Just thinking of Thanksgiving coming around the corner. It won’t actually be at my home this year. Very seldom is it, but still we must have a proper Thanksgiving Dinner at the Clawson household. It’s usually the Sunday before, but I MUST have leftovers at MY home when the big meal is over. To be truly honest, and forthwith I could do without the main meal. Yup! I just said it, BUT the main meal produces the leftovers so I guess it really is a necessity:) There is nothing better in this world than a leftover turkey sandwich with mustard, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on it. These rolls will fit that bill. A slice or two of pie for a midnight snack, and if we are lucky enough to have my Granny’s famous Spinach Balls, I’ll eat a few of those for brekky the day after.
So I’ve been trying out a few new things, and I’ve never made these Lion House Rolls before. How could that be? I mean, Mormon Utahan that I am, I should have tried these by now. They turned out spectacular!! I especially love the shape and how they look. But they tasted great! It could have helped to have a perfect bottle of raspberry jam to slather on the rolls too, and the fact that I was starving, but they were good the day after too. My sister Hollie and my brother Eric both had their wedding dinners at the Lion House, and the Pantry always has such wonderful pies. The Lion House cookbooks are huge favorites at my house. Tons of recipes that have become staples. These rolls will now go into the mix with Hollie’s Orange Rolls, and my favorite Dilly Rolls. Maybe they’ll adorn your Thanksgiving table this year, or if you’re lucky, next Sunday!
Here’s a link to a Youtube of the Lion House head baker-ess rolling the rolls. She’s awesome! I’ve learned something from her:)
recipe source: The Lion House and KSL
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 tablespoons dry yeast (I use instant)
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine
1 egg
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour (I used 6+ cups of flour to get the right consistency.)
Method:
In large bowl or electric mixer, combine water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand). Add about ½ cup flour and mix again, by hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour).
Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out). Cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.
Scrape dough out onto floured board. Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides; gently flatten to about 1 inch thick. With rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide, and ¼ inch thick. Brush with melted butter. With pizza cutter or very sharp knife, cut dough in half to make two strips about 4 inches wide. Make cuts through strips of dough every 2 inches, making about 18 pieces of dough.
Starting with short end, roll up one piece of dough, with butter on the inside. Place roll on parchment-lined pan with other short end down on the paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Be sure all rolls face the same direction on baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Serve with Honey Butter. Makes 1 to 1 ½ dozen rolls.
Helpful Tips for Making Rolls
Always add flour gradually and keep dough as soft as you can handle. A soft dough will produce a lighter roll.
It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour called for in the recipe—add only enough flour to make dough manageable.
This recipe is not well written by ingredient amounts or instruction. Baking is not a guessing game. I figured the ingredient issue out when, as an experienced baker, the dough turned out terribly. After doing research, I discovered that while this recipe calls for 1/3 cup of sugar, all the rest call for 1/4 cup. This recipe calls for up to 6 cups flour, the others say not to add more than 5 1/2 cups of flour.
The extra sugar left the dough so sticky, that even after adding the 6 cups of flour, it was still a terribly sticky dough and did not rise properly at all. The dough was heavy, compact, hard to work with and extremely sticky at the end. The final product was very compact and so sweet it was inedible. I had to toss the entire batch, which was quite costly, both in time and money.