Parker House Rolls

One thing I've learned over the years of blogging about food (and, really, about almost anything) is that there are always variations on themes. And those variations really come out when you're talking about recipes. 

Back around Easter, I decided that it would be nice to have dinner rolls with our Easter dinner (even though Easter dinner this year was just Christopher, me, and a ham). And so I headed online to find a good dinner roll recipe and came across this recipe for Parker House rolls from Dave Lieberman (who had a short run on the Food Network). 

Having looked at a few other recipes, I thought this one seemed to look like it hit all the right notes. And since we had just come into possession of yeast, I decided it was the way to go. (Plus, they promised to look really pretty.)

Now, something you may not remember is that I also spent much of Easter Sunday making Yeast Doughnuts (that blog post is here). (So there was a whole lot of rising going on on Easter.) 

Let's set the scene, since it's been a while: 

 Yes, frankly, this is how I feel about yeast. (More explanation in the video.) 

First, we get together the ingredients, as usual. 

You'll note that the water has a thermometer sticking out of it - that's because water that is too cold won't do anything with yeast and water that is too hot will kill it.
(Please ignore the bottle of chocolate extract in the photo.)

So what is a good temperature when working with Active Dry Yeast? Somewhere between 110 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit. 

With the water (1 cup) at the right temp, we put in the yeast (2 1/4 tsp - or one "packet" of Active Dry yeast) and sugar (2 tbsp) (because yeast needs something to eat) (eww). 

And, as discussed in the video, you let that get all foamy for 5 or 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can work with the rest of your ingredients, including 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 tsp of salt. 

Yeah. The "flour and salt" photos are never going to get interesting. Sorry.

Add in one whole egg and one extra yolk... 

For the record, I do not know what the equivalency is if you crack open an egg to find it has two yolks.

And - you guessed it - you can start stirring.

At this point, you can go back and look at the frothy yeast to see what it's been up to. 

When we started, it basically all came to just barely above the 8-ounce mark. At this point, it was up to the 12-ounce mark. Which made me think the yeast had had enough snacking and was ready to do some work. 

And, having decided that it's time to mix everything together, you can do just that.

This was the first time I've made these rolls, and... yowsa... this was not what I expected them to look like. 

Eventually, they started to pull together and smooth out.

But even after adding all of the flour, this is how gloppy the dough looked when I flipped it out onto the board to be kneaded. 

I took the recipe at its word and added about half a cup more flour as I went along - both to keep it from sticking to the board AND to get it to eventually hold together. 

At this point, I put it into a bowl, covered it, and let it proof for about 20 minutes, at which point it came out looking like this: 

I know it's a bit hard to tell, but it did grow some during that 20-minute rest. 

While the dough was resting, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and put it into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate:

And now your junior high math skills come into play. (Though... really... with most baking you do have to use math, so this isn't a huge leap.) 

To quote the recipe: "Remove dough from the bowl, divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a long 1 1/2-inch wide snake shape. Cut into 20 pieces and shape each into a ball." That process looks (at least in my kitchen) like this: 

Step 1: Divide the dough in half

Step 2: Roll each half into a 1 1/2-inch wide snake

Step 3: Cut into 20 pieces. 

I fully admit that this step had me wondering a bit. Was I supposed to cut each half into 20? Or was I supposed to end up with 20 pieces total? I opted to go with 20 pieces total.

The first few dough balls were easy enough to roll in the butter. The latter ones were a bit of a challenge, though, because there wasn't much room left to move the butter around in. (If I come across something like this in a recipe in the future, I'll probably just butter the pan, then keep the melted butter in a bowl to dip the dough into.) 

Once in the pan, I tucked them in under a towel and (as usual) placed it on the top of the fridge to proof. 

After about an hour, they'd not quite doubled in size, but I figured it was close enough. 

They did look much more pleasant than they had before proofing, after all: 

A quick brush with some lightly beaten egg (honestly, I just used the leftover eggwhite, instead of a whole egg), and then a sprinkling with salt, and then into the oven. 

And about half an hour later, they looked like this. 

Be honest - that's making your mouth water just a bit, isn't it? 

So, they look good, but how did they taste? 

Overall, I'd say they lived up to the hype. And they were great for ham sandwiches after the fact. 

Was it a perfect recipe? Maybe not. The dough was probably not supposed to be quite so wet at the start, but I worked around that. We'll see if I try this recipe again in the future or try another one. 

By the way - I did find that, yep, Parker House Rolls are named after the Parker House Hotel in Boston, where they originated in the 1870s. 

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Behind/Below-the-scenes photo: This is what happens when you wear black sweatpants without an apron while working with dough. (Or at least it's what happens if you're me.) 

Thanksgiving Sandwich (It's mainly about leftovers - but there's also a story)

I hope you’ll forgive me if I type with my mouth full. I just couldn’t wait to eat the sandwich I made this morning, and so I’m sitting down to lunch and writing and eating at the same time. (This is multi-tasking at work that I’m happy to do.)

Oh. Let me explain what I’m eating via this morning’s video:

Yeah. You really don’t need a recipe for this, right? It’s pretty basic.

You’ve got your main ingredients in their plastic containers/bags.

The Green Bean Casserole is still in the fridge - not going into my sandwich.

You’ve got your one or two add-ins to pull it together, if you so desire. (Note: The mayo, above, probably also should have been in this photo.)

Of these, only the salt and pepper went into my sandwich today.

And then you’ve got assembly.

I’m partial to mayo for this, in part because it moistens the turkey, but also because it’s got a good “adhesive” quality for holding everything together.

For the record, this is also a good time to get rid of the skin, because... well... it doesn't do much for the sandwich.

Depending on the moisture content of your stuffing, you may need more or less of that adhesive . . .

We won't discuss whether or not a chunk of stuffing may have bounced out of the sandwich and onto the floor during an early photo attempt.

Finally, I’m a huge proponent of using reusable containers for my lunch. But, for these sandwiches, I believe a tight wrap in foil is best. It helps to keep everything together and not shifting and falling apart when I toss it into my bag and carry it to work.

That reminds me – the Christmas Cake is still well wrapped in its container in the coolest area of our basement. I doused it with brandy again last night, and it’s gotten *so* much more moist than it felt when I first put it away. I think it’s going to be amazing in a few weeks!

And, yes, I promised you a story:

When I was growing up, we lived about 13 miles from where my dad grew up, and would always go to my grandmother's for major holiday meals. (Before you ask, no, we didn't go over any rivers or through any woods to get there.) All of these meals were served at Noon. Not 11:50. Not 12:05. Noon. And you had to be there and seated by then so that a prayer could be said and food could be served and passed. 

I landed at a kind of strange point in the genealogy of the family - my dad was the 7th of 8 kids in the family, and I'm the youngest of 4. That means that I spent a lot of time at the kids' table in the spare bedroom with a few first cousins we typically only saw on holidays, as well as any "first cousins, once removed" who were in attendance, while the rest of "my generation" (including my siblings) were with the grown-ups around the big table in the living room. 

Finally, when I was in either junior high or high school, I got moved to the adult table - sure, I was typically sharing the window seat with one of my sisters, but at least it was in the living room. (The kitchen had a table, but for big family gatherings it was typically covered with the detritus of meal prep, and there was no room for eating.) 

Someone would say grace (at Noon - which you knew already, if you were paying attention), and then we'd serve ourselves whatever was in front of us and pass the dish to the next person. This was always an issue, though, for the first few moments. Although we'd typically end up passing to the left (clockwise), there was always that one person who started out passing to the right. This was a problem, of course, because we all had to go the same way or else the world would explode! (Or, even worse, we'd miss the olive tray.) I don't remember any fights as a result of this, though I do remember some voices raised in consternation. 

My grandmother made dressing (stuffing?) that was like nothing I had anywhere else. It was denser than we had at home - more the texture of a bread pudding than individual cubes of bread. I didn't really enjoy it as a kid (I think I heard along the way that all of the weird meats inside the turkey went into it, which freaked me out), but I have fond memories of it to this day. 

There were always homemade sweet pickles, as well as canned olives, the cranberry sauce that comes out of a can with rings "so you know where to cut it," and - of course - turkey and pumpkin pie. And I seem to remember lots of post-dinner football games on the TV in the corner of the living room as we cleared up and settled in. 

