Hawaiian Bread & Garlic Herb Bread

Here it is ladies and gentlemen.

My all-time favorite bread in the world.

Sweet Hawaiian Bread.

So delicious.

So versatile.

Make it into rolls for miniature deliciousness.

Oh my.

I start by getting frozen orange juice. I make the juice, then freeze what I don't use in 1 cup portions. I also do this with pineapple juice because my Spicy Chinese Chicken (recipe coming this week!) uses pineapple juice. AND you can use it for Hawaiian bread too.

On to the fun stuff... The cast of characters:

• 1 c. orange juice (or pineapple)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. milk
• 4 T. soft butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. salt
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. potato flakes
• 4 c. bread flour (check it while it's kneading, if appears too gooey, add more 1/2 c. at a time)
• 1 1/2 t. yeast

Can I just say how much I love recipe cards that are used and imperfect? There's just something about a tattered recipe that says "I'm delicious. And generations before you agreed". Granted, I wrote out this recipe (taken from my mom), but maybe my great great grandchildren will be able to enjoy it.

Add the ingredients in order listed into your bread machine pan. Yes, I use a bread machine for the mixing, kneading, and first rise. Please don't tell my great grandmother. She'd roll over in her grave.

Set your bread machine for the dough cycle. I don't like the crust that the bread machine makes if I let it finish baking (really hard and crunchy), so I take it out and bake it myself. Unless I'm desperate for carbs and won't be around to take it out.

On a side note, if your dough looks like this...

... put it back in the machine, add more flour and mix. I attempted to just knead some more flour in, but it needed a lot more flour. Oops. Recipe noted and changed.

Ahh, much better. You can either roll in a log-form, or two round loaves, or 16 rolls.
I recently discovered a great use for my oven's warming drawer. I loved my oven when I picked it out, but didn't give much thought to the warming drawer (and actually thought, "darn, now I have to store my cookie sheets somewhere else").

But me-o-MY. This thing is great for rising bread! I spray the loaf with non-stick cooking spray, then cover it with saran wrap. Into the warming drawer it goes for about 20-30 minutes (until loaf has doubled in size).

After bread has risen, bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes. This picture was taken at about 20 minutes. At this point, please resist the urge to take it out that minute and start chowing. It smells just like I imagine Heaven does. And I actually like dough, so under-cooked bread doesn't bother me. But for the sake of other people in the house, leave it in until it's done.

When it's finally done baking, take a few tablespoons of butter and spread it over the top.

My mouth is watering just typing about it.

In my humble opinion the absolute best part of fresh bread are the ends. When we were younger, we would fight for the ends. Slather it in butter, let the butter and bread become one, and enjoy every fantastical bite.

I won't post the step-by-step for Garlic Herb bread, because it's basically the same thing. I use this bread for my pizza crust, bread sticks, dinner rolls, sandwich bread, and "I want to eat two weeks worth of carbs right now" bread.

• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 T. margarine (softened)
• 2 large cloves garlic (I love the jars of roasted garlic)
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 t. salt
• 1 T. Italian seasoning
• 3 c. bread flour
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 3/4 t. yeast