Old fashioned dill bread made from our family recipe – imagine the aromas of yeast, dill and onion baking in your kitchen! It is best served piping hot right out of the oven – with lots of butter- of course!

This is such an easy bread recipe! No kneading required. You just mix it up, let it rise, shape it and let it rise again and bake.

The recipe calls for basic bread ingredients – yeast, flour, egg, butter, salt and sugar, plus some special ingredients – cottage cheese, onion and dill. Small curd cottage cheese is used to give it a soft, moist crumb.

When we used to make it when I was growing up, we usually used dill seed. Since I could not find dill seed in our local stores and the dill is not mature enough to have seeds yet, I decided to snip up fresh dill to put in the bread. You could also use a combination of fresh dill and dill seed to give it even more dill flavor.

My sister had recommended these scissors to cut herbs, and I was impressed! They made the job so easy!

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water and let it set until foam forms on top. Heat the cottage cheese to lukewarm, then combine with the yeast mixture. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.

Shape into a ball, butter a large bowl and place shaped dough in it. Cover and let rise until double in size, about an hour.

Press the dough down and shape. You can bake the bread in an 8-round casserole (which is what we used to always do), a regular sized loaf pan, or mini casseroles or loaves.

Place shaped bread in prepared pan(s). Cover and let rise until doubled. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the casserole loaf about 40-50 minutes, the regular loaf pan 40-45 minutes and the mini casseroles about 25-30 minutes. Look for the top to turn a golden brown.

Let cool in the baking dishes for about 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Brush with butter – lots of butter! Then sprinkle with coarse salt and extra snipped dill, if desired.

Enjoy this bread while it is hot and the butter is warm and melting down the sides! So good!

The small sizes are wonderful sizes to share! Give as a gift in a mini casserole or loaf dish or put in a gift basket with other homemade treats or fresh produce from your garden.

Enjoy this family recipe!

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Dilly Bread

Old fashioned dill bread tastes and smells so good! Fresh dill and onion give this bread such a wonderful aroma as it bakes!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Rising Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Herbs

Author: Mary Beth

Ingredients

• 1 package Active Dry Yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water (about 110°)
• 1 cup small curd cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 tablespoon minced onion or minced dry onions
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dried dill seed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2-3 tablespoons melted butter
• coarse salt, snipped fresh dill or dill seed for sprinkling

Instructions

• Dissolve yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in the warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes until foam forms on top.
• Heat cottage cheese to lukewarm. Combine the cottage cheese and yeast mixture together.
• Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined. Shape into a ball.
• Butter a large bowl and place shaped dough in it. Roll the dough to butter all sides.
• Cover and let rise in a warm until double in size, about 1 hour.
• Press the dough down and shape. Can shape into ball and place in buttered an 8-inch round casserole, or a buttered regular loaf size pan, or 3 buttered mini loaves or casserole dishes. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour. While dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°.
• Bake casserole loaf about 40-50 minutes, the loaf pan 40-45 minutes and the mini loaves or casseroles about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown on top.
• Remove from the oven, let cool in the baking dish for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack.
• This bread is best eaten warm…especially right from the oven. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt and extra dill. Enjoy!

My husband’s Grandmother Carr used to make Strawberry Jam – and he would spread it over her toasted homemade bread. He loved it! It was a quite a treat! I have tried several times over the past years to duplicate her strawberry freezer jam, but usually ended up with strawberry syrup instead. This year I was determined to get it right. I experimented with regular Sure-Jell pectin (yellow box), the low sugar Sure-Jell (pink box) and Certo liquid pectin. I liked the jam made with the regular pectin the best. Here are the steps I used.

Resources used: University of Wisconsin Extension Specialist, Christina Ward’s article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Sure-Jell Directions.

http://archive.jsonline.com/features/food/jam-expert-gives-advice-after-sure-jell-directions-mix-up-b99301652z1-265379841.html
.

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Freezer Strawberry Jam

If you have had trouble getting your strawberry jam to set, try this recipe!

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Jam, Strawberry

Servings: 6 8 oz jars

Ingredients

Jam with Original Sure-Jell

• 4 cups mashed or cut up strawberries
• 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
• 4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup pectin (Original Sure-Jell, yellow box)

Instructions

• Wash and remove strawberry stems.
• Mash strawberries with potato masher or use food processor to cut up strawberries, depending on the texture you want. Just pulse 3-4 times to avoid getting the berries too small.
• Place 4 cups of strawberries in a large pot, add 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Add the 4 cups of sugar (measure carefully) and then return to a boil. Finally, add the pectin and boil the mixture hard for 1 minute. Time carefully – too little or too much time will result in the jam not setting.
• Check the set of the jam. After finishing the final boil, remove the pot from the heat, remove a teaspoon or so of the jam mixture and put it in a small dish. Leave it alone for a few minutes while you get your jars ready. When you return, the jam in the dish will be set or not. If the jam is not set, just reboil it and add a little more lemon juice and pectin. My batch was too soft, so I added 3/4 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice and 3 tablespoons pectin and brought mixture to a boil – then checked the set again.
• To keep your jam clear and pretty, remove the foam that is on top.
• Clean and dry jars, Pour hot water, not boiling, over lids and let set.
• Stir jam and using a funnel, fill jars, leaving a 1/2 headspace.
• Wipe off top edges of jars; immediately cover with lids.
• Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours, or until set. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator before using.
• If using the Sure-Jell's low-sugar pectin (pink box), use 4 cups of fruit, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 cups of sugar and 1 box of pectin. Same technique – boil strawberries first,with the lemon juice, add sugar boil again, then add the pectin and boil for one minute. Test. Fill jars. Wipe off top, cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours, or until set. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator before using.
• If using Certo (liquid pectin): Put 1 3/4 cup crushed or cut up strawberries in a large bowl. Stir in 4 cups of sugar. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix 1 container of Certo with 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice in a small bowl. Add to strawberry mixture and stir 3-4 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Fill jars and let set for 24 hours. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year. I would not recommend this method, jam is too grainy for me.

Notes

The original Sure-Jell jam recipe will work for most fruits – 4 cups fruit, 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice, 4 cups of sugar and 1/3 cup or 1 box pectin.  Follow directions above.

This month the Baking Challenge on Sally’s Baking Addiction blog was to make Chocolate Sweet Rolls – and they are scrumptious!!!! They taste like cinnamon rolls and chocolate babka mixed together. And they smell amazing as they bake – always a bonus when you bake any kind of bread.

The soft buttery dough is rolled into a rectangle, like cinnamon rolls, but then topped with a brown sugar, butter, cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla mixture – then sprinkled with chopped semi-sweet chocolate. Look at the bubbly goodness! They would be a real treat right out of the oven.

But the recipe includes directions for Espresso Icing, which makes them even more tasty! It is made by whisking heavy cream, powdered sugar, expresso powder and vanilla together. You could also use a vanilla or caramel icing. Drizzle the icing on the warm rolls.

Best served immediately! Grab a plate and a fork and enjoy! Such a delectable treat for breakfast or a snack.

For the recipe, full directions and an instructional video, click on the link below: You will not be disappointed!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chocolate-sweet-rolls/