Workin' hard for the money

Ok, first thing's first. It wasn't that bad. Yes, I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning baking rolls, but I knew I had a good product, and I was so excited to share them with my friends.

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Here are a few photos from my Thanksgiving eve to early Thanksgiving morning bake. These are not attractive photos of me. Please keep in mind that it was after midnight (my bedtime is around 9:30) and I'm 7 months pregnant. Really. I'm only uploading these photos for my posterity, not because I'm a fashion model.

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I LOVE MY MIXER. If ever I were to endorse a kitchen appliance, it would be my Kitchenaid Professional 600 Series 6qt mixer. In pewter. I love it. This thing is a machine in every sense of the word. I don't care what all you Bosch owners think. I'll win at a mixing challenge any day.

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Kraig stayed up to help me. Things were a bit disorganized at first, but he got a great system down for organizing my ingredients for each batch. I couldn't have done what I did without him. Nor could I have done it without my mother keeping my children that night. Thanks, Mom and Kraig, for supporting me!

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Kraig loves this photo. His comment was, "That is one happy Jacqui." Well, I was.

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After the dough had risen the first time, I'd roll it out and roll 'em up.

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The biggest time eater was waiting for the dough and rolls to rise. But thankfully Kraig came up with a perfect solution for me--my very own proofing oven! It was really just an enclosed space heated to 90 degrees with our space heater, but man, that dough would have taken hours to rise in my 66 degree house. In this little baby the time was cut down to a third of what it would have been.

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Kraig took advantage of the proofing oven too. He was asleep in this photo. And don't worry, his feet are no where near the pans of rolls.

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Don't they look beautiful so fresh from the oven. It still makes my mouth water just looking at them. I thought for sure I'd never want to make another batch of rolls again after that night, but I had one more order to fill today and they still tasted just as delicious to me!

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Here's most of them bagged up and ready to deliver Thanksgiving morning.

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So, all totalled, I had orders for 35 dozen rolls. It was fun, actually. I think I'll do it again...