For a month now, the congregation of St. Wilfrid’s has been making preparations for retired Bishop of Alabama Kee Sloan’s visit. It’s a big enough deal to have the Bishop come to your church, active or otherwise. Yet I knew from the moment my fellow parishioner, Ann, told me Bishop Sloan was coming that I had to pull out one stop or another. Maybe it’s my custom with church potlucks to use them as testing grounds for new recipes, but I figured now was as good a time as any to take care of some personal business. That business being yeasted bread.
Yes, we’ve finally come to that chapter in this column’s story. Yes, I’ve put off mastering yeasted breads for all this time, but there’s no time like the present. All my life, any time we had yeast rolls as a family they were from the familiar face known as Sister Schubert.
Miss (or is it Mrs.?) Schubert has made herself quite a household name around these parts. You can’t go to practically any potluck without a pan of Parker House rolls or sausage pinwheels adorning the buffet table with its shimmery aluminum pan. In our house, we pine for the Pigs-in-a-Blanket days of Sister Schubert, but the times still are a-changing.
As a naive youth I thought to myself, “How hard could it be to make a pan of rolls for dinner?” Now in my adulthood, I shake my head and respond, “Oh, if only you knew.”
You can imagine the synchronicity I felt as John shot me an expectant look from our pew as Bishop Sloan read from the Gospel of Matthew, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” John’s parents came to the service, since they are such big fans of Bishop Sloan’s books.
Yet, my mother-in-law, Carol, was excited to try the pocketbook rolls. Upon having her first one, she graciously complimented them and told me I could start taking orders for them!
Using a technique from Carolyn Nelson, I kept an eye on the temperature for the milk I was activating the yeast in with a candy thermometer. Somehow this recipe used the perfect amount of Crisco I had left in the tub—so that’s getting added to the grocery list. As I reflect on it, it wasn’t the dough that was difficult to make, it was making the pocketbook rolls themselves that turned into quite the undertaking.
Aside from the rolls I brought, imagine my shock when I walked out to see my lemon icebox pie was the first thing gone from the dessert table! That’s only ever happened when I’ve brought a peanut butter banana icebox pie. Unlike an icebox cake, though, it’s surprising to me how much time an icebox pie can spend in the oven. Unless you’re putting it into the freezer, that is.
Needless to say, between my two Sunday potluck contributions, I was pretty over the moon with their reception.
I polled the cousins and it seems like pocketbook rolls may be the recipe to give out, but I’ll warn you, it’s a bit of an undertaking. So, let’s bake, shall we?
Ella Beesley’s Refrigerator Rolls
4 cups whole milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable shortening
3 3/8 teaspoons (1 1/2 packages) active dry yeast
7 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus 1/2 cup for pressing
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick salted butter
Parchment paper for lining the pans
Pour the milk into a medium saucepan on medium heat. Once tiny bubbles start to form around the edges of the pan, about 4 to 5 minutes, remove from the heat. Place the sugar in a large bowl and cut the shortening in with two knives, until you have smaller pieces of shortening throughout the bowl. Pour in the hot milk and stir to melt the shortening into the liquid. Check the temperature of the milk, cooling it to at least 125 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Stir in the yeast to dissolve.
Pour 6 1/2 cups flour and the salt in a separate large bowl, whisking to combine. With a wooden spoon, fold the flour into the milk and yeast until it is smooth and forms a thick batter. Cover the bowl with a light towel and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Stir the baking powder and soda into the remaining 3/4 cups flour in a separate small bowl.
After the dough has risen, turn it out with the remaining flour into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle or dough hook attachment. Mix on medium speed until the dough becomes web-like and starts to pull away from the sides, about 5 minutes. The dough will still be thick and rather sticky. Return the dough to a large, clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest overnight in the fridge.
