photos + video ... lilacs in bloom

Oh, beautiful lilacs... my favorite flower ever!!!

I am so excited that I even took a video of the lilacs!!! 

The sun made magical light and birds were singing... yay!

recipe ... homemade bread

It is spring in Colorado, which means the weather is bipolar! Well, Saturday was cold, windy and

 rainy/snowy, so it was a perfect day to stay cozy inside. I watched an episode of The Pioneer Woman,

where Ree made homemade bread and I decided to try out the recipe, to go along with homemade

chicken noodle soup. So, even if the weather is not very spring-y, I can make the best of it with the

 yummiest comfort food! 

Making bread can be tiresome and time consuming but it is always worth the work! I just love the feel of kneading the smooth dough, seeing it rise, smelling it bake and the taste of it right out of the oven. 

YUMM!!

Homemade Bread / Dinner Rolls 

(recipe adapted from Ree Drummond)

(Personal Note: This original recipe is "White Sandwich Bread", however I made it into dinner rolls this time. It makes 2 loafs of bread or 24 dinner rolls.)

Ingredients...

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the board

Directions...

Combine the yeast and 2 cups warm water in a mixing bowl and stir to dissolve. Add the butter, sugar and salt. Use a wooden spoon to stir in one-third of the flour until smooth. Add another third of the flour and stir, then turn it out onto a floured board to knead. Knead it over 15 minutes, adding the rest of the flour as you knead. Don't let it get dry too fast; it should stay sticky. Put the dough in a buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1 hour.

Knead the dough another 5 minutes, place it back in the bowl and let it rise another hour.

Butter 2 loaf pans. Shape the dough into 2 loaves and transfer them to the prepared pans. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

(Personal Note: I made "clover rolls" in muffin tins, by putting 3 small balls of dough into each muffin and allowing them to raise for another 30-45 minutes.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the loaves until golden brown on top and cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes. 

(The dinner rolls took 25-30 minutes to bake.)

This is my kind of lunch!! So yummy!