Yeast Rolls Are a Southern Thang?

 After the first rise and punching it. Then rolled in to balls.

Yeast rolls are a big deal in the South, y'all.

In fact, I'd say that among my friends and family they are the go to roll to include with every holiday meal.

And, they are my mom's favorite bread.

There's just something amazing about a warm roll that has something of a "skin" on the outside while being fluffy, yeasty, and sweet in the middle.

They must be served warm and with butter. Honey or brown sugar butter takes them to a whole new level.

After the 2nd rise. It doubles in size twice!

So, you can imagine my surprise when very few people here in Omaha including many people at the culinary school had no idea what I was talking about when I described yeast rolls. To be fair, it is entirely possible they have a different name for them.

I found out when trying a local donut place that yeast donuts are called raised donuts here. Which makes total since, after all, that is the function of yeast.

So, I bit the bullet and attempted to make yeast rolls for a food day at the office I was working in.

Making the dough: easy

First batch: realizing my oven was too damn hot!!

Waiting on two rises: slightly irritating because my patience bone was broken that day

Baking: pain in the ass with my terrible oven

End Result: worth it but will make some adjustments for the next batch

Here's a link to the recipe I used the first time I made the plain yeast rolls:

Second batch with oven adjustment.

It's a good place to start but I'd recommend adding an additional 1/2 cup of sugar. They weren't quite sweet enough for me.

Also, I had to set my oven about 30 degrees below the recommended cooking temp to get the insides done without drying them out. But, my oven is crap and the heat settings aren't accurate.


This is a very versatile dough and super easy if you're patient. You can use it for cinnamon rolls too!

After my initial yeast roll success and in conjunction with cleaning out the pantry, I made some pumpkin yeast rolls to use the last can of pumpkin puree that was left over from Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Loaf-Excellent for sandwiches

And, here is the recipe for pumpkin yeast rolls.

I added my own spice mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves instead of the spices listed.

It's basically the same process as regular yeast rolls. I made a loaf and rolls out of the pumpkin dough.
 
I wish I had pictures of the pumpkin rolls but we ended up devouring them before I could snap photos.