The next day, remove the dough and uncover. Push the dough down into the bowl with a wooden spoon. The dough will still be rather sticky. Scatter half of the 1/2 cup of flour onto a rolling surface. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface, sprinkling more flour as needed. With a floured knife or bench scraper, cut the dough in half, setting one half aside. Working with half the dough at a time, press out the dough to a 16-inch round, about 1/3 inch thick.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Line a 12-by-17 inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or brush four 9-inch round cake pans with butter. With a 2-inch floured biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds, flip-flop the rounds in the melted butter, and fold in half like a pocketbook.
Place the pocketbooks tightly, side-by-side in the prepared pans. If you’re using the sheet, try to get 8 across and 10 down. If you’re using the cake pans, try to fit about 18 to a pan. If you can’t fit them all on the sheet, the extras will do fine in a cake pan. This will yield about 6 to 7 dozen rolls, depending on if you use a smaller biscuit cutter. After cutting the rounds, pick up the scraps, shape them into rounds, dip in butter and continue (there’s no need to re-roll).
Drape the pans with a light kitchen towel and let the rolls rise again in a warm spot until doubled in size about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the middle. Bake the rolls until they are lightly golden brown, about 18 to 22 minutes. They will brown more in a shallow pan. Serve warm or let cool, then wrap in wax paper, then aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat them, open the foil, remove the wax paper, and then vent the foil before placing it into a 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until warmed through.
Now for just the briefest of notes, because I know that’s a long recipe to digest. I used two whole packages of yeast. For whatever reason when I measured out the 3 3/8 teaspoons I wasn’t getting it with one and a half packages. It didn’t mess anything up, if anything it just made the dough come alive more.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, fret not. If you have great arm strength, or maybe just want to give yourself some exercise, you can certainly mix this dough together with just a wooden spoon and a mixing bowl. You’ll eventually get the texture you’re looking for, but with just a bit more effort.
Another piece of advice I’ll give is make sure you have an absurdly large bowl for the dough to rest overnight, because it really grows.
As far as proofing goes, you really have to consider warm spots. Which in this climate, isn’t hard to come by. In our kitchen, I was able to leave the dough out on our counter under the picture window and let the morning sun do its magic. However, you can use whatever warm spot in your house to your advantage—even a turned off shower!
Also, be careful how much flour you use, you don’t want these rolls getting tough on you. One thing I wish I’d thought of while making these was flouring my hands prior to pressing, but you live and you learn.
One other recipe that is attached to this one, is using the scraps from cutting to make cinnamon rolls. Simply pull the scraps together and press out to 1/3 inch thickness. Brush with melted butter, cinnamon, maybe some cardamom and raisins, if you’re into that. Roll up like a jellyroll (or Swiss Roll for you Little Debbie aficionados) slice with a floured serrated knife into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place cut side down, close together on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes and WHAM! You’ve got a sweet treat for breakfast!
In true Southern fashion, this recipe doesn’t make a little bit, but enough to feed a small army (or congregation). However, I’d urge you to make the full recipe, keep what you’ll use right away and freeze the rest. In fact, with the fall season swiftly approaching, I could see myself making these on a free weekend in October to have them ready for Thanksgiving or Christmas. That way you’re not stressing yourself out over real estate in the fridge or having yet another labor intensive recipe to bring to the family gathering.
The Ella Beesley whom this recipe is named for actually created quite a roll business for herself with this recipe, which she inherited from her mother, Mary Priestly Cox. This is not an Alabama recipe, but a Tennessee one, but we share a common bloodline with the states surrounding our own, don’t we?
All Sunday morning I kept saying how it smelled like the Sister Schubert factory in the house. Apparently, Sister Schubert herself has a very similar story of selling rolls from her house until the demand got so great she became a glorified brand of yeast rolls.
That being said, yes, I’ll take orders for some yeast rolls if you pay me. Yet, I’ve given you the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. Why not try it for yourself?
Yeasted breads really terrified me more than they should. As it turns out, it’s not so scary if you use just one secret ingredient. Well, two: time and patience. These don’t come together quickly like a biscuit or cornbread, but if you really take your time with these, everything will turn out great. Besides, in an age where slowing down seems more like a luxury, it’s nice to pause and smell the yeast rolls.
