Pair of recipes help hot-roll fix

Published 3:00 pm Friday, September 28, 2007

There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to beat a good homemade hot roll. Coming by just such a critter, though, can be a problem.

Here to solve that problem for us is Marysville cook Joan Ross, who writes, “I always read your column and have gotten tons of recipes and ideas from it.

“This is the first time I have ever contributed a recipe, and I hope the following two for dinner rolls made with instant potatoes will help Theora Conger of Edmonds.

“They are both from online sites I use all the time. The first recipe is from www.allrecipes.com, and the second is from www.cooks.com.”

Double-quick dinner rolls

2 1/4teaspoons active dry yeast

1cup warm (110) degrees water

1/4cup dry potato flakes

2tablespoons granulated sugar

1teaspoon salt

1egg

2tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4teaspoon onion powder

2 1/4cups all-purpose flour, divided

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the potato flakes, sugar, salt, egg, oil, onion powder and 1 cup of the flour; beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour and continue stirring until smooth, scraping batter from sides of the bowl. Cover and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

Punch down dough and spoon into greased muffin cups, filling each half-full. Let rise until batter reaches the tops of the cups, about 20 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Makes 12 rolls.

Dinner rolls

1/4cup dry instant potatoes

3/4cup water

1/4cup milk

1cup milk

2/3cup butter

1/2cup granulated sugar

2eggs

1/2teaspoon salt

1package active dry yeast

1/2cup water

6-7cups all-purpose flour

Butter

Turn instant potatoes into a large mixing bowl. In small saucepan, combine the 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup milk; bring to boil, add to potatoes and mix well. In a small saucepan, heat remaining 1 cup milk; add butter and sugar and heat gently, stirring, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Add to the potato mixture, mixing well. In a small bowl, beat the eggs; add salt, mix well and stir into the potato mixture, mixing well.

In a small bowl, combine the yeast with the remaining 1/2 cup water, stirring well; let stand until yeast is soft, then add to potato mixture and stir well. Stir in flour to make a soft dough, mixing thoroughly. Knead for 10 minutes, then turn into a greased bowl and turn to grease all sides.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough until needed, or shape into buns, arrange in greased baking pans, brush with butter and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes about 3 dozen rolls.

SOS: Now that brown bags are no longer considered safe to use for baking purposes, Bret Latlip of Marysville hopes someone can share a bagless recipe that would duplicate the apple pie in a bag formerly sold by Biringer Farms.

“I have missed these pies these last few years since they stopped producing them,” he says. “The flavor was wonderful and the crisp-like topping was excellent. Would it be possible to get a similar recipe?”

If you can share a bagless version of apple pie in a bag, please write to Judyrae Kruse at the Forum, c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. We are always happy to receive your contributions and requests, but please remember that all letters and all e-mail must include a name, complete address with ZIP code and telephone number with area code. No exceptions and sorry, but no response to e-mail by return e-mail; send to kruse@heraldnet.com.

The next Forum will appear in Wednesday’s Food section.