“Growing up in Utah, I always looked forward to going to my grandmother’s house for the holidays. I can still imagine the amazing smells that would come out of her kitchen.
“I was particularly fond of one recipe: her buttery flake rolls. The recipe comes from Garland, Utah, from my grandfather’s mother. It’s been a staple at our family gatherings and still is to this day. This multigenerational roll is soft, flaky, buttery and a little bit sweet. I’ve wanted to make these for years, and I can’t think of anything I would rather make for Archer. You’d become addicted if you tried them!
“In prepping to share this recipe, I spent a lot of time on the phone with my grandmother and cousin — this recipe has a lot of nuances. My cousin had to watch my grandma carefully to get it just right. Blanca, my assistant at Archer’s Kitchen + Bar, and I followed her recipe together. It felt good to bond with her and bring a family tradition of mine all the way to Boston.”
RECIPE NOTE: While the recipe says it takes 25 minutes to make these rolls, the dough must sit out overnight before baking into their buttery, flaky goodness — so plan ahead.
- 25m prep time
- 10m cook time
- 35m total time
- 7 ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 yeast packets
- 1 cup almost-hot water
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup shortening
- 3 eggs
- 4½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
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Empty the yeast packets into a large bowl. Add the almost-hot water. Stir with a fork to dissolve the yeast.
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Pro Grandma Trick No. 1: Do not mix all of the ingredients with the yeast just yet — place half of the bowl on a cutting board to create a shallow-end, deep-end effect. Then pour the ½ cup of sugar on the shallow end of the bowl. Place the ½ cup of shortening in the shallow end, as well.
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In a separate bowl, beat the three eggs and add to the mix. Add the 4½ cups of flour.
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Pro Grandma Trick No. 2: Add the salt last — the acidity of the salt can kill the yeast.
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Knead away. Don't cheat by using a mixer; my grandmother would consider you lazy!
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Make the dough into a ball and coat the ball with shortening. Cover with a towel (like Grandma does) or plastic wrap and let it sit overnight. (Doing so makes the sticky dough not sticky the next day.)
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The next day, flatten the dough out, roll it into itself and cut it into pieces. Allow it to sit with a towel over it for three hours and the dough will rise (if you did it right).
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NOTE: Blanca took this recipe to a new level and added cinnamon and sugar.
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Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
