Pivoting Rolls

Here we are again, crunch time for the Thanksgiving holiday! I hope you’re in full swing right now and maybe you’ve already made the cranberry sauce or planning out the cooking process for the big day. Luckily we have modern conveniences like a freezer and refrigerator that make our life a little easier. With only a few days to go before Thanksgiving it’s not a bad idea to make some of the sides ahead of time. The cranberry sauce or the cranberry apple sauce can be made now and it will stay fresh in the fridge until Thursday. Other sides like the sweet potatoes, if you make them mashed with a little bourbon, freeze well but will also keep until Thursday in the fridge. I might wait until Tuesday to make the pies and cakes and Wednesday before making the stuffing/ dressing. The Turkey and gravy and the rolls should be the only things you need to actually cook on Thursday if you plan correctly. Yes, you’ll need to re-heat all of it. Oops! I take that back, I’ll prepare the cornbread dressing, but I won’t cook it until the big day because I like it crunchy on the edges. (Quick side note, stuffing and dressing are the same thing, only stuffing is ,stuffed inside the bird and cooked, and dressing is cooked outside the bird.)

In today’s post I was going to show you how I make those delicious warm yeast rolls for dinner, but sometimes in this world, things go wrong. I had trouble today with the yeast. I’m going to say it was dead. That much was obvious, but as to why yeast I purchased at an unnamed local supermarket chain would be dead, well that’s anyone’s guess. However I will still give you the recipe but without pictures and instead I’ll also give you an alternative that’ll be just as tasty. Southern style biscuits! The biscuit will literally never let you down, that’s because they don’t rely on yeast to rise. The recipe I’ll be sharing dates back to the 1870’s and the Parker House Hotel in Boston. Legend has it that the chef was angry and threw uncooked rolls into the oven, the process dented them giving the rolls their unique shape and the butter gives them their amazing depth of flavor. Recipes for Parker House rolls started showing up in cookbooks around the 1880’s. It’s hard to beat their flavor and texture for a Thanksgiving dinner so here is the recipe, sans pictures!

• Parker House Rolls
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 ounce dry yeast
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 1/2 to 5 cups all purpose flour
• Warm the milk and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix 1/3 of this mixture with the dry yeast in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine remaining milk mixture, melted butter, salt, and sugar and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the beaten eggs and yeast mixture.​
• Add flour, 1 cup at a time, beating on high speed with a hand or stand mixer. When the dough gets too stiff to beat, stir in rest of the flour by hand, if needed, to make a soft dough.
• Place dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth.
• Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the whole ball of dough. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size…about 1 hour. 
• Punch down the dough.
• Roll out the dough on floured surface to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with 3-inch round cookie cutter.
• Brush each roll with melted butter and fold in half to make half circles. Pinch edge lightly to hold, so the rolls don’t unfold as they rise.
• Place in 2 greased 9 x 13-inch pans, cover, and let rise again until doubled in size—about 45 minutes.
• Bake rolls at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately and brush with more melted butter.

Yes these rolls do take time, but here the old saying does apply, “good food takes time”, and no I didn’t just make that up! Ok maybe paraphrased but you get the idea. Once you’ve made these rolls and eaten them you’ll see that every second of preparation was worth it. Also, while the dough is rising twice, you’ll have time to do other things for Thanksgiving. Now as promised if your yeast died or you burnt the rolls, the good old biscuit will come to your rescue! This recipe is very simple, nowhere near as time consuming and biscuits hold up really well, if you need something to mop up all that yummy gravy!

• The Biscuits.
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, preferably light southern flour like Lilly’s
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup lard (or vegetable shortening, chilled)
• 2 tablespoons butter (chilled)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (cold)

1. Heat oven to 450° and make sure oven rack is in the center position.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cut in the cold shortening and butter until you have pieces the size of small peas. If you can’t find lard you can always use Crisco or more butter.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk. Stir gently until the mixture is just holding together. If necessary, add a few more teaspoons of buttermilk.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and pat out into a 1/2-inch thick circle. Cut out biscuits with a 2 1/2- to 3-inch cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until tops are lightly browned.

This little episode with the yeast is a lesson. I had to become flexible. We have to learn to keep our options open and to not let the little things bother us as much. Even if you cooked the turkey until it became jerky, would Thanksgiving really be ruined? After all isn’t it about the people and being thankful for all the wonderful things in our lives? I know sometimes it’s hard to focus on anything that is good in our world now in days, but the fact that you can read this page and you’re not pushing up daisies, might just be enough. I also don’t know anyone that won’t have a smile on their face if you feed them a nice warm biscuit filled with butter and honey. If you have a recipe for rolls you’d like to share please do so in the comments box. Send any questions or comments to me as well and I’ll get them answered as soon as possible. Please click the links on this page to be taken to other Thanksgiving recipes. Have a great day and until next time, Boone Appétit!