Rise and Conquer

Sometimes, I am too stubborn for my own good.  As much trouble as I have been having making bread, I love baking and bread so much that I have just not been able to make myself give up.  Little Man is home this weekend and has been wanting to help me make something, so we tried a kolache recipe that I found on Pinterest.

I ended up making two batches of dough.  The first batch did not rise at all, and the second batch rose a little but definitely did not double in size.  I used Jimmy Dean sausage links instead of a kielbasa sausage, and I wasn't thrilled with the results.  Maybe that's simply because I didn't get the links browned enough when I cooked them, but the meat to bread ratio would definitely be better with the larger-sized sausage.

Once I saw that neither of the batches of dough rose like they should have, I almost tossed them and just used a canned biscuit dough, but I figured that I spent the time making the dough so I might as well use it and see what happens.  So I cut the dough in to equal portions, patted out a oval shape, put down some shredded cheese, added the links, and then wrapped the dough over the top and pinched the seams shut.  I did a pretty good job with that part,  I only had a bit of cheese leak out on one of the finished kolaches.

I left them to rise again for 30 minutes, and I think they did a little better this time than the first rise.

I had four rolls of dough left over, and for kicks decided to pat them out, make indentations in the middle, and add some blackberry jam that I have been trying to use up because Deputy D does not like it.  I was completely winging it at this point, but that's just how I roll.

I popped everything in the oven and baked until golden brown.  The taste wasn't bad, but I may keep looking for a different dough recipe.  We will see once Deputy D gets up and tastes them.  He is a much tougher critic than Little Man, who says that he likes almost everything that I make.  Little Man's assessment of the kolaches?  Two thumbs up.  I could definitely taste the olive oil, and I am not sure whether I liked it or not.  Little Man and I both liked the blackberry jam ones more than the sausage and cheese ones.

I will conquer bread-making one way or another.  I am bound and determined to figure out how to make the dough rise correctly, so you will probably be seeing a lot of bread recipes on here.  If you want to be a taste-tester, just give me a holler!!