Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread & Crockpot Dinner Rolls

Much to my surprise, old dogs CAN learn new tricks since I found a cool article on things you never knew you could make in a crock-pot! Surprise - dinner rolls are one of these things. I seem to be on a roll (no pun intended) on using recipes to make more than one item. Pies and crumbles, etc and now bread and rolls. There is nothing wrong with this! First note is I used a traditional crock pot and NOT a slow-cooker for this recipe. I love my slow-cooker and use it at least weekly, but it's not appropriate for recipes that call for a crock-pot, something I discovered years ago. I also used a bit of this and a bit of that, since that was what I had in the house, so when I say "approximately," please forgive me! There are times that I am a 'pinch of this and a  dash of that' kind of gal. Here we go. Get ready to say"yum!" Armed with active rising yeast, whole wheat flour (and a bit of left-over white flour), traditional oatmeal and other ingredients, I set upon a voyage of discovery...

Whole Wheat & Oatmeal Bread (plus Crock Pot Dinner Rolls)

Ingredients

• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 2 cups of warm (not hot) water - divide into 2 portions of 1c each
• 1 - 2 tsp white sugar
• 3 tbsp margarine or butter, softened but not melted
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 c golden brown sugar (yep, that's right) or 1/2 c  honey or molasses
• 1 c rolled oats
• 1 c white flour
• 3-4 c whole wheat flour (more for kneading)

Preparation

1. Prepare warm water. Place 1 cup warm water mixed with white sugar in a small bowl or 2c measuring cup. Sprinkle package of yeast over the water and place in a warm spot to rise (10 to 15 min.)
2. While yeast rises, place brown sugar and salt in a large bowl. 
3. Soften margarine or butter in microwave until soft, not melted (30 seconds or less)
4. Stir yeast/water  and stir into brown sugar, adding additional cup of warm water and stirring well. Make sure you get all the yeast out of the mixing cup.
5. Add one cup of white flour and 1 c rolled oats and stir.
6. Stir in approximate 2 to 3 c of whole wheat flour. 
7. Once you can't stir in more flour, remove mixture to a floured surface to knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and not sticky. Add additional flour as needed to make a MEDIUM stiff dough. The secret is to keep kneading until all the flour is mixed in and the dough is smooth. Kneading adds air to the dough, producing a delicious, lighter bread.
8. Butter the bowl you used for the dough, place the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel and rise in a warm spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours - until the dough has doubled in size. You may want to put a bit of butter or margarine on top of the dough as it rises. It makes a tastier finished product.
9. Once dough  has risen, punch down and dump onto a floured surface. Cover and rest for about 10 minutes.
10. Take about 1/3 of the dough (or a bit more) and divide into 8 pieces (about the size of an egg) for rolls. Roll each bit  between your hands (rest the piece of dough on the palm of one hand and cup and roll your upper hand to form a smooth roll - I learned this when I was a baker's assistant :)
11. Place in an unheated buttered crock pot and let rise for an hour or so).
12. Take the remainder of the dough, shape into a smooth oblong roll and place in buttered loaf pan. This should also rise for about an hour until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
13. Turn the crock pot to high and bake the dinner rolls for approximately 60 minutes or so. Check to make sure they are soft and no longer sticky. They should have some 'give' but not be too soft. Mine were done in about 55 minutes, but my crock pot is fast. The original recipe said 60-90 minutes.
14. While the rolls are baking place the bread in the preheated oven. Bake for about an hour or so, until the bread is a deep golden brown and the top can be tapped (not a hard bread, but solid).

Let the scent of all this deliciousness permeate throughout your home as the dough rises and then bakes. You will have the butter (and/or homemade jam) ready by the time you take the bread and buns out of their respective pan (and crock pot), but let them cool slightly so you don't burn your mouth! Let the bread sit in the loaf pan and run a knife carefully around the edges to loosen. This is why we butter the pan well. The dinner rolls should simply lift out from the crock pot with no issues - I used a fork and it worked well. Nice and golden, soft and almost steamed perfection. I will make this recipe again! Please note: Whole wheat bread is not as fine in texture as white bread, but boy does that flavor ever make up for it!                                                                    

Paska: Ukrainian Easter Bread

While Paska (Easter sweet bread) and sirnaya paska (Easter cheese) and Pysanka (decorated Easter eggs) are definitely Ukrainian Easter fare, my family also enjoyed sweet treats at Christmas and New Years. With relatives of Ukrainian/Mennonite/Russian descent, we had it all! :) And don't forget the Piroshky and Portzelky for New Year's! 

