Wednesday, December 22, 2010

 

There isn't a dinner roll on the planet better than Mom's Fabulous Dinner Rolls! These sweet, old-fashioned pull-apart rolls are a challenge if you're not proficient with yeast breads, but once perfected they'll become your signature contribution to every special dinner event.



Mom's Fabulous Dinner Rolls Day #22
½ cup water
½ cup butter or margarine
5 ½ to 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages (fresh) active dry yeast
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¾ cup milk
¼ cup butter, melted (optional)

Melt butter in a small saucepan; add ½ water and heat together to reach 110-115° (about the temperature for a baby's bottle). Place butter/water mixture in a large mixing bowl; stir in yeast until granules are dissolved. Add ¾ cup flour, sugar, salt, eggs and milk. Mix well and then add remaining flour reserving about ½ cup for kneading the bread. Put the ½ cup flour on a heavy cutting board or counter top; place dough on flour and knead for 4 minutes, which will slowly work more flour into the dough. It's OK if all the flour doesn't work into the flour, it can be discarded. If your dough is sticky, it needs more flour. When it's elastic and no flour is needed to keep it from sticking to your hands, it's good with no more flour. Using less flour will help ensure a lighter end product; too much flour will make the rolls heavy and doughy. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.

Lightly punch down dough; divide into 12 balls, place in a 9” x 12” or 11” x 13” baking pan depending on size of rolls desired. As pictured below, divide dough into 24 balls and bake in 2 round 8" or 9" baking pans. Lightly butter a piece of plastic wrap and loosely cover rolls; place in a warm location to rise.

When rolls are level to top of pan, or almost double in bulk, remove plastic wrap and bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven; brush with melted butter, if desired. Cool for 5 minutes; turn onto cooling racks. Yield: 12 or 24 of the best dinner rolls you've ever tasted!

Mom's Dinner Rolls
baked in a 9" round pan.
"Please pass the butter, again."










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The 24 Day Holiday Recipe Blitz will end on Friday, December 24, 2010. Immediately following, I will be assembling a PDF e-cookbook with the entire 24 day recipe blitz along with the recipes of the recipe contest winners and runners-up.

You can purchase the 24 Day Holiday Recipe Blitz 2010 e-cookbook for $3.00. The cookbook will have approximately 35 to 40 pages/recipes in it with their corresponding pictures.

Send your request, your e-mail address, and checks or money orders to:

Cynthia Briggs
P.O. Box 5226
Kingwood, TX 77325-5226

Hard copies are available upon request for $15.00, which includes shipping.

Send inquiries to: books@porkchopsandapplesauce.net
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Friday, May 7, 2010

 

Meanest Mother Makes Mean Dinner Rolls

I’m delighted to share with you the following poem in prose, which is dear to my heart because of the irony in having a mean mother, Betty Belles (pictured left), and eventually becoming one.

The World's Meanest Mother
Makes Mean Dinner Rolls

“As a child, I had the meanest mother in the world. She was real mean! When other kids ate candy for breakfast, she made me eat cereal, or eggs and toast. When other kids had Coke and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my dinner, too, was different from other kids.

My mother insisted on knowing were we were at all times. You’d think we were in a chain gang.
She had to know who our friends were – and what we were doing. She insisted that if we said we’d be gone for an hour, that we would be gone for one hour or less. She was really mean!

I am ashamed to admit it, but she actually had the nerve to break the child labor laws by making us work! We had to wash dishes, make all the beds, learn to cook, and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she lay awake nights thinking up things for us to do!

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, she was much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the car horn for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates come to the front door to get us. I forgot to mention it, but while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old-fashioned mother refused to let me date until I was 15 or 16. She was really mean!

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. But, none of us have ever been arrested, or beaten a mate. Each of my brothers spent time in the service of his country, willingly…no protesting. And whom do we have to blame for this terrible way we turned out? You’re right…our mean mother!

Look at all the things we missed. We never got to take part in a riot, never burned draft cards, or got to do a million things our friends did. Our mean mother made us grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults.

I am trying to use this as a background for raising my own children. So, I stand a little taller, and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. You see, I’m thankful that God gave me the meanest mother in the world.

Signed,
Another Mother
Author Unknown

I’d like to pass along to you my mother's recipe for dinner rolls. These sweet, old-fashioned pull-apart dinner rolls are unforgettably delicious and once you've tasted them I think you’ll agree that my mean mother could make an equally mean dinner roll. These rolls were Mom's signature contribution to every holiday meal, including Mother's Day!

My Mean Mother’s Dinner Rolls
½ cup water
½ cup butter or margarine
5 ½ to 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¾ cup milk
¼ cup butter, melted (optional)
Heat butter and water to 110-120°. In a large mixing bowl combine warmed butter/water mixture, ¾ cup flour, yeast, sugar, salt, eggs and milk. Gradually add remaining flour; knead about 4 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.

Lightly punch dough down and divide into 12 balls, place in a 9” x 12” or 11” x 13” baking pan. Butter a piece of plastic wrap and loosely cover rolls; place in a warm location to rise.

When rolls have raised almost level to top of pan, gently remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until rolls are light and golden brown as pictured above. Remove from the oven; brush with melted butter, if desired. Cool for 5 minutes; turn onto cooling rack.
Yield: 12 large dinner rolls

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