Honey yeast rolls

Ingredients:

1 packet yeast

1 cup warm water (110*)

1/4 cup honey

3 TBL canola oil

1 tsp sea salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 2/3 cup flour

2 TBL butter, melted

2 TBL honey

2 TBL sugar in the raw (optional if you don't have honey)

Directions:
In the bowl of  a stand mixer, combine yeast and warm water.  Let sit 5 or so minutes till the yeast starts to foam.  Add honey, oil, sea salt and egg and mix on low.  Add flour, one cup at a time, and mix with a dough hook for 8 or so minutes, till the dough doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl and is elastic.
Smooth the dough into a large ball.  Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place 2 hours or until dough doubles.
Preheat oven to 400.  Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute.  Let rest about 10 minutes.  Divide dough into 10 equal little balls.  Make the balls of dough smooth by rolling in between your hands, then "pinching" the dough at the bottom so it doesn't show.  Place rolled balls in a 10 inch round baking dish that has been oiled or sprayed with cooking spray.  Space the dough evenly in the baking dish.  Cover with a towel and let rise 30 minutes.
Melt butter and honey (or sugar in the raw) in a sauce pan.  Brush butter mixture over the rolls before baking.  Bake at 400 for 15 min.  Cover with foil so they don't get too brown and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.  They should be a nice, rich, golden brown.

Cool lightly before eating.

Pretzel bread soup bowls

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups 110 degree water
1 tsp sea salt
1 TBL sugar
5 cups flour
1 pkg yeast
olive oil (for oiling the bowl)
8 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
1 egg yolk
1 tsp water
course sea salt

Directions:
Combine sugar and warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes till foamy.  Add flour and sea salt and mix on low till blended.  Turn the speed up to medium and mix 5 more minutes till the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl.  Dump the dough out of the bowl and oil the bowl.  Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a towel.  Put in a warm place and let dough rise till doubled, about an hour.
Preheat oven to 450.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  When the dough has risen, divide into 4 or 5 equal pieces and roll into balls.  Place on baking sheet and cover with a towel to rise a little longer, about 15 minutes.  While the dough balls are rising, boil the 8 cups of water and add the baking soda.  Add one dough ball at a time to the water for 1 minute.  Place back on baking sheet and make an "X" on the top of the bread bowls.
With a fork, mix the egg yolk and water and brush egg mixture over bread bowls.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Bake at 450 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.  Cut around the "X" and scoop out the dough to use as a soup bowl.

Pappardelle with butternut squash, walnuts and kale

Ingredients:

8 oz pappardelle
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1inch chunks
1-2 cups cauliflower
2 cups kale
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 TBL butter, minced
2 TBL olive oil
1 cup walnuts, rough chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 TBL honey
sea salt
pepper


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.  In a baking dish, toss cauliflower and squash in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 30 minutes.  While veggies are roasting, bring a pot of water to boil and cook pasta according to directions.  Drain and rinse pasta.  In the same pot you cooked the pasta in, add butter and cook on med low till browned.  Browning the butter take butter to a whole new level!  Stir the butter constantly until it just starts to turn brown.  This is the point it could burn, so be careful not to let that happen.  When the butter has browned, quickly add the minced garlic and 1 TBL of olive oil and walnuts.  Saute for a minute, then add kale.  Add roasted veggies and rinsed pasta, lemon juice, and honey.  Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. When kale is wilted and the pasta is hot, the dish is done.
**NOTE**  I used lemon pepper pappardelle from Trader Joes.

Meyer lemon pound cake

This is so light and creamy.  If Meyer lemons are not available, use half regular lemons, half mandarin oranges.  Meyer lemons are in season November-March.  They are a little pricey, but the taste is so worth it!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup plain yogurt OR sour cream

