My favorite dinner rolls

The old farm house kitchen was small and always had a gas burning stove. My mom was usually cooking something and the heat it produced made the little kitchen warmer than any room in the house. We gathered there like clockwork at least three times a day. My earliest memories are of my mom there in the kitchen. She taught me how to cook as much from her example as she did actual instruction. I can hear her say, "...cooking isn't hard. You just have to have a good recipe."

One of the things she taught me is how to make bread. I've always loved bread. To a fault. I've studied it. I've done demonstrations on how to make it. I own two wheat grinders, three mixers, and a library of cookbooks on the subject. I love eating it fresh out of the oven with real butter and warm honey. 

This is a great recipe I'm sharing with you today. I make these crescent rolls mostly for special occasions. You can use a Kitchen Aid Mixer like my mom always did. Or you can do it by hand without a mixer. Everything the recipe calls for is probably in your home. This recipe is hard to fail at if you follow a few simple tips.

The tips:

1. You need good yeast. I use Saf yeast. It comes in a one pound package. You can store it in the freezer or refrigerator. Health food stores usually have it in their refrigerator section. Whatever yeast you use needs to be fresh.

2. Use comfortably warm water. Too hot will kill the yeast. If water is not warm enough the yeast will not fully activate.

3. Sponging is the process of letting the yeast and water mixture sit undisturbed for about ten minutes.

4. Letting the dough rise until double will make any dough lighter in texture.

If you don't feel confident in bread making, this is a sweet place to begin.

I hope you will like it as much as my family does. I'm sharing the recipe now so you can try it out. Perhaps you will want to add these to your holiday table.

Another reason to be thankful. =]

Blessings!