Basic Sweet Bread Dough Recipes

Steps:

• Scald milk in a medium saucepan. Add cold water to scalded milk. Remove 1/4 cup liquid; mix yeast into liquid when cooled to lukewarm. To liquid in saucepan, add salt, sugar, shortening, and eggs. Add dissolved yeast to saucepan. Mix well.
• Sift and measure the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour, and pour the liquids into the well. Stir with a large wooden spoon until liquid disappears.
• With one hand, mix dough in bowl using swinging rotary motion. Gradually form dough into smooth ball, then knead in bowl for 2 minutes. Brush top with melted shortening. Cover, and allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
• Punch down dough. Use dough for any sweet bread recipe.

Steps:

• Warm 1/2 cup water and the milk in a saucepan over low heat until a thermometer registers 100 degrees F to 110 degrees F. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the yeast on top, then sprinkle with a pinch of the sugar; set aside, undisturbed, until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk the melted butter, egg yolk and vanilla into the yeast mixture until combined. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, the remaining sugar, the salt and nutmeg. Make a well in the center, then add the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to make a thick and slightly sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 6 minutes. Shape into a ball.
• Brush a large bowl with butter. Add the dough, turning to coat lightly with the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is doubled in size, about 1 hour, 15 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead briefly to release excess air; re-form into a ball and return to the bowl. Lightly butter a large piece of plastic wrap and lay it directly on the surface of the dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Steps:

• Put butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat until you first see bubbles, stirring occasionally to keep milk from burning. Then remove from heat and add the cold water. [We're scalding the milk and then cooling it back down to not kill the yeast].
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast and warm water, then let sit for about 10 minutes.
• Once the yeast is activated and the milk mixture is under 130 degrees F, add the milk mixture to the yeast and also the sugar, egg, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until moistened and then mix on medium speed for two minutes. Then switch to a mixing spoon and add another 2 cups of flour. Finally, turn dough out on floured board and knead in additional flour to make a moderately stiff, soft dough. If you have a stand mixer, do all this mixing the easy way and use your dough hook.
• Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn once to grease surface, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size--about one hour.
• The next step is to shape according to your desired final product, then cover and let rise again for about 45 minutes, then bake.
• For basic dinner rolls, divide dough into 16 pieces, roll each between your hands to make a ball. These will need to bake at 350 degrees F for about 15-18 minutes. For the more sugary products, use your favorite methods and fillings and increase your baking time as needed, temperature should be fine for most.

Steps:

• 1. Scald milk (bring just to a boil and remove from heat immediately).
• 2. Stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Set aside and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• 3. In a large bowl mix warm water and yeast. Stir until dissolved.
• 4. Stir in lukewarm milk mixture.
• 5. Add beaten eggs.
• 6. Stir in half the flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour gradually, mixing as you go. You may need a bit more or less than the total 4 1/2 cups called for in the recipe, depending on the humidity and other factors.
• 7. Your dough should be elastic and slightly stiff but not dry.
• 8. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and very elastic. This usually takes 8-10 minutes.
• 9. Butter the inside of a large mixing bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn dough over a couple of times to coat it all with the butter.
• 10. Cover bowl and place in a warm place so it can rise.
• 11. It will take about 1 hour to double in bulk.
• 12. At that time punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured board to shape.
• 13. At this point, you can shape and fill as desired. To make dinner rolls, pinch off about 2-3 tablespoons of dough and shape into a ball. Place each one in a buttered muffin tin or baking pan, barely touching each other, do not crowd rolls.
• 14. Cover prepared rolls and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, again about 1 hour.
• 15. Rolls should now touch each other. (A little more rising will occur during baking.)
• 16. Preheat oven to 350 degrees when rolls are about 10 minutes from being ready for baking. When ready to bake place rolls in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. They should be browned nicely and smell so good and yeasty!
• 17. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter immediately when removed from the oven.
• 18. Allow rolls to sit for at least 10-15 minutes before eating.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in warm water; let stand until bubbles form on surface. Whisk together remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. Stir oil into yeast mixture; pour into flour mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1-1/2 to 2 hours., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf. Place in 2 greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1-1/2 hours., Bake at 375° until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped or has reached an internal temperature of 200°, 30-35 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• For the sponge: In a small bowl stir together water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Stir in yeast and flour. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until bubbly and active, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• For the dough: In a large bowl, mix together all of the sponge, yogurt, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla or citrus zest. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing until the dough comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until soft and pliable but not sticky. Let dough rest while you clean and grease the bowl. Finish kneading the dough until it's smooth, supple, and springy.
• Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat all surfaces, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.
• Gently deflate the dough and shape into desired shapes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan, heat milk, butter and water to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add egg and remaining flour; beat until smooth. Shape into a ball. Do not knead. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Use for Braided Coffee Cake or Coffee Cake Ring.