What Country this week?
This week’s blog is not country focused, but instead a tribute to my family, the Berry family, in southern America… more specifically… Arkansas. I no longer live in the south nor cook southern food (except for cornbread once in a while and biscuits), but my memories of good downhome southern food will always be close at heart. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted crispy, buttery, skillet cornbread; tall, buttery, flaky biscuits; soft, buttery yeast rolls (did I mention butter?); sweet, flaky crusted pies; or any homegrown vegetable cooked in who knows what kind of to die for fat prepared and cooked by a downhome southern cook where generations taught generations how to cook and “recipes” were passed down by see and do. Yes, no recipes… we watch and imitate… that’s it.
December 6, 1918-March 17, 2004
Inspiration?
With Thanksgiving a week or so away, my childhood and traditions are the first to come to mind. This time of year, I spend hours in the kitchen thinking about my grandmother on my mom’s side. I have made it my annual mission to keep my memory of my Grandma alive (Mamaw Berry, my sister and I called her) by baking her rolls for Thanksgiving. She was the first person to inspire me to bake.
You must know, however, that it all started with the stomach.
Yes, as a 7 year old, I would eat 7-8 (small) rolls in one sitting and I was not overweight. I LIVED for Sunday after church lunches and holidays for Mamaw Berry’s rolls. In discussing this week’s blog with my sister, she quickly recalled walking into my grandparent’s home filled with the smell of yeast and 20-30 (and more many times) aunts / great aunts, uncles / great uncles, and cousins standing around a 1950’s yellow kitchen (this was the 80’s mind you) and diner-style table with yellow, vinyl, rickety chairs drooling with anticipation over those amazing hot, soft, buttery, melt-in-your mouth rolls to exit the oven. The worst part was after the many small pans came out of the oven, my mom and aunts (who helped my grandmother cook) made us all wait until the rest of the meal was ready before we could even snag a roll. I think they had a pan hidden under the table for themselves.
My grandmother was known around town for her traditional southern yeast rolls and, of course, her sweet and loving demeanor
In fact, she was the resident roll maker for the local elementary, junior high, and high schools. All of the students and teachers knew her for her rolls. She did not use a recipe, but a couple of my aunts and mom watched her multiple times and measured for her as she baked so we could all (at least try to) replicate her incredible bread. Needless to say, I don’t think any of us have her magic touch, but over the years and after many trials, I think I’m as close as I’m going to get. In honor of Mamaw Berry who has passed on, I thought I would share with you what so many loved about her including her recipe.
Mamaw Berry’s Rolls
The Berry Roll Recipe and step-by-step instructions with pictures are featured below. All you need are 6 ingredients plus water and butter to top them straight from the oven… and more butter for the center of each roll… if you eat southern food, you must have butter and more butter…
The 6 ingredients…
- 2 pkgs of active dry yeast (same as 4 1/2 tsp)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 7 cups of all-purpose flour
Place 1/2 cup shortening (cut into small pieces to help with the melting) in a very large bowl…
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the shortening to melt it…
Boiling water is melting the shortening…
Shortening melted and cooling down to lukewarm temperature (between 100-115 degrees is ok)…
While shortening is cooling, stir all of the yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/2 cup water (100-110 degrees) in a medium bowl and set aside until doubled (yeast is activated)…
Yeast has doubled and is activated…
Once shortening has cooled some, add 2 tbsp salt, and remaining 2 tbsp sugar and stir…
Pour in activated yeast…
All yeast in…
And stirred…
Use the same bowl in which you had the yeast (that is now in the shortening bowl) and crack in 2 eggs…
Slightly beat the 2 eggs before adding them to the shortening and yeast mixture…
Stir in 4 cups of flour…
How to sift flour and what it looks like after…
The rest of the 3 cups of flour were added and stirred well. It’s still a little wet, but that’s ok. More flour will be added during the knead. Cover bowl with plastic wrap to insulate the heat and avoid drafts. I spray the dough with cooking spray to prevent the dough from sticking to the plastic as it rises. Place the bowl in a warm place; I typically place it ON the stove and turn the oven on to 250 degrees to create a warm space…
Dough risen… woo, hoo!
Pour dough out onto a pretty heavily floured surface since the dough is fairly wet. Knead the whole dough for 10 minutes adding in flour as needed…
Divide dough in half leaving one half in the bowl (as seen in the photo) to rest and keep the other half on the floured board kneading for an additional 10 minutes and repeat with other half.
One half kneaded and resting while I locate my biscuit cutter. You can use a cookie cutter or small-mouth drinking glass/Mason jar (like my mom). Mamaw Berry used an old (by today’s standards… vintage, we’ll say) tin biscuit cutter.
Found it! Biscuit cutter has joined the party! Press out one half of the dough as seen in the photo to about 1/2 inch thick… no need for a rolling pin… saving time. 🙂
Notice how much dough is in the biscuit cutter. I prefer small round but taller rolls. The dough almost reaches the top of the cutter. This is a “feel”; you sort of figure it out as you go. I tend to squeeze inward the large round dough… pushing it into the cutter to make it taller.
This amount of dough will produce 3 large pans or several small… I’ve used a variety over the years. The pans you see are 1- 9×13 and 2- 11×7 buttered. I prefer butter instead of cooking spray because the butter will soak into the bottoms of the rolls are they cook… YUMMY!!
All rolls in their pans and ready for their second rise sitting on the stove over a nice warm oven and covered with plastic (about an hour)… you only see 2 of the 3 pans here.
All 3 pans are ready for the oven…
Straight out of the oven 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the tops and bottoms are brown. I use glass pans so I can see the sides and bottoms as they cook.
Final pan after a nice coating of butter rubbed on top… Want clean hands? Unwrap one end of a stick of butter and grab hold of the other end OR cut off 1-2 tablespoons of butter, stab it with a knife and rub the butter along the tops.
One of the rolls cut in half to see the interior… be sure to add butter and let it melt.
The Berry Roll Recipe Click HERE!
Final thoughts…
The rolls go without saying.
They are light, fluffy, and full of flavor. You can taste the richness from the combination of salt, sugar, and shortening. Made with simple ingredients to tickle your taste buds… soon to be asking for more.
Don’t we all have those memories?
So many of us have one or two of these family dishes we remember and enjoy because they evoke memories of our childhood. This is mine. I have several yeast roll recipes I make throughout the year, but this one is special and I only make it during the holidays; I certainly don’t want to wear out my memories.
Thankful for memories!
I’m so glad I have this memory of Mamaw Berry and I’m able to spend time in thought and reflection every year. I’m thankful for good times and people who have positively impacted me throughout my life. I look forward to making new memories with family and friends. Our memories are only moments in time taking up such small spaces in our brains; there’s much more to make and store.
Happy Thanksgiving to us all regardless of where we live. Whatever our cultures and traditions are, we can all take time for reflection and be thankful for loved ones, those happy memories, and great things that are happening in our lives and all over the world.
I remember those yeast rolls well. Thanks for posting her recipe, I will definitely be trying my skills out.
Hi Kathy! I’m so glad you remember them; they were pretty unforgettable. I hope they turn out as well for you and jog some great memories, too. I appreciate your comment and you taking the time to read the post.