The Homestyle Amish Kitchen Cookbook Read Online Free PDF

T. active dry yeast
3 eggs
4 cups flour (plus more as needed)
1 T. salt
¾ cup butter, softened
2-3 cups sugar
cinnamon
raisins and nuts, if desired
    Put the ¾ cup sugar, ⅓ cup butter, evaporated milk, and yeast in a large stand mixer and let stand for 5 minutes. Then turn on mixer and mix these ingredients together. Add the eggs and, while mixing, slowly add the 4 cups flour and the salt. Continue adding flour until dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading for 10 minutes and then place in a large, oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled.
    On a floured surface, roll out dough and spread with ¾ cup butter, 2-3 cups sugar, and lots of cinnamon. You can also spread on nuts or raisins, if desired.
    Roll dough into a log and cut into 2 dozen rolls. Place cut side up on 2 greased jelly roll pans, cover with a towel, and let rise again.
    Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 25 minutes or until done.

For this recipe, I place the butter and evaporated milk in a small saucepan and gently warm them on the stove. Just be careful that the mixture doesn’t get too hot.

 
    Communion Bread (Unleavened)
1½ cups flour
2 T. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter
½ cup milk
    In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in thebutter using a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and mix until a stiff dough forms.
    Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out very thin and uniform, about 17 × 13 inches. With a pizza cutter, even up the edges. Transfer the dough to a greased cookie sheet and cut into 1-inch-wide strips with the pizza cutter. Prick pieces with a fork about every inch.
    Bake on a lower rack in the oven at 425° for 6 to 7 minutes. The outside strips may brown more quickly than the inside ones, so you can remove the outside strips and continue to bake the inner strips for a few minutes longer.
    Break into 1-inch pieces to serve for communion, but if using for a meal, you can break off larger pieces.

 
    Corn Bread
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
¼ cup instant dry milk
2 T. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup water
¼ cup oil
    Grease a 9 × 9 × 2-inch pan.
    In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, instant milk, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir to mix well.
    In a medium sized bowl, beat egg and then add water and oil, beating until well blended. Stir into the cornmeal mixture. Beat by hand just until well blended and smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
    Bake at 425° for 20 minutes.

 
    Dinner Rolls
2 T. sugar
2 T. shortening, melted and cooled
1½ tsp. salt
2¼ tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3¼ cups flour
    Add the sugar, shortening, salt, and yeast to the lukewarm water and let sit until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour and beat until smooth. Then by hand, mix in the remaining flour. Place the dough on a floured board and let it rest for about 5 minutes.
    Knead the dough, adding small amounts of flour as needed, until smooth and elastic. Round into a ball and place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease all surfaces. Cover it and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
    Pat out dough into a rectangle and roll up jelly roll style. (You can spread some softened butter on the dough before rolling it up if you want butter rolls.) Cut the log into 1-inch slices and place the rolls, cut side up, on a greased baking sheet.
    Bake at 450° for 12-15 minutes.

The Amish use natural gas and propane to cook with, but wood-burning cookstoves are still common. Many of these old-fashioned cookstoves have a water reservoir that supplies hot water when needed. The Amish are known for their delicious sugar cookies, and when baked in a wood-burning cookstove, they come out light in color and softer than can be accomplished in a modern stove.

 
    Easy Cinnamon Rolls
¾ cup milk
¾ cup water
½ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
4½ tsp. (2 packages) active dry yeast, dissolved in ½ cup