French Bread

This is the best homemade french bread recipe, it is just like you buy in the deli at the supermarket. Light, airy, and fluffy. Perfect sliced up with some garlic butter spread on it for all those Italian dishes.

Ingredients:
recipe adapted from Deals to Meals
This recipe makes 2 large loaves:

2 1/2 c. warm water ( between 105-115 degrees)
2 Tbs. yeast
3 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. white vinegar -Add these ingredients together and let sit until bubbly, about 4 minutes
1 Tbs. salt
1/3 c. oil
6-7 c. all purpose flour

Making the dough:

Add first four ingredients together and let sit until bubbly, about 4 minutes. Then add salt, oil and flour. Add flour 1 cup at a time until incorporated. May need to add a little extra flour is dough is too moist, add just enough flour when dough pulls away from side of bowl.

 Knead for 3-5 mintues and then put in the oven with a small pot of boiling water. The water will keep the dough moist. Watch the dough and punch it down when it gets to the top of the mixing bowl. Do this every time it gets to the top of the bowl, as long as you have time to babysit it (2-5 times). Put the dough on a greased countertop and divide into 2 equal sections.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal on the bottom of the sheet. Roll the dough balls into rectangle/long French bread shapes. Place on cookie sheet.

Slash tops of bread diagonally 3-5 times and cover with a beaten egg.

Let rise 30 minutes (or until doubled) on the counter, or you can put them in your oven at 170 and wait until they are the size you want to cook them at. Once they are to the right size, turn up your stove to 375 (without opening the door!) and let them bake until done. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes until tops are golden  brown.

     Enjoy!

Leftover Lion House Sloppy Joe Buns and Recipe

We had some leftover rolls that start to get hard in a day or two if not eaten, usually there all gone by the next day. But today my sons wanted sloppy joes, so I steamed the buns over the pan while fixing the sloppy joes and they were perfectly soft again.

These rolls are great to use as buns for all types of dishes, we've had tuna salad, chicken salad, spam, ham and cheese, just to name a few so don't discard them just because they have gone a little stale.

Recipe for sloppy joes:

2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 chopped onions

2 ½ pounds ground beef
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2/3 c. of your favorite BBQ sauce

½ c. ketchup
¼ c. Worcestershire sauce
¼ c. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Drain the grease off the meat and onions. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Cut your rolls in half and spoon sloppy joe mixture on.  Enjoy!

Lion House Rolls

Ingredients:

2 c. warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. butter

2 1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. dry milk powder

5 1/2-6 c. all purpose flour

2 eggs

2 Tbs. yeast

To make the rolls:

Mix the water, sugar, butter, salt, dry milk, and 5 c. flour together until combined. Make sure to tap the flour down in the cup until it is settled giving you a full 1 cup measurement. After this has been sufficiently mixed, add the eggs and yeast. Mix together again until combined. Add the last 1/2-1 c. of flour to the dough, if dough is to sticky. Mix on high for 5 minutes until the dough becomes slightly stiff and stretchy. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Put onto lightly floured surface.
                                    
Pull off a piece of dough and roll into balls and place thirty rolls on a cookie sheet.

To shape to rolls, hold in one hand and push through your thumb and first finger while pushing up through the hole with your other hand, pinch the ends closed to form a smooth ball.

 Let them rise on a cookie sheet until the balls begin to touch, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 10-15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Butter tops after roll are out of the oven.

                                                               So soft and fluffy, Enjoy!