A Deliciously Magic Dough

"We make dough at L'abri on Saturdays, enough to feed a hundred or more people, and then form poppy seed rolls, twisted rolls with sesame seeds, and braided rolls with caraway seeds. These are used for hot dogs, hamburgers, or tuna fish salads. We take the same dough and make sticky buns full of lovely fat raisins, or orange rolls and apple dumplings."
-Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

After reading The Hidden Art of Homemaking last year, this particular quote stuck out to me like a sore thumb. Oh, how I wished I could reach through the pages of this book and ask Edith to "jot down" that recipe for me! LOL Well, a year later, I found a recipe in an old-fashioned cookbook that will do exactly as Mrs. Schaeffer promised: a "magic dough" that will do just about anything! Today we used it to fashion some lovely cloverleaf rolls (seen above) as well as some fun shaped breads as well. Here is the delicious recipe:

1/4 c. warm water (not hot- 110 to 115 degrees)
1 pkg. active dry yeast
3/4 c. lukewarm milk (scald the milk then allow to cool- it will help the dough to not be as "sticky")
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1 egg
1/4 c. shortening
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

In bowl, dissolve yeast into water. Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening, and half of flour to bowl. Mix with spoon until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to handle easily. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth (5 min.). Put mound into a greased bowl and turn the bottom side of mound to face upward (this will lightly grease your top of the loaf so it doesn't stick). Cover with a cloth. Let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) until doubled in size (1 1/2 hrs.). Punch bread down; let rise again until almost doubled (30 min.). Shape, let rise, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Here are some of the pretty shapes I experimented with today:

To make these lovely breads, roll the dough (see recipe above) onto an oblong 12 inches wide and a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Spread with soft butter. Fold 1/2 of dough back over the other half. Cut strips 1/2 inch wide and 6 inch long.

From the top of the plate counterclockwise:

The Snail: Twist and hold one end of the dough strip down on the baking sheet. Wind strip around and around. Tuck end under.
The Knot: Twist and tie each strip into a knot. press ends down on the greased baking sheet.
The Figure 8: Hold one end of the strip in one hand and twist the other end, stretching it slightly until the two ends when brought together on the greased baking sheet form a figure 8. (I hid my meeting point toward the middle of the piece so it wouldn't show!)

Also, the cloverleaf rolls seen at the top of the post are made by rolling 1 inch balls of dough. Then drop 3 of these into each cup of a greased muffin pan. Let rise for 15 minutes, then bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

There is no limit to what you can do with this recipe: cinnamon rolls, hamburger buns, even stollen...let your imagination be your guide!