Squash rolls

I'm obsessed with the rolls I made for Thanksgiving, making them again for Christmas, then twice more in the week afterwards! Thought I'd share the recipe, for anyone interested. (Boy, has anyone else noticed that every recipe I've posted on this blog so far has been bread? One track mind, anyone?)



Squash rolls (recipe comes from a little recipe easel book called New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant*)



1 tablespoon dry yeast (if regular active dry, bloom it in the water first, if it's instant yeast, add directly to the dry ingredients and add the water to the wet ingredients)

1/4 cup water

2/3 cup scalded milk

1 cup cooked and pureed winter squash, pumpkin, carrot or sweet potato

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)

2-3 cups all purpose white flour (I usually use a lot closer to 2 cups here)



Combine scalded milk, squash, salt, sugar, and melted butter (and water if instant yeast is being used. If active dry yeast is being used, when the mixture is at warm room temperature add the water and yeast mixture).



In kitchenaid or large bowl, put 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Reserve the rest of the flour for after the liquid is added. If using instant yeast, add to the flour now.



Gradually add the liquid to the dry ingredients, adding some of the extra cup of white flour as necessary to keep the dough from being too sticky. This should be a nice soft, elastic dough and very nice to work with. Knead well.



Put the dough in a covered, greased bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and shape into rolls. I have made cloverleaf style rolls (putting three small balls in a greased muffin cup to make one roll) or just put 16 equal balls into a greased 8x8 pan. Let rise until doubled again, about 30-45 minutes.



Bake in preheated 4oo degree oven for 20 minutes if the rolls are cloverleaf style or some other kind that doesn't touch the other rolls while baking.

*If making the rolls all together squished up in the 8x8 pan, lower heat to 375 and bake for 40-45 minutes.



These are so yummy that we managed to eat three batches in less than a week (leading to a New Years' reintroduction of Weight Watchers!!). I've made them with baked, mashed butternut squash, pumpkin and sweet potato. All were very yummy. The sweet potato has a little less liquid in it, I think, so I used less flour than with the the squash or pumpkin.



Sorry I don't have a picture! Didn't think to take one before they were all eaten up with a big pot of ham and bean soup after Christmas!!



*I think I really surprised Daddyman (to say the least!) when he asked me what restaurant I would like to go to someday, expecting something world famous and haute cuisine in a major metropolis. The answer? Moosewood Restaurant in Syracuse. (Okay, okay, I also said Chez Panisse in Berkeley, but I think it's funnier if the answer is just Moosewood!)



Obligatory kid cuteness: