Throwed Rolls?

Yes, you read that correctly. Throwed rolls. Not a type-o.

My father recently ventured back to the Ozarks (Ozark, MO) to be exact. We used to visit Branson, MO quite often years ago and it was always a nice time and a beautiful drive with plenty of fun things to do and places to stop along the way.

Dad told Me about a place called "Lamberts" which is a restaurant that has incredibly large portions of great food and the kicker, hot heavy chewy melt in your mouth solid rolls baked fresh on the premises.

I did a bit of research and found the restaurants website Lamberts Cafe and read some pretty interesting fun factoids about the establishment.

Now, the Chef in Me just HAD HAD HAD to try and duplicate this recipe not only because the darned rolls sounded incredibly wonderful, but because I love My Dad and I wanted to give him a taste of the Ozarks since he of course cannot possibly be there all the time and enjoy such novelties as the 'Throwed Roll'.

Be sure to read the websites fun facts section which boast that Lamberts made over two million individual rolls last year alone and they also make cinnamon rolls so big that they call them hubcaps and they make over 2 thousand each week alone on average. Wow.

Another interesting thing I found was that this establishment made the Travel Channels 'Chow Down Countdown' of one of the top places out of 100 in the Country to eat at. I really have to go to this place (hint hint Dad). I'm up for a road trip! ;)

Now, back to the recipe. I found one online that was written down allegedly by a gal who used to work at the eatery itself.

As with the art of any fine bread making, things can be quite involved and time consuming. I am not sure how much time I have left but I would sure like to be baking these or even more fun (eating one of these) when I am on My way out.

My rolls came out splendidly well. They are quite solid and large and are the split roll type (they look like butts to put it bluntly). They range in a diameter of around 5 inches each which is nothing to balk at. The smell of these yeasty wonders filled the house and made Me want to melt into a puddle of goo. The best part was taking these babies out of the oven and gazing upon them. I doubled the recipe provided Me and made a total of 24 large chewy dense yet fluffy rolls.

The husband said that he could get sick if he allowed himself to do what he wanted which was to eat every one of those rolls in succession of each other until he croaked or rolled out of the room (which ever came first). Luckily for everyone else he did not so there were plenty to go around and share. There are still plenty of them left as I have a bag downstairs as well so that the hubby will have one whenever he wants.

Even better still is that I made 3 homemade jams this past week and also have fresh honey to put on the rolls. To reheat them I will place them on a baking sheet under 425 degree heat for a couple of minutes until heated through. I suppose I could freeze some of these as well (all though this batch wont last long I reckon).

The hubby went out and purchased Me some more flour 2 ten pound bags along with more fresh cream butter and yeast so that I could begin the process of making more. I wonder if these will become a staple food item here. (You know one of the things you can always find baking or around in the house no matter what time of day or night you stop by). I enjoyed making them all though they were quite time consuming. When making bread it is a fine art. You cannot cut corners and measurements must be exact as well as temperatures etc. The interesting part was rolling them out and I quickly found My groove and found a 'system' as to making the spheres nice and silky smooth.

These are a double rise so if you plan on making them, plan on spending a bit of time on them. I do have My camera and yes, I promised pictures so I will...I will take photos as I am so very proud of these. Besides, I still haven't shown you My peaches and other items I canned. I wish I still had a picture of the chocolate cheesecake and chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting but alas, those items got eaten pretty quickly.

I am wondering if I can make the dough for these rolls and shape the spheres and freeze them in large Zip lock baggies and take them out at a later time to rise? I am not sure how that is done exactly without killing the yeast inside them. There has to be a way as I have seen frozen bread in the freezer section of the market that you take out and allow to rise before baking.

I'll look it up when I am finished here. I made some great Green Tomato salsa recently (I may have told you about that already) and I am hankering for some Tortilla chips and salsa right now so I will close for now.

My decisions for today are what I should make, Perogies or a home baked pie? Peach, Cherry or Blueberry? I have the perfect buttery crust recipe so that's no biggie, its the filling that I cant decide on. As far as the Perogies go, I cannot decide on what filling to put in those either. I know one of the fillings will be cheese and potato with some fresh chives and sour cream the other filling I haven't figured out yet. Sausage and cheese sounds good... I simply don't know which is why the pie might be a better option as I have narrowed the fillings down to three.

I'll let you know what I decided upon and hopefully will do as I have promised and take a picture or two for you. I do have some pictures of a few past projects including homemade Calzones and homemade caramels along with a cheesecake and a chocolate cake. Until then, stay in the kitchen and keep cooking, smiling, and living.

As always,
The Gothic Gourmet.