Scraping the Skillet

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to share one of our most treasured family recipes with you. It is amazingly easy and always delicious. Thank goodness for that, right? With all the complicated recipes we attempt during the holidays, it’s sure nice to have a solid, simple stand-by to share with loved ones. After all, Thanksgiving is really about appreciating the time you have with friends and family. There’s no emotional confusion about gifts or religions. This holiday is purely about giving thanks.

These rolls have been a staple at every gathering we have ever attended at Dylan’s parent’s house and every holiday gathering we have hosted at ours. They’re perfect for lots of occasions, but their roots (at least for our family) are in Thanksgiving.

In the mid 60’s Dylan’s grandmother, B.J., took her family on vacation. Her husband had just left for Korea, so she was on her own with the kids. They piled in the car and headed to Mrs. Zimmerman’s farm, near Cumberland City, VA. Not a far trek from the D.C. area, where they lived, but worlds away.

Dylan’s mom, Jill, remembers this trip remarkably clearly. The Zimmerman’s was a working farm, complete with stock animals and crop production. Because making ends meet by farming alone was pretty tough, the Zimmerman’s also opened up their Victorian farm house to guests as a B&B.

Jill recalls that the family stayed in 1 room of the farm house. The vacation was a week and a half long, with plenty of time to enjoy all the farm had to offer. She and her twin, John, quickly discovered that the Zimmerman’s son was the same age as them. The three played together, and Zimmy (as the son was known) had great fun pranking the city kids. He owned a horse and, apparently, a donkey as well. Zimmy dared J & J to ride the donkey – who proceeded to run forward at mach speed and brake suddenly by stamping his foot down and throwing the rider over his head. I’m sure he found it very entertaining that they were even game for this sport!

Of course, livestock knowledge wasn’t the only difference between the city kids and the farm kids. At every meal the visitors were encouraged to EAT MORE! Mrs. Zimmerman proclaimed that they all ate like birds! Well, Jill remembers that by the end of the trip they all definitely “ate like horses!” Mrs. Zimmerman served these rolls at every dinner and, after a few days, dinner time meant they were all plenty hungry and looking forward to these rolls.

Everyone loved the rolls so much that B.J. brought a copy of the recipe home to D.C. with her. Unfortunately, this was near the time she went back into the work force and had much less time for cooking. B.J. never did get around to making the rolls.

Years later, when Jill was moving away from home she found the recipe in B.J.’s file, copied it down and brought it out West with her. She first made these rolls when Dylan was a baby, for Thanksgiving dinner.

Jill remembers Mrs. Z referring to them as “Refrigerator Rolls,” in other words, they were the first no-knead bread! The recipe, in fact, does not specify any amount of kneading.

I’ve never made them as no-knead, mixing up a rough dough and stashing it in the fridge for later use. Instead, we usually make up a batch of these either the day before or the day of our gathering. I usually even knead them for a few minutes in my mixer, I can’t help myself.

This recipe is amazingly adaptable and forgiving. I’ve had these rolls made with whole wheat, spelt, and bread flour. I’ve had versions where they butter was replaced with olive oil. They all turn out great! Really, this is an easy roll recipe. They are great to bring to potlucks and make a great accompaniment to ANY meal, just like at the Zimmerman’s Farm.

Mrs. Zimmerman’s Rolls

• 1/4 oz yeast (1 packet)
• 2 c lukewarm water
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 t salt
• 6-7 c AP flour, divided
• 1 egg
• 3 T melted butter

Dissolve the yeast into the lukewarm water. Add sugar, salt and 3 c of the flour. Beat until smooth (I use the paddle attachment on my mixer to achieve this).

Add the egg and melted butter, beat thoroughly to incorporate and begin adding additional flour. You’ll probably need 6 1/2 to 7 cups of flour, total. That means, you’ll need to add 3 1/2 to 4 more cups. Add slowly as you reach the upper end of this amount. If you add too much flour your rolls will be dry. On the other hand, if you add too little, they rolls will be very sticky and hard to form. A good rule of thumb is to add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (if you’re using a stand mixer). Then, stop adding flour just before you think you should.

Knead your dough for 5 minutes. This is OPTIONAL. I always do this and Dylan never does. The rolls always taste great both ways. The texture is more crumbly with his method, but the taste is still grand. If you did make these as Refrigerator Rolls, and left the dough in the fridge overnight to rest, I suspect the texture wouldn’t be very different at all.

Place your dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. I usually loosely cover the top of my bowl with a spare plastic bag or put the bowl in my microwave (less likely to get attacked by wild kitties).

When I place something in the microwave to rise I heat a glass of water for 2 minutes and set it in the back of the microwave. This helps keep things warm and also prevents the dough from drying out. If you use this method, you don’t need to cover the dough.

Once your dough has risen, punch it down and divide the ball into 16 equal portions. I find it is easiest to do this with a dough scraper. If I’m really feeling like a perfectionist, I use a scale to make sure the portions are equal. Size equality really only matters for aesthetics, though. If you are pressed for time, just divide up the dough and eyeball the pieces.

Shape the dough into rounded balls by pinching from one side and gathering the dough on the bottom of the roll. Place the rolls, barely touching, in two shallow baking dishes. We use Pyrex pie dishes, which each hold 8 dough balls. I’ve also seen people make similar rolls in muffin tins, one dough ball per tin, or on a baking sheet (if you bake them free like this, they will probably take less time in the oven). Do whatever works for you.

Preheat your oven to 375°. Let the shaped dough rise again, until doubled in size. I find this usually takes less time than the first rise, maybe 30 – 45 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned on top. If you tap the center roll it should sound hollow.

Allow the rolls to cool for about 20 minutes in your baking dishes before serving to loved ones!

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Long time fan, first time submitter…I’m throwing this in the hat for Wild Yeast’s weekly YeastSpotting.