A Big Ole Batch of Dough & What We Did With It

On Monday night we hosted my mother-in-law overnight when she found herself stranded here by a storm. I happened to have some leftover hamburger meat, so I decided to make a family favorite ~ Stromboli. When I went to the recipe box to look for the dough recipe I usually use for it (the butter roll dough recipe that came with my bread machine that has since been abandoned for a Bosch mixer), I changed my mind and went with a recipe that I have simply labeled Big Ole Batch of Dough. (do not try this with just any mixer...it REALLY IS a BIG OLE BATCH OF DOUGH!)

Big Ole Batch of Dough

In mixer:
6 c. hot water
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. honey
2 Tbsp yeast
6 c. whole wheat flour

Mix & let sponge 10-15 mins.

Add:
1 1/2 Tbsp salt & enough unbleached flour to clean the sides (approx 7 cups)

Knead 5-6 minutes.

From here, the sky is limitless! You can roll out into pizzas, you can make calzones, you can do just rolls and loaves of bread. OR you can do ALL those things because this is a BIG OLE BATCH OF DOUGH! lol

Anyway, we chose to do 3 strombolis and about 3 doz cinnamon rolls!

For strombolis, you roll out some of the dough into a rectangular shape. For the stuffing, you simply add tomato sauce and some Italian seasoning to hamburger meat. Spoon the meat down the center of the rolled out dough,

sprinkle on some shredded cheese, and then cut slits all along the sides leaving the ends intact.

From there, you fold up the ends, and then criss-cross the side pieces. The picture below is prior to baking and with LOTS of help from the littles. If I can do it with 4 extra hands and not be bothered by the fact that it isn't perfect, so can you!

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes and ENJOY!

I don't have pictures of the cinnamon rolls, but all I did there was roll the dough out in the same rectangle shape, melt butter and spread it over the entire rectangle, mix cinnamon and sugar and spread over the entire rectangle, roll up lengthwise, and cut using thread.

For those of you who don't know the thread trick, this is a very handy way of cutting cinnamon rolls! Take a length of thread (any kind) and slide the center of the thread under the rolled up dough. Bring the ends of thread up and criss-cross over the top of the dough, switch hands and pull thread out and all the way through the dough. You end up with nice, uniform "cuts" this way.

I froze them on a pan and threw them in zippy bags for later. When you are ready to make them, you just put them on a pan and let raise overnight (remember to give yourself plenty of raising room). The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for about 20 mins. Glaze if you like.

YUMMY!