Alice’s Clover Rolls
This recipe from my Grandma Alice, passed down by her mother, makes dinner rolls that are incredibly fluffy and soft, and their pull-apart nature makes them a perfect accompaniment to any meal containing gravy or sauce.
Recipe
Time: 5-6 hours (includes resting time) About 1 hour active to make the dough and shape the balls
Makes approximately 32 dinner rolls (dough can be made and then portioned in half to make Cinnamon Rolls as well- great for a holiday weekend! See my recipes page for the steps for those)
*Note: Warm Kitchen, bowls, etc. Take out eggs ahead so they can be room temp. Melt butter a little ahead so it is not blazing hot when you add it to mixture.
Ingredients:
3 cups lukewarm water
½ pkg active dry yeast (1 round teas, generous) I use Red Star
1 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
½ cup melted butter
2 room temp eggs (I whisk them a little, don’t beat them)
9 cups flour
Run tap water until very warm. In a large bowl, measure the water, add the yeast, and keep it quiet while yeast works, 10 minutes.
Add sugar, butter, eggs, salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix well. It gets all yeasty, and smells really good.
Adding the flour. Add a couple cups at a time, mixing well, scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Use all 9 cups of flour. You will have a sticky dough, it does not have to be kneaded. Make sure dough is well mixed, and there is no dry flour sticking to sides or bottom. Rub it off with your hands and mix it into the dough if there is.
The Rising and Punching Down of the Dough! Cover the bowl with a cloth, and set it in a warm place to rise. Punch it down at the end of every hour for 3 hours. The way to do this: Use fresh canola oil on your hands, then punch the dough in the middle, and shape and roll it under with both hands. The idea is to get bubbles out of the dough, but don’t overdo it (the dough is not someone you hate, more of a nice fist bump to a friend). The dough will rise a little more each hour. Let rest one more hour
At the end of the fourth hour, you will shape for dinner rolls. Lightly oil muffin tins, pinch off a small amount of dough, roll it, pinch lightly at bottom and place in the pan, pinched side down and three in each cup. Lightly brush each roll with melted butter on top.
Cover pan and put in a warm place to rise about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake around 20 min, or until lightly golden on top.
Dough before first rise
How they should look after resting
