As many of you know, I'm not very good at baking things that contain yeast. I don't have the patience or the scientific background to make yeast recipes work (which is really just another excuse for lack of patience). Lately I've been handing this off to my husband, as he is the patient one.
I happened to catch Alton Brown's recipe for Parker House Rolls and decided it looked simple enough for me to try again. It didn't work. It was a bright, sunny, moist day. Perfect for making yeasty bread products...not so. They never rose and while trying to stay hopeful that they would magically rise, by some miracle of God, if I put them in the oven to bake was, well, just stupid. They were hockey pucks that could have killed an intruder or at least blinded one.
My conclusion was that the yeast was dead. So, off to the grocery store before Easter night services. New yeast...
They worked. I made the dough and formed them into rolls for their second rise before a family bike ride Easter morning. When we returned...happiness! They were gorgeous and billowy (is that a word?) and ready for the oven. Truly delicious.
They were so good, that after Easter dinner (ham, broccoli-cheese-rice casserole, cilantro-lime-garlic cob corn, black eyed pea salad, and strawberry cake with coconut frosting) I played 126 calories-worth of four-square with the girls and hubby, just to eat another roll. This morning, I had two. I can't wait till they're gone so they don't just sit on the counter and mess with me.
*Bread flour worked best for this recipe, as did regular white sugar, not agave or raw sugar. I also used skim milk instead of whole milk. I formed them into flattened balls instead of doing the traditional Parker House fold-over with butter tucked into them and brushed them with melted butter before and after baking. I also cut back the salt to 2 teaspoons.
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