After T, the letter

We had a great weekend!  Saturday after I ran some errands in town, we started a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed its warmth. We have been living with frigid temperatures for a week.  Highs in the teens and lows at night in the single digits and below zero.  Frigid!   The fire felt oh so good! 

I managed to get some hours in on a cross-stitch project.  That made me happy.  I managed to log some hours in the kitchen too.  This is not so unusual but I baked a lot.  Besides making a double-batch of peanut butter cookies to fill the cookie jar for the week (I hope), I worked with some dough!  Sunday, another cold day but not as cold as the Saturday. Olivia and I had to go shopping for craft items for her science project so that was a fun trip. Once home, I continued to wash laundry. I also made a double batch of bread dough.  I had two recipes I wanted to make.  Two new recipes (in one day, yeah!) and one of them lets me cross T off my baking through the alphabet project.  I am getting close to Z, am I not? Six recipes to go! 

What did I make?  Two-Cheese Oregano Bread and Honey-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls. I made the bread to accompany scalloped potatoes and ham for dinner and the rolls for a breakfast treat.  Well, the rolls were more like dessert after we almost devoured the loaf of bread. We are a family of bread lovers! Both of these recipes received a thumbs up. I will definitely be making these again.

First up, the Two-Cheese Oregano Bread.  This was so light and airy yet packed a little kick because there are crushed red pepper flakes in this bread.  The kids didn’t care for those red specks but John and I liked them.  Yum! Can you smell the bread baking?

Two-Cheese Oregano Bread

All-purpose pizza dough *I made my own dough

½ cup shredded provolone cheese

2 Tbsp. grated fresh Parmesan cheese

¼ tsp. dried oregano

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper * I used 1/4 tsp.

1 Tbsp. yellow cornmeal

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Roll dough into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Combine cheeses, oregano and red pepper; sprinkle over the dough leaving a ½-inch border.  Beginning with a long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal.  Place roll, seam side down, on a backing sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.  Cut slits in the top of dough using a sharp knife.  Cover and let rise in a warm place 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450˚.  Brush loaf with oil. Bake at 450˚ for 20 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. 

Let cool briefly before buttering and eating.

Honey-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

1 (1 lb.) loaf frozen white bread dough  *I made my own dough

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Butter-flavored cooking spray *I melted real butter

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup chopped pecans, toasted

Roll dough into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle on a slightly floured surface. Brush dough with melted butter.  Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over buttered area (leaving ½-inch border).  Roll dough tightly, pressing to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut dough into 1-inch thick slices.  Place honey in a small microwave safe bowl; heat at high 20 seconds.  Pour the honey into a 9-inch round cake pan, tilting pan so honey covers the bottom; sprinkle honey with the brown sugar and pecans. Place rolls, cut sides down, in pan.  Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts , 45 minutes or until doubled in size. 

Preheat oven to 350˚.   

Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Invert rolls immediately onto a platter; cool 5 minutes. 

The bread went perfect with dinner.  There were only 3 slices left and I can bet those slices will be gone before I get home tonight.  The rolls, well, John said they were for breakfast but he was the one who ate two first.  We were all doing other things when I noticed two rolls were gone.  John said I shouldn’t bake so well.  I’m dangerous in the kitchen!  I took that as a compliment!  

Here are the pictures:

 See how airy this bread was? You can also see the cheese.

You might have noticed that there are only pecans on half the rolls. Olivia and Elliott don't like pecans so that is how I please them.  Such a good mom!  I could be evil and put pecans all over next time, more for John and I?  Just kidding...but what a thought!

  Enjoy!