Crusty Bread

Jamie introduced me to this bread and it is so good. The only problem that I have with it is that I have to decide the night before that I want to make it.

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon raw sugar 
1/2 teaspoon Instant or Rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. Cover and return to oven for 25 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Thin Buns

I have loved the thin buns ever since they came out.  When you use them with a hamburger you can actually taste the good stuff between the bun.  I found a recipe for these on Pinterest from Food that I had to try.  Mine are not as pretty but they taste good and they are only 114 calories per bun.  A muffin top pan is supposed to work wonderfully for these, something new to add to my wish list.

1 1/3 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
1 eggs
2 teaspoons canola oil
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat fiber
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl sprinkle the sugar over the warm water, then do the same with the yeast. Add the egg and oil and combine. In a separate container, use a fork or a whisk to stir together the flour, oat fiber, wheat gluten, and salt. Add 1/2 of this mixture to the wet ingredients and blend. This is the sponge.
Let rise 30 - 45 minutes.

Add rest of flour mixture and knead for about 5 minutes. I use my stand mixer with the dough attachment. This dough will be sticky.

Spray 3 cookie sheets or muffin top pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Divide dough into 16 equal portions. This is a wet dough so instead of adding any additional flour, weigh the dough on a food scale and divide it by 16. Then weigh out each portion and place on cookie sheet. Don't worry about how it looks now.

Take a 4" biscuit cutter and place it over one of the dough portions. If you wet the inside of the cutter as well as your fingers you can spread the dough into a perfect circle by using your fingers to flatten it to the inside edge of the biscuit cutter. (These will be very thin but they will rise). Remove the cutter, re-wet the inside and use it to do the same thing to the remaining 15 buns.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let the buns rise for 30 minutes. After this time you can choose to "dock" the buns.  This means poking small holes into the dough.  A fork works well.  Docking prevents air bubbles from forming, keeping them nice and thin.  Let them rest another 10 to 15 minutes.  Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Don't overbake. Cool the buns and then cut them in half for sandwich buns.

Cherry Almond Scones

These are the English type of scone not the yummy deep-fried kind you smear honey butter all over.  I am not saying that these aren't yummy as well, actually I really enjoy a good English scone.  Jamie has a recipe posted for Blueberry Scones and I love Great Harvests Raspberry White Chocolate Scones.  This recipe is from The Kitchen Sink Recipes which is one of the food blogs that I follow.  I have cherries from Steve's Moms tree and I keep trying to find other uses besides drying them.  Two substitutions that I made were using milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk and I used Demerara sugar instead of Turbinado because it is what I have on hand. 225 calories for 12 or 150 calories if you make 18.

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter, in 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup pitted and chopped cherries
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon almond extract
Turbinado or sanding sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place cubed butter in freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or two knives or your finger tips) until the flour-butter mixture is the texture of coarse cornmeal.  Stir in the buttermilk and fruit.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a couple times. Roll dough out to approximately one-inch thickness and cut into squares. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional).

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned.
 

Great Harvest Dakota Bread

I love bread!  One thing I learned from the HCG diet is that I don't like empty calories.  I used to pop a donut in my mouth and it was so tasty but now I have noticed I enjoy the taste but I don't feel like I have eaten anything so I want another to help satisfy my hunger.  I need that full feeling to help stop the eating and I found Great Harvest's Dakota Bread to help do the trick.  It is a little pricey so I decided to try and duplicate the recipe to help save a few bucks.  I did a search on Pinterest and here is the recipe that I found to which I have made a few small alterations.

Update: You can change up the bread by adding 3/4 cup of Oat Fiber and reduce the whole wheat flour to 2 1/4 cups.  It reduces the calories and ups the fiber but you will notice that the bread doesn't raise as high with the oat fiber.

