking, knead it until springy and easy to handle.
• 15 this dough does not require a lot of kneading; only enough to make it easy to handle.
• 16 for 2 medium size loaves cut the dough in half and knead/shape each into loaves and put into greased baking pans.
• 17 allow about 2 hours for the dough to double again.
• 18 bake in a 375 degree oven until lightly browned on top (if uncertain whether or not bread is done, tip out of pan and see if bottom is browned too).
• 19 rolls:
• 20 to make rolls, work and knead dough until springy and easily handled.
• 21 roll out with a rolling pin and cut with a biscuit cutter and fold over and place on a greased cookie sheet (parkerhouse rolls), or break dough into small pieces, make into little balls and place 3 in each section of a greased muffin pan (cloverleaf rolls).
• 22 sweet rolls:
• 23 for christmas bread or sweet rolls, roll out dough as for parkerhouse rolls, except trying to make an oblong instead of a round.
• 24 spread it with raisins and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
• 25 dot with butter and roll as for a jelly roll.
• 26 slice and place on a greased pan or make into a circle and make slashes through the dough at intervals.
• 27 let rise and bake as for loaves.
• 28 top with an icing made of confectioners' sugar, melted butter, milk, and vanilla or rum flavoring and drizzle over the bread or rolls while hot.
• 29 decorate with nuts or fruits.
• 30 if you want to make a whole wheat bread, use half and half whole wheat flour, and use brown sugar instead of .
• 31 the amounts above will yield 1 large or 2 medium loaves of bread, or 2 dozen large rolls.