I was inspired to attempt these dinner rolls because of the promise that they were quick and easy with no kneading required. And I’m pleased to say that the recipe largely lived up to that promise. The resulting rolls were a little heavier than I’d hoped for, so I still have a little tweaking to do.
Ingredients
- 1 package quick-acting active dry yeast
- 1 1/3 cup milk (105º to 115ºF degrees)
- 2 1/2 cups white flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
Directions
Mix the sugar into your warm milk then dissolve your yeast in the liquid. Stir in a cup of flour, the oil and the salt. Beat the mixture until it is smooth. Then stir in the remaining flour (make sure the scrape dough from the side of the bowl) until a soft dough forms. I used a hand held electric mixer to do this, but a free standing mixer would work better, or you could do it by had.
Cover the dough and let it rise in warm place until it doubles in size. This took about 45 minutes. Heat the oven 400ºF degrees. Prep a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Punch down dough in center and fold over a few times. This step is very important. Then Pinch off 1 inch balls of dough and quickly roll in palm of hands. Put 3 balls to one muffin cup; drizzle a little olive oil one and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until crust is light golden brown. Immediately remove from pan. Store loosely covered.
Nutritional Values
Nutritionally this is about what you’d expect from a dinner roll except that by including a cup of whole wheat flour I was able to bump up the fiber content. I might try increasing the amount of whole wheat, but that may well increase the density of the rolls.
Not coating the rolls in salt would probably help too…
Total Serving (12)
Calories 2160 180.0
Fat 91 7.6
Cholesterol 0 0.0
Sodium 1210 100.8
Fiber 25 2.1
Sugar 24 2.0
Protein 68 5.7
Cost
In terms of cost this recipe is pretty economic, particularly when compared to buying fresh rolls from a store.
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Cost
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1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
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$ 0.28
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1 cup 2% milk (105 - 115 degrees)
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$ 0.36
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1 cup whole grain flour
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$ 0.25
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2 1/4 cups white flour
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$ 0.14
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3 tbsp olive oil
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$ 0.32
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1 tbsp sugar
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$ 0.01
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1 tsp Salt
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$ 0.06
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Total
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$ 1.42
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Per Roll
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$ 0.12
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Eoghann Irving is a sci-Fi fan, self professed geek, owner of too many computers and general know it all. Follow me on Google Buzz, LinkedIn or Twitter to chat about this or anything else.
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Warehouse 13 and Eureka are two of the SyFy Channel’s hottest shows, so it makes sense to cross them over right? Well it certainly does to the marketing department anyway. But does it make for a good episode? 
Actually yes it does. Fortunately both Eureka and Warehouse 13 have a lot in common stylistically. While Eureka is science based and Warehouse 13 has more fantasy elements, the shows feel similar and mesh quite well.
The writers also wisely limited the nature of the crossover to one character, Douglas Fargo. Primarily a comedic character, he slipped right in to the series as though he belonged and his interactions with Artie and Claudia was spot on.
But the episode didn’t rely on the stunt crossover for its entertainment value. Hugo and Hugo 1 (played by Rene Auberjonois) touched on a recurring theme in Warehouse 13, namely what seems to happen to all the warehouse agents. That ominous note is needed because there isn’t really much of a sense of jeopardy in this episode. Since the only characters at risk are series regulars it’s hard to feel that they’re actually in any danger. Usually there’s at least a guest character to worry about.
But that’s a fact that really only came to my attention after the show was over. While I was watching the episode I was too busy try to catch all the geek movie and tv references or enjoying the banter between the cast members. Though I couldn’t help but notice that Myka and Pete are being made out to be stunningly incompetent agents this season. I know it kept the plot moving, but it was lazy writing and it’s not the first time it’s happened this year.
But Warehouse 13 has never been challenging viewing. It is after all intended to be a fun show more than anything else. So perhaps I shouldn’t criticize this episode too heavily for being what it is.
Eoghann Irving is a sci-Fi fan, self professed geek, owner of too many computers and general know it all. Follow me on Google Buzz, LinkedIn or Twitter to chat about this or anything else.
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I heaped glowing praise on the first episode of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes. So what do I think of the second episode, The Blind Banker?
Well, sad to say it isn’t as good as the first episode. It just lacked some of the spark. That’s not to say it was bad, because there were still a lot of strong points in the show. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman remain pitch perfect in their respective roles as Sherlock Holmes and Watson. They make the most of their scenes and the character material they are given to work with.
Similarly Euros Lynn (perhaps the best of Russel T. Davies Doctor Who directors) has picked up on many of the visual cues from the first episode and delivered something that while not identical was stylistically similar.
The problems with this episode all lie squarely in Stephen Thompson’s script. While he does seem to have a firm grasp on the characters and his plot was certainly full of puzzles, it failed to compel in the way that a Study in Pink did. To make matters worse, some elements seemed outright cliched. Really, Chinese smugglers and a Chinese circus troop? And there seemed to be a few places where the logic just didn’t add up at all.
On top of that we have the frankly baffling decision to omit almost all of the secondary characters established in the first episode and in their place have one almost characterless detective. Perhaps that was a budgetary decision or based on the availability of actors, but it definitely hurt the show.
But for all my negativity, in truth I still enjoyed The Blind Banker because the relationship between Holmes and Watson (still clearly in its early stages here) is so compelling. Throwing in a romantic interest for Watson was a nice touch too although I’m not clear if the intent is for her to be a recurring character.
As far as the series story-arc is concerned I’m going to hold my tongue until I’ve seen the final episode. I have a fairly strong opinion on it and how it has been handled so far, but it would be unfair to judge without seeing the end.
Bottom line then is that The Blind Banker is a fun, but not great episode of Sherlock. I’m hoping that Mark Gatiss’ episode next week will step things up again.
Eoghann Irving is a sci-Fi fan, self professed geek, owner of too many computers and general know it all. Follow me on Google Buzz, LinkedIn or Twitter to chat about this or anything else.
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After 3 very strong episodes Eureka tosses out a throw away one. The Story of O2 could have happened in just about any season of Eureka. There are a few mentions of the changed reality, but they are mainly extraneous to both the A and B plots of the episode. They even came close to reverting Zane back to his pre-time travel personality.
If that wasn’t bad enough, this week’s “celebrity” cameo is Jamie Kennedy playing his usual highly annoying comedy character. Considering the scientist he played had a minimal role in the entire episode, his presence was a grating distraction.
It wasn’t all bad mind you. It was nice to see Zoe Carter (Jordan Hinson) put in an appearance. I’m not really sure what her function in the show is, but it’s annoying when characters vanish and are never referenced again. The invisible cat sub-plot was pure filler though.
I did like seeing Fargo (Neil Grayston) trying to function in his new (to him) role as chief of GD. In previous seasons he was almost entirely a comedy character and that’s still his primary function, but his position forces the character to mature a little which is good to watch.
Interesting to see that they have re-cast Deputy Andy. I’m not sure what the real life reasoning for this was, but I guess it’s going to be a recurring joke with him being damaged and re-skinned on a regular basis. It’s funny, but the original actor was very good in the role.
If this review seems particularly half hearted it’s because I just didn’t care much about this episode. Lots of soap opera, Allison (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) behaving completely out of character and Sherrif Carter (Colin Ferguson) being stuck in a sub-plot don’t make for a top notch episode of Eureka.
Eoghann Irving is a sci-Fi fan, self professed geek, owner of too many computers and general know it all. Follow me on Google Buzz, LinkedIn or Twitter to chat about this or anything else.
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