Marks of Motherhood

Hello my kitchen friends,

When I say this is a simple recipe I mean it! It is my mom’s recipe and I grew up making it. I use it for everything; loaves, pizza, rolls and cinnamon rolls.

Today I wanted to make rolls and cinnamon rolls for dinner. I realized I didnt have any white flour, after I activated the yeast of course, so I made it with whole wheat flour from trader joes. It turned out soooo good especially the cinnamon rolls.

SPECIAL NOTE: whole wheat rolls are not usually as light and fluffy as white. They are noticeably heavier, still good,  but my family is use to the difference.

Recipe for bread:

• 2 cups warm water (put in large bowl)
• 2 tablespoons of dry yeast (sprinkled on water)
• 2 tablespoons of Sugar (sprinkled on yeast to activate.

*I usually leave or work on something else for 10-20min

When yeast is activated add the following & mix well:

• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of oil
•  1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of salt.

Next add 6 to 7 cups of flour. Knead the flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Let rise more than double in size.

Cinnamon rolls

Roll the dough into a retangular shape about 1/4 to 3/8 thick. Melt 1/2 cup of butter and cover the dough. Sprinkle on about 1 1/2 cups of sugar followed by a generous amount of cinnamon. Roll the dough and cut into slices. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30minutes

Frosting

• 1lb powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 teaspon of vanilla
• Few cap fulls of milk (till desired consistency)

For pizza bake at 375 12-15min

For loaves bake at 350 30-40min (perfect for french toast the next day!)

Here’s some added tips and tricks from me with pictures.

When I mix in the flour I usually do about 5 to 6 cups when using white and about 4.5 cups when using whole wheat. I mix in the first 4 cups with a wooden spoon until the dough forms and then knead and add the rest of the flour. You dont want to over mix.

I then take my dough out of the bowl. Clean the bowl and put a couple tablespoons of regular or olive oil that I coat the bread with. I set my oven to the lowest setting (170 degrees) and once it reaches that temperature turn it off and place the bowl on the middle rack for 20-30min. Raises so much faster.

After it rises I divide the recipe into two so I can make both rolls and cinnamon rolls.  It makes about 8 rolls.

 

I roll the other half, and extra from the first, into a perfectly imperfect rectangle.  Making it pretty thin and than spreading everything on top.

Finally I roll it.  As you can see it’s pretty mishaped so i usually squeeze it in gently on the ends and even it out.

Lastly I cut them and place them sproadically in the pan and press them down gently.

I use the same preheat oven trick(170 turn off oven) to let them raise 20-30 min.  I baked both the rolls and cinnamon rolls for 20-25min, closer to 25 depending on your oven.

There you have it though, simple and quick, fresh baked rolls and cinnamon rolls. As you can see my 3yr old was anxious to eat the rolls 😉 Be sure to let the cinnamom rolls cool before frosting.

Feel free to comment with any additional questions!

Happy baking!

~Jess