1 1/4 cups warm water, 120 - 130 degrees
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons rapid or instant yeast

Add-ins
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons flaxseed
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Mix add-ins together in a bowl and reserve one tablespoon for top of loaf.  Place add-ins, flour, oats, vital wheat gluten and yeast in mixing bowl.  In a measuring cup stir together water, honey, butter and salt.  Pour into mixing bowl and mix until you have a soft ball of dough.  Place in a greased bowl and cover with cloth.  Let rise until double, about 45 - 60 minutes.
Punch down dough and form into a loaf.  Place in a greased loaf pan and allow the dough to rise about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle topping over the loaf pressing seeds lightly into the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.  Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

The grocery store is now 10 miles away so driving to town to buy a package of hamburger buns is not the most efficient use of time or money.  I have had my eye on this recipe for a while and finally gave it a try.

3 tablespoons warm whole milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cups white all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Sesame seeds (optional)

Stir together 1 cup warm water, milk, yeast and honey in a measuring cup. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Beat one egg in a small bowl.

Whisk flours and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast mixture, butter and beaten egg and stir until dough comes together. Transfer dough to the bowl of a standing mixer with the dough hook attached. Knead dough on low-speed for 5 minutes. (If you do not have a standing mixer, then knead by hand for 8 minutes on a floured surface.) The dough will be a bit sticky. Cover the bowl and let dough rise for about 2 hours until doubled.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each piece into a ball and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, arranging dough 3-inches apart. Cover dough with a dish towel and let rise for 1-2 hours.

Set a large shallow pan of water in the bottom of the oven. Preheat oven to 400ºF and adjust second rack to middle position. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush egg wash on top of each bun using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 14 minutes turning pan halfway through baking, until golden brown.

Homemade Crescent Rolls

A Sunday meal never feels quite complete with out bread.  Rhodes rolls are okay but homemade is so much better.  Yesterday I wanted rolls but it was getting late so I checked my handy Pinterest account and found this recipe.  The original recipe called for bread flour which I didn't have so I used all purpose flour and they turned out great.  This recipe is definitely a keeper and I think I might try to use half whole wheat and half white.

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup water, warm (100-110F)
1/2 cup milk, warm (100-110F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, room temperature


In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, or in a large bowl if you prefer to mix by hand, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy. Add in bread flour and salt and mix well with a dough hook. Cut the softened butter into three or flour pieces and drop them into the dough, letting the mixer blend them in.

Knead (with a mixer or by hand) for about 2 minutes. Cover the bowl and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Turn risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press it out into a circle with your hands, then use a rolling pin to roll it out into an even, 10-inch circle.

Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to divide the circle into 12 triangles (just like slicing a pizza).
Starting with the outside edge of one of the triangles, roll the edge towards the center of the “pizza.” Once rolled, curve the roll slightly into a crescent shape and place on a parchement-lined baking sheet. Repeat with all rolls. Cover rolls with a clean dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes.

Melt additional 1 tbsp butter in a small bowl. Brush tops of rolls with butter butter.

Bake for 14-18 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 12 rolls.

Cornbread Croutons

Jamie commented the other day about the cornbread croutons on her salad so when I knew that she would be home for dinner I thought I would try and make some for her. I halved the recipe but I won't do that again just because they are so tasty you don't need a salad to enjoy them.

Mix up Donna's Delicious Cornbread.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper on large cookie sheet and spray with Pam. Pour into prepared cookie sheet and bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Cool 5 minutes then run knife around edge and turn cornbread out of the pan and remove parchment paper. Turn the heat up on the oven to 425. While oven is heating up cube cornbread. Spread cubes on cookie sheet and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.

Spread browned cubes on cooling rack and cover with towel. Let air dry overnight or until crunchy.

Feather Light Overnight Rolls

This recipe is from a family cookbook that was given to me by Lorraine Thompson. I like this recipe because it is one that can be mixed up a day before and refrigerated or frozen after formed for later use. When I used this recipe before it didn't take 4 hours for the dough to rise, could be my house was too warm from all the cooking. Jamie and I made two batches today and we are going to freeze them so it will make life a little easier on Thanksgiving.

