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Mother's Dinner Rolls

Source of Recipe

From "Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook"


Recipe Introduction

"When making these yeast rolls over the years (and I have made hundreds), many times a picture has come to mind of our old-fashioned kitchen at our little hotel and of Mother making up the dough the night before, placing it in a large stone bowl, covering it with a clean porous cloth, and placing it on a high shelf for overnight rising. The next day she would punch down the dough and add a little flour if it seemed overly sticky. She would then cover the dough again and put it in the refrigerator (which was called an icebox in those days) to chill. An hour or so before dinner, Mother would shape the dough into rolls and allow them to double in bulk. Then they were baked fresh for dinner."

List of Ingredients

◦  1 package dry yeast
◦  ¼ cup lukewarm water
◦  4½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
◦  3 Tbsp sugar
◦  1 tsp salt
◦  3 Tbsp solid vegetable shortening, chilled
◦  1½ cups buttermilk
◦  3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing if desired


Recipe

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water.

Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender. Add the dissolved yeast and buttermilk and mix the dough thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Toss the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for a few seconds. The dough should be soft and sticky. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and turn to grease all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm, draft-free place for the dough to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a 22 x 14-inch rectangle about ¼ inch thick. With a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out about 40 rounds, or as many as you can. Don't reroll the scraps.

Lightly dip each side of the rounds into the melted butter. Fold 2 opposite edges of each round into the center and pinch together firmly. Arrange the rolls side by side in rows on a lightly greased baking sheet; they should be touching to prevent them from springing open.

Cover the rolls lightly with plastic wrap and set them aside in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Bake the rolls on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to 375° F and bake until light golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. For soft, buttery rolls, brush them with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve at once.


Makes about 40 rolls