Grandma’s Rolls
by Brittany on July 20, 2009
These rolls are from my maternal grandmother, Ruth Rice, who happens to be a fantastic cook! Grandma has always baked her own breads, canned and bottled her own fruits, veggies, jams, pickles, etc (grown in her enormous garden), made all kinds of wondrous candy and even raised her own chickens! She takes the concept of work ethic to a whole new level – and I have only touched on her food related accomplishments! I love going to Canada to visit her and my grandpa because I get to stuff myself with all that delicious comfort food while spending time with them! :) She is a wonderful woman with a big heart and a no nonsense attitude (a combination I adore). This is her famous roll recipe that I am about to share with you. She uses it for dinner rolls and sweet rolls… and they are always a hit. FYI I tried them with butter instead of shortening and they were still really good but just weren’t the same… 
Grandma’s Dinner Rolls
submitted by Brittany
2 rounded Tb yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
1 cup warm milk
½ cup sugar (2/3 c for sweet rolls)
6 Tb shortening
2 tsp salt
4 eggs
7-8 cups flour
Beat first 7 ingredients until smooth. In an electric mixer with a dough hook, add flour one cup at a time until dough forms a ball, cleaning off edge of bowl. Knead 5 minutes (or 10 minutes by hand). Let rise until double. Punch down dough and let rise until double again. (To make this easier, I leave the dough in the mixing bowl with dough hook, covered with a damp towel. When it has risen double, I turn on the machine briefly to gently punch down the dough. Then I cover again with the towel and allow to rise again.) Punch down again and divide into 3 parts. Roll out each part and form into rolls. *I prefer
butterhorn rolls: roll each segment of dough into a circle. With a pizza cutter, cut into fourths then each fourth into thirds – making 12 pie shapes. Roll each one up starting at the wide end. Place on cookie sheet and let rise briefly. Watch carefully as rolls will rise very quickly now after 2 risings. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes, until lightly browned.
**DO NOT overbake. They should be a light golden color. Disregard the picture and how brown they look. I overbaked them on accident!! Also I added ground flax seed (always do with bread) so that is what the little flecks are.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Mmm…these look pillowy soft. I'd love one with a little bit of honey butter. Yum!
PS. How much ground flax do you add to your bread?
I usually add a scoopful (the scoop it comes with!) which I think is about 2 Tb to the dough – You can add it to anything you are making!!
These bread rolls look so fantastic!
I've been following your cooking blog and was surprised when you mentioned your grandma since I was a "Magrathite" until I married! Lots of good cooks live there!
Brittany–that description of Grandma was awesome! It made me so sad that I can't go this year. She is a wonderful woman and a fabulous cook. You know her rolls are FAMOUS!!
These look so soft and delicious! I would love to eat them with some honey butter!
Those are beautiful! My mom is known for her rolls, but they never turn out as well when I make them. I guess practice makes perfect!
Mmm. I just made my favorite homemade rolls on Sunday… I think I will have to try these. I always just make round balls. I am going to try your butterhorn shape.
What gorgeous rolls! I bet they are delicious. As much as I love baking with butter, shortening really does make such a tender bread. Kudos to your Grandma Ruth!
OMG these look divine!
I'm looking for a roll recipe to serve tomorrow after church to family but I don't want to be baking in the morning. Could I make them up today and put them in the fridge after shaping and let them slow rise?
I loved how well these rolls raised. We made rolls and cinnamon rolls (I put them in the fridge over night and baked them in the morning) out of the same recipe and really liked them. Thanks for sharing
I made these last year and forgot to post a comment about them. They were fantastic!! My mom raved and raved about them. The only problem I had was that I allowed them to rise for too long. I didn't realize how quickly they would rise, but the kitchen was pretty warm, so it was understandable. Thanks for another great recipe!
These look wonderful. Have you ever tried refrigerating the rolls overnight and baking them the next day? I don't want to be making rolls all day on Sunday. It's nice to go to church and come home to ready to put in the oven rolls.
Mmm, those look so soft and delectable. It's nice that you have her recipe =).
~Kurious Kitteh
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I've made these a couple of times already and they're wonderful. My family gets really excited when I make them.
Hi, I recently found your blog and I am totally in love with it! I have loved the few things that I have tried so far.
Could you please tell me how many rolls this recipe makes?
Only me and my hubby are going to eat them, I don't know what i'll do if it makes so many!
Can this be made with a hand mixer?? I don't have a standing mixer machine.
they look delish!
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Thanks for the inspiration! I featured these on my blog and they were awesome!
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