Note: Mom and my grandma always baked Paska in clean, wax-paper lined cans of various sizes and shapes, and then frost them when cool with a simple confectioners frosting of icing sugar, butter and a bit of milk or cream. With sprinkles, of course...

Paska

Ingredients

• 3 c milk, scalded
• 2 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c butter
• 2 c raisins (dredged in flour)
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 pkg quick rising yeast
• Rind of 2 oranges
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• enough flour to make a soft dough

Preparation

Prepare yeast as directed on package. Scald milk, remove from heat and add butter. Whip egg yolks with sugar until light. Beat egg whites until foamy. Then mix flour, milk and butter, sugar, eggs and egg whites into a soft dough. Sprinkle in raisins as you work the dough, kneading on a floured surface until mixed. Let rise for about an hour in a warm place, punch down and let rise again until double in bulk, about half to 3/4 hour. These are  usually baked in a variety of round metal tins such as honey tins or washed and sterilized cans. Grease well (cooking spray works well) and line with waxed paper, spraying again before adding the dough until about 1/2 - 2/3 full. Let rise until light. Bake at 325 F for approximately an hour, until golden and puffed.

Serve with:

Sirnaya Paska (Easter Cheese)

• 1/2 pound softened butter
• 2 pounds dry cottage cheese
• 1 pound cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 6 hard cooked egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Sieve cheese and hard cooked egg yolks. Combine with other ingredients. May be molded and decorated with candied fruit and almonds if desired.

or

Glums Paska (Mennonite Paska Spread)

• 1 carton dry cottage cheese
• 1/2 c butter
• 3 hard boiled egg yolks
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• sweet cream to make of spreading consistency

Press cottage cheese and hard boiled egg yolks through a sieve. Cut room temperature butter into the sugar. Combine all ingredients, adding cream as needed.

Apple Cinnamon Bread and Rolls

Aren't recipes that do double duty fun? This one makes a perfect (huge) loaf of apple cinnamon bread AND 9 humongous or 12 big apple cinnamon rolls, just by doubling the recipe. Easy to do, and the result is very impressive! I prefer real eggs to substitutes when making bread, so that's what I used.

Apple Cinnamon Bread

Huge and delicious Apple Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients (may be doubled to make bread AND rolls)

• 2 1/2 - 3 c all-purpose flour
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 2/3 c fat-free milk
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (I used 2 tbsp margarine)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1-2 tsp packed golden brown sugar (or more)
• 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp melted margarine
• 1 medium cooking apple (I used Granny Smith)
• 1/3 c powdered sugar (optional)
• 1- 1 1/2 tsp apple juice or fat-free milk (optional)

Talk about a huge loaf of bread! 

Directions

1. Place 1/2 c warm water and 1 tsp sugar in a glass measuring cup or bowl. Sprinkle on 1 pkg yeast and let sit to rise for 10 minutes. Place 1 c of flour in a large mixing bowl. 
2. In saucepan, heat and stir milk, granulated sugar, oil (margarine) and salt JUST until warm. Add to flour mixture along with the yeast and egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low or medium speed for 30 seconds to blend. Increase mixer speed to medium or high and mix and scrape the sides of the bowl for an additional 3 minutes. This gives you the desirable air bubbles to help the dough rise. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. 
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that's smooth and elastic. This takes 5 to 10 minutes. You may need to sprinkle on a bit of extra flour as you work the dough to keep it from being sticky. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. 
4. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double (about one hour). I turned my oven to 150 degrees, let it preheat and turned it off. A couple of minutes later, it proved to be a perfect rising spot for my dough. I wrapped dough and bowl in a clean tea towel to keep it warm.
5. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Cover to rest for 10 minutes. Spray an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan WELL with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. In a small mixing bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Peel and chop apple into small pieces and sprinkle with lemon juice. 
6. Roll dough into a 12x8 rectangle. Spread with approximately 2 tbsp of melted margarine. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and then sprinkle apple chunks evenly on top.
7. Starting from the short side, roll carefully like a jelly roll. Seal the edges and ends, placing bread seam-side down in a prepared (cooking spray coated) pan. Cover and let rise until double in side (about 30 to 45 minutes). 
8. Bake in 375 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Mine took the full 30 minutes. You may cover bread with foil during the last 10-15 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning. 
9. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack or clean tea towel. 
10. If desired, stir together powdered sugar and enough apple juice or milk to drizzle over the top of the loaf. This makes one loaf of bread.