It's funny how those Thanksgivings - which we all sort of wanted to change, since they started so early and we had to be dressed and out the door and over there in time, usually bringing foods Mom had had to prep earlier in the day, just so we could see relatives we didn't really know - now play a big part in how I think of Thanksgiving. 

As holidays go, I have to admit it's my kind of day. There's food, people, a parade (and football) on TV, and no real expectations beyond that. And, for people as lucky as I have been, there are also lots of memories - which (like Thanksgiving leftovers) tend to get better with time.

Not that you probably need a second video for this, but here's something short, anyway:

Speaking of the Holidays… I don’t know if all of you read my weekly (or slightly less frequent) posts about editing and writing. (They typically get posted on Sundays.) This week, I’m diving into the idea of memoir/ biography/ autobiography – and the fact that the Holiday season is the perfect time to get started. If that interests you at all, definitely stop back on Sunday afternoon to get my thoughts on the matter!

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Searching for a specific Christmas cookie recipe – either an old favorite or something that you think only exists in the realm of legend? Or maybe you want a Jell-o salad you can use to impress your guests? Let me know and I’ll see if I can work it in in the next month!

Sandwich Prep Finale (finally!)

We’ve seen baby pictures…

Freshly home from the plant sale.

We’ve seen growing-up pictures…

About a month in.

About three months along.

And, finally, we have a grown-up, no-longer-green, red tomato picture:

Let’s discuss:

I feel like the momentous nature of this occasion requires me to go through all of the steps of a recipe, even though I really just want to go straight to the sandwich. So, here we go…

Ingredients:

Because it takes the longest, I start the egg frying...

The pan is a decent quality non-stick, but I still hit it with just a quick shot of spray, since I wanted to be able to flip the egg without issue.

If I’m having eggs just for the sake of having eggs, I usually take my fried eggs “over medium” – no longer runny, but not quite solid. For a sandwich like this, though, I like the yolk to be firm.

Covering the pan holds the heat (and the moisture) in so that the egg cooks faster, without having to crank up the heat and worry about burning.

While the egg is frying away, it’s time to turn to the star of the show. I almost felt a little bit bad cutting into it – but not that bad.

By the way... I’m a firm believer in using what is traditionally a “meat board” style cutting board for juicy vegetables. After all, I did not want to deal with having to wash dried tomato juice (which somehow always has one or two straggling seeds in it) off of the counter.

Though we don't often have garden-fresh tomatoes to cut, we do have a tomato knife. It's almost the same as a sausage knife, but the tomato knife has prongs on the end. I've been told that they're there so you can life the tomato slices without getting your hands dirty, but I also use them to poke around and remove anything that looks unsavory in the tomato.

With almost perfect timing, the egg was ready to flip by the time I had my slices cut.

See how the white is set up but the yellow hasn't really cooked, yet? That's what adds a little thrill to the flip.

I don’t have video of this, but I did actually flip the egg without the aid of a spatula. In the next photo, you can see the slight streaking of the white along the bottom/side of the pan – that’s because I didn’t quite stick the landing.

Assembly of this sandwich, for me, has a few steps.

First of all, I love doing this on English muffins, because they fit the tomato and egg so well. But since toasted English muffins can be a bit dry I start with a little bit of margarine (which melts in and softens everything).

Then I go for mayo. Yes, I’m one of those people who likes mayo – and although I’ve made it from scratch (which is so much easier than you might think), I am perfectly fine with it coming out of a jar for most applications.

I put the egg on the bottom, with the tomato on top for this one, but I don’t know that it really matters (though it does make for pretty pictures that way).

I think that if I were doing a more complex sandwich (like a club sandwich with a fried egg on it), I’d put the egg on top simply because I could make the rest of the sandwich while the egg was cooking. In this case, though, everything was done at about the same time, so I went for aesthetics.

How did this make me feel? Well, let's find out:

And, yes, this is what the plate looked like about 45 seconds after the camera was turned off. I honestly believe that it was worth every moment of the 5 months that I’ve been tending those plants.

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Have a fall recipe that you'd like someone else to try, first? Let me know! Or, if you're looking for a recipe for the Holidays, drop me a line and I'll see if I can find it. This time of year - even more than others - the kitchen is my happy place!