It's officially the week of Thanksgiving!
I've always loved Thanksgiving, even back when I was in elementary school and our music teacher taught us songs like, "Come, Ye Thankful People Come," "We Gather Together," and of course, "Over the River and Through the Woods!"
Do you remember construction paper turkeys? Pilgrim hats? The anticipation of a big family gathering?
Well, some things have changed. I'm not sure elementary students even make construction paper turkeys anymore. When my children were small, they had been taken over by the paper plate turkeys.
And this year, everything is different! We're still planning a family Thanksgiving, but it will look much different than the last several years with a smaller crowd. Much smaller.
But one thing hasn't changed: the food! We're planning a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, dressing, two kinds of potatoes, green beans, jello salad, pumpkin pie...and these beauties!
I've been making homemade dinner rolls for close to fifty years.
Man, that hurts just to type it! Fifty years???
In 1972, our family was visiting friends (it was during the Olympic games - I remember watching Mark Spitz win a gold medal at their house!) and the mom made dinner rolls to go with our meal. My dad ate one, then another, then he said to me, "If you learn to make dinner rolls like these, I'll double your allowance!"
I may not have a good memory when it comes to some things, but a promised raise in my allowance? Oh yes, I remembered that.
I started to work right away. First, I got the recipe from our hostess. I still have it, written in my high school handwriting.
As soon as we got home, I started baking. I had just begun trying to learn to make bread that summer, so I was slightly familiar with the ingredients. By the time I graduated from high school, I was baking a fairly good dinner roll.
After I got married, I was still working on perfection. I incorporated whole wheat flour and wheat germ into the original recipe, and came up with "Floyd's Favorite Dinner Rolls." They were my staple for years!
Fast forward a few decades....my bread baking continued to improve, but I was missing that elusive texture...chewy...melt in your mouth softness...light and airy...pull-apart yum...
Until now. I have finally earned that raise in my allowance!
The secret has three parts: ingredients, practice, and the right recipe.
1) The ingredients:
A simple bread recipe is easy - flour, salt, and yeast.
But to make a super soft dough, you need fat.
And if you want it airy, you need sugar. The yeast gets hungry if you don't feed it right, and on a diet of sugar it grows quickly, giving your bread dough lots of nice airy bubbles.
Another key to a soft dough is eggs - at least one per dozen rolls.
So, as you're searching for your go-to bread recipe, look for those ingredients.
2) Practice!
I hope it won't take you almost fifty years, but you do need to make a lot of bread to get a loaf you can be proud of.
With practice, you'll learn your kitchen's climate - which kind of flour works best for you, how much flour is too much (and too little,) how warm your liquid needs to be - and if you need to be generous or stingy with the recipe's amount. You'll learn how to knead your dough and what it feels like when the kneading time is perfect.
One reason why it took me so long is that every time we moved, my kitchen's climate changed!
Learn to gauge the moisture and crumb in your finished loaf. And learn how to adjust what went wrong.
3) The right recipe.
For this batch of rolls, I used a new recipe from a cookbook written by a friend of mine, Martha Greene.
By the way, you can buy this book
HERE, and it's even on sale!
Martha's recipe checks off all the boxes I mentioned earlier: it calls for butter, sugar and eggs. Definitely a sweet roll dough that will give you light and airy dinner rolls!
The sweet roll dough in one of my other favorite cookbooks should give the same results - The original 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook is the source for that one.
I don't know if that recipe is included in the 2017 reprint edition, but I hope so!
Recipes abound, so start baking!
What traditional dishes are you making for Thanksgiving?
Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.
I have the reprinted edition of that cookbook, so I will check. And I'm sure it must be because it's a reprint, right?
ReplyDeleteLaughing because are we really sure of anything right now?
You know Grandma Eichas (Farmer Dave's grandmother) taught me how to make sweet dough years ago when I was a young bride and how to set a sponge... It's funny because while some folks said she brought the recipe with her from Germany, she laughed and told me "I was eleven years of age. Who brings a recipe at eleven years of age? I did a little of this and that and tried things. If we could afford mash and the hens were laying, I used eggs. If they weren't, I didn't."
Grandma Lena's (Magdalene) common sense has always stayed with me. Jan, now I'll have to scope out the BC recipe when I'm done for the morning!
It sounds like Grandma Lena's recipe grew up with her!
DeleteAnd yes, that sweet roll dough! I was a young bride when my mother sold her original 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook in a garage sale. I kept her Better Homes and Garden collection (two worn editions with her additions and notes,) but I have wished for the BC cookbook more than once. I did buy a copy on Ebay a few years ago, but it isn't the same - yes, it has the same recipes, but not the same history.
Isn't it great to have Grandmas to teach us things like how to bake bread? I know you're THAT grandma for your grands!
Jan, this was such an informative post. Now I want to come and visit you for a week of bread making instruction. You also had me checking my 1950 BC cookbook AND my 1978 version. The recipe was still there in the 1978 version, but it was slightly different in terms of the amounts. It could be that it makes a smaller batch overall, but I'd have to study it further and who's got time for that Thanksgiving week. I'll stick with the Rhodes frozen rolls for this holiday, but maybe I'll make my own for Christmas. I also have a recipe someone gave me years ago after I tried her to-die-for dinner rolls. She called them Light Rolls. 6 cups of flour, 1 cube butter, 1 egg, 1 pkg yeast, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 cup water. Now could you please tell me what a "cube" of butter is. Would that be one stick or the entire 1 lb pkg?
ReplyDeleteNothing like going down a rabbit trail on a Monday morning. ;)
Based on the recipe I used, which calls for 3 Tablespoons butter, 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, etc., I would think "1 cube" would mean 1 Tablespoon. I'd try that. Unlike other baking, bread is very forgiving!
DeleteI love the Rhodes frozen rolls, but lately I've been buying Sister Shubert's. And of course, King's Hawaiian are delicious! There are so many choices!
But homemade is still the best, isn't it?
Yes, it is, Jan. BTW, I checked with Mr. Google on the "cube." Don't know why I didn't do that before. A "cube" of butter is a stick (1/2 cup) of butter.
DeleteHunh. Maybe it's our generation - I never go to Google first for the answers, LOL!
DeleteOur Thanksgiving has come and gone but waaaayyy back at the beginning of October we were encouraged to stick with our own households for Thanksgiving because our COVID numbers were creeping up. So I dined on hearty soup and salad and cranberry oat bars for dessert with my audible book for company. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am so envious of your bread baking ability. I've tried in spurts and haven't had huge success. Edible, yes, but not prize winning by any means. You've inspired me to try again so I've just put two beginner bread baking books on hold at the library.
Kav, happy belated Thanksgiving!
DeleteYum, Jan! You made me so hungry. There's not much better than yeast rolls. Such a cute memory to have about the allowance motivation! haha
ReplyDelete