1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs, beaten
7 1/2 cups flour

Bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add butter, sugar and salt. Remove from heat. Pour into a large Tupperware bowl that has a good lid. Add 1 cup cold water. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. When the butter mixture is lukewarm, add yeast mixture and eggs. Stir briefly. Add flour and stir together. put greased lid on bowl and refrigerate over night. When ready to toll out, divide in thirds. Flour surface of breadboard. Roll dough out in a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Spread dough lightly with butter. Cut dough down the middle. Cut each half into about 6 triangles using a pizza cutter. Roll each up beginning at the wide end to form crescent shape. Oil baking sheet. Put on 3 baking sheets, about 12 rolls per sheet. Let rise about 4 hours. Bake at 400 for 10 - 12 minutes.

Make ahead
Freeze after dough has been shaped into crescent rolls and placed on cookie sheets. Once frozen, put rolls in freezer bags. When ready to use, return them to cookie sheets, cover lightly with Pam-coated plastic wrap and let rise 6 hours or until light. Bake.

Blueberry Scones

My mom introduced Beau and I to blueberry scones w/frosting from Great Harvest...well I found a recipe that I actually like better than theirs! :)

Scones:

2 C Flour

1/4 C Brown Sugar

1 T Baking Power

1/4 t Salt

1/4 C Butter, chilled

1 C Fresh Blueberries

3/4 C Half and Half

1 Egg

Mix flour, sugar, powder, salt in a bowl.

Cut butter into mixture, fold in berries.

In separate bowl beat cream and egg.

Add to flour mixture and mix with spatula until dough forms.

Cut dough in half and for into two 6 inch rounds and cut into 6 wedges.

(I just scooped some out onto a cookie sheet about 3 inches round)

Bake @ 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

(Mine were done after 15, but it could be the junky 50 year old oven I have)

Frosting:

8 oz C Strawberry Cream Cheese

1/4 C Butter, soft

1 C Powder Sugar

1/2 t Vanilla

Cream cheese and butter. Mix in vanilla and gradually add sugar.

Whole Wheat Waffles

I used applesauce (70 calories) instead of oil (960 calories) and that is a 890 calorie per recipe of savings.  I made Belguim waffles and this recipe made 9 squares so this recipe is roughly 132calories per square as compared to 231.

1 3/4 cup wheat flour
1 tablespoon flaxseed, ground
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup applesauce or oil
2 eggs

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Mix all wet ingredients together and stir into dry ingredients.  The batter will be slightly lumpy.  Pour into a preheated, lightly greased waffle iron and bake for approximately 5 minutes.

Bread Sticks

1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2- 4 c. flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Mix sugar, salt, and 3 1/2 c. flour together. Add softened yeast. Blend well, adding enough remaining flour to form soft dough. Knead 3 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Place dough on greased cookie sheet and press to outer edges. Top with spread (below); cut down middle and across; let rise until double. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Yield: 40 bread sticks.

Bread stick spread- Combine:
1/4 c. margarine, softened
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/4c. Parmesan cheese

No Knead Wheat Dinner Rolls

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman website and once again added my own twists. You can just use a spoon to mix this but I was feeling lazy and just through everything into my KitchenAid mixer. This recipe made 48 rolls, next time I think I will cut it in half unless I am feeding the masses.


3/4 cup powdered milk
4 cups hot tap water
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 cups whole wheat flour
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages or 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon (heaping) baking powder
1 teaspoon (scant) baking soda
2 Tablespoons salt


Pour 4 cups of warm water into a stock pot or Dutch oven. Add powdered milk, sugar and oil. Stir to combine. Now, turn the burner on medium to medium-low and “scald” the mixture. Remove from heat and allow to cool to a temperature of 90 - 110 degrees.

When the mixture is the right temperature add in 4 cups of wheat flour and the yeast. After the yeast and flour are nicely incorporated, add 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir together and allow to sit, covered with a tea towel or lid, for an hour. After about an hour it should have almost doubled in size. If it hasn’t changed much, put it in a warm (but turned off ) oven for 45 minutes or so. When it had risen sufficiently add 1 more cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir (or knead just a bit) until combined.


