Joanne's Parker House Rolls

I tried my very first Parker House roll in Walla Walla while spending my first Christmas with Nick’s family. The rolls Nick’s grandmother, Joanne, made were simply delicious. Legend has it when Nick was eleven, he ate as many as 14 in one sitting, accompanied by a complete Christmas Eve dinner—you know, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, Christmas Jello... So of course I asked Joanne for the recipe, and she kindly wrote it out on a card for me.

After making several rather tasteless batches of rolls, I asked Nick’s Aunt Lisa, well known for her humor and excellent cooking, for help.

If one can laugh loudly in an email, Lisa certainly did. The subject line of the first email back to me read: “TEASPOON????”  She suggested that I attempt the recipe using 1/4 cup instead of 1 teaspoon of sugar. I followed Lisa’s advice, and for the first time ever my rolls had a taste and were actually pleasant to eat.

Unbeknownst to me, the sugar measurement saga continued—Lisa and Joanne were vigorously exchanging emails on the subject:

Joanne:  I've never in my life put 1/4 cup of sugar in Parker House rolls! I put in 1 heaping T and that's it.

Lisa:  The recipe that I am using is the one you pointed out in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook [which calls for 1/4 cup of sugar]. … Your T tells me that you use a tablespoon, heaping, correct? Is that a measuring tablespoon or a serving spoon from your silverware? Either a heaping measuring tablespoon or a heaping "tablespoon" from my silverware is about 1/8 cup, so it isn't really that far off.

Joanne:  All this funny stuff about the sugar in the rolls. Actually in both rolls and spaghetti sauce I use one of my big cooking spoons that hang above stove and put in a heaping one of those for the sugar!

Sometime later someone in the family measured the volume of one of those “big cooking spoons that hang above the stove” heaping with sugar, and it came out to be almost exactly 1/4 cup.

A few years have gone by since then, and I have gotten better at making rolls. Besides changing the sugar amount, I made two other minor adjustments to Joanne’s original recipe:

• I use butter instead of Crisco.
• I make the dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge. Putting the dough into the cold might sound like blasphemy to Joanne, but a slow rise gives bread more flavor. Plus, doing so allows me to do half the work the night before.

Joanne no longer cooks, and other people in the family take on the responsibility of preparing the Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone tries to help, and I have been making a triple batch of Parker House rolls for the last two years. Hopefully the family will not bar me from doing so again, now that I am publicly revealing my changes to Joanne’s original recipe.

Joanne’s Parker House Rolls as written on my card

• In a large bowl:
• 1 Tbsp suga
• 1 tsp salt
• In a small pan:
• scald 1 cup milk with 2 or 3 Tbsp of Crisco
• Stir, don’t let boil
• Pour over sugar/salt in a bowl, stir to dissolve
• Let cool to just warm
• Add 1 beaten egg
• Add 2 ¼ tsp dry yeast dissolved in very warm water (not too hot)
• Stir in 1 cup of flour (will be lumpy)
• Stir in 1 more cup flour, beating well and scraping off sides of bowl
• Measure 1 more cup flour, add about ¾ cup. If dough is still sticky add rest of flour. If dough is stiff, don’t add flour.
• Beat dough vigorously with large spoon, scrape sides and bottom of bowl beating air into the dough
• Cover with dish cloth. Set in a warm spot. Let rise 2 hours.
• Roll out (to about 1/2”) on floured pastry cloth, rolling pin has cloth cover as well.
• Use 2 ½” cookie cutter, dab melted butter on each. Stretch circle, fold over and press top edge down on greased sheet. (Will keep rolls from popping open.)
• Bake @ 400F. Check at 8 min – 10 min max. Will be lightly brown.

Joanne’s Parker House Rolls with a few adjustments

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk
• 3 Tbsp of butter + more butter melted to brush the rolls
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 3 cups of flour (more for rolling out the dough)

1. Combine sugar, salt, milk and butter in a small pot, scold, but don’t let boil. (If it boils, it is ok). When the butter, sugar and salt dissolve, take off the heat and let cool. 
2. In a cup, dissolve yeast in warm water, and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. 
3. When the milk/butter mixture cools (I sometimes use ice baths to speed up the process), stir in the beaten egg, and the yeast/water mixture. (The milk/butter mixture should not feel hot—you don’t want to cook the egg or kill the yeast).
4. Stir in 2 cups of flour one at a time, beating well with a large spoon and scraping off the sides.
5. Measure 1 more cup of flour, but only add about 3/4 of the cup. Only add more flour if the dough still feels sticky. The dough should remain a little sticky. (Note: When doubling or tripling the recipe, sometimes more flour is needed.)
6. Beat dough vigorously with a large spoon (or knead with your hands) beating air into the dough.
1. To make a day ahead: cover the bowl tightly and place in the refrigerator. The next day, bring to room temperature before rolling the dough out.
2. To make the day of: cover with a dish cloth, set in a warm spot, and let rise for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
8. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness on floured surface. (I do not use a pastry cloth or a cloth cover for the rolling pin.)
9. Use 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut out circles in the dough.
10. Dab or brush melted butter on each circle.
11. Stretch each circle, fold it over (in half) and press the top edge down.
12. Cover with a dish cloth, set in a warm spot, and let rise for about an hour.
13. Bake in 400F oven for 8-10 minutes. The rolls should be just lightly brown.