The Promise of Morning and Sally Lunn...

I've decided that morning - with its fresh start and promise - would be the perfect time to start something so daunting as to try to make homemade croissants. Yes, I am going to try to make the nearly impossible. When I hinted to my grandmother my grand ambition - a woman who maintained a school cafeteria for decades and who has catered several dinner parties for etiquette classes full of rowdy children - she mentioned that the grocery store made fine croissants. I must agree. However, that does not satisfy me. I have found that whatever I liked on a store's shelf tastes so much better when it comes out of my own oven - preservative-free with no high fructose corn syrup. So, this morning...with gritted jaw and floured hands...I am among the brave few amateur home chefs who will attempt to find the perfect hot, buttered croissant in my own small kitchen. Now...if I could just forget that five years ago I couldn't make toast without setting my robe on fire...and that I have caught two toaster ovens on fire...Ahhhh..."Take a deep breath and put past failures behind you. Today is a new day," I tell myself. Wish me luck!

Here - for anyone interested - is the recipe for Sally Lunn that started the baking frenzy. Let it inspire you this morning...

Sally Lunn

1 c milk
1/2 c vegetable shortening
4c unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/3 c sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packages active dry yeast
3 large eggs

In a small saucepan, combine milk, shortening, and 1/4 c water. Warm over medium heat until the shortening is almost all melted - or the liquid reaches 120 degrees.
In a large bowl, blend the 1 1/3 c flour with the sugar, salt and yeast. Blend the warm liquids into the flour mixture. Beat with a mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes. (I used a hand mixer for this. Not completely easy, but not unable to be done.) Add the remaining flour (2 2/3c) and the eggs. Mix well, but not too much. The batter will be thick, but shouldn't be really stiff. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk. This should take a little over an hour, unless you use rapid rise yeast like I did. I still let it rest for about 30-45 minutes, though. Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan. Beat the dough down with a spatula or electric mixer set on low speed. Put the dough into the prepared Bundt pan, cover, and let it rise until almost doubled in bulk again. This takes about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown.
When it comes out of the oven, rub real butter over the top of the bread to melt it while the bread is still hot. It tastes really great with a smathering of butter and honey. Perfect company food - it's so easy to make, but tastes so good...Your guests will think you did something really complicated.
Hope you enjoy!