Rich Rolls (with a variation on how to get Rich Quick Rolls)

Author Notes

One of the reasons I love the recipes of food52 is because your recipe stories are often as long as, and as interesting as, the recipe itself, the same way they are in my favorite cookbooks by Julia and Dorie. (Did I just put us in the same category as Julia and Dorie?!) I love it when a well-thought-out recipe tweak comes together. I also love happy accidents in the kitchen, those times when I make a mistake, panic, hold my breath and then grin from ear to ear when an “accident” becomes a “tweak.” This recipe began its life in the red plaid Better Homes and Gardens cookbook 50 or more years ago and quickly became one of our beloved Thanksgiving traditions. During particularly frazzling preparations one year (kids!), I threw the milk into the mixing bowl and realized that I had forgotten to scald it. Oh, no! The butter turned to shards! For whatever reason, I didn’t think I could spare an extra minute to heat the liquids in a saucepan in those pre-microwave days, so I didn't: Butter lumps in this dough, I reasoned, would work as a cheat to rolling/beating cold butter into croissant dough. Not. But it’s a mistake I keep making because the recipe works whether or not the milk is scalded, and besides, l have one less utensil to wash if I don't scald the milk. The evaporated milk must be very cold. I grew up in countries where fresh, cold cow’s milk was not readily available. I continue to use canned milk here because I like its taste in this recipe. Twelve ounces of whole milk (1 ½ cups) can be substituted for it. The original recipe called for more than 3 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of shortening, one egg and one cup (eight ounces) of milk. Because I substituted 12 ounces of evaporated milk, a full stick of butter and an extra egg yolk, I upped the flour to compensate for the extra liquid and now I don’t have to find a way to store (or waste) the unused evaporated milk, an egg yolk and a half-stick of unsalted butter. The dough should contain many lumps of unmelted butter but should not contain lumps of unmoistened flour. While stirring or kneading it, scan it for clumps of unmixed flour. I stopped using all-purpose flour in this recipe when people started noticing the difference in texture between rolls made with King Arthur (softer, fluffier) and other brands (good,but sturdier). Crescent rolls are the tradition here on Thanksgiving, but at other times I make pull-apart rolls by rolling the dough into 2" balls and placing them a finger-width apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. - betteirene —betteirene

Test Kitchen Notes

Betteirene has, through happy accident and just plain baking smarts, designed a lovely, no-knead crescent roll that puffs beautifully in the oven, emerging golden with a terrific, mildly yeasty flavor. The bottoms of the rolls brown quickly, so double up on the baking sheets if yours aren't the heavy-gauge kind. – Kristen —The Editors