Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Finally...



The baking boys have not died, retired, gone Atkins, or otherwise removed themselves from the kitchen. No, there was merely a brief hiatus from the oven and the keyboard. But the yeast is reproducing and the dough is proofing. We're back, and just in time for fall baking...which is the BEST baking of the year...except for maybe Holiday baking.

But autumn has, in this baker's humble opinion, some of the year's bests: Best weather...Best clothes...Best colors...Best events...Best holidays...Best attitude. Okay, to be fair, Summer is great and I love it, but this is the desert and the heat is an overwhelming reality. By the time October gets here, I am ready for temperatures a little less extreme. And Spring is nice, but, for me, it's just foreplay before we hit the toe-curling heat of Summer. Winter in the desert is not bad at all...but face it, what's the point. Winter is after Christmas, the new year has already started...and who gets excited about Valentine's Day, really.

But the autumn is a huge, wonderful, reviving sigh of relief; it's a skip in your step because things are starting up again; it's a time of planning and thinking ahead and getting excited for the weekend; it's the beginning of those wonderful rich, dark flavors that are my favorites; it's romantic and refreshing and anxiety-producing (in a good way). Yes, yes, yes, of course I have heard of those, who tend toward the dismal and poetic, who say that autumn is a time of dying...a transitional season of fading away before the big winter sleep...blah blah blah. And yes, of course, horticulturally speaking, I suppose that is true...but I love when leaves fall off the trees and get blown around in the wind. They might be dead leaves...but they are also beautiful.

So, since my last comments on this blog, life has been spinning along, gaining momentum as the weeks go by...my nieces have gone off to college and grad school, the 100 degree weather has slowly faded away, I had a birthday, we were able to get out of town for a lovely long weekend in the mountains (where they just happened to be celebrating Fall Festival), and Nik, true to the excitement and rejuvination that I feel this time of year, decided that what was missing from our backyard (or guest bathroom for the next three weeks) was chickens. Chickens. More on them in future posts, I'm sure.

And now...Pumpkin-Cranberry Dinner Rolls...easy, seasonal, delicious, and pretty too. Because it's time. Let the blog begin...again.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Dinner Rolls
(adapted from Gourmet Magazine)
Yield = 1 dozen rolls
Unsalted Butter..........................6 Tbl, melted, divided
Active Dry Yeast........................1 1/2 tsp
Warm Milk...............................1/4 cup
Honey....................................1 1/2 Tbl
AP Flour..................................2 3/4 cups
Nutmeg...................................3-4 gratings
Salt.......................................1 1/2 tsp
Canned Pumpkin........................1/3 cup
Eggs.......................................1 whole + 1 yolk
(save the extra white for the egg wash)
Orange Zest..............................from 1 orange
Orange Juice.............................2 Tbl
Water.....................................1 Tbl
Chopped Cranberries...................1/3 cup
Egg Wash
1. Smear melted butter inside 12 muffin cups.
2. Combine the milk, honey, and yeast. Let it foam.
3. Stir the flour, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin, whole egg and egg yolk, orange zest and juice, water, and 5 tbl melted cooled butter into the milk/yeast mixture. When it comes together into a soft dough, knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is elastic and smooth (about 6 minutes). Just before you are done kneading, sprinkle the cranberries on the dough and knead briefly until they are incorporated.
4. Form the dough into a ball, place in a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled (about 2 hours).
5. Divide the dough in half. Roll each piece into a foot-long log, then cut each log into 6 equal-sized pieces. Cut each piece into 3 equal size pieces.
6. Roll each piece into a small ball. Place three balls into each buttered muffin cup.
7. Cover with plastic and let rise until the rolls have risen about an inch above the rim of the pan (1 - 1 1/2 hours).
8. Preheat the oven to 375. 9. Brush the risen rolls lightly with egg wash and bake for approx 20 minutes - the tops with be barely browned.
10. Let cool slightly before removing from pan.