Rye Rolls
I once wrote an entire series about recipes that my mother made when I was growing up or that I otherwise obtained from her. Despite this vast cooking inheritance, only two of the recipes I listed out came from the generation prior to my mother's generation. One of those was my Great-Aunt Eleanor's Mondel bread, which I have made several times. The second was my maternal grandmother's rye rolls, which as of the final post in that series in January 2021 I had never made.
Not only had I never made rye rolls, so far as I could recall I had never eaten them either. If my mother ever made them, it was few and far between, and I mostly knew of them because my father remembered them fondly from when he and my mother were dating. As my dad framed it, "I knew grandma liked me when she started baking rye rolls when I came to visit."
Given my father's fond memories of the rye rolls, one year for either his birthday or Hanukkah I made him a batch as a gift. He said they tasted correct but didn't look right. My mother claimed ignorance of how to make them, and I actually obtained the recipe from my Aunt Joanne. Therefore, with us gathering at my aunt's house for Thanksgiving, it made sense to ask my aunt if she would help me make rye rolls the day after Thanksgiving so I could figure out what I'd done wrong the last time around.
Rye Rolls
Makes 4-5 dozen
1. Mix the following ingredients in a measuring cup and set aside until bubbling.
1 cup warm water
3 packages dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2. Mix the following ingredients in a saucepan and heat until shortening has melted.
4 cups Water
2 2/3 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp coarse salt
3 Tbsp shortening
1/4 cup powdered milk (optional, but gives better flavor)
3. Mix following ingredients in a very large bowl.
2 1/2 cups rye flour
5 cups white flour
3 Tbsp carraway seeds
4. Add contents of measuring cup and of saucepan to dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Add up to 2 1/2 additional cups of white flour until dough is soft but not sticky.
6. Spritz dough with olive oil, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in a warm place and let rise until doubled.
7. Grease multiple cookie sheets.
8. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch think. Cut into isosceles triangles. Roll each triangle from the short side toward the opposite point. Rolled rolls can be 1.5 to 3 inches long. Place on greased cookie sheet and repeat until all dough is rolled out.
9. Beat an egg white. Brush each roll with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with coarse salt.
10. Place cookie sheets in a warm place and let rise more. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
11. Bake rolls for about 15 minutes. Bottom of roll should be nicely browned.
12. Let cool on cooling racks.
The highlight of making this recipe was watching my aunt, my mother and (to a much lesser extent) my Uncle Joe argue about exactly how the recipe was supposed to be made. My grandmother never used recipes, and so my aunt had written it down by watching grandma bake it. Although everyone agreed about the general recipe, there were some spirited disagreements about the fine print. The end result certainly seemed to satisfy everyone. As a side note, it turns out that when I had first made this recipe, I had cut my dough into more even triangles and then rolled them from the point to the other side, which resulted in more of a lump than a roll.
Making rye rolls was for me the highlight of a very pleasant Thanksgiving weekend. M and Birdie and I stayed with my cousin Josh from Wednesday through Saturday. My Aunt Joanne and Uncle Jay hosted 13 for Thanksgiving at their house, and a similar number the next day for chili, rye rolls, cheese and leftover dessert. On Saturday we had a four way birthday party for M, myself, my mother and my aunt, which involved pizza out (my mother and I blew out candles on a pizza) and ice cream at my Aunt's, plus many presents for all involved. It was a very good time.
For extra fun, I took pictures of a bunch of recipes from Aunt Joanne's collection, including another one of my maternal grandmother's recipes that I had never heard of called "Christmas Bread". We'll see if we can get some of those recipes to a fourth generation.
Not only had I never made rye rolls, so far as I could recall I had never eaten them either. If my mother ever made them, it was few and far between, and I mostly knew of them because my father remembered them fondly from when he and my mother were dating. As my dad framed it, "I knew grandma liked me when she started baking rye rolls when I came to visit."
Given my father's fond memories of the rye rolls, one year for either his birthday or Hanukkah I made him a batch as a gift. He said they tasted correct but didn't look right. My mother claimed ignorance of how to make them, and I actually obtained the recipe from my Aunt Joanne. Therefore, with us gathering at my aunt's house for Thanksgiving, it made sense to ask my aunt if she would help me make rye rolls the day after Thanksgiving so I could figure out what I'd done wrong the last time around.
Rye Rolls
Makes 4-5 dozen
1. Mix the following ingredients in a measuring cup and set aside until bubbling.
1 cup warm water
3 packages dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2. Mix the following ingredients in a saucepan and heat until shortening has melted.
4 cups Water
2 2/3 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp coarse salt
3 Tbsp shortening
1/4 cup powdered milk (optional, but gives better flavor)
3. Mix following ingredients in a very large bowl.
2 1/2 cups rye flour
5 cups white flour
3 Tbsp carraway seeds
4. Add contents of measuring cup and of saucepan to dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Add up to 2 1/2 additional cups of white flour until dough is soft but not sticky.
6. Spritz dough with olive oil, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in a warm place and let rise until doubled.
7. Grease multiple cookie sheets.
8. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch think. Cut into isosceles triangles. Roll each triangle from the short side toward the opposite point. Rolled rolls can be 1.5 to 3 inches long. Place on greased cookie sheet and repeat until all dough is rolled out.
9. Beat an egg white. Brush each roll with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with coarse salt.
10. Place cookie sheets in a warm place and let rise more. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
11. Bake rolls for about 15 minutes. Bottom of roll should be nicely browned.
12. Let cool on cooling racks.
The highlight of making this recipe was watching my aunt, my mother and (to a much lesser extent) my Uncle Joe argue about exactly how the recipe was supposed to be made. My grandmother never used recipes, and so my aunt had written it down by watching grandma bake it. Although everyone agreed about the general recipe, there were some spirited disagreements about the fine print. The end result certainly seemed to satisfy everyone. As a side note, it turns out that when I had first made this recipe, I had cut my dough into more even triangles and then rolled them from the point to the other side, which resulted in more of a lump than a roll.
Making rye rolls was for me the highlight of a very pleasant Thanksgiving weekend. M and Birdie and I stayed with my cousin Josh from Wednesday through Saturday. My Aunt Joanne and Uncle Jay hosted 13 for Thanksgiving at their house, and a similar number the next day for chili, rye rolls, cheese and leftover dessert. On Saturday we had a four way birthday party for M, myself, my mother and my aunt, which involved pizza out (my mother and I blew out candles on a pizza) and ice cream at my Aunt's, plus many presents for all involved. It was a very good time.
For extra fun, I took pictures of a bunch of recipes from Aunt Joanne's collection, including another one of my maternal grandmother's recipes that I had never heard of called "Christmas Bread". We'll see if we can get some of those recipes to a fourth generation.