the making of a fluffy roll

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So, once again I decided to try my hand at making my grandmother's rolls - a major staple for me around the holidays.  They are pretty much your basic parker house roll, but I am NOT good at making anything that requires yeast and patience.  I have failed miserably at making these in the past and am determined to find my secret for making these damn things!

One big step toward success is getting the yeast to actually activate!  Seems in the past my water temperature was either too hot or too cold, so now I've taken to the thermometer to make sure I'm in the 110-115 degree range and the tsp of sugar is a must.  I was delighted to see my yeast was super active - step 1 :: success!  Then onto mixing the ingredients together - no problems there. 

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Now it's up to the dough rising Gods - leaving this guy behind to rise.  I had the oven on to heat up the kitchen, cranked up the heat and had the fireplace going to be sure it was warm enough (despite the fact that I was about to melt!!).  

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To my delight, only a couple of ours later it had doubled and was even spilling out of the bowl - part of me was thinking uh oh is that a bad sign?  Should I have put it in a larger bowl?  eek!  

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So here we are... 9AM this morning and I am ready to put this dough to work.  It was crazy sticky, so I slathered flour and pulled off a chunk to start rolling.  

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Recipe says to roll out dough to be about 1/2" thick - but I believe this is one of the places where I went wrong in the past - so I went a little thinner at first - but they felt a little too thin, so adjusted a bit for the next batch. 

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Grandma always put a tiny pat of butter inside the dough so that you get a little extra buttery goodness when you bite into the roll.  I am using Plugera (my new favorite butter). 

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Fold those little circles over and line them up in a well greased (and oiled) pan to let them rise again.  At least two hours if not more.  Since we're not eating till 4, these should be perfectly puffy and ready to bake!  I will bake them when I get to the Robinson's (@350 for 10-15 till golden brown).

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I had a couple of scraps left and wanted to see what would happen if I baked them up - would they taste right?  Would they even rise?  Ahhhh .. yes they will!  I think I can put 2010 down as a roll success!  I am extremely THANKFUL for fluffy rolls!!  Happy Thanksgiving to you!!

thinking about grandma

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Thinking about Grandma this weekend.  She's been in the hospital the last couple of days and is trying to overcome some serious heart problems.  She's a whopping 91 years old (92 in May) and has been withering away for some time.  Not sure how much longer she will win the battle to stay here with us, but we know she's a fighter!  And now she's doped up on morphine so I bet she feels better than ever!

This photo is from 2003 when our family did a little portrait session - I love this one because it's so classic.  She could be any woman, anywhere in the world.  And yet, she's never been outside the state of Kansas.  xoxo

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I received my annual Christmas letter from my great Aunt - she's 85 and until the last two years was healthy and going strong like someone half her age. I loved this little paragraph ... says a lot about her and her attitude.

"I have managed to stay clear of the hospital; however I have been CT'd, XRAY'd, echo'd, pacemaker'd, bone density'd, extract'd and crown'd, but I don't feel a bit like royalty. Given that: I'm older, slower and have more wrinkles -- but they don't hurt."

I can only hope to live a healthy long life like my Aunt and her sister. They are 85 and 90 and going strong! I firmly believe it's because of their positive attitudes about life. You rarely hear a negative thing out of them.