"Fast Sunday Rolls" and family traditions.

Spelt Potato Rolls

      Food is a lot about traditions, and bread making is one that I love. Bread making has been a tradition in my family for years. I grew up in a home where bread making was just part of life.  As I have mentioned before, my mother had no idea she was establishing a tradition of bread making in our lives.   know my siblings bake bread on a regular basis, and I know it is because of my mothers effort to bake bread regularly. She was a wonderful bread maker ,and the memory of her bread is still burned into my mind and heart.

     In all the bread making growing up, I can'y remember my mother ever baking dinner rolls. We usually ate her sliced white bread with butter, Sorry it was not butter back then, it was margarine. So much cheaper than butter. Every meal there was bread and margarine. She did make cinnamon rolls with her dough and fry bread, but never dinner rolls that I can remember.

      My love of dinner rolls came later in life with the purchase of my first Bosch Mixer. As I started teaching classes I fell in love with dinner rolls. Since those days dinner rolls have become a tradition in our home. One of my families favorite traditions is "Fast Sunday Rolls".  In my faith we fast one Sunday a month, no food or drink for 2 meals, and donate the money we would have spent to the church to feed the elderly, homeless, struggling, etc. So after church on fast Sunday my family thinks they are starving to death. I treat them with what I call "Fast Sunday Rolls".

     "Fast Sunday Rolls" are special and over the years my goal has been to create rolls like my Aunt Mom's. Aunt Mom in really my moms sister  Jean Flake. I call her Aunt Mom because she has been like a mother to me for all my life. She makes the most amazing dinner rolls ever. She is famous for her rolls. So her rolls and the rolls of Mrs. Clarson who was the school cafeteria cook in my elementary school, are my standard. Mrs. Clarson's rolls like Aunt Moms are perfection, especially sliced hot and stuffed with butter. You have to let the butter melt and than it is like taking a bite of heaven. Oh my goodness, right now my mouth is watering. When I grew up I actually went to Jesse Clarson's home and thanked her for her wonderful rolls. I was so glad I was able to do that before she passed away.  I can picture her making teaching the angles in Heaven how to make them.

     I really learned the secret of roll making from my dear friend Jane Merrill. She wrote the "Set For Life" cookbooks. She is a master and she taught me one phrase that I teach everyone, when I am teaching about roll making. The Phase is "THE STICKER THE DOUGH, THE LIGHTER THE ROLL". That has been my guide in making all my rolls and my rolls are sometimes almost as good as Jesse Clarsons and Aunt Moms. That really is the trick. Keep the dough slightly sticky, it is a little harder to work with, but the end result are rolls that almost float. Even whole grain rolls are amazing when you follow that advise.

     So on fast Sunday's I am constantly experimenting on just how light I can make whole grain rolls.  Can they match up to the standard of Jesse Clarson or Aunt Mom. I sometimes fail, but when I have a winner my family is so happy. I decide that they all cannot be winners,  if they are all winners then the family gets to used to perfection and they just don't appreciate it as much. So once in awhile I mess up just so they can appreciate it when I have a winner. But this last Sunday. Oh my, I hit the jack pot.  My son had just returned from his mission and had missed out on "Fast Sunday Rolls" for two years.  I really wanted them to be perfect. I made spelt potato rolls. You will love the recipe. They are splendid in every way.

      So the Tradition continues in my home. "Fast Sunday Rolls" and bread making, do make memories that will last forever. I hope long after I am dead and gone my family talks about my rolls with fond memories.



Spelt Potato Rolls
This are the new favorite "Fast Sunday Roll"in my home.  Nothing makes a roll better than a cooked mashed potato.  Instant just are not the same.

1 large potato, peeled and cooked until tender
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar or Xagave
2 teaspoons salt
4 egg whites
2 cups warm milk
2 tablespoons instant yeast
2 cups natural white flour
4 cups fresh ground spelt flour

In your Bosch mixer place cooked potato, butter, sugar, salt, egg whites, milk, and spelt flour.  On top of the spelt flour place yeast.  Turn on mixer and add natural white flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.    Continue to mix,  making sure the dough stays sticky.  After six minutes, remove from bowl on oiled surface.  Form into golf ball size segments.  Place on sprayed pan and let rise to double.  Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 t0 25 minutes or until done.

Basic Rolls

Jean Flake…Or Aunt Mom to Chef Brad.  This recipe was taught to her by her Mother, Chef Brad's Granny. Breadmaking is something Jean loves to do and she certainly does it to perfection.  She  is well known for her light wonderfully tasting rolls, and bread.  She shares this recipe with you.  Enjoy!

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter or oil

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

5-6 cups flour

1 Tablespoon yeast

Scald milk or use powdered milk mixed according to directions. 
Add butter, sugar, salt and 2 cups of flour.  Mix until smooth.  Beat in egg and 1 Tablespoon yeast.   Add flour to make soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  If using Bosch mixer add flour until dough barely cleans bowl.  Shape into rolls and place in greased pan barely touching each other.  Let raise until double in bulk.  If you are kneading by hand let dough come up once before shaping into rolls.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Can be used for cinnamon rolls or crescent rolls.

Fresh baked rolls turn any meal into a Gourmet Experience.