Bilbo’s Seedcakes
Combine: 1 package dry yeast, 2 tsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp. warm water, let stand for 5 minutes.
Melt: ½ cup butter in 1 cup milk, cool.
Beat: ½ cup sugar, 3 eggs, ½ tsp. salt, then stir in yeast and milk mixtures.
Add: 4 ½ cups flour (I use part whole grain flour)
Beat dough for 5 minutes.
Let rise until double in bulk; then punch down and shape into rolls (1/3 of finished size) and place in greased muffin pans or on greased baking sheet. Let rise until double.
Brush tops with mixture of 1 egg yolk and 1 Tbsp. milk or water.
Sprinkle generously with sesame and/or poppy seeds.
Bake at 425° F. for 15 – 18 minutes (watch carefully, lower temperature if necessary – they burn easily!)
Remove from pans immediately.
(I’ve wondered what dough seedcakes are made of since my last rereading of “The Hobbit”; my good old “Joy of Cooking” has a poundcake recipe for seedcake, but that sounds terribly rich. This is a lighter, coffeecake/sweetroll type version.)
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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