Holiday Rolls

Bread is one of my many weaknesses. There is nothing as good as a warm, fluffy, roll when it gets cold outside. Plus bread goes with practically anything. My boyfriends mom found this recipe and it turned out amazing. Specifically they are called "Bowknot Rolls" because you tie them in knots!

Ingredients:

• 7.5 - 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tsp salt
• 2 packets of rapid rise yeast
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1.5 cups water
• .5 butter (one stick)
• 2 eggs

I do not have pictures of the first couple steps because I got too caught up in the cooking and forgot - sorry! But I promise you the recipe is really easy.

Mix 3 cups of flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. I put it in my kitchenaid mixer bowl since you are going to be mixing it a lot. Then heat milk, water, and butter. I used a saucepan and heated it until it was warm but not too hot to the touch. You do not want to hurt the yeast. Then add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix in the two eggs. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Then start adding flour in increments to form a soft dough.

Then put your dough on a floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes. I found the dough to be really sticky so I added more flour as needed.

Then cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Next separate the dough into 3 mounds. Roll each mound out and cut 1" strips.

Tie each strip into a knot (like a pretzel) and lay it on a greased baking sheet.

For longer strips I knotted them twice. They look too funny with long tails.

I actually really like the big ones. They look really pretty after they are cooked. Now cover the rolls and let them rest for around 45 minutes. The recipe says they are supposed to double in size but my dough barely rose at all. I am not sure why. But they turned out delicious anyway. 

The recipe gives some complex instructions on how to cook, freeze, and then cook them again, but I ignored that. I baked them at 350 until they were a golden brown. It took about 7-10 minutes. Yum!