When it’s all mixed, you can put it in the fridge, covered, for up to two days before using the dough (which means you can go make the dough NOW if you’re using it tomorrow.) Or, if you make it the day of, you can just leave it on the counter until you need it. Keep in mind, though, that the dough will continue to rise (though more slowly in the fridge) so you’ll have to occasionally punch it down if it overflows. NOTE: If you do refrigerate the dough, be sure to remove it from the fridge an hour or two before you need it.

Butter 1 or 2 muffin pans. Form the rolls by pinching off a walnut sized piece of dough and rolling it into a little ball. Repeat and tuck three balls of dough into each buttered muffin cup. Continue until pan is full. Cover and allow to rise for about 1 to 2 hours.

Bake in a 400-degree oven until golden brown, about 17 to 20 minutes.

Sweet Rolls

This is always the favorite when we have company or had a sleepover when the kids were little.

1/4 cup butter, melted
brown sugar
cinnamon

Make Quick! All Purpose Dough. Roll out dough. Spread butter onto dough. Sprinkle brown sugar onto dough and then sprinkle cinnamon. Roll up into a jelly roll and cut into 3/4 inch slices. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Frost

Frosting
1/4 cup butter, melted
vanilla
milk
powdered sugar

Donna's Delicious Corn Bread

Steve and I met Donna last week, she was a school cafeteria cook in her former life, and she just kept feeding us all of these wonderful foods. We were able to wrangle this corn bread recipe from her and with a little help from me in starting a blog, Nana's Kitchen, I can see what else she has up her sleeve.

I did a little calculating to see which recipe for corn bread, Quaker's vs. Donna's, was better for me as far as calories. Quaker's calls for milk (1%) and oil, Donna's sour cream (fat free) and buttermilk and if you cut up the corn bread into 9 pieces Quaker corn bread is 200 calories and Donna's corn bread is 177 calories per serving. Donna you win!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn meal
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream, fat free
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan. Combine dry ingredients together. Mix all wet ingredients together, stir into dry just until dry ingredients are moist. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Pastor Ryan’s Bloomin’ Bread

Thank you Pastor Ryan! The minute I saw the end result I knew that I had to try this recipe and now that I have I have all kinds of variations are running through my head so be prepared to see a new recipe posted.

4 cups bread flour (all purpose is okay, too)
1 cup water
1/2 cup melted butter with chopped herbs of choice (chives, rosemary,basil or thyme)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast (if active, it would be best to sprinkle yeast over the water to let it start to work before mixing it in)

Combined all ingredients together in a stand mixer with a dough hook (it can be done by hand…it just takes longer). Mix together for about 10 minutes or until a successfully windowpane is achieved with the dough. This is where you can pull off a small chunk of the dough you’re kneading and stretch it gently to see if it is somewhat translucent. If you can do this without it tearing, it’s ready.

Once this elasticity has been achieved, the dough can sit out with plastic wrap over it for 1-4 hours to double in size. After it’s gotten bigger, it should be kneaded for a minute or two so that the yeast can redistribute.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut a large ‘X’ into the surface of the bread dough so it can bloom! Bake inside a covered cast iron pan, I didn't have a cast iron pan but it worked just fine as you can see from the picture, after coating the rounded dough with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid to finish it off for another 15 to 30 minutes. (The bread can get brown on the bottom if it’s too close to the heating element; if that happens, just slice it off with a sharp knife.

Refrigerator French Bread

When Steve and I got married we received enough money to purchase an Oster Kitchen Center Food Preparation Appliance. It has since gone to appliance heaven but the recipe book lives on. This is one of my favorites because you can make it first thing in the morning and bake it anywhere from 2 to 24 hour later. It also works well if you need to take a meal into someone because it makes 2 loaves, one for your family and one for someone in need. Today I switched it up a little by replacing half of the flour with whole wheat.

