How To Tuesday {Quick Rolls}

Growing up, Sunday dinner was always the same.  Pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, beets, corn and rolls.  Every Sunday.  My dad loves his pot roast.  Every once in awhile we got a roasted chicken instead of the pot roast and it was like a treat.  I suppose that's why I prefer chicken over pot roast now.  In fact, in my home, we don't have pot roast and I'll admit, it's a little strange after all those years of Sunday Pot Roast.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about the roast, I'm here to talk about the rolls.  My mom used Rhodes frozen dough rolls.  Every Sunday morning there'd be a pan of frozen dough balls, covered with plastic, sitting in a sunny spot in the house.  By the time dinner came around they had risen to spectacular heights and were ready for the oven.  Every once in awhile, if my mom forgot to get them out before it was too late, she'd use the quick rise method on the bag.  Boil a pot of water, preheat the oven, turn the oven off, put the rolls in the oven over a pan of the boiled water and let them rise for an hour or so.

As a young married, I felt it was too much work to get the rolls out and sit around all day to rise, so for the first few years of our marriage, we didn't have them.  (Well, except for the two years we lived with my parents, then we had them nearly every Sunday.)  We had store bought rolls.  I know, the horror!  When we moved out, I started buying the Rhodes rolls and committed to making them.  I did alright, but there was one day I had a craving for them, but it there was only a half hour before dinner and I hadn't gotten any out.   But I wanted them, so I got them out, started the quick rise method, but here's the thing:  I didn't wait until they had "doubled in size" as the instructions require.  I only let them get a little bit bigger and then turned the oven on.  And the result: marvelous.  Soft, dense, with structure.  Not light and airy.  From that moment on, my roll baking habits have taken on a new life and we have them at least twice a week.  And this is how I do it:

First things first, get out a small pot and boil some water.  I didn't take a picture of it because boiling water is boiling water.  You know what it looks like, right?

Next, get out two pans, whatever size to hold all the rolls you want and then a pie size or round cake pan size pan for the boiling water.  Spray you roll pan with non-stick spray and arrange your rolls.

Set your oven to preheat to around 270.  Turn it off when it gets to the right temperature.  Pour your boiling water into your pan and put on a bottom rack.  Place your rolls just above it.  Close the door and let them steam away.

(I really like this photo.  The light, the steam.  It's dreamy.)

I leave them in for maybe 20 minutes, half an hour if I've got the time.  But I know they're ready when the look plump like this:

Then I take out the pan of water, turn the oven on to 350 and let them bake till the tops are golden.  Pull them out, put some butter on top and voila!  Delicious rolls that rise and bake while I'm getting the rest of dinner ready!

Unfortunately, these particular rolls were not so delicious.  The pan, apparently, had met it's end and had left a nice tinny flavor on our rolls.  But normally, they are perfect.

Mmmm.  They look good, though, don't they?