I’m looking outside my window at the dense fog and winter chill clinging to bony tree branches and wishing I could see sunshine and palm trees instead.

I’m sitting here surrounded by a pile of crumpled Kleenexes with raging sinus pressure and wishing that I could snap my fingers and this horrible cold would just disappear.

I’m thinking about how I want so much to change in the next few months and wishing that none of it would change at all at the same time.

I’m realizing that as much as I look outside, inside or to the future and wish for so many things to be different or the same, in every case, I’d rather just be here, with you, dear reader. And a warm, buttered slice of this ricotta-olive oil herb bread. Life is just much simpler that way.

I’d been longing to make another sandwich loaf for a while: One that’s dense yet soft, flavorful yet mild, healthy yet delicious. So when I happened upon this recipe, I knew it was the perfect fit for me and my Saturday afternoon.

The creamy ricotta cheese, though invisible to the taste buds, renders this loaf soft and chewy. The olive oil gives it mild flavor support but major moisture. And the herbs, though faintly present, provide a robust and refreshing aftertaste to every slice, one made even better with a dip in the toaster and a spackling of butter or cream cheese. It’s the best thing to make when nothing else is going the way you want it to go (or, exactly the way you want it to go?) — when nothing is certain. This bread is loyal and steadfast to a fault: Hard to mess up and hard to resist when it’s beaming up at you straight out of the oven. It’s just the antidote for a wishful day.

Ricotta-Olive Oil Herb Bread
Adapted from Roxana’s Home Baking

Yields: One loaf

Ingredients:
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup lukewarm water

Directions:
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together 1/4 cup lukewarm water, yeast and 2 tablespoons flour. Let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
To the proofed yeast mixture, add olive oil, ricotta cheese, salt, herbs and flours and stir to combine.
Attach dough hook and slowly mix in enough of the lukewarm water so that dough comes together and pulls away from sides of the bowl. Increase speed to medium and knead 3-5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic (or, stir water into dough with a wooden spoon until you’ve got a cohesive dough, then remove from bowl and knead on a lightly floured counter top 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic).
Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Remove risen dough from bowl and press dough into a 9-by-9-inch square. Roll up dough from one side into a log and tuck swirled edges under (so the top of the dough is taut). Place log in a lightly oiled loaf pan, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap or tea towel and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the dough reads about 200 degrees F. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan and let cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

Were I a professional baker, I probably wouldn’t end up with flat, under-risen loaves of bread on a near-regular basis. I probably wouldn’t have nightmares in my sleep of covering my entire kitchen in flour or burning forgotten breads to a crisp in the oven. I probably wouldn’t have daily ruminations like, “Did I OVERknead the bread or UNDERknead it?” while staring at my computer screen, and the mere thought of a sourdough starter wouldn’t send me straight to the grocery store, grabbing a pretty, freshly baked loaf in fear and exclaiming, out loud, to no one, “How do they DO it?!”

But, professional bakers probably think about these things, too, from time to time. You can’t tell me Peter Reinhart hasn’t had a few floppy baguettes or soggy bagels in his time, or that every loaf of bread that emerges from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s oven is absolutely perfect (Oh, who am I kidding? It probably is).

I’m just keeping it real here, friends. Sometimes, I just need to go back to the basics. And this archived post, one of my favorites that I wrote for Tablespoon, was the first thing that popped into my head when I decided I needed a refresher course. So, I’d thought I’d share it with you, too. Take a gander over there to learn some Bread 101 and bake yourself one seriously awesome basic white bread. It’ll change your life.

Annnnnnd here’s the recipe only, if you’re too cool for school:

Finally, I feel like I don’t ask for your input nearly often enough. So, that’s about to change, and I’m starting here, with a question for ya’ll:

What would you like to see baked and blogged on Girl Versus Dough? I’m game for anything, folks — difficult, easy, sweet, savory, creative, boring, weird, whatever. Let’s do this.

This has been one horrible, no good, very bad week so far.

