Authentic School Lunchroom Rolls

Name: Authentic School Lunchroom Rolls
Ingredients: 2 cups water (warm tap water); 3 tablespoons sugar; 2 1/4 ounce envelopes yeast ((NOTE: one envelope = 2 1/4 teaspoons)); 5 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used White Lily); 3/4 cup dry milk; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 cup solid shortening (melted and at room temperature (I used Crisc0)); melted butter

October 5, 2013 by Jackie Garvin 110 Comments

I’ve been on the hunt for Authentic School Lunchroom Rolls for a long time. I remember them so well. They’re from an era when the school lunchroom ladies actually cooked a lot of from scratch meals. The rolls were a favorite of so many. Not only were they delicious, but you could smell the warm, yeasty aroma throughout the entire school.

The smell of the rolls made you look forward to lunch. So many of our current generation of students are deprived of similar memories. School lunchroom meals and lunchroom philosophy, for the most part, are different from when my contemporaries and I were in school. I just wonder if any current students will search for years to find a favorite school lunchroom recipe.

Through Syrup and Biscuits on Facebook, I was able to connect with Mike who wrote to me about his mother who had worked in the school cafeteria at Carrabelle High School, Carrabelle, FL which contained grades K-12. Mrs. Frankie Kelley was in charge of making yeast biscuits and she was never inclined to share her recipe. After Miss Frankie retired, Mike’s mother found the recipe in a book kept in the lunchroom manager’s office. The yeast biscuit responsibility became the job of Mike’s mother and some of the other lunchroom ladies. The writing on the original recipe was Mike’s mother’s who had calculated one half of 100 servings. Mike doesn’t recall his mother ever making the rolls outside of the school cafeteria, probably due to the sheer volume. After Mike’s mother died, he found a copy of the recipe as he was going through some of her things. That makes this recipe so special and even more of a blessing. I’m honored and deeply touched that Mike trusted me enough to share the recipe. Everyone who enjoys this recipe and the rolls, must remember to tilt your head toward Heaven and thank Miss Frankie and Mike’s mother for the goodness they bestowed upon us.

To say these rolls are perfect in every way is cliché and the rolls deserve much more than that. I was so careful to not make so many manipulations in the recipe that it changed the character and flavor of the rolls that we remembered and loved. It took two batches to get it right, but I’m confident that these is the recipe I’ve been seeking. The texture is somewhere between a roll and a biscuit and that’s just how I remember them.

In my elementary school, it was an honor to work in the lunchroom for one week. I was chosen first in my class for the special assignment making it one of the greatest days of my life! During that week, we got to wear hairnets and act like real lunchroom ladies. We worked on the food lines and helped fill the trays. During that week, I noticed one of the ladies brushing melted butter on the rolls. I started to laugh and she asked me what was so funny. I told her I’d never seen anyone use a paint brush on food. Obviously, I’d never seen a pastry brush. From that encounter, I knew the rolls were brushed with melted butter. In my memory, the rolls had flour on the top making it seem a contradiction to the brush of melted butter. Mike explained to me that Miss Frankie would brush with melted butter and then dust lightly with flour, cover the rolls with a flour sack towel and return to the warmer. Mystery solved! My memory was correct about melted butter AND floured tops. Mike solved a huge food mystery for me.

Either the rolls were cut smaller or the leavening ingredients used by Miss Frankie were more powerful than mine because I wound up with 32 rolls for half a recipe instead of 50.

I hope Miss Frankie and Mike’s mother are proud of the work I did on this recipe making it easier for all us cooks to enjoy.

Y’all come see us!

Miss Frankie’s Authentic School Lunchroom Rolls

yield: 32 (2 inch) rolls

2 cups water, warm tap water

3 tablespoons sugar

2 (1/4 ounce) envelopes yeast (NOTE: one envelope = 2 1/4 teaspoons)

5 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used White Lily)

3/4 cup dry milk

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup solid shortening, melted and at room temperature (I used Crisc0)

melted butter

Add sugar to water. Stir until dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top of water. Let the yeast dissolve. You’ll see bubbles and foam if it’s active. If the yeast isn’t active, throw it out and start over.

Sift together flour, dry milk and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Once the yeast starts to bubble and foam, stir in baking powder. Add melted shortening cooled to room temperature.

Add liquids to flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until mixed well.

Cover and let sit in a warm, draft-free place for one hour.

After one hour, uncover and punch down.

Put a good bit of flour on your work service. Turn out dough on to flour covered surface. Dough will be sticky. Cover the dough with enough flour that it’s no longer sticky. Knead 8 to 10 times.

Divide the dough into four parts. Roll each part into a rectangle that’s approximately 5 inches by 10 inches and 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Make each piece rounded by tucking under edges and corners forming a ball.

Place rolls close together on a jelly roll pan that’s either well-greased or covered with a baking mat. The picture above shows 24 rolls on an 11×17 jelly roll pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, 20 to 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven when done and brush with melted butter. Lightly dust with flour.

For freezing

After the rolls are formed into balls, place them on a greased, freezer safe dish, and slip the whole thing into a freezer bag. Eight rolls fit nicely in a 9-inch disposable aluminum pan which slips into a gallon ziplock freezer bag. Freeze until ready to use.

Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, let them rise at room temperature until doubled in size. Proceed with baking instructions above.

Authentic School Lunchroom Rolls. Authentic recipe prepared by school lunchroom ladies.

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