Eighth of an Acre Bounty

So, long after setting this up and dreaming about daily posts I am finally getting around to actually doing it. The threat of rain and saturated soil has kept me from the garden this weekend so I’m cooking (or baking, as the case may be). We exhausted our supply of bread within the past couple of weeks so I am focusing today on getting the stores stored-up once again. On the menu – Pesto Rolls (recipe courtesy of KitchenMage over at A Year In Bread) and Buttermilk Rolls.

Both of these breads freeze beautifully and I have made a habit of always making a double batch to keep in the freezer. The buttermilk rolls are a variation of a recipe found on the back of a bag of Bob’s Red Mill dried buttermilk powder. I tweak the ingredients a bit and form some of the dough into loaves instead of doing all rolls. The rolls, if you make them on the larger side, make excellent hamburger buns, or my favorite Lamburger. They are also good drizzled with honey as the Eater tends to do.

The pesto rolls I started making when KitchenMage first posted the recipe and have had multiple sucessfull incarnations. Over this past winter we had an abundance of dried tomatoes from the previous year’s garden. Instead of standard basil pesto, I rehydrated a bunch of dried tomatoes, roasted several heads of garlic and grabbed a huge handful of rosemary from the garden. All of this went into the food processor with a liberal splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Voila! Sundried tomato pinwheels.

I suppose it is a bit silly to start this blog off with recipes from other sources than my own. But my motivation in undertaking this in the first place is borne out of all of the wonderful recipes and ideas I have come across from other cooks in thier blogs. And I don’t suppose there is any harm in extending thier reach to the poor soul that manages to stumble across this little effort.

Buttermilk Rolls (Variation of Bob’s Red Mill Recipe)

• 2 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 2 Cups Warm Water
• 5 Cups White Flour (I use Fairhaven Flour Mill brand, a local organic co-op in Bellingham)
• 4 Tbsp Buttermilk Powder
• 1 Tbsp Sea Salt
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil (The original recipe called for melted butter)

Combine yeast, sugar and water to proof. Add 2 cups of flour to the liquid and mix, then add salt, buttermilk powder and olive oil. Continue mixing while adding in remaining flour, turning out to knead when mixing becomes too hard. Knead dough until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl and allow to rise to double its original size.

Punch down dough and divide into rolls or loaves. One recipe will make two standard loaf pans or 24 small rolls. Form loaves/rolls and let rise a second time in pan. Preheat oven to 375. When dough has had its second rise bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped.