I had these when I was a child – nothing beats the smell of the baking rolls. They’re great with just about any food or as my wife does, you can spoon a little jam on top for a dessert.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 cups flour
2 cups hot water
How to do it:
In a large bowl, combine the yeast, salt, sugar and 2 cups of the flour. Add the water and blend until all of the flour is moist. Add the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time.
Knead dough on a floured board for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough becomes sticky, add more flour as needed.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and grease the top of the dough. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, approximately one and a half hours.
When doubled, punch down and divide into 20 even ball-shaped pieces. Form each piece into an oblong with the center thicker than the ends.
Place the bolillos on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
Before baking, use a very sharp knife to cut a slash lengthwise along the top of each roll.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes or until the rolls are golden and sound hollow when tapped.
The fig trees (all three of them) are ripening their fruit and in my battle with the local birds, I have picked bushels of figs. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I have figs coming out of my ears. Anyway, here’s a recipe that uses fresh figs.
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fully ripe figs
2 tablesoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, unsifted (or whole wheat flour if you want to be healthy)
1/2 teaspoon each baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
How to do it:
Wash the figs and cut off the stems and the blossom end. I’m not sure if that’s really what it’s called, but it’s the opposite end from the stem and if you look at a fig, you’ll know what I’m referring to. Coarsely chop the figs and you should end up with three and a half cups. Combine with the sugar and lemon juice in a pan and cook over medium heat. Stir often or it’ll scorch and when it begins to thicken, turn down the heat. Once it’s reduced to two cups, remove from the stove and allow to cool.
Cream the room temperature butter and brown sugar. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda then add the butter mixture, mixing well. Add the oats and you should have a crumbly concoction. Press half the mixture in the bottom of a well greased 9×13 baking pan. Evenly spread the fig mixture across the top of the crust. Top with the remaining oat crust and pat lightly. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until light brown. Cool in the pan on a wire rack and cut whilst still warm. Makes approximately two dozen bars.
Ingredients:
2 packages dry yeast
2-1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
6 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Directions:
Make sure water temperature is 110 to 115 degrees F. Place water in a large bowl and sprinkle with yeast and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes until yeast dissolves and starts to bubble. Stir in 2 cups flour and salt. Cover and let rise for 1/2 hour.
Then gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. (Knead by pressing on the dough, then folding over and pressing with the heel of your hand.) Then clean the large mixing bowl, grease it with solid shortening, and place the dough in the bowl. Turn it in the bowl so the dough is greased (this prevents the top from cracking as it rises).
Cover the dough and let rise at room temperature for about 2-1/2 hours, until doubled in bulk. With your fist, punch down the dough. Divide in half and place one half on a lightly floured surface.
Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a 12×6″ rectangle. Starting with the 12″ side, roll up tightly. Seal seams and edges by pinching. Repeat with remaining dough.
Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves on prepared sheet. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray the loaves with a bit of water, then using a blade, made a few slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake at 425 degrees F for 25-30 minutes until loaves are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack.