First Time Bread Baking

My husband and I manned a neighborhood garage sale for our son and daughter-in-law. Hadley, our five-year-old granddaughter sold homemade lemonade and Grandma's chocolate chip cookies. It was a profitable day for her. "Curly's" curls got her a lot of tips.

Paul made dinner rolls and a daisy braid from the sweet dough. He also made a crusty french bread recipe that he found on the Internet. It turned out great, too, but Grandma forgot to take a photo.

Paul is only 1/2 inch shorter than me right now. I'm 5'2" and I think by next week, he will have surpassed Grandma. I'll be looking up at him real soon.

The recipe is a sweet dough that rises in the refrigerator. You can leave it in the fridge for 2-48 hours, thus making it a perfect recipe for a home ec class.

Paul, my 11-year-old grandson, had the day off from school this past Friday, and he wanted to bake bread with me. So I dug out a tried and true, easy recipe from 1968 when I took a freshman home economics class. Taped together and spattered with cooking stains, it's still a winner.

CoolRise Sweet Dough

5-6 cups all-purpose flour
2 pkgs active dry yeast (quick rise is what I use)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter
1 1/2 cups very hot tap water
2 eggs (at room temperature)
Vegetable oil

Combine...2 cups flour, undissolved dry yeast, sugar and salt in large bowl. Stir well to blend. Add soft butter.

Add...hot tap water to ingredients in bowl all at once.

Beat...with electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl occasionally.

Add...eggs and 1 cup more flour. Beat with electric mixer at high speed for 1 minute or until thick and elastic. Scrape sides of bowl occasionally.

Stir in...remaining flour gradually. Use just enough flour to make a soft dough which leaves sides of bowl. Turn out onto floured board. Round up into a ball.

Divide...dough into two equal portions

Knead...5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. (I use the dough hook on my mixer, but if you don't have one, you can knead the dough by hand. Your arms will be lookin' great when you're done!)

Cover...the dough with plastic wrap and then a towel.

Let rest...for 15-20 minutes on a board. Then punch down.

Shape...into a Daisy Braid or you can make cinnamon rolls.

Refrigerate...2 to 48 hours at moderately cold setting. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover. Let the dough stand for 10 minutes.

If there are any surface bubbles, puncture them with an oiled toothpick.

Bake...at 375 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until done. Bake on a lower oven rack position for best results.

Remove...from pan immediately after you take it out of the oven. Cool on a rack. Brush with butter, if desired.