TO MAKE ROLLS:

My kitchen never smelled better!

**DOUBLE THE RECIPE.** 

1. Make bread as directed, using half the dough and reserving the remaining half of the dough to make the rolls. I simply chopped up 3 medium apples and a little extra cinnamon and brown sugar to make sure we would have enough to give it that delicious flavor. 
2. Use the other half of the dough to make another roll-up, as you would for the bread. Using a serrated knife, dental floss or thread, cut the roll into 9 to 12 equal sized pieces to form rolls. Instead of placing in a loaf pan, spray a 9x9 or 9x13 baking pan WELL with cooking spray. 
3. Spread bottom of pan with approximately 2 tbsp melted butter or margarine and sprinkle with brown or golden brown sugar. Place rolls in prepared pan, either 3 across and 4 down for smaller rolls (in 9x13 pan) or 3 across and 3 down in 9x13 pan for huge rolls. Place tiny pieces of butter or margarine between rolls to give you a bit of a glazed/sticky bun effect once baked. Your choice.

 

4. Let rise for half an hour, as with the bread and then bake with the bread to give you twice the deliciousness. It should take approximate 20-25 minutes, depending upon the size of the rolls.

5. Once done, remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack or clean tea towel. You may spread with frosting (as above) if desired. This recipe makes wonderful cinnamon apple rolls.

Note: it's better not to frost bread or buns before freezing. If you wish, you may save half to eat now and freeze the rest in Ziploc bags or freezer containers. Thaw and frost before serving. I froze the loaf and kept the cinnamon rolls to eat now :P

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Veldt Bread (Namibia)

When we went to Disney World, I found the recipes at Animal Kingdom Lodge delicious and totally fascinating. This little journey into "The World" piqued my interest and kept me looking for other recipes from Africa, whether inspired by India or Europe. Hence this Veldt (or Wild) Bread. Simple, spicy and different from the norm, it would be great to serve at a wine and cheese party, or with dips of all kinds at your next gathering, along with Naan and other African breads. <From cdkitchen.com> The early European pioneers (Boers) were ill-equipped to produce the conventional breads of their homeland, and so developed this spicy substitute which has become a national specialty. This recipe produces a loaf of about 900 grams (almost 2 pounds). 
Note: I used the converter tool on my computer to adapt the recipe to Western amounts. Simply type "convert (grams to cups or mL to tsp)" or whichever you would like 'translated' to an amount you can understand. Being Canadian, I have no problem with metrics but even I got confused without the converter. Because of the conversion, you may have to add a wee bit more flour or milk to get the right consistency.

Veldt Bread

A change from the norm - a bit drier, a bit denser but delicious

INGREDIENTS:

• 50 grams margarine (scant 1/4 c)
• 450 grams whole-meal flour (approx. 2 c)
• 20 milliliters baking powder (4 tsp)
• 50 grams brown sugar (scant 1/4 c)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 150 milliliters skimmed milk (1/2 c plus 1/8 c)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix in the sugar and spices, then add the margarine. Rub the margarine into the mix until it is crumbly. Form a well in the middle and pour in the milk and egg. Mix together into a stiff dough, and put on a floured board. Knead dough for 10 minutes until smooth. Grease the inside of a 900 g (preferably pyrex) loaf tin with the oil (cooking spray will help release the bread afterward). Cook for approximately 40 minutes in a 400 F oven. The cooked loaf should sound hollow when tapped. If not, bake 10 more minutes, then turn onto a rack to cool. Excellent with butter and honey.