The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

AmishCookTV subscribers should have received a link to view a ride I recently took with Lovina's son, Benjamin, with their pony named Stormy.  I hope you enjoyed it!  This is our discussion thread if you have any comments or questions!

Okay, here's a freebie video for everyone.  We recently did a book-signing at The Party Shop in Warsaw, Indiana.  This store really is one of the entrepreneurial examples of how the "little guy" can battle the big stores by creating a unique customer experience and niche service.  Perhaps the Party Shop's greatest distinction is having an in-store museum which is home to the nation's only complete collection of Hallmark Christmas ornaments.  If you're into that sort of thing, then this stop would be worthwhile for you.  Click here to watch the curator of the museum give us a quick tour.   And a thanks to Wesleyba for her great camera work!

The Boston Globe ran a story this morning about the relatively new Amish settlement around Unity, Maine.  The article is a decent read.  Maybe I'm just a little nit-picky this morning, but I thought  the article lacked some of the educational value that others of this type sometimes offer and fell a bit prey to fawning.  But check it out here to see for yourself.  I expect the Amish population in Maine to continuing increasing with its plentiful, relatively inexpensive land.

I hope everyone is having a great, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend.  Rachel and I have had 4 family gatherings to go to this weekend.  Two of them, we were assigned to bring the dinner rolls.  So, since I just co-authored a baking book, I thought I had best make the rolls!  Last night I made a dinner roll from our book called "double quick dinner rolls."  As the name implies, these are really quick, super-easy.  If you don't have a lot of experience with making rolls, this is a great starter recipe.  You make them in muffin tins, pop them in the oven and you're done.  The recipe makes a small, dense roll.  Today I made the much more labor-intensive "Top Notch Dinner Rolls."   The dough required three rises.  The recipe is classic Amish using the basic building blocks of baking: butter, sugar, flour, salt, yeast.  The roll makes a much rounder, fluffier roll.    Here is the recipe (and above is a photo of them as I removed them from the oven) which can also be found in The Amish Cook's Baking Book:

TOP NOTCH DINNER ROLLS
1 cup warm water(100-110.degrees)
2 pkg regular dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
Stir above ingedients together and let set until foamy(10-20 min.) 
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2cup shortening(I used butter)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour

Mix water, shortening sugar, and salt  until shortening is melted.  Cool to lukewarm(100-110 degrees) and add to yeast mixture mixing well.  Gradually add flour beating well.  Work in just enough more to make a soft but not sticky dough.  Place in large greased bowl and turn over to grease top of dough.  Cover and let rise until double.  Punch down and let rest 10 minutes.  Shape into rolls and let rise until double.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.  32 large rolls

Check out this neat article in the Times of NW Indiana today!   And, since I doubt Rachel will allow me to be on the computer tomorrow, I'll take this time to wish everyone a happy, blessed, and family-filled Thanksgiving!