Refrigerator Rolls

This recipe has been in my family as long as any of us can remember. My aunt thinks it must have been one of my grandmother's recipes that my mom adapted, although we don’t really know for sure. As far as I remember, this typed up recipe has always been there. These rolls were made every holiday when I was young. We used to call these “Chef Hat” rolls, because they looked like little chef hats. As kids, my cousins and I found this to be extremely fascinating. I believe there was more than one incident of us running around the house holding these on top of our heads like chef hats, much to our amusement. Probably not as much to our moms. I'm hoping somewhere in some storage box or forgotten drawer there is a picture of this. 

The original name of these rolls comes from the recipe suggestion to make a batch of dough, keep it in the refrigerator, and take out what you need and keep the rest for later. I believe this tip harkens back to the days when it was a realistic expectation to be able to serve a fresh-baked batch of rolls with every dinner, every night. I need a moment to wrap my head around that concept. 

Somewhere down the line, the original typed, jumbo index card was lost, but we had a Xerox copy, so we made extras, as these would disappear on occasion too. Then I made a JPG of the recipe and saved it to my desktop for quick forwarding when mom would call telling me she couldn't find the recipe. Now it's out in the interweb and the cloud to be forever remembered. 

Just gathering the ingredients together filled my head with memories, and I was transported back to a time of holiday gatherings, with the scent of these rolls wafting through the air, my bare feet running across green shag carpet, and the Bee Gees playing on 8-track. These rolls are a kind of time-machine into my childhood.  

The Recipe

(Full recipe. Half for making 2 12-inch pizzas – 350-400 F degrees, 30-40 minutes.)

2 packages of dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening – 1 stick

1 teaspoon salt

3 beaten eggs

5 cups flour

Mix yeast and sugar together; let stand 20 minutes. Scald milk. Pour milk into a mixing bowl and add shortening and salt to it. Cool to lukewarm. Add yeast-sugar mixture and eggs. Add flour mixing thoroughly. Turn out on floured board and knead until satiny. Place in greased bowl. Cover and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 2 hours. Knead again. Form into smooth ball. Grease surface. Cover and keep in refrigerator. Take out amount required each time, and keep remainder covered in refrigerator. 

This dough can be used for various kinds of rolls and pizza dough.

Cloverleaf rolls: Form dough into small balls. Dip each into melted butter and place 3 balls in each section of an oiled and greased pan. Cover and let double in size. Back in 425 F degree oven for 15-20 minutes. 

*On the recipe sheet, there is a handwritten note that reads:  - scant 1/2 c ???. It is noted next to the sugar. My guess is that someone thought 1/4 cup sugar wasn’t enough and noted to add another 1/4 cup, presumably to make a sweeter roll. It looks like my mom’s writing, which would make me believe I’m right (Mom loved sweet rolls). I went with the 1/4 cup version to just try the basic version first. 

The Bake

Rise Up!

I didn’t have yeast packets, but a jar of yeast in the fridge (best place to keep it. It lasts longer.). Each packet of yeast contains about 2 1/4 teaspoons. The yeast activated nicely, almost too nicely. It took me a bit longer to prep the other ingredients and after about 25 minutes, the yeast started to spill over the container! Next time, I’ll get the other ingredients started first. A newbie baking note, if your yeast does not do this, it is not active and your dough won’t rise. 

If I had ever scalded milk before, I didn’t remember how and had to Google it, which also led me to look up why scalding milk would be called for in such a recipe, since most of my recipes do not call for it, and why most bakers swear by still adhering to the technique. 

Farm Fresh

Back in the days of yore, when you would pour yourself a nice warm glass of milk or grog, you also ran the risk of sharing that drink with a plethora of pathogenic microbes which could send you running post haste to the town physician to get yourself a good bloodletting or, if you were a person of means, an afternoon spent with a ganon of leeches. Therefore, one would scald the milk to kill off any potential harmful bacteria lurking in your milk supply. But now, thanks to our good friend Louis Pasteur, his research on microorganisms, and the desperate need to keep the local wine supply from souring, we can now drink milk straight from the carton with reckless abandon, so à ta santé!

So, if our milk is pasteurized and need to heat is obsolete, then why do bakers still choose to scald the milk? 

It’s all about the texture. Scalding milk rapidly denatures (destroys) certain proteins in the milk, thus changing how they will interact and behave chemically during the baking process. Scalding the milk will help your dough rise faster and better. Your loaf will be lighter, fluffier and softer. It also helps with moisture retention. Or…so they say. Some bakers say it’s just tradition and they don’t waste their time. Others swear by it. I went with tradition and science.  

How to Scald Milk

·      Pour milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and set to medium heat. 

·      Stir often. Milk can burn easily, so keep an eye on it. 

·      Heat milk to 180 degrees F, about when bubbles start to form on the

      sides of the pan.

·      Remove from heat. Allow to cool to appropriate temperature before adding to recipe. 

The recipe calls for kneading the dough “until satiny.” I found that it was a fairly wet dough and it became “satiny” rather quickly. From my extensive amount of GBBO binge-watching, I knew this wasn’t long enough to active the gluten. I kept on kneading until the dough passed the “window pane” test – if you can take a small piece of dough, flatten and stretch it out between your fingers so you can almost see through it like a window pane. It was still satiny, with a good indication of gluten-ready goodness. 

 I wasn’t sure how long to knead the second time, and I didn’t want to “overwork” the dough, so I kneaded for about three minutes or so and then formed the dough into the little balls for the clovers or chef hats. I was curious of how they would taste if I didn’t dip them in butter, so I did some with and some without. 

The Results

SO BUTTERY GOOD!!! These rolls are perfect for the holidays. On their own, they are a solid, good-tasting enriched roll, but without any dominant flavor, which makes them amazing for dipping in butter, honey, gravy, stew, or whatever is on your plate for your feast. I did notice they do tend to go dry within a couple of days, but nothing a slab of butter or gravy can’t fix. I do wonder if this may be a result of not kneading enough and that they are baked at a rather high temperature. From my understanding of what the TV has told me, enriched breads do better with a lower temperature bake. Next time, I might knock the temp down, maybe around 350 or so, and bake a little longer.

Chef Hats!

Pre-torn for the lazy diner

One issue I did have was with the rolls that I dipped in butter. Some of them didn’t stick together during the bake. I’m not sure if this was because I used too much butter or it wasn’t melted enough or just inevitable. I think a way to avoid this could be to place the three balls together at the bottom, pour melted butter over and then push together so the bottom sticks, but the bottom might be missing a little of the buttery goodness. Also, the ones that I didn’t dip in butter, came out fine, but didn’t have the richness of the ones that I did and didn’t have as nice of a crust. If you chose not to dip, I would suggest doing an egg wash or butter the tops for a nicer crust. 

I made these small, as I have no self-control and will eat more than one, but you can choose to make them as large as you like. 

I was curious of how the “refrigerator” part of these rolls would turn out. In my mind, I thought the dough would either keep rising and be over proofed or be stunted and not get a second rise when you took it out to bake. So, I made the first batch and put the leftover dough in the fridge for about 48 hours. Surprisingly, the dough still rose and baked up nicely. I’m not sure how long you could keep it before it either started to sour or lose all structural integrity, but after 48 hours it was still a-okay. 

Another great thing about this recipe, is I believe it could take on a number of “add-ins” to make them even more amazing – herbs, garlic, cheese, all three - you name it. 

Another great recipe from mom. Chef Hats will be on the table this year, and every year, with fond memories in my heart. 

My mom and her sister Gail cooking up something in the kitchen.