2 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons butter

6 1/2 cups flour - I used 3 cups whole wheat and 3 cups all-purpose flour

2 packages yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

vegetable oil or Pam

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

Heat water and butter to 120 degrees. In large mixer bowl combine 3 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and warm water mixture. Mix for 3 minutes. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Knead until smooth and satiny, about 4 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place 30 minutes. Punch down and divide into 2 equal parts. Roll each into a rectangle on lightly floured board. Roll each up tightly jelly-roll style, beginning with long side. Seal edges and ends well by rolling with hands. Place seam-down diagonally on greased baking sheet. Slash top of loaves diagonally at 2-inch intervals with a sharp knife. Brush with oil; cover. Refrigerate 2 to 24 hour. When ready to bake remove from refrigerator, uncover. Let stand 10 minutes. Brush breads with slightly beaten egg white and water. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Everything is an experiment around our house any more. A little over a month ago I had bananas in my house for company and they didn't get finished off. Steve and I were still on our diet and bananas were not on the list of approved foods to eat at that time so I put the bananas in the freeze. I just left them as they were, brown, and put them in the freezer. Today I pulled them out and made banana bread, it worked out really well. Below you will see a banana bread recipe that I have modified to be a little healthier, I substituted applesauce for shortening and milk, used whole wheat flour and used brown sugar for half of the sugar called for in the recipe. I really enjoyed it but you can definitely tell that it is made with whole wheat flour.

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 eggs

2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 tablespoon flax seed (optional)

In mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.

In mixer bowl cream sugar and applesauce. Add eggs, one at a time beating until smooth. Add flour mixture and mashed bananas alternately to creamed mixture, beating until smooth after each addition. Gently fold in the chopped nuts and flax seed.

Turn batter into 2 lightly greased loaf pans. Bake in 350 degree oven for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool thoroughly on wire rack.

This recipe also makes 5 small loaf pans. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean.

Zucchini Bread

Mom got this recipe from her friend Gayle that she used to work with. I really enjoyed it the last time she made it but I thought that I would change a few ingredients and make it a little healthier. I have put the changes next to the regular item so you can make you own choice of how you want to make this recipe. 132 calories based on 12 slices per loaf and made with applesauce and no raisins or flax seed.  You save 80 calories per slice by changing the oil to no sugar added applesauce so you have to decide if you want the carbs or the fat.

Combine:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 cup Oil - Applesauce

Add:
2 cups peeled and grated Zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla

Add:
3 cups Flour - 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour / 1 cup White Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 tablespoon Cinnamon

Add:
½ cup Raisins – optional
1 tablespoon flax seed

Pour into 2 greased or sprayed loaf pans ½ full. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes or until done. Remove from pan to cool.

Can be made in 5 small greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

Italian Style Bread Crumbs

Becky posted a recipe Parmesan Chicken and it calls for Italian Style Bread Crumbs but I didn't have any so I found this recipe on cdkitchen.

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon sugar

dash dried oregano

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend thoroughly.  Store in covered container.

Whole Wheat Butterhorns

This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens All-Time Favorite Bread Recipes.

2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1-3/4 cups water
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
Butter or margarine, softened

In a large mixing bowl stir together 1-1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour and the yeast. In a small saucepan heat water, sugar, shortening, and salt just until warm (115 degree F to 120 degree F) and shortening is almost melted, stirring constantly. Add to flour mixture.

Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat for 3 minutes on high speed. With a wooden spoon, stir in whole wheat flour and as much all-purpose flour as you can.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining all-purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total).

Shape dough into a ball; place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour). Punch dough down; divide into thirds and shape each into a smooth ball. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface roll 1 ball of dough into a 12-inch circle; spread with 2 tablespoons of the softened butter or margarine. Cut circle into 12 wedges.

To shape the rolls, begin at the wide end of the wedge and roll dough toward the point. Place, point side down, 2 to 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm place until slightly more than doubled (about 45 minutes). Brush with melted butter.

Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until brown. Remove from baking sheet; cool on wire racks. Brush again with melted butter or margarine. Makes 36 rolls.

Make-Ahead Tip: After kneading, divide dough into thirds. Form each portion into a smooth ball. Wrap each ball in clear plastic wrap and transfer to freezer bags. Seal, label, and freeze up to 3 months.

To serve: Let dough stand in freezer bags at room temperature about 2-1/2 hours or until thawed (or thaw overnight in the refrigerator). Shape, let rise and bake as above.