City School Rolls

City School Rolls

printable version

The recipe appears to be in my grandmother's hand-writing.  She was born in Greece, immigrated as a child with her family to Chicago, and somehow wound up in Sacramento, California.  Her writing was hard to read so I googled the recipe and discovered it was used for many years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

I forgot how long I heated the milk in my microwave for.  I added the yeast slowly and stirred and it still got very clumpy but it didn't seem to affect the recipe.  

Normally on a Sunday we go to 8 a.m. Mass and then I cook brunch when we get home.  The Pandemic has allowed me to use some fun recipes, like this one, for our Sunday brunch.  This one is time consuming - I measured the flour the night before and started the rest around 6:30 a.m.  The nutmeg surprised me - I would expect cinnamon also but that doesn't come in until later and it is very mild.  We are not huge nutmeg fans so I used about 3/4 tsp.  I should have stirred it into the flour instead of sprinkling on top because once the rolls were baked one of them had a brown spot which I assume is a clump of nutmeg.

The nutmeg jar is off of the spice rack I got from my mother that hangs on my wall and is like a wheel with spokes.  As a kid it was always so tempting to walk by it and give it a spin.

 I used a watch with a second hand and timed the first and second mixing for exactly 1 minute.  Even after mixing with the milk/yeast for one minute it was a little foamy - as yeast will do.

I don't know why I didn't use my MixMaster.  Using a hand mixer was not enough power for all 6 cups of flour.  The dough kept creeping up the beater shaft so towards the last cup or two of flour I stopped using the mixer and just started kneading in the flour.  I kneaded the dough right in the bowl instead of turning out onto a work surface.  "Elastic" for me meant I could pinch some dough and stretch it up 1 - 2 inches before it broke off.

I did not cover the bowl but put it in my oven on the "Proof" setting for one hour.

While it was rising I mixed the Cake Crumb Filling.  I think this is so odd...where does one get cake crumbs from?  You can buy bread crumbs in the store and sometimes even graham cracker crumbs but not cake crumbs.  So I had to plan ahead and I made a cake Friday night.

I'd had a package of "Funfetti" blue cake mix in my pantry for a while so I used that, expired though it was.  Once the cake was baked and cooled I broke off approximately 1/4 of the 8" round cake and crumbled it into a 1 c. measuring cup.  That was just the right amount.  I stored it in a plastic container from Friday night to Sunday morning.  Then I mixed the brown sugar and cinnamon right into the container.

After 1 hour the dough was approximately doubled and, more importantly, about to rise tall enough to touch the oven rack above it so I pulled it out.  It was slightly dry on top but not problematic.

The recipe didn't say to flour the work surface but I figured I'd rather have extra flour than a messy counter.  I cleared off a large area and checked it with a measuring tape to make sure it was large enough.

I held the bowl upside down and after a few seconds the dough plopped out.  I ran my fingers around the bowl and scraped up a little bit more dough that had clung to the bowl - see the little bitty ball on top of the big ball.

In the middle of rolling I remembered I should have started the butter melting.  The ingredient list said "margarine" but the instructions said "butter" - to me they are not interchangeable but to a lot of people they are.  I had this remaining 1/4 c. plant butter which I had gotten free with rebate so I was glad to use that up.  I put it in a Corningware ramekin and put it in the oven (still on proof setting) but it wasn't in for long enough so I wound up melting it in the microwave.  It was mostly melted but still had some soft spots but I just stirred it around with my brush and it did fine to paint onto the dough.

I actually keep a tape measure in my kitchen for just such occasions.  Usually I can't get the dough as big as a recipe specifies but this one was able to be rolled out to the exact size.  It got a little tricky when the dough was wider than my rolling pin and I had to scoot the dough closer to the front edge because the handle of my rolling pin kept crashing into the back splash.

I definitely think the light flour on the surface was useful and did not negatively impact the recipe.

I used to have a basting brush with actual bristles - originally we received it as a gift with a coffee grinder and it was intended to clean the coffee grinder.  The bristle head had fallen off and been re-glued and I was never super comfortable using it so recently (beginning of the pandemic) I got this silicone red brush from Walmart.  It was inexpensive and I've been very happy with it - probably used it 5 times already.

I would not recommend a colored cake - it looks a little freaky, almost like spinach.  But, use your resources - color does not affect taste.

This is the direction to roll - the long edge is the one you start rolling.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to roll.

All rolled up!  I put my tape measure in front so I can better estimate 1 1/2" to make the slices with my serrated knife.  It has larger serrations than a table or steak knife - it's like a mini bread knife.  They sliced very easily and held together well.  (Don't tell my husband that I cut - gently - right on the counter!)

The closer pan is after I mushed them down with my palm.  The farther pan is not yet mushed.

Back in the oven on Proof setting.  Ideally in a convection oven you don't need to rotate your pans but I do it anyway - just to be sure.  I set the timer for 20 minutes then changed racks and turned the pans around and proofed for another 25 mins.

I set the pans on my cooktop while the oven heated to 400.

I also rotated and changed racks during baking - after 8 minutes.  Good thing because the rolls on the top rack got golden brown on top so by rotating they were all equally browned.

I used the "Beverage" setting on my microwave to achieve the hot water for the glaze.

I was impressed with how professional these rolls look (aside from the blue cake crumbs).  They would look great on a tray brought to a breakfast meeting.  They really do look like bakery quality (aside from the blue cake crumbs).  Sadly though - the taste didn't wow me.  They were pleasant, they were sweet and breakfasty - just not super wow.  

I wish I could've made 1/2  a recipe but it only called for one egg so I made the whole thing and wound up putting a dozen in the freezer.  They are space hogs though so I had to use a 9 x 13 Tupperware with 6 in a single layer and a square disposable with four on the bottom and some wax paper and then two more.