Raise your hand if you’re scared of baking with yeast.

Yup. Me too. I’ve come home one too many times from church to see my rolls that were supposed to be rising looking sad and flat. It could have something to do with the freezing temperature in my house or maybe the water I added to my yeast was too cold…or too hot? Really, there are a lot of ways to screw up.So there’s an easy idiot proof way of ensuring that you have perfect dough that can be made in under 5 minutes and with shipping cost less than a $1. This company is called Fast Easy Bread and they have two key ingredients: super fast Instant Yeast and liquid soy lecithin and they send you a kit that makes 40 batches of homemade bread dough. Seriously I made a bread braid and cinnamon rolls in about an hour from start to finish. A lot of you readers have told me you work long days and this bread dough you can make after work because it’s just that fast. Don’t worry, you can make these recipes below with regular store bought dough you just won’t have have the luxury of that homemade dough taste if you use store bought.

First, this peanut butter braid is perfect for back to school. My kids started school this week and I sent a slice of this in their school lunches. The rest mysteriously disappeared :)I couldn’t wait for it to cool down to cut into it.

Bread braids have always been intimidating to me (this was my first one) but see even my 5 year old son could do it with a little guidance.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Braid
(recipe below)

Here’s another option and can be made in less than in an hour…a Taco Braid. It has a cream cheese and salsa sauce, with taco meat, black beans, and cheese. My family gobbled this up.

Taco Braid

Homemade Bread Braids
by FastEasyBread

1 batch of FastEastBread Bread Dough (recipe below)
*If you don’t have the FastEasyBread kit yet you can use store-bought dough or your own recipe.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Braid Filling
Peanut butter
Favorite flavor jelly

1. Spray counter and hands with cooking spray and knead for a few seconds to form smooth ball.
2. Roll dough into a 15-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Place on a greased cookie sheet. It’s very important to place the dough on the cookie sheet before you fill it because once you fill it, it will be too heavy to move onto the cookie sheet. Spread peanut butter and jelly down the center third of the rectangle.
3. On each long side, cut 1 inch wide strips about 2-1/2-inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling.
4. Pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
5. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack or cutting board with 2 spatulas.

Taco Braid Filling
4 oz of Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Salsa
1/2 lb ground turkey, beef or chicken seasoned and cooked with a Taco seasoning mix (I used 1 lb of ground turkey)
1 can (15oz) of black beans (drained)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
olive oil
garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray counter and hands with cooking spray and knead for a few seconds to form smooth ball.
2. Roll dough into a 15-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Place on a greased cookie sheet. It’s very important to place the dough on the cookie sheet before you fill it because once you fill it, it will be too heavy to move onto the cookie sheet. Mix salsa and cream cheese in a small bowl. Spread cream cheese mixture lengthwise down center third of rectangle, salsa, then seasoned meat and black beans. Sprinkle with cheese.
3. On each long side, cut 1 inch wide strips about 2-1/2-inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling.
4. Pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
5. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack or cutting board with 2 spatulas.

FastEasyBread Dough Recipe
2 and 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (you can buy this in bulk at Costco or find it at your grocery store by the regular flour)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp SAF-instant premium yeast
1 tsp Easy Squeezy Soy Liquid Lecithin
1 cup hot/warm water

Instructions:
1.Mix Dry ingredients. (yeast is a dry ingredient)
2.Make 1 dimple in dry ingredients and squeeze the lecithin into the bottom of the dimple about the size of a quarter.
3.Add water slowly, add 3/4 cups and then the remaining 1/4 cup. Mix for 1 minute and check consistency. The dough mixer should be sticky and pull itself off bowl.
4.Mix/knead in mixer on medium setting for 5 minutes or knead for 5 minutes by hand.

I even made my favorite Cinnabon Rolls using this dough instead in under an hour. How dangerous is that?

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