Catholic Recipe: Basic Sweet Dough

This is a basic recipe for sweet dough to use in other recipes, such as Christmas Stollen or the Christmas Braid.

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, and salt. Add eggs, shortening, and half the flour; mix with spoon. Add rest of flour; mix with hands. Turn out on lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and blistered — about 5 minutes. Round up in greased bowl; bring greased side up. Cover with damp cloth. Let rise in warm place (85°) until double in bulk — about 1-1/2 hours. Punch down; round up; let rise again until almost double in bulk — about 30 minutes. Divide dough for desired breads. Round up each part. Shape as desired. Let rise in warm place (85°) until double in bulk — 15 to 20 minutes. Bake according to directions for chosen bread.