garlic rolls

If you keep up with me on facebook, you will know what I made for Valentines dinner. If not, well… I guess I will tell you: roast beef, scalloped potatoes, corn and these. It all began Valentines morning, when my hubby said, “Can we have homemade bread tonight?” An odd request at 5:35 am. But, I said okay. Then, after he presented me with a sweet little charm for my charm bracelet (a gold disc engraved with our wedding date) I decided that he needed some special bread. Did I tell you that I also got a frog for Valentines day? Yep. Gold charm and a frog. My hubby loves me. Er, should I say.. he KNOWS me?! Speaking of my frog…. I got NO sleep last night. Around 2:30 I heard something- something hit the safety gate going to the bedrooms. Spooky. It felt like someone- or something was walking around in the house. My hubby heard it, too. And we checked things out- but nothing . The  feeling remained. Just odd noises. Something big in the house stirring about.

Around 3:30, there was a scratching coming from what seemed to be outside the window… it sounded like our boxer when she scratches her chin with her rear paw and her floppy jowls make that hollow floppy noise. But, she was sound asleep. We lay there… whispering what it could be? Neither of us felt like investigating, for obvious reasons: waking the girls and it was pretty darn chilly out. Finally, morning came (5:15) and we were awoken by the alarm and the “I’m-ready- to -wake- up- now-mommy” toddler.  A few minutes later, my hubby called me into the bedroom. “Hey, baby, come look at this.”  It was a grayish frog. Trying desperately to hide from us non amphibious creatures. “That looks like my frog!” I said. Quickly I went to the tank, and she was not in her spot.The only way she could have escaped would be climbing up through an opening from the filter. I scooped her up and rinsed her off. It was her. Covered in dust. I put her back in her home. Upon early morning research, I found that this is common, and that I can expect to have this valentine’s gift for 25-30 years. Wow. Thanks for listening! Now! Garlic rolls!

For these you will need:

1/2 c warm water

2 pkg yest

1tsp sugar

combine the above in a bowl and let stand for 5min. It should appear foamy after that

now,  mix together:

3/4 c lukewarm milk

1/3 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 c flour

add to yeast mixture and mix another 2 min.

add in 4 1/2* cups flour, and knead 10 minutes. * original recipe called for 3  3⁄4c flour-but my dough was too sticky.

let rise (covered) 1 hr. * a great place to rise is in a microwave AFTER you eat up 2c water for 5min. Remove the water and place dough in the warm moist environment. (covered, of course)

Now punch down and let rest 15min.

While it’s resting butter  2 muffin tins.

Separate the dough into two equal portions and shape 36 balls from each portion. (walnut sized)

cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about an hour. ( *you can just wrap and freeze the other batch before rising- bring to room temp and rise when ready to use) after an hour rising they should look like this:

brush with olive oil, fresh minced garlic, salt,pepper and parsley. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. ENJOY!

this recipe is an adaptation of one from a Good Housekeeping Baking cookbook.