Grandpa's Famous Rolls

Ask any one of my children and they will tell you about the legendary rolls my dad makes. They really are the best. My dad can't visit without making them and the leftovers are gone before you can seal the Ziploc, especially if there's strawberry freezer jam to go with it. This is not an exaggeration.


My dad has been making these rolls every Sunday for as long as I can remember. All through childhood and adolesence I wouldn't even bother eating other rolls. It's like they were in an entirely different category not worth my chewing efforts.


A couple of years ago I started making my own rolls. I can't remember why I ended up using a different recipe. I'm sure it was because my dad wasn't home or something otherwise I would have been using his recipe. Now I've made mine enough that I don't need the cookbook anymore. According to Miles, they are the second best rolls he's ever tasted.

Last November as my parents were literally ready to walk out the door to head home, my kids kept begging me to get Grandpa's roll recipe. I grabbed the closest piece of paper which was probably one of Lucy's art projects and scribbled "Dad's Rolls" across the top. He proceeded to tell me his recipe in a not so specific way. I thought I was in trouble when many of the ingredient amounts were followed by the words "or more".

Since then I've made rolls several times but I've fallen back on my own recipe. Either I was in a hurry or I didn't want to try something new with guests coming over. Almost every time my rolls were received with a sigh of exasperation from my children. This past Sunday I decided I'd finally give Dad's recipe a try.

Things were going great. I used up the last two cups that were in my flour container then pulled out my big bucket I use to refill it only to find out it was empty! Totally empty! But wait...I have wheat...I have a wheat grinder...SAVED!

Last April Matt gave me this fabulous wheat grinder which of course came with a manual that I hadn't taken the time to read. Yes, I did say last April. The whole milling process was so foreign to me that it kept falling on my priority list. When the need for flour arose Sunday Matt suggested we just borrow some flour from our neighbors. Are you kidding?! Nothing like a pressing need for flour to get me to finally figure out my grinder/mill. (See, I don't even know what it's called.)

This milling process could easily double the size of this post but I'll condense it with this picture....

If you can't tell, there is wheat everywhere. And this is after cleaning up about 5 cups of it. Apparently if the lid sticks, it pulls up the extension also. It was like taking an apple from the bottom row at the grocery store. But it sounded cooler.

So my roll dough was a little different seeing that it had an hour to rise before adding enough flour. Then the fact that I was using whole wheat flour changed it as well. I have to say even amidst these obsticles...Dad, will you make me some rolls?