This weekend was pretty fantastic. I got a lot of little things done around the house that needed to be done and spent half of that time hanging out in my pjs. (Pjs can be working loathes too) And all the while I was doing stuff, I was making these rolls. (I am nothing if not a great multi-tasker) That's my favorite kind of weekend.. Baking, while doing house chores. and maybe watching tv or listening to music. (or NPR.. but saying that makes me sound so old). I am like a little old house wife (I am close) and it makes me feel like I have achieved greatness!
And baking bread is the best. I love making bread. I love the act of mixing and kneading the dough. The waiting and anticipation of the dough rising.The smells of good bread baking. It's a very cathartic experience, and it also results in some very tasty bread that, in my house, get's eaten at an alarming speed (fresh bread doesn't last long with the mr) But don't let all that time waiting around scare you away from making bread, cause when you take out the time spent letting dough rise, bread really takes about 8 minutes to make. And people who make fresh bread are always the coolest people.
So these rolls. These rolls are soft and fluffy and tender,, slight sweet, slightly spicy, and all over freaking fantastic. I mean, it's parsnip and pepper so what can go wrong with that?. The mr ate a good few pretty much as soon as I pulled them out of the oven(again..fresh bread doesn't last long) and when I brought the rest over to my sisters house, those were devoured as well. Even the littles were super into them. And I now that it's a few weeks away but…. Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away!!! It's creepy up oh so fast (as usual) and I am not going to let it get the best of me this year. And now that I got my roll game down for the big day (or 3.. there are 3 Thanksgivings that we are attending), I can move onto more pressing things.. like al the pies.(I'll be sharing some pies with you soon)
The stuff. We gots some flour, salt, cracked pepper and a really big parsnip. Also have water, yeast, sugar and some melting earth balance .
To start, chop up the parsnip into small chunks and stick them into a pot with enough water to fully semerge the chunks. Place on stove and bring to a boil then turn heat to medium high and let the parsnips cook.
Parsnips so pretty.
Once the parsnip are fork tender, strain the water (reserving 3/4 cup of that water) and puree the parsnip until smooth.
Take that parsnip water and (once cooled a bit) place in bowl with the sugar and the yeast and mix it all around. Let sit for a few minutes until the yeast is visibly active.
Now dump the parsnip puree and melted butter into with the yeast and mix it all up
Salt, pepper, and flour mixed into a bowl
The yeast and parsnip mixture goes into the flour.
And mix until it looks kind like this. When it's no longer mixable with the spoon, dump dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead, adding a little bit of flout to the work surface when needed to prevent it from sticking..
And keep kneading unitl dough is all nice and smooth and pretty.
Dough then goes into a lightly oiled bowl and is covered with a towl and let to sit for about an hour until the dough doubles in size.
When the dough has doubled, dump onto the counter and cut into 12 equalish sized balls. (my balls were not equal)
The balls then go into a large, lightly oiled pan. Let those sit for some more time,covered with a towel, unit the dough doubles again and the balls are all touching each other. They are ready to bake.. but right before you place them in the oven, brush the tops with a little melted earth balance.
And into the oven they go!!!
And when the rolls are all golden brown and smelling so nice, remove from oven. Brush tops with some more melted earth balance and sprinkle with salt and more pepper.
Serve up to people you like
Have a n awesome day!
-C
Parsnip Cracked Pepper Dinner Rolls
Makes 12-16 rolls (depending on the size you make them)
- 3 3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 big parsnips (need 3/4 cups mashed parsnip)
- 3/4 cups parsnip water (the water you boil the parsnips in)
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 teaspoons cane sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cracked pepper (more if you like pepper)
- 4 tablespoons melted earth balance or butter (2 for the dough- 2 to melt on top)
To start, chop parnsips into chunks and place into a pot full of water. Bring to boil and cook until the parsnips are fork tender. Remove parsnips from water and measure out 3/4 cups of the water and set aside Take cooked parnsips and stick in a blender and puree until smooth. Measure out 3/4 cups of the puree.(any left eat as a snack)
Let both the puree and water cool enough that you can stick a finger in it and its not to hot (or a thermometer that says its below 110.. your call).
Once cooled, stick the water, sugar, and yeast into a bowl, mix around, and let yeast activate. When yeast is foamy and clearly noted that it is not dead, dump in the parsnip mash, 2 tablespoons melted earth balance,and mix together. And then for the flour. Mix in the salt and pepper to the flour mix in the parsnip yeast mixture until a dough forms. The dough should be a little sticky, but still workable. If the dough seems to wet, add in another 1/4 cup flour at a time, just till it is bot overly sticky.
Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough starts to look glossy and ihas an elastic quality to it.
Stick dough into a greased bowl, over with a towel, and place in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. Once doubles, dump dough out onto counter and using a dough cutter or serrated knife, cut the dough into 12 -16 equal pieces Take each piece and roll into a ball and place into a greased 9x12 baking pan. Once all balls are in, cover with towel and let the dough rise until the balls are doubled in size and are toughing each other,for another 30 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 350. Once the rolls are double again, right before you stick them into the oven, brush tops with melted earth balance
Place rolls into preheated oven and baked for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Remove and right away, brush on any remaining earth balance to the tops and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Serve right away!
Best eaten the day the are made.. but will last a few days in an air tight container.