As a little girl, I faced a daily dilemma when I stood in line for lunch at the school cafeteria. Would I spend my $1.10 on a full lunch (mystery meat, mystery veggie, a dinner roll, and a milk) or would I splurge and just buy eleven dinner rolls for ten cents each? As much as I really wanted to do the latter, I never did take the plunge. I knew it would draw looks from my classmates and I wasn’t brave enough to stare back at them and say, “So what? I like bread!”

Nowadays, many of my friends are on “paleo” diets- they eat mostly meat, nuts, and some fruit. There is an entire food group missing from their diet: bread. Given that I would even contemplate choosing 11 dinner rolls over a full lunch, you can be sure that I will never adopt this particular diet! My friend Justin has this T-shirt that simply says I <Heart> Carbs. Amen, brother. Amen.

All of which brings me to today’s featured recipe. Sometimes I find a recipe for a side dish that looks so amazing that I orient my entire meal around it. And sometimes I just toss out the idea of a “complementary” meal because I am craving two things that no chef in her right mind would serve together.

Last week, it was my turn to host game night. I already showed you what Dave is capable of. However, I am not Dave, and thus my meal was going to be quite a bit simpler. For my main dish, I served pumpkin turkey chili (the recipe will be featured later this fall when pumpkins are back on your mind again!). Usually I would serve cornbread with chili, but like I said, sometimes you have to say “to heck with tradition” and go with what looks good. And these rolls looked good. And boy, oh, boy! They certainly did not disappoint! I split a couple in half, slathered them with butter and drizzled honey from mom’s bees over the top. These are definitely on my list of treats to make again!

By the way, if you’re new to making bread, read my note on this recipe about kneading bread. It’s easier than you think! Just budget lots of rising time for these. Each rise takes 60-90 minutes, plus an additional 20+ minutes in the oven. That means you should start these about 3 hours before you plan on sitting down for dinner!

golden pull-apart butter buns
(from the www.kingarthurflour.com)

buns

3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons potato flour or 1/4 cup instant potato flakes
3 tablespoons Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons soft butter
2/3 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup lukewarm milk

topping

2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl and mix and knead – using your hands, a stand mixer, or a bread machine on the dough cycle – to make a soft, smooth dough.

Place the dough in a lightly greased container and allow the dough to rise for 60-90 minutes, until it’s just about doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Round each piece into a smooth ball.

Lightly grease two 8″ cake pans. Space eight buns in each pan.

Cover the pans and allow the buns to rise until they’re crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60-90 minutes.

Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover the buns and bake them for 22-24 minutes, until they’re golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. An instant read thermometer inserted into the middle of the center bun should register at least 190.

Remove the buns from the oven, brush with melted butter, and turn onto a cooling rack.

Serve warm. Store leftovers in a closed container at room temperature.

pizza sauce
taken straight from www.allrecipes.com (if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it)

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
6 fluid ounces warm water
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Spread on your pizza and bake!

*If not, check back here for a great recipe to be posted soon. :)

Our friend Dave is a trained chef with a real eye for presentation, so I’m devoting an entire section of my blog to photos of his creations. Once a month, I treat Dave to dinner and offer him something like tomato soup with grilled cheese. And once a month, he invites us to his house and treats us to food fit for a king. I need more Daves in my life.

Last Thursday the hubby, my friend Amanda and I met at Dave’s for dinner and games. Dave was out to impress! The main course was Filet mignon, lobster, purple mashed potatoes, and fresh asparagus. I was skeptical about the lobster as I don’t typically like shell fish, but this was done quite well. Dave says that the secret is in cooking the lobster in butter. Hmmm… butter makes everything better!

After an hour or so of letting our dinner settle, Dave unveiled the dessert – chocolate creme brule with fresh berries. On top of that (as if there needed to be more!) for the extra berries he offered a chocolate dipping sauce made by combining melted chocolate with a red wine reduction.

I’m pretty sure I gained five pounds in one night, but it was worth it. :) Dave should be coming to my house again sometime in the next week or two. I still have not figured out what I’ll be making for dinner, but there’s no way I can compete with this!