Extremely Frugal Artisan Bread Rolls

Artisan Rolls, a photo by Simply Frugal on Flickr.

Easiest yeast bread I've ever made.

Extremely Frugal Artisan Bread Dough

Flour	1 pound
Yeast	2 tsp
Salt	1 1/2 tsp
Warm Water	1 1/2 C

Stir flour, yeast, and salt together.
Slowly stir in very warm water, until all the flour is wet.
Cover with damp cloth and let rise 2 hours.
Grease baking pan. Flour hands generously, and scoop out dough, either as a single mass, or pinching off small amounts if you are making rolls. Keep dipping hands in flour if this soft dough is sticking.
Form dough into a single round ball, or into 12 small balls for rolls.
Let rise on greased pan for 30 minutes, slicing tops for decoration if desired.
Preheat oven to 400 F and bake rolls for 15 minutes, loaf for 18-20.
Cool on wire rack.
Makes a crusty,slightly sourdough flavored loaf. Recipe doubles easily.
Dough will keep in refrigerator for up to 10 days.

I will make up a batch on the weekend, and then pinch off small amounts to make sandwich rolls during the week. If I'm feeling especially elegant, I'll make a roll for breakfast for a very continental espresso and roll combination.


This dough is very forgiving. I've made it with half white flour and half whole wheat. I've let it rise for 5 hours instead of 2. I've baked at 450 F on a bread baking stone (great for really crackling crust). I've even made cinnamon rolls with it. Play around and see what you can come up with.

Simple Tortilla Chips

Tortilla Chips
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

I make tortilla chips from corn tortillas.

Stack 4 or 5 together, cut them in half, and then each half into 3 pieces.

Bake at 400 F for about 8 minutes, until they are quite crisp and begin to brown.

If you want salty chips, dampen the unbaked slices with a spray bottle of water, and sprinkle salt over them before you bake.

Extremely Frugal Cornbread

Cornbread
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

Cornmeal	1 C
Flour	1 C
Baking Powder	4 tsp
Salt	1 1/2 tsp
Milk	1 1/2 C
Egg	2
Oil	2 Tbsp

Preheat oven and iron skillet to 425° F, adding a bit of bacon fat or other grease to the pan.
Stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
Stir milk, egg and oil into center of flour mixture, taking care to mix egg well.
Stir to moisten flour, then pour into hot skillet.
Return skillet to oven and bake about 25 minutes.

Notes:
Yes, that's my grandmother's skillet in the photo.
About Grease. Grease is a fine southern ingredient. It means whatever liquid or solid fat that you've got on hand. Bacon grease is the ultimate grease, but you can use shortening, butter, oil or chicken fat in its place. This recipe uses grease both in the batter and on the pan.

Extremely Frugal Brotchen

Broetchen
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

Broetchen are a German roll with a crispy crust and slightly chewy interior. The secret to getting them just right in a home oven include high heat, a pan of steaming water below them, and three risings of the dough.

Yeast	2 tsp
Water	1 1/4 C
Sugar	2 tsp
Shortening	2 Tbsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Egg white	1
Flour	4 C

Warm 1/4 C water. Add yeast and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes, until foamy.
Heat 1 C water, shortening and salt until shortening is melted. Let cool, then add yeast mixture.
Beat egg white until stiff.
Fold egg white into liquids in mixing bowl.
Add flour to form a soft dough, and knead 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn to coat with grease, cover with damp cloth. Let rise until double in bulk, about an hour.
Punch down, and let rise again.
Punch down, and divide into 12 pieces. Form into balls, and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450° F, placing a pan of boiling water on lower rack.
Bake rolls for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

Extremely Frugal Breadsticks

Breadsticks
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

It's easy to make bread sticks.

Milk	1/4 C
Water	3/4 C
Yeast	2 tsp
Oil	2 Tbsp
Sugar	1 Tsp
Flour	2-3 C
Salt	1 tsp

Warm milk and water to lukewarm (85° F).
Take 1/4 C warm water, add 2 tsp sugar, and yeast. Let sit 10 minutes, until frothy.
Mix milk, remaining water, oil, and remaining sugar.
Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Slowly pour in yeast and then liquids.
Mix thoroughly until dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
Turn out on floured surface, and knead 12 minutes.
Wash bowl, then grease.
Place dough in bowl, turning once to coat surface with grease. Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about an hour.
Punch down, and divide into 8 to 12 small balls.
Roll each ball between the palms of your hands to form a long rope. Place on greased cookie sheet, cover with damp cloth, and allow to rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Bake in a 425° F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Extremely Frugal Pita Bread

Pita
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

It's a simple yeast bread, cooked hot and fast in a 500° F oven.

Pita Bread

Yeast	2 1/4 tsp
Sugar	1 tsp
Water	1 1/2 C
Flour	3 C
Salt	1 1/4 tsp

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 C warm water. Let set 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt, and make a well in the middle.

Pour yeast into well, and slowly add 1 C warm water. Knead 10-15 minutes.

