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Happy New Year!!! Are you using the day off to sleep in and nurse a hangover? I had a few of these Skinny Champagne Cosmos last night (they’re amazing), recipe courtesy of Kristina from Whipped, but I’m feeling surprisingly well.
Today I’m participating in #TwelveLoaves. What is #TwelveLoaves? It’s a concept created by Lora from Cake Duchess to inspire people to get in their kitchens and bake some homemade bread. You know, get down and dirty with some flour and sticky dough. Each month Lora hosts a different bread baking project. This month we’re starting the new year with a clean slate; a loaf of bread that celebrates simplicity.
Today I bring you a very special recipe that was handed down to me by my Grandmom. I call the recipe Grandmom’s Dinner Rolls. It’s a simple white roll with a perfectly crusty exterior and a melt-in-your-mouth, fluffy interior. I grew up watching her make these rolls and was lucky enough to receive a lesson in roll making from her last year. This recipe is so simple that I used it as my very first attempt at creating homemade bread.
I know the concept of making homemade bread is a bit ominous for some; however, once you get the basics down, you’ll be a bread-making machine. This recipe is a great starter recipe. If you’re an amateur or fear yeast and dough, start with this recipe. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Shannon from A Periodic Table. Shannon, like some of you, feared working with yeast. You don’t know Shannon? Shame! The girl can whip up Momofuko Milk bar treats in her sleep. I emailed Shannon my Grandmom’s bread recipe and she successfully made them for Thanksgiving. Easy as pie!
The key to making these rolls is not over heating the milk. If the milk is too hot, it’s going kill the yeast. Dead yeast equals dense, flat rolls, and we don’t want that.
You don’t need a fancy thermometer when gauging the temperature; your finger will work just fine. You’ll know the milk is hot enough when you stick your finger in it and your reflexes kick in. If you can’t keep your finger in the milk because it hurts to the touch, that’s when you know it’s hot enough. DO NOT boil the milk. I don’t mean to yell, but I don’t want you to make that mistake. My dad does it all the time and he wonders why his rolls are like hockey pucks; he’s killing the yeast.
The bread will need to rise two times. It will rise after kneading it and again after rolling the dough into balls.
The best part about making bread is playing with the dough. I love the feel of the sticky, warm dough between my fingers. Then there’s the malted smell that rises to your nose every time you fold the dough into itself. Mmm!
Those little green specs you see is chopped rosemary. I made a melted garlic butter sauce and added crushed rosemary to give it a boost of flavor. After brushing on the butter sauce, I sprinkled the rolls with a little sea salt for extra flavor.
Smear with a generous helping of salted butter and chow down. These rolls will quickly become a staple in your recipe box. Enjoy!
Here’s what the other #TwelveLoaves participants are baking:
Alabama Light Bread by Dorothy | Shockingly DeliciousBasic White Bread by Renee | Magnolia Days
Classic Oatmeal Bread by Liz | That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Grandmom’s Dinner Rolls by Jennie from The Messy Baker Blog
Italian Potato Bread by Rosella | Ma Che Ti Sei Mangiato
Molasses Wheat Quick Bread by Deb | Knitstamatic
Pandoro by Paula | Vintage Kitchen
Rosemary Olive Oil Bread by Alice | Hip Foodie Mom
Whole Wheat Pita Bread by Holly | A Baker’s House
Whole Wheat Sea Salt Bagel by Lora | Cake Duchess
Orange, Date & Nut Loaf by Kate | Diethood
#TwelveLoaves January: Clean Slate. Bake a bread, yeast or quick bread, loaf or individual. January #TwelveLoaves is all about a clean slate. After the holiday indulgences, we are starting the year with simplicity. Have fun baking with whole grains and other flours. Share with us your favorite basic bread recipes. Let’s get baking! Just follow the rules, it’s as easy as pie:
- When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone’s posts. Please make sure that your Bread is inspired by the theme!
- Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.
- Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this January, 2013 posted on your blog by January 31, 2013.
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- ¾ cup hot milk (do not boil)
- ¾ cup hot tap water
- 1½ tbs. sugar
- ¾ tsp. kosher salt
- 1½ tbs. shortening
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
- Herb Butter:
- 4 tbs. unsalted butter
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbs. chopped rosemary
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cast iron pan or baking dish.
- Place flour in a large bowl. Add the yeast and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Heat milk in a small saucepan until hot to touch (do not boil). Take off heat and add shortening, sugar, and salt. Stir until shortening melts into the milk mixture (a few lumps are okay). Stir in hot water to combine.
- Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in milk; mix to combine with a spatula. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 6 minutes, gradually adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Place dough in a large, greased bowl, turning once to grease both sides. Place bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean dish towel. Let rise for 90 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pull off 3-inch sized pieces of dough and place in a greased cast iron pan about a ½-inch apart. Place pan in a warm spot and cover with a clean dish towel. Let rise for 1 hour before baking.
- Herb Butter: While the dough is rising for the second time, melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add crushed garlic and chopped rosemary. Simmer for 2 minutes to let the flavors marry.
- Using a pastry brush, brush dough with the herb butter. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm with a generous helping of butter.
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Hi and welcome to my flour-dusted kitchen! The name's Jennie. I'm a lover of cupcakes, an avid spatula licker, and a huge fan of sprinkles. Baking is my passion, but you'll find some savory dishes scattered amongst copious amounts of frosting and chocolate. I love hearing from ya, so feel free to leave me some love. Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the interweb.
Homemade dinner rolls make a meal so much better. They sound perfect Jennie, and those pictures are amazing!
I love making classic homemade bread. Such a fun task with rewarding results. Happy New Year!
Wow, I want those for breakfast now!
Beautiful rolls! And I so want to make these because it would be my first time using a cast iron pan to bake bread. Cool!
Oh I so have to make these for dinner., gorgeous! I particularly love that this is a family recipe.
I used to be so afraid of yeast but I ADORE making bread now and I pretty much use yeast at least once a week! I love that you got this recipe from your grandmom, they look sooo fluffy and delicious! And um hi yeah garlic&herb butter….mmmm!
Yay! You had Kristina’s cocktails!! Happy New Year my lovely!
Gorgeous, dahling!
These are beautiful!! I had dinner at a family-run Italian restaurant last night and I am SURE that the rolls we ate were just like these. Can’t wait to try to make them at home!
yes– these turned out beautifully!! I shared them tonight with friends and I looked like a baking star when these came out of the oven. They were puffy and golden brown. Delicious!
These rolls look amazing! Isn’t baking the bread in a cast iron skillet awesome? Love it! They look perfect!
Wow, thanks for sharing a recipe so close to your heart. You have done your gran proud with this post!
Thank you so much!
people, she’s right; you can totally ask me about grandmom’s rolls, because i made them and they. were. AMAZING. Perfectly balanced texture, not to light and not too heavy, and they baked up huge and gorgeous, just like jennie’s photos. I’m afraid of yeast things; jennie knows this and was kind enough to send me this recipe a few months ago. I made it and managed to succeed with them, which is BIG, because it means that ANYONE, probably even a tiny baby, could make these.
Jennie, thanks again for basically saving the bread portion of thanksgiving for me this year; i know my family held their collective breath for a few hours (they have experienced my yeast failures) but they were a hit.
These look great! So flaky! I used to be afraid of working with yeast and I think the yeast knew it and that is why I always had problems. I think if you are confident and patient, baking homemade bread is no big deal and actually a lovely practice.
Amazing! Nothing beats homemade rolls, right?
I should totally join in since I have such an aversion to yeast – it’ll really get me to expand my horizons and do some major bread baking in 2013!
These look delightful! And if Shannon says a wee baby could make ‘em, they are probably within my capabilities too. I love the herb butter/sea salt topping!
Happy New Year, lady! Can’t wait to see what you get up to in 2013…
These are some gorgeous looking rolls, Jennie! I’m still afraid of yeast, but I’m slowly learning to overcome that.
Irresistable your rolls.
Very useful indications about milk temperature. I failed a lot when I was a teenager due to hot temperature of milk or too low temperature at home. For a long time I hated istant yeast.
The texture of these rolls looks amazing…such light, fluffy rolls!!! LOVE them!!!
these are so amazingly light and fluffy…i need to obtain some shortening and afterwards i’m totally trying these out, they look sooooooooooooooo good.
Looks delicious … I loveeee me some rolls!
I love that this is your Grandma’s recipes, how special! My Grandma and I love sharing our food love, and I love making her treats! Something we can hold dear to us forever for sure:-) Your rolls seriously look sooooooo freaking delicious!!! Hugs, Terra
Absolutely nothing beats homemade bread, those rolls look so fluffy and tender, very jealous right now! Haha and I’m glad those cosmos didn’t give you too hard of a time in the morning, champagne can be brutal
And SO excited you tried these!! Look forward to a whole new year of recipe sharing!
These look amazingly good. They just look like they would melt in your mouth and I love rosemary in my breads! Pinned!!
They look SO fluffy! And yeast is nothing to be afraid of. I don’t know why some people are afraid of. The only thing about it is that it takes a long time. But the final product?! Sooooo good. And these definitely look worth the time!
This looks gorgeous…I wud love to have some right away:)
These look so wonderful. I haven’t tackled bread baking yet but seeing rolls like this makes me really want to start.
These rolls look lovely! I wish I had one of those pans, I’ll put it on my birthday wish list!
Oh yes, too hot milk “kills” yeast, also fresh yeast, but this rising is wonderful!!!
Definitely baking rolls in a skillet next time. They look gorgeous.
Thanks so much, Sally!
These look awesome! And melted garlic butter sauce just sealed the deal!!