I know this isn’t why you came here. You came here for doughnuts, not to hear about how my car’s windshield wipers stopped working in the middle of a snowstorm, or how I broke my new necklace the first day I wore it and then subsequently spilled coffee all over my pants at work, or how I tried to make simple things like poached eggs and grilled cheese (grilled cheese!) for dinner and failed miserably, or how, lately, some of my life’s circumstances getting the better of me.

But I’m keeping it real, here, people. Sometimes, we just have a really crummy week.

Thankfully, we also have doughnuts.

These doughnuts were the perfect things to wake up with on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. Thanks to the fancy schmancy doughnut pan the ‘rents bought me for Christmas, I could make these delicious, fluffy, citrus-kissed doughnuts and douse them in a gooey dark chocolate glaze. And now that I have this fancy schmancy pan, I plan to make homemade doughnuts a fairly regular part of my life. Especially on horrible, no good, very bad days.

If you don’t have a doughnut pan, fortunately or unfortunately, for this recipe you’ll need to get one. The good news is they’re super easy to find and super not expensive. All you need is a little bit of room in your kitchen cabinet and an undying wish for doughnuts. Trust me, it’s worth every penny.

Orange-Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate-Orange Glaze
Adapted from Not So Humble Pie

Yields: 6 doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts –
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup cake flour, sifted (or make your own, like I did, with this here pro tip)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
zest of 1 small or 1/2 large orange
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the glaze –
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter, cut into tiny cubes
1 teaspoon orange juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray doughnut pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk and egg. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, orange zest and salt. Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Spoon batter into doughnut pan wells so they’re about two-thirds of the way full. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in pan for a minute or two, then turn out onto a cooling rack with wax paper underneath and cool completely.
To make the glaze: Microwave all glaze ingredients in a shallow bowl for 10 seconds at a time, stirring between, until melted. Dip cooled doughnuts into the glaze (or spoon it over the doughnuts) and return to cooling rack to dry.
Doughnuts are best served the day they are made.

There are a few things I can’t get enough of: Mini pigs, paintings by Van Gogh, brownies with ice cream, intriguing and nail-bitingly dramatic episodes of “Mad Men” (and perhaps moreso, their style) and now, a new addition to the list. Ladies and gentlemen, meet povitica.

When mine eyes were first laid upon this bread (probably on Pinterest, another distraction I never seem to tire of, even many long hours after my droopy eyes have said, “Enough with the DIY hanging plant holders!”), I knew it had to be in my kitchen. Right. Now. There was no time to waste! I was a girl obsessed! This bread was destined to get in my belly! It was admittedly a low point.

And then — oh, and then — I saw the gargantuan list of directions. My heart sank. I was done for. In my Post-Holiday Stupor of Undeterred Laziness, I knew I’d give up as soon as the recipe called for any verb.

However, after a few hours of wallowing in my self pity of non-povitica-ness, wherein I probably nervously drank copious amounts of hot chocolate, took a nap and looked at photos of mini pigs on Pinterest simultaneously, I decided enough was enough. A new New Year’s resolution was to be had; and thus, so was this povitica.

Dear Lord. This sweet bread is a gift from above. It is worth every verb in this recipe. I mean, there are chocolate and walnuts and butter and sugar on the line here, people! So take a deep breath, maybe peruse a few photos of mini pigs yourself, and get down to business. You won’t be sorry.

Povitica, Croatian walnut bread
Adapted slightly from Passionate About Baking

Yields: One loaf

Ingredients:
For the dough –
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

For the filling –
1 1/2 cups walnuts, ground
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

For the topping –
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 teaspoon sugar crystals (optional)

