Zombie Parent's Guide: One Ingredient Challenge: Rosary Bread

Friday, November 14, 2014

One Ingredient Challenge: Rosary Bread

Part of an ongoing series of cooking from scratch. That is, we cook something from basic items that don't have multiple ingredients (e.g. store-bought spaghetti sauce includes all sorts of spices and maybe other stuff too; we'd start with tomatoes and individual spices and add them together to make our own sauce). See other challenges here.

The finished product...but how did we get there?

This recipe is our own invention and makes 6 rosary decade bracelet breads. You can make the dough by hand, but we'd recommend using a bread machine on the "dough" setting. You can also shape the dough by hand, but we'd recommend using a 5 year old child on the "fun" setting.

Biggest smile ever?

First, make a sweet dough in the bread machine by adding these ingredients.

2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

While it's mixing, adjust the flour/milk so you have a dough that's slightly sticky. After the dough cycle finishes, turn the dough into a bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour or as long as overnight.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust your table and hands with flour. Turn the cold dough out onto your table and roll the dough into a long snake.

Snake-charmer L

Using a bench knife, divide the dough in half, and in half, and in half, etc, until you have 64 pieces. Divide a couple of large pieces again until you have 66 pieces.

Trying out Zeno's Paradox

Make 6 dough crosses. Then, for each of the "beads" flatten a dough ball and place 2 chocolate chips inside. [Editor's note--unless you make your own chocolate chips, this is a technical violation of the one ingredient challenge, but since it is chocolate, we'll let it pass this time (and any other time).]