INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups milk
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup hot (not boiling) water
• 1 cake yeast or 2 pkgs. dry yeast or 3 level tsp. yeast from a jar
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 8 cups Sapphire flour
• Vegetable oil to coat bowl and top of dough
• Sesame seeds to sprinkle on rolls

METHOD

• Scald 2 cups of milk (When steam begins to rise from pan and tiny bubbles appear around rim). Remove from stove and slice 1 stick of butter into this pan.
• While waiting for the milk to reach desired temp, place 1 cup of hot (not boiling) water from the tap into a bowl and place yeast into this bowl (**Note: Use either 1 cake of yeast, or 2 pkgs. of dry yeast, or 3 level tsp of yeast from a jar – we used Fleischman’s Bread Machine yeast.)
• In addition to the yeast which is being dissolved into this bowl add 1 tsp. of sugar to activate the yeast.
• In a lg. mixing bowl beat 2 eggs and 4 heaping tbsp. of sugar (Grandma Laura used serving spoon size) and 2 tsp.of salt. Whisk well together, add the milk mixture (making sure it’s not so hot that it will cook the eggs), and then follow with the yeast mixture — whisking all together well.
• To this liquid mix, add 8 cups of sapphire flour. Mix well, forming into a ball. Coat the sides of the bowl and top of dough with a small amount of vegetable oil. Let rise. Punch down.
• Prepare egg wash for top of rolls: 1 egg, whisked well, with 2 tbsp. of water.

Divide the punched down dough into 4 equal parts. Each of these will make approx. 9-10 rolls. Thus divide each quartered section into 10 equal parts and roll out in a log-like fashion, tying each into a knot.

Place on a greased cookie sheet.

After all rolls are formed, brush each with the prepared egg-wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for approx. 10 minutes or till golden brown.

Note: You may opt not to egg-wash the tops of rolls — Grandma Laura has been known to frost the top with a thin butter cream-type frosting to create a sweet roll, which she enjoyed with coffee in the morning.

These should be frozen if not used the day they were baked. They will microwave well or can be defrosted another way to be enjoyed as if they were freshly baked.

ENJOY!!

– Annie Kachurek & Laura Carcioppolo

Recipe typed on Thanksgiving Day 2002 by Annamarie to be enjoyed by my three wonderful brothers who relive their childhood thanksgivings with this great bread!!