A Thanksgiving Yeast!

Two generations of bread baking

 For the past three years I have been in charge of bringing bread to my family's Thanksgiving dinners. This is because 1.) bread travels easily, and 2.) several years ago when I was home on a break from college I had my grandma teach me how to make her famous rolls. My brother and sister and I have such fond memories of my Grandma bringing bags of homemade rolls to every holiday get-together. Not only are these rolls delicious, with a slight yeasty taste, they are the perfect size for leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. My grandma learned this recipe from my great grandmother, who came to settle in Minnesota from a small town in Norway as a young bride and began the weekly ritual of baking bread. I love making these rolls because I feel like I'm keeping a tradition alive. And where would we be without our ancestors and their traditions? See recipe below.

In addition to my Grandma's rolls, I decided to venture out and try making challah bread. I know this isn't necessarily reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but I knew I was visiting my college roommate, Kristin, who just had a beautiful baby boy, on my way home on Sunday. And she always reminds me of challah bread, despite the fact that there's not a Jewish bone in her body. Let me explain...

As a college student, what's better than receiving a care package from your parents?
Answer: Mooching off of the far superior care package your friend got from her parents.

Well, Kristin and I have a friend, Niki, whose mother made the best challah bread and sent at least 3 loaves at a time because she knew that we would all come rushing to Niki's dorm room and devour the braided glory that is challah bread in a night. Freshman fifteen, you say?

You may be thinking that this recipe was passed down to Niki's mom from her long lineage of Jewish ancestors. Nope. Mrs. Lim is a Bible-believin Baptist from the Phillipines who lives in the same state as Forrest Gump. I have no idea where she learned to make a loaf of bread to be rivaled by the best Jewish bakeries. Needless to say, I wanted to give it a try. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. It was tasty, but lacked the sweetness and texture I remember. If you have a good recipe, send it my way!

After a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family and a great visit with Kristin and Scott I got back on the road and ended up sitting in a dead stop on I-85 for 2 hours. Oh the joys of Thanksgiving traveling! At least I didn't have to risk getting groped by the TSA. Seeing that I got home with no time to select a recipe and go grocery shopping, I decided on the world's simplest crockpot meal. Here are the steps:

Place frozen chicken breasts in the insert of a slow cooker. Add a bottle of BBQ sauce. Cook on low until you get home from another Monday at the office. I ate this pulled BBQ chicken with sugar snap peas, baked beans and baked sweet potatoes. Yum!

Grandma Melby's Rolls

Combine the following in a sauce pan and heat just to boiling:

   1 1/2 c milk
   1/2 c butter
   1/2 c sugar
   1 1/2 tsp salt
Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm.
Combine 4 packages active dry yeast and 1/2 c lukewarm water. Stir to activate the yeast. Small bubbles should form.
Once the milk and butter mixture is cooled, pour into a mixing bowl. Add the following:
   2 c flour
   2 eggs, stirring after each
   Hydrated yeast
Mix well. Add 3-5 more cups of flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.
Place a towl over the bowl and set in a warm place to rise until double in size.
Set oven to 350 degrees.
If you have time, punch the dough down and allow to rise again. If you don't have time, go to next step.
Pour dough onto floured surface and knead slightly. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide each quarter into 12 pieces and form into round balls, pulling dough from the top, around the side and pinching it to the bottom of the roll.
Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.