Mom's Icebox Rolls
By
Janice Bartholome
@2HandsForHim
4
Blue Ribbon Recipe
The aroma of these homemade rolls baking really made my mouth water. Hot out of the oven with some melted butter, these are going to be a hit with your friends and family. I love the option to make the dough ahead of time - I'm always looking to save a bit of time at a holiday dinner. These are easy to make and wonderfully delicious!
The Test Kitchen
★★★★★ 2 votes5
Ingredients
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1 cshortening
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3/4 csugar
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1 cwater, hot
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1 cwater, warm
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2 pkgactive dry yeast
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2eggs
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1 tspsalt
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4-6 cflour
How to Make Mom's Icebox Rolls
- Add 4 cups of flour and the salt, and stir into liquid. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. I usually end up adding at least another cup of flour, sometimes two or three, at this point. The dough will be a little tacky, but shouldn't be very sticky. It should be just past the "sticky" stage and feel a little bit "elastic."
- Punch the dough down again, flour a bread board generously, place the dough on the board and sprinkle lightly with flour. Fold the edges into the middle and knead with the heels of your hands for several minutes until it begins to feel "elastic." Start rolling it out with a floured rolling pin (or use a "stocking" on your rolling pin). Fold the edges in again, and repeat the kneading process.
- Pinch off about 1/4 of the dough to work with, and set the rest aside. Start rolling the dough out with your floured rolling pin. Keep turning the dough over and around as you roll it. It will be very elastic and resist flattening. Add flour to your board as needed to keep dough from sticking to the board or rolling pin.
- Cover the rolls with lightweight cloths, like cotton dish towels, and allow them to "rest" on the baking sheets and rise before baking. The time for this varies according to how warm the room is. In a warm kitchen, they may rise double and be ready to bake in 15 minutes. If they're sitting on the table in a cool dining room, it could take an hour. When you see that they've risen some, but they're not rising anymore, bake them.
- I often make these rolls far ahead of time and bake them right to the point where they are just about to start browning. I put them in the freezer on sheets until they freeze and then put them into freezer bags. When I'm ready to serve them, I take them out frozen, put them into a 350-degree oven and bake them until the tops are golden brown. They taste even better than when I make them all in one day. Freezing seems to enhance the "yeasty" flavor.