Dough Gods

Years ago, when Amy was staying at Auntie Dodo's in the summer, Dodo taught her the art of making Dough Gods, simply, fried bread dough. Such a wonderful thing to teach a young girl, and even better when you teach that girls mom, ME!!!! Now, finding an easy bread dough recipe can be hard, but ever since I got my Kitchen Aide stand mixer about 14 years ago, I have had it easy. I simply let my mixer do all the work, the mixing and the kneading, as I simply stand by and watch. And the recipe??? its the basic white bread recipe from the little recipe book that came with the mixer. Now, don't get me wrong, making bread is a time consuming ordeal, as is the dough gods, so this is a special occasion treat, always on Christmas morning, and Easter morning, and sometimes, depending on when your birthday falls, like on a weekend or day off, you may just get them then. It is so much a part of our lives, our traditions, that I couldn't imagine what it was like before they were apart of our lives.

Letting the mixer do all the work, just stand around and
wait for the dough to be ready to transfer into another bowl.

Add the dough to a well greased bowl, butter only, and
once the bottom is greased, flip over the dough, cover with
a tea towel and keep in a warm spot. 

In about an hour or so, the dough should have at least
doubled in size, and is ready to be punched down and
cut into good sized chucks to start the frying process.

Once the oil has heated to a good frying temperature,
no I don't use a thermometer, I just eye ball it, and
know that I can't increase the heat on the stove
to over about med high, and no lower then med.
As they fry, I flip them over a few times, not letting
them brown, but just start to look golden, before
taking them out, and putting them in the oven
to keep warm on a paper towelled cookie sheet.

Sometimes, I will get a small tear in my dough as I am
stretching it, simply just roll it back into a ball and
start the stretching process all over again, Once stretched
carefully place into the oil, I don't like to crowd the
pan as it will cool down the oil too much.

I keep them warm in the oven, usually at about 170 degrees,
so that we can all sit down to eat at the same time.
It is important to only fry them until they just start to
turn golden, any longer and they will become
crispy instead of soft and chewy.

Butter and cinnamon sugar is best on these, as it melts
on the warm dough and is super yummy. My hubby doesn't
like cinnamon sugar, so enjoys them with butter and jam,

Depending on how many dough gods I make, I usually make
4 per person, there is usually enough dough to form into
a loaf, and after another rising in a greased loaf pan,
I bake it off later in the day to have with dinner.

Who doesn't like a warm slice of fresh bread right out
of the oven. Never mind the wonderful smell
that permeates the house while it bakes.

The recipes is as follows......

1/2 cup of milk

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

3 tablespoons of butter or margarine

2 packages of active dry yeast ( I use the quick rise one)

1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)

5 to 6 cups of flour

Combine milk, sugar,salt and butter in small saucepan. Heat over

low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl. Add lukewarm

milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups of flour. Attach bowl and dough hook,

turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute. Continuing on speed 2, add 1/2 a

cup of flour at a time, until the dough clings to hook and cleans the side

of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 for 2 more minutes, dough will be 

slightly sticky to the touch. Turn into grease bowl and let rise.