Question: Please print the recipe for Logan's Roadhouse Dinner Rolls that are made fresh each day on site. I buy them regularly to take home and serve. I know I cannot duplicate them, but it would be great if I could get close. -- Patti Hess, Knoxville, Tenn.
Answer: In colonial times children entertained themselves with simple nursery rhymes such as, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick" and tongue twisters such as, "She sheared six shabby sick sheep." Creative riddles are still fun: "What has a tongue but cannot talk?" A shoe. Girls and boys were taught to play the same games that their parents and grandparents played as youngsters, and favorites included leapfrog, marbles, hide-and-seek, tag and hopscotch.The appeal of Logan's Roadhouse, a kid-friendly kind of place where youngsters brush aside peanut shells to claim floor space for chalk drawing and hopscotch, lies in toe-tapping country western music, the 22-ounce Porterhouse steak and enormous fresh-baked dinner rolls. A 12-hour proof assures the light texture of the dough, which goes into the convection oven for an 8-minute bake as guests are being seated. Timing is crucial, because restaurant chefs are getting as competitive about what's in the breadbasket as they are about what's on the center of the plate. The gist of the rolls is buttery flavor. Logan's dinner rolls, prepared in huge quantities using commercial products, are difficult to duplicate, so taste and texture may vary slightly in this scaled down recipe adapted for home cooks. Still, this recipe is speed-scratch fabulous.
BUTTERY DINNER ROLLS
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4-ounce packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 large egg, slightly beaten
8 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons butter-flavored vegetable shortening
Place 2 cups flour in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast, salt, sugar, and dry milk. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine water and egg and stir to blend. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour water mixture into well. Mix by hand, beating 150 strokes and frequently scraping bottom and sides of bowl.
Add half of the melted butter and beat to incorporate. Add remaining flour, about 1/3 cup at a time, beating to incorporate each addition. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Set dough in a warm, draft-free place such as oven with pan of hottest tap water on rack below. Allow batter to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Coat cups, bottoms and sides, of a 12-cup muffin pan (or two small round pans) with butter-flavored vegetable shortening. Punch down batter (batter will be extremely soft and sticky). Drop by hand or spoonful into prepared muffin pan cups to make 12 rolls (if in pan, each roll touching the next). Brush dough with half of the remaining melted butter. Let rise, uncovered, in warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
In preheated 400-degree oven, bake rolls on middle rack 16-18 minutes. Brush tops of cooked rolls with remaining melted butter.
Serve immediately. Yields 12 large rolls.
Diane Howard is a columnist for Hunt House Syndicate. America a la Carte welcomes recipe requests. Send the complete address of the restaurant along with your name, address and phone number to: America a la Carte, P.O. Box 5994, Austin, TX 78763-5994, or fax 512-453-2145. Email: amercarte@aol.com.