Directions:
In a small bowl, stir together sugar, flour, water and yeast and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat milk to just below boiling (about 180 degrees F), stirring constantly to avoid that gross film that forms on top. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly to 110 degrees F.
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix the scalded milk, sugar and salt until just combined. Add eggs, yeast mixture, vanilla extract, melted butter and flour and stir until just combined. Switch to a dough hook and knead in stand mixer for about 5 minutes, adding 1 tablespoon flour at a time until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth and elastic; OR, place dough on a lightly floured countertop and knead by hand for about 10 minutes, adding 1 tablespoon of flour as necessary until dough is slightly sticky and smooth and elastic.
Shape dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Grind the walnuts, sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor until finely ground like coarse sand, and transfer to a medium bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring milk and butter to a boil, then pour the liquid over the nut mixture. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Set aside until mixture comes to room temperature.
Punch down risen dough and on a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a 10-inch square. Brush with 1 teaspoon of melted butter, if desired.
Using your hands or a rolling pin, very carefully spread dough thin; so thin, that you can see through it to the countertop. Spoon filling evenly over dough.
Roll the dough carefully from the long end like a jelly roll, using a bench scraper to scrape any stubborn dough up from the countertop. Carefully place rope into a greased 8-by-4-inch loaf pan into the shape of a U with the ends meeting in the middle (or really, however it ends up in the pan that resembles a uniform loaf shape). Brush the top of the loaf with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Cover pan lightly with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover pan and bake bread for 15 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees F and bake bread for another 30-40 minutes, checking on the loaf after 20 minutes to make sure it’s not too brown (if it is, cover with a dome of aluminum foil to prevent over-browning). Bake until a thermometer inserted in the center of the dough reads 200-210 degrees F. Remove pan from oven and allow bread to cool in pan on a cooling rack for 20-30 minutes, then allow to cool completely outside of pan before slicing and serving.

Let it be said that this time of year, the most wonderful time of the year, is meant for caroling and baking cookies and decorating trees and putting up lights and skating on lakes and wrapping our hands around mugs of hot cocoa.

Let it be said that this time of year is meant for celebrating good tidings, family and friends, blessings and a humble birth in a manger.

Let it be said this time of year is not for worrying about the silly little things, risking your bank account or life for that “perfect” gift, opening old wounds and harboring resentment.

I know it’s a tough truth to grasp, and I am the first to admit that I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of this month worrying instead of celebrating. Though there still were cookies involved.

But now, three days before Christmas, I’m done. I’m done worrying and I’m forging ahead, focusing on the things that really matter this season and really, at any time of the year. And this cornbread? Well, I’ll be sure to eat a slice the moment I feel like my skates are losing ground again.

I don’t know what it is about the flavor combination of cranberries and oranges — Its tartness? Its sweetness? Its prettiness? — that makes me love it so. But I just knew that, when met with my other love, buttery cornbread, this pair would be magical. And it was. And now I’m off, this cornbread in tow, to share that magic and the holiday with loved ones. I wish you — cornbread or no cornbread — a little bit of that Christmas magic, too.

Cranberry-Orange Cornbread
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 9 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cornmeal, preferably finely stoneground
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 cup fresh or frozen (and thawed) cranberries, washed and chopped
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F if using a dark or non-stick pan). Grease an 8-by-8-inch baking pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, baking powder and sugar. Stir in orange zest and cranberries. Stir in egg, milk, oil and butter until all ingredients are just combined (the batter might still be a little lumpy; this is OK).
Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool slightly before slicing and serving.

There are so many cookies in my life right now.

Seriously — I’ve got pepperminty candy cane cookies, fudgy chocolate crinkles, peanut butter balls and snickerdoodles coming out of my ears. You’d think — and normally, I would think, too — that this is a Christmas miracle, but I’ve come to learn that my sweet tooth can handle only so many sweets. It’s a diva like that.

So after stuffing my face with cookies this weekend (OK, and a few days after that, too), I decided enough was enough. I needed something salty! Something savory! Something that didn’t have a Santa face on it or look like an old man cane with red and white stripes. Orthopedics. It’s science.

Enter these cheesy pizza puffs. I first made this with my dear friend Emily last weekend and thought I might die of happiness. They are salty, pizza-y, yummy and insanely easy to make. This version omits the pepperoni (hello, flexitarian), which makes them a little less salty, but an added pinch of salt restores the delicate balance. And after eating one (or two, or the whole batch), you just might want a cookie. You know. To even things out.

