Sweet Dough

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This is used for sweet rolls and tea rings and bolotchki and what ever else I might come up with that wants a sweet dough. I prefer to make the dough, form the bread product desired and then leave it all night to raise. No raising prior to forming the pastry. It really works. You can leave it for at least ten hours if you like.

1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 pound of flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick of butter
1 egg
3/4 cup warm milk

Proof the yeast with the tablespoon of sugar and lukewarm water for about 10 minutes. In the meantime put the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and give them a bit of a stir and lest rest a bit. When the yeast has bubbled up add to the rest of the ingredients and mix with the kitchenaid mixer for about five minutes. If the dough is too soupy gradually add some more flour. If the dough is too stiff, gradually add some more milk. If mixing this by hand I hope you know what you are doing because it's going to be very sticky. That's the nature of sweet dough. The dough should even be somewhat sticky when you are done kneading, but not to worry. Put a big handful of flour onto a board, spread it around and dump the dough onto the flour. Knead for just long enough to have a dough you can handle. If you like, you can leave this to raise for about two hours before forming the pastries. But if you have till the next day don't bother.

You can put whatever you want into this dough. The exact proportions are not that important. It just needs to look like bread dough when you're done. But the one pound of flour is fairly important if you are wanting to use this for a recipe that calls for a batch of sweet dough.