My grandma was a really great cook.  I think that left a big impression on me when I was young and gave me inspiration to cook.  My grandma was one of those people who made cooking and baking look effortless. I’m not sure how she did it, but she seemed to have a never ending supply of baked goods in her freezer.  If company stopped over (which seemed to happen a lot at my grandparents house), she would put a pot of coffee on and pull something delicious out of the freezer.
     Grandma also seemed to have an endless stream of family and friends coming over for dinner and everyone was always fed very well.  Her pot roast was awesome!  To this day I’m not quite sure what she did to make it so delicious, but I think it was one of my favorite meals that she made. When Grandma entertained, she always set a beautiful table.  She bought china like some women buy shoes, I think she had at least four sets of china.  I feel very fortunate to have inherited her first set of china.  It is a set of  Noritake that she got sometime in the 1940s and they are beautiful!  I proudly display them in my dining room.
Grandma’s beautiful china
     The thing Grandma was probably most famous for making was her incredible dinner rolls.We affectionately referred to them as “Grandma’s buns”.  She always seemed to have some on hand.  She even made them for my wedding reception.  This is one recipe she passed on to us before she passed away.  My  sister-in-law, Kay, now makes them every year for our family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners….there are never many left for her to take home.
     As I do not consider myself  to be much of a baker, I have never tried baking Grandma’s Buns myself.  But I got up today and thought, what the heck, let’s see if I can make them. The jury is still out, I just put them in the oven so I have about 10 minutes more to go.  I do have to say, though, they look pretty good.  But the true test is in the tasting!
 Grandma’s Buns
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 5 tsp yeast (2 packages)
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 6 cups flour, plus 1/2 cup
Mix 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp sugar and yeast together in a glass measuring cup and set aside to rise.
Mix remaining water, sugar, oil, salt and eggs together.

Add 3 cups of flour and mix with a mixer until smooth.

Add yeast when raised to top of cup. ( the yeast get really bubbly and expands while it sits)

Add  1 more cup of flour still using mixer.

Add last 2 cups of flour and mix with a spoon or the dough hook of your mixer, do not over mix.

Put 1/2 cup of flour on a board and put dough on it.

Knead the dough until flour is worked in.  If it’s still really sticky, add a little more flour at a time until it’s just slightly sticky.

Drizzle some oil in a bowl, then add the dough and coat with the oil

Cover dough with a paper towel and let rise until it doubles, (about 1 hour).  To rise, heat oven to 200 degrees and turn off, then put dough in.

Once dough is risen, turn out, back onto a lightly floured board and punch down (flatten and fold over).

Then form into 36 rolls and put on cookie sheets lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  I found the best way to divide the dough up so as to get uniformly sized rolls, was to divide it in to thirds and then divide each third in half and then each half in to sixths.

Then form each piece into a little balls, trying to keep the bottom fairly flat.

Let rise again for about 1 hour.
Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Check the rolls at 10 minutes, that’s what the original recipe said, but mine took 18 minutes)

Well…..I have to say, I think they turned out.  In fact, I think I just pulled a muscle from patting myself on the back!  I wasted no time in trying one and I think they are pretty close to Grandma’s.  It  had a nice crust on the outside and the inside was nice and tender.

Even if you don’t think you can bake, you should give these a try.  Like I said, I am not much of a baker, and I didn’t think that they were that hard.  I was actually a little surprised at how easily they came together. I did not have high expections for these turning out, but just look at the picture.  Aren’t they beautiful?!

ENJOY!

Shared at Amee’s Savory Dish on 11/4/11

Shared at Katherine Martinelli on 6/08/12.

Shared at Gooseberry Patch on 8/15/12.

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