Cheesy Pizza Puffs
Adapted from Lick the Bowl Good

Yields: 12 muffins or “puffs”

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (325 for a dark or non-stick muffin pan). Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning and salt; add milk and egg and whisk to combine.
Stir in cheeses; let stand for 10 minutes.
Stir batter and divide evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until puffy and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Heat pizza sauce and serve with warm pizza puffs for dipping. Then eat a cookie.

If I ran my own bed and breakfast, I’d bake these cinnamon rolls every morning. Scratch that — when I have my own bed and breakfast, I will bake these cinnamon rolls every morning. I’ll be just like Sookie on “Gilmore Girls.” (Salmon puffs. Sal-mon puffs.)

Truth be told, I may never have enough time or energy or know-how to have my own bed and breakfast, and that’s OK. But one thing is for sure — these cinnamon rolls will always be in my (near) future.

There’s something about the taste of gingerbread that whisks me away to my childhood. I don’t know if it’s memories of making gingerbread houses with our neighborhood group of kids, or chomping the heads off of gingerbread men around the holidays (such a sweet memory, I know), but one bite of gingerbread and I can’t help but feel all holly jolly inside. Combine that with the coziness of a warm cinnamon roll on a weekend morning and I’m as happy as a kid on Christmas morning.

The flavor of gingerbread in these cinnamon rolls is subtle — it sneaks up on you between bites of soft, buttery roll and sweet cinnamon-vanilla glaze. I find they’re best topped with tart sugared cranberries, but the glaze alone is enough to put these over the moon. It’s the perfect recipe to wake up your kids with on Christmas morning (though growing up, my excitement would wake me up well before then) or make for a holiday brunch gathering. Or, maybe, at your imaginary future bed and breakfast. Whatever works.

Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
Courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

Yields: 12 cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packages)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the glaze —
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 to 5 tablespoons milk

Directions:
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fixed with paddle attachment, whisk yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. Let stand 5 minutes.
Stir in milk, molasses, brown sugar, egg, oil and salt. Stir in 1 cup flour, then replace paddle attachment with dough hook. Add enough flour until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl (you may not use all the flour). Increase speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes, adding 1 tablespoon flour at a time as necessary until you end up with a smooth, elastic dough (you can also knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes until you end up with a smooth, elastic dough). Shape dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch risen dough down and place on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
Grease a 13-by-9-inch pan and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Roll dough out into a 12-by-8-inch rectangle and brush melted butter on top of dough. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture and roll up tightly from the long end, pinching to seal. Cut log into 12 equal pieces and space evenly in 13-by-9-inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover risen rolls and bake 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden brown. In the meantime, make your glaze: Whisk together powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and enough milk to make a drippy glaze. Remove rolls from oven and let cool 5 minutes before drizzling with glaze. Top with frozen cranberries rolled in sugar and serve warm.

Look at my wit! Look at my skill! Look at how I took two different types of food and made them into one!

OK. Enough on that. I cannot tell a lie: I made a blunder. A culinary blunder. And yet one that turned out to be just as delicious, albeit not what I had intended.

If you’re not catching my drift here, these here churro “fries” were not meant to be fries at all. Sure, they were meant to be made into warm, deep-fried pillows of deliciousness, but as churros — actual churros — not as crispy, cinnamon-sugary strings.

But here’s the rub.

These are still insanely amazing. I’d even daresay they’re better than regular churros, but perhaps only because they’re unique and eating an entire churro gives me a stomachache (perhaps that’s also because I tend to devour them before riding a bazillion carny rides at the county fair, but that’s beside the point). They’re like the bite-size, cuter and more fun cousin of churros that churros get jealous of when they steal all the attention. They’re crispy and deep-fried and sweet and yummy and I don’t care who knows it!

Sorry. Watching too much “Elf” (or is it ever too much?).