1 1/2 TBL lemon juice AND zest

1 cup sugar plus 2 additional TBL

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

5 eggs, room temp

Lemon Syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 TBL lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray and flour a 9X5 loaf pan.  In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a smaller bowl,  whisk the yogurt (or sour cream) and lemon juice.  In a stand mixer bowl, combine zest and sugar.  Stir with a fork or rub between your fingers until the sugar is moist.  With the paddle attachment on, add the butter to the bowl and mix on MEDIUM speed until light and fluffy.  Whip for approx 4 minutes.  Add the sugar and mix well.  Turn the speed to LOW and add the yogurt (or sour cream) mixture.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix for about 1 minute.  Pour into prepared pan.  Smooth the top of the batter.  Bake for 55-60 minutes.  While the cake is baking, make the syrup by heating the sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over med-med low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cake is done, allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack that is sitting on a plate, or a cookie sheet to catch the drip.  Brush the lemon syrup over all sides of the cake, especially the top.  When the cake has completely cooled, brush the glaze on.  

Home made tortillas

I finally found a tortilla recipe I love!  All the credit goes to Hilla Kariv.  The recipe was easy, tasty and best of all, cheaper than store bought with no added ingredients.
Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 TBL vegetable oil
2 TBL butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups warm water

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, mix flours, salt, and baking powder.  Add oil and butter and mix with a pastry blender or just use your hands.  Mix till butter is well blended into the flour.  Add the water, slowly, and mix with a fork.  **NOTE**  I only needed 1 1/8 ish cups water.  Depending on where you live and the humidity level, you may not need all 1 1/4 cups water.  Once the dough has come together, knead for a couple of minutes.  Form a ball with the dough, cover with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.  The dough should be pliable, but not sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and form each one into a ball.  Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rest again for 20 minutes.

Heat a heavy pan (a cast iron skillet would be perfect!) over med-high heat.  While pan is heating, roll out one ball of dough at a time with a rolling pin to the desired thickness you  like.  I made some small and some big tortillas, but made them very thin.  Cook for about a minute on each side till bubbly and browned.  Flip and cook another minute or so.  Here's what I did different.  While cooking in the pan, I set a smaller pan on top of the tortilla so it would brown more evenly and not bubble up.

That's it!  I froze mine and put sheets of wax paper in between.  I got 16 out of this batch.  If you will be eating right away, keep covered with a towel to keep them warm!

Jael Nicole Burris

Gramma Rock's Easter Bread

There is nothing better than this Easter bread!  This recipe was adapted from my grandmother..."Gramma Rock".  Back then, she used cakes of yeast.  They are hard to find these days, so I just used packets.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
2 packets yeast
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour, plus a little for kneading, dusting
1 TBL fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
8 TBL butter, melted
1 TBL olive oil

Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 TBL water

Directions:
Heat milk to 110.  Add yeast and 1 TBL sugar.  Mix well and let sit till foamy, about 5 minutes. ( I just used a small saucepan)  Whisk eggs and vanilla and set aside.
In a stand mixer bowl, combine flour, (King Arthur unbleached white OR 365 brand unbleached white) lemon juice, the rest of the sugar and salt.  With the dough hook attached, start mixing on low and slowly add milk mixture.  Add the egg mixture.  Keep mixing on low and add the melted butter.  At this point, bump the speed up to med, but hold on to the stand mixer so it doesn't move around on you.  Add a few sprinkles of flour if needed.  Mix till stiff, but not sticky.

Pour onto a floured surface, and knead into a ball.  Rub the ball with the olive oil and place in a bowl covered with a towel to rise for about 1 1/2-2 hours.

After the dough has doubled in size, you can punch it down, turn onto a floured surface, and begin to make your "shapes", braids, or even make individual loaves.  I chose to do all three.  I made individual loaves for my mom and froze them so she could pull them out one at a time and eat a loaf within a couple of days.

You could also add hard boiled (colored if you like) eggs to your braid since it is for Easter!  Preheat oven to 350.  

After you braid your dough, cover it with a towel again and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Whisk an egg with a TBL of water in a bowl and brush the top of your bread loaves with the egg wash.

Bake at 350 for approx 20-25 minutes.  I remember my Gramma's bread was very yellow in color.  I think she actually added a dozen eggs to her recipe, but that would change the flour ratio as well.  Either way, it's so sweet and good, not to mention fun to eat when you are a kid!!  Enjoy!!

Gramma Rock making pizza (she was always in the kitchen!)