Amish Dinner Rolls

I really like reading about the Amish people - their traditions, ways of life, baking methods, etc. I find their recipes to be simple, though sometimes pretty high on the butter/sugar content.  {I take this in stride, uh hum.}  There are great food traditions to be discovered in the Amish people and several good books out there. I got this lovely pan of rolls from the Amish Friends Cookbook by Wanda Brunstetter.

So these rolls are awesome.  They have a great, hard crust on the outside and the insides are so soft and delicious. I love them and make them for special occasions.  Or for Fridays.  Because they're always special.  They are not  hard to make, but they do take a bit of time; most of it is not hands on - just waiting for the yeast to work its magic.

2 packets dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 to 3.5 cups flour, divided

Preheat oven to 375.
Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 cup flour; mix well.
Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough and mix well (2 to 2.5 more cups)
Shape dough into ball and grease dough, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise until doubled (this step takes about 70 minutes or so).  Punch dough down and shape into balls; put balls into your baking pan.  Let balls rise for 30 minutes or longer.

Bake *8-12 minutes; yields about 12 rolls.

*Note: if your rolls are touching (as mine are), you will need to adjust baking time to 20-25 minutes.

Garlic cheese toast

This is my favorite (favorite!) way to eat garlic bread, a.k.a. cheese toast.  It is quite possible that I'm the only person that would like this, delicious though it may be.  Something seems kid-like about it (minus the garlic).

Butter your bread with real butter.  Slice a garlic clove thinly and lay the slices on top of the butter. Cover with mozzerella cheese or a mix of italian type cheeses. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes - keep an eye on it.  Then broil for two shakes to make your cheese brown on top.

It is just a very satisfying way to eat bread, I say - also a way to consume some good ol' healthy garlic.  The type of bread you use can really kick it up, too, but I'm not above doing it with sandwich bread when needed.