Anyway, my point here is that sometimes you’ve got to roll with the punches. Even when the star tip on your pastry bag is the size of an eraser instead of a penny and you want churros, you can make it happen. Sure, they might not be what you’d expect, but hey, aren’t most things? And in the end, what was considered a mistake might, in fact, be a stroke of accidental genius. Or, perhaps, just a tasty mistake. Either way, my tummy is happy. And whether you make these the right way or the “wrong” way, yours will be, too.

Churro Fries
Adapted from Hy-Vee Seasons Magazine

Yields: About 40 pieces

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
vegetable or canola oil (for frying)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together water, butter, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt and bring to a boil.
Add flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes.
Add egg and vanilla, stirring well with a wooden spoon. Scoop mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a small (fries) or large (regular churros) star tip.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside. Line a large plate with paper towels and set aside.
Heat 3 inches of oil in a large saucepan to about 375 degrees F.
Pipe 4-inch logs directly into the oil and fry for about 2 minutes on each side until a deep golden brown. With a slotted spoon, scoop out churros and drain on paper towel-lined plate, then transfer to baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining mixture.
In a small bowl, combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Roll churros in cinnamon-sugar mixture and serve warm.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, people! Does that freak you out? It shouldn’t; it really shouldn’t. Even if the turkey is tough and the pies are burnt to a crisp and all you’ve got left to eat are dinner rolls and a marshmallow fluff and green Jell-O salad, hey, it’s OK. Are you surrounded by the people you love? Are you healthy and safe and have a roof over your head? Then that’s all that matters.

Of course, truth be told, I know I’d still blow a bit of a gasket if all I had to eat on Thanksgiving was a gelatinous salad and dinner rolls (though if it were these dinner rolls, I might chill out a bit). I’ve always been one for tradition, and unless there is a sincerely relevant reason for straying from what we always do, I get a little hostile. I know, crazytown. But I need my sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce in the shape of a can!

OK, not need. Definitely not need. But most certainly want.

One of those random-but-necessary traditions we do every. single. year. (you heard me, Mom. Don’t even think about leaving this out this year.) is serve spinach dip in a Hawaiian sweet bread roll. It’s the most retro-ly awesome and delicious pre-Thanksgiving dinner appetizer, and we all devour it alongside our deviled eggs and cheese and crackers (hope you’re listening, Mom). It’s almost all usually store-bought, too, which is fine, but I wanted to mix things up a bit this year. So, I made my own Hawaiian bread.

Good grief. Where has this been all my life? Oh, that’s right. Conveniently available at the grocery store. But certainly not as delicious.

Did you know Hawaiian bread (or as it’s sometimes called, Portuguese sweet bread) is often made with potato flour (or in this case, mashed potatoes)? Who knew? Luckily, that makes it one of those easy-to-rise breads. And what’s more, most of that rising occurs in the oven — when I put the bread in the oven, it was a typical free-form loaf, but when I took it out, it had transformed into that signature glossy, puffed dome. And the taste? Well, let’s just put it this way — you don’t even need the spinach dip on the side to enjoy it (but that doesn’t mean we won’t still have it, Mom!).

P.S. Mom, I love you, even if you don’t make all the things we normally have for Thanksgiving. But I might secretly go cry about it later. Just saying. Hugs!

Hawaiian Sweet Bread
Adapted from Baking Bites

Yields: 1 free-form round, about 10 rolls or 1 sandwich loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes, cooled
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons warm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2-3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and softened

Directions:

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together yeast, water, 1 tablespoon sugar and mashed potatoes. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining sugar, lemon juice, milk, salt, eggs and 1 cup flour and stir thoroughly to combine. Replace paddle attachment with dough hook and add 1/2 cup more flour and butter, mixing on low speed until smooth. Add more flour a few tablespoons at a time, mixing on low speed, until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl.
Increase speed to medium and knead about 5-6 minutes, adding more flour as necessary until the dough is slightly sticky but no longer tacky. Alternatively, remove the dough from the bowl and knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until slightly sticky. You might not use all the flour, and that’s OK.
Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl covered with plastic wrap until doubled, about 2 to 3 hours.
Turn risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Shape into a large free-form round, into rolls or into a sandwich loaf (see here for how to shape it). Place free-form loaf or rolls onto a lightly floured baking stone or parchment paper-lined baking sheet; place rectangle into a lightly greased 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Cover with a towel and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 30-40 minutes until a deep golden brown or when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the bottom of the loaf reads 200 degrees F. Remove from oven and cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing or serving.
Note: If you want to make this ahead of time for Thanksgiving, you can cover the bread tightly in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and place in freezer until turkey day. Just be sure to take it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter about 12 hours before you want to serve it.

Holy snowfall, Batman!

That’s right, we had our first snow here today (well, more like a rain/snow snot — yes, snot — but snow was involved). We also had the most insane wind gusts — so insane, that my poor umbrella became a casualty. I’d show you the remains, but I maintain respect for my beloved umbrella. Just imagine a tangled mess of wires and me, once dry, now soaking wet, my bangs in a bird’s nest-like shape. It was a lovely sight, I’m sure.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to coming home tonight and cozying up with my cat, my husband, a pair of warm socks and a tasty Indian dinner I had planned, complete with chapati.

What’s chapati, you ask? Well, that was the very question I asked the husband upon his return from India when he told me it was one of the recipes he’d learned how to make abroad. But seeing as I’m the most amazing wife ever and I just happened to have a copy of the new Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book lying around, I decided to surprise him by making it myself.

I have to say, once I opened this book and took a peek at all the delicious recipes tucked within, I wondered if chapati — a non-yeasted, whole wheat dough — was really the way to go. I mean, I knew it would be delicious and healthy (and also happens to be the fastest recipe in the entire book, bonus!), but when mine eyes came across words like “curried sweet potato, lentil and arugula pizza,” “rainbow beet pizza,” “chicken potpie pizza,” “fougasse,” “stuffed naan” and “skillet peach pie,” I wondered if I was going in the right direction. Turns out, even the simplest of recipes in this book are out of this world.

Not that I’m surprised. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is one of my go-to books for bread recipes. Having a signature no-knead bread in your recipe arsenal is a necessity, in my opinion. You know what else is a necessity? Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. True story.

Well, good news friends. I’m giving away a copy! That way, you can make all the yummy chapati — or fougasse, or skillet peach pie — your heart desires.

So here’s the giveaway rundown. To enter, leave a comment below answering the following question: What are you thankful for this year?

Extra entries:
1. Tweet about the giveaway and attach this link: http://tinyurl.com/6qx2fvg Tell me in a separate comment that you did so.
2. Share the link above about the giveaway on your Facebook wall and tell me in a separate comment that you did so (while you’re there, become a fan of Girl Versus Dough’s Facebook page!).

And that’s it! Contest ends on Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Winner will be announced Monday, November 14.

Happy giveaway!

Update: Valerie B. is our winner. Thanks for playing, everyone.

Chapati (Non-yeasted whole wheat dough)
Courtesy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

Yields: Six 6-inch chapatis

Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tbsp oil

Directions:
Mix together the flour, salt, oil and water in a large bowl. The dough can be used right away, but is handled best when refrigerated or sitting for at least half an hour. You can also refrigerate the dough in a lidded container and use over the next 5 days.
When ready to make chapati, preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until water droplets sizzle and skitter off the surface. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out each piece into a thin circle about 1/16-inch thick. Cook each piece in cast-iron skillet on each side for about a minute, then lay directly over the flame of a burner on medium-high heat, using a pair of metal tongs to hold in place (I skipped this step because I have an electric stove, leaving me with softer, more supple, but equally delicious flatbreads). Turn the dough with the tongs until the dough is puffy; remove from heat. Repeat with remaining dough.

Full disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary review copy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, but that’s it. Just wanting to share the love!