Granit House Rolls

Like Parker House Rolls, but better!

Parker House Rolls are something that everyone in America grew up eating at their respective dinner tables. They are just a standard yeast roll that, when you bake them, stick together so that you have to pull them apart to make them an individual roll. I've begun to see them more on Cooking Shows on TV. Just recently they were featured in a sweet/salty dish, on the finale of Top Chef Just Desserts.

The recipe for the rolls themselves comes from one of my savory cooking idols, Bobby Flay. A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to meet him. He was here in Dallas for a book tour for the 'Throwdown' book. After waiting for over two hours in line, I had the chance I had been waiting for which almost rendered me speechless. I was standing face to face with Bobby Flay. What was I going to say to him? Was he going to be nice? All of these questions rattling off in my head at a million miles per hour as I was whisked over by a staffer of the book store to have my meet and greet and get picture with THE Bobby Flay. The picture is awful (of me) with Bobby Flay looking like a statue. I'm sure that he has a standard stance for all photo ops but for me it was a dream come true to get to meet him and get my book sign. So what did I say to him? I told him that I had eaten at his restaurant (Bar Americain) in New York City a few weeks prior and that I enjoyed it as well as the fact that I was an aspiring cook myself. He grinned and nodded and said thank you. I'm sure he probably didn't even hear what I was saying, but at least he was nice! After the signing I bounded home, so excited with my new book that he personalized to me with my own name! 

Fast forward 24 hours after the book signing, we have a dog who is quite the character. Sometimes you can leave something sitting on a the coffee table and he won't bother it, other times you would think that it is his mortal enemy number one. So what was his mortal enemy number one this day? You guessed it! My newly signed Bobby Flay Cookbook personalized to me was in shreds on the floor. It was heartbreaking. I immediately e-mailed the e-mail address I found on Bobby Flays website explaining what had happened. I also sent several tweets to Bobby Flay himself hoping and praying for some sort of reply. I didn't want a new book for free, I was willing to pay for it, I just wanted a new book that was not in shreds. I wish I could tell you that I heard back from him and/or his staff but I never did. To this day, I still have the torn signature page from the book that is written to me and has Bobby's signature. Hopefully one day I'll get to meet him again and tell him the story of the book that my dog Atticus did NOT welcome into our home. 

Onto the rolls. I know I've written a lot in this blog so I'll be as straight and to the point as possible. The recipe for the rolls can be found at this link  - Why did I call them Granit House Rolls instead of Parker House Rolls? This past Saturday when I wanted to make these as a test recipe for our family Thanksgiving I realized I didn't have any whole milk in the house. What did I have? Heavy Whipping Cream - so I used that! 

Below are the ingredients for the Parker House Rolls - The milk being replaced by Heavy Whipping Cream in this case.

I'll be honest with you, the construction of the dough was rather unusual to me since I am not a seasoned bread maker. The dough when it was "done" in the mixing bowl was still incredibly sticky but I pushed on and continued to knead the dough for the 5 minutes and I don't know what magic or science happened but the crazy sticky dough became one huge ball without barely a quarter cup of flour added during the kneading process. Amazing!

The Dough took about an hour or so to rise on the first rise. I mistakenly did not take a photo of the dough after rising, only before (pictured above). 

The recipe states that it makes 24 rolls. I instead, chose to make 47, yes, 47, smaller rolls. Here they are before the second rise.

I have to say there really isn't anything like the smell of fresh bread cooking in a home, heavenly!

The rolls straight from the oven were brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with salt.

A closer look at the inside of the roll - dense and absolutely delicious without that "yeasty" taste. 

Verdict? These will absolutely be making an appearance at our Thanksgiving table this year. Well, not these exact rolls, but a new fresh batch. Hopefully those turn out just as well as these!