Resilience includes using the skills of our past, as well as eating real foods without all the preservatives that can survive the zombie apocalypse. This tribute to my grandmother's rolls is a fairly easy step. As my uncle said in his eulogy of her "no one could bake like this woman." Indeed. But we can all try our best for a simple resilience!
My grandmother made the most delicious dinner rolls. Soft and buttery, cloverleaf-shaped, melt-in-your-mouth incredible. I suspect there was lard involved. I have a lot of her recipes, but not this one. Not to mention Thanksgiving Day is a bit busy for homemade bread. But, I devised a bread machine version that honors her recipe without having to get up at 4 a.m. I miss my grandmother, especially when I'm baking, but this helps me remember her and keep her close at the holidays.
Almost Gramma Cordy's Dinner Rolls
- 1 c water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbls butter
- 1 egg
- 3-1/4 c bread flour
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1 Tbls bread machine yeast
- Place all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select sweet dough cycle (or just dough cycle).
- Grease muffin tins generously with butter to make 18 rolls.
- When the dough cycle is complete, remove the dough to a plate or cutting board dusted with just a bit of flour so it doesn't stick. Divide dough into 18 pieces to make plain round rolls or further divide into 54 pieces to make cloverleaf rolls. Place dough pieces into prepared muffin tin cups. Cover with clean, dry dish towels and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise 30-40 minutes until doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F.
- Uncover. Brush roll tops with melted butter.
- Bake 12 minutes, until golden brown. (Ideally, the rolls can bake while the turkey is resting, but my timing is rarely that good.)
- Serve with more butter. (Also good torn apart, slathered with real mayonnaise, with a slice of turkey and maybe a dab of cranberry sauce on each piece the next day.)
