Who loves graham crackers? I do! Who loves bake fails? I do! The last couple of months I’ve been sharing recipes with successful bakes, so I thought it was about time to share a huge fail recipe. My bread never rose, I persevered to see how they’d come out regardless and I made rocks.
My awful rock rolls are pictured below, they’re pretty terrible. It’s laughable. I’m sharing the process anyway.
But first, a quick reminder I’m not a food blogger. There will be no flour-dusted cutting board photos in-between hefty paragraphs filled with adjectives. The word foodie sends an awful noise of nails on a chalkboard down my spine.
I only want to share the recipe and what I learned when baking or cooking it for the first time. The act of making food for others is how I show love, and it’s my fun time. Trying to make something for the first time is always exciting for me because you either nail it or you don’t.
Today’s Taste Test recipe is from Southern Living. Here we go!
THE RECIPE:
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 1/2 tsp. sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, divided
- Parchment paper
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- Combine first 2 ingredients and 1 tsp. sugar; let stand 5 minutes.
- Beat egg, shortening, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Add boiling water; stir until shortening melts. Stir in yeast mixture. Stir flour and 1/2 cup crumbs into egg mixture.
- Place dough in a lightly greased (with shortening) bowl; cover, and chill 8 to 24 hours.
- Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 4 or 5 times. Roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut dough into rounds with a 1 1/2- to 2-inch round cutter, rerolling scraps twice. Place rolls 1 inch apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and brush with melted butter.
- Stir together remaining 1/4 cup cracker crumbs and 1 1/2 tsp. sugar. Sprinkle mixture over rolls. Cover and let rise in a warm place (80° to 85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Bake, uncovered, 15 to 18 minutes or until golden.
MY FINDINGS:
- It’s really important to care about the temperature of the water to dissolve the yeast.
- Do not over knead the dough and cover it properly (tight) so the air doesn’t get to it. I think too much air got to my dough and it wasn’t able to rise. I had the wannabe plastic wrap that didn’t stick to the bowl and hardly covered the top of the bowl.
- After the chilling process if your dough hasn’t risen, don’t bother continuing steps four through six, unless you want to be twins…
WOULD I MAKE IT AGAIN?
Yes. I didn’t get to taste them because who wants to eat rocks? And I love graham cracker anything.
If you make them this weekend, share your pictures in the comments or tag me in your post if you share on Instagram @sjrandol.
Ramblin Randol 