Grease a large bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn once, leaving a thin film on top of dough ball. Cover with a damp towel, and let rise about 3 hours, until double in bulk.

Roll out a thick rope and cut into 12 small pieces. Roll into balls, and place on a floured surface to rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven and baking sheet to 500°

Roll dough out into circles 1/4 inch thick. Let proof for 10-15 minutes.

Bake 4 minutes until bread puffs up Turn over and bake 2 minutes longer. Remove with spatula and press down. Cool on rack with moist towel over them.

Don't roll the circles too thin; you'll end up with flatbread crackers that don't puff.

Simple Roasted Chicken

Roast Chicken
Originally uploaded by Annie Mole

Roasting a whole chicken can give you all kinds of bonus ingredients. In addition to the meat, there are bones and gravy. If you stuff it before you roast it, there's a side-dish of dressing. You can use the bones from the cooked chicken to make stock. In fact, if you roast them after the meat has been removed, the stock has a richer flavor. If I'm feeling especially frugal, I let the fat congeal and refrigerate it until I need to grease a casserole.

Simply Frugal Roast Chicken

Ingredient	4 servings
Chicken, whole	1
Giblets
Water	1 1/2 C
Bay leaf	1
Fat*	2 Tbsp
Onion, chopped	2 Tbsp
Bread*, diced	2 C
Celery	1/4 C
Basil	1/4 tsp
Thyme	1/4 tsp
Sage	1/2 tsp
Salt
Pepper	1/4 tsp
Flour	1 Tbsp
Milk	1 C

Wash chicken, and remove heart, liver, gizzard, and neck.
Place neck, gizzard, and heart in water, along with bay leaf and half the onion. Simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and reserve stock.
Chop heart, gizzard, and liver fine. Saute with remaining onion in fat for a few minutes.
Combine with bread, celery, basil, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper.
Pour stock over dressing to moisten.

Stuff interior of chicken just before the chicken is put in the oven. You can double the amount, and bake the remainder in a greased casserole dish.
Place chicken in oven.
Turn on oven and set to 350 ℉ Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Pour off liquid, and allow fat to rise to the top. Skim and reserve fat.
Add flour to pan drippings. Stir until flour is incorporated. Add milk for cream gravy, add the liquid from the roast for a thinner gravy. Stir over medium heat until gravy thickens.

After the meal, place carcass and bones in a plastic bag, and freeze until ready to make stock.

*Fat, Bread, Preheated Oven
Fat: the frugal cook uses bacon fat, chicken fat, vegetable oil, or butter.
Bread: the frugal cook uses left over bread, bagels, or cornbread.
Preheated oven: the frugal cook knows you do not need to preheat the oven if you are roasting meat.

Extremely Frugal Bread Pudding

Simple Bread Pudding
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

BREAD PUDDING
Buy: nothing

Milk	2 1/4 C
Sugar	1/2 C
Cinnamon	1 1/2 tsp
Eggs	2
Bread*	1/2 pound
Raisins	1/2 C

Beat milk, sugar, cinnamon, and eggs in large bowl. Stir in bread cubes and raisins.
Pour into greased casserole.
Bake uncovered at 350 F for 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

Serve with custard sauce or hard sauce.

*A slice of bread is about 1 ounce. Use 8 slices, or the equivalent in stale bagels, Italian or French bread, or any leftover yeast rolls. Muffins, biscuits, cornbread, and other quick breads don't work as well.

Extremely Frugal Biscuits

A favorite from the San Jacinto Inn, near the Battleship Texas, in Houston. It closed long ago, but on Sunday, you could have as many biscuits as you wanted with your fried chicken and mashed potatoes. They had home-made strawberry jam to go with them.

Biscuits
10 biscuits

Flour	2 C
Baking powder	2 1/2 tsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Sugar	1/2 tsp
Shortening	3/4 C
Milk	3/4 C + 2 Tbsp

Preheat oven to 400 F
Blend flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
Cut in shortening until its the size of cornmeal.
Make a well in the center, and pour in milk. Stir quickly (about 30 seconds) to combine flour and milk.
Turn out on floured counter and pat or roll into 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 10 biscuits.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

For cheese biscuits, stir in 1/2 C shredded cheese before adding milk. If you use swiss cheese, a pinch of nutmeg adds an interesting hint of flavor.

Extremely Frugal Spoonbread

Spoonbread
Originally uploaded by Simply Frugal

An old Southern cornmeal dish.

Spoonbread
Serves 6

Water	1 C
Butter	3 Tbsp
Cornmeal	1 C
Salt	1 tsp
Baking powder	1 1/2 tsp
Milk	1 1/3 C
Eggs	2

Preheat oven to 375 F

Bring water to a boil. Add butter.
Mix cornmeal, salt, baking powder.
Pour boiling water over cornmeal mixture, stir until well mixed.
Slowly stir in milk, a few spoonsful at a time. When milk is incorporated, add eggs. Beat until well blended.
Pour batter into a well-greased baking pan.

Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes. Mixture will still be slightly soft in the center.