Baking Bliss

Sour Cream & Chive Potato Bread

ready to slide onto a hot baking stone.

I got to put my baking skills to the test last week. I started off Tuesday making a batch of cornbread for cornbread dressing and pizza dough for my husband's birthday dinner that night. 

On Wednesday I mixed the dinner roll dough and refrigerated it so it would be ready to shape and bake the next day, just before our Thanksgiving feast. I mixed a batch of dough for Whole Grain Pecan Sticky Buns (my son-in-law's favorite) and refrigerated that, too. 

 Dinner roll dough. These containers are available at 

restaurant supply stores. They come in all different 

sizes and are perfect for yeast doughs.

 

My daughter, Christine, requested Sour Cream & Chive Potato Bread for leftover turkey sandwiches so I mixed and baked that next. My husband prefers whole grains, so I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Potato Bread. (Those are both straight dough breads, meaning they are mixed and baked on the same day.)

Then came the Butternut Squash Pie.

Not the prettiest pie I have ever baked, but it was delicious! 

(I should have added a bit more water to the pastry dough. It was crumbly and difficult to work with.)

First thing Thursday morning, it was time to get the apple pie into the oven. 

  I like to spray the top crust with water and sprinkle with coarse demerara or turbinado sugar before baking. 

The foil keeps the buttery crust from 

dripping on my baking stone.

About noon, Christine and I shaped the dinner rolls and set them to rise. I baked them just before we sat down to eat.

Oma's Featherlight Rolls fully proofed.

(My mom brought the turkey and Christine and I had fun working together to prepare the rest of the dinner: Cornbread dressing, Donna's dressing, macaroni & cheese, candied sweet potatoes, buttered peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, black olives, sweet pickles, sparkling cider.)

Friday morning I got up early to shape and bake the sticky buns. They came out of the oven just in time for a leisurely breakfast.

 Sticky Bun work station.

 Yum!

And after all those carbs, we headed out to North Bank Habitat for an eight-mile hike.

 Breakfast of champion hikers!