Some of my grandmother's cards are a list and a prayer. This one is not. It's two full sides, front and back, with every amount and every step, right down to a warning that the buttermilk "will look curdled." It reads like someone was standing next to you in the kitchen.
The card says the recipe is by Leon Cardwell, so it came to my grandmother from someone else's kitchen and she kept it. That's how the best recipes travel. Somebody brings a basket of rolls to church or a family supper, and everyone asks for the card.
These are a Southern cross between a biscuit and a yeast roll. You roll and cut them like biscuits, dip each one in melted butter, and let them rise for two hours before baking. The buttermilk, baking soda, and yeast work together, and the whole wheat flour gives them a nutty, old-fashioned flavor.
Recipe for Alabama Whole Wheat Rolls
By Leon Cardwell
1½ cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
¾ t soda
1½ t salt
2 T sugar
1 pk dry yeast
1 cup warm buttermilk
3 T shortening
1 stick butter, melted
Sift together flour, soda, salt + ½ of sugar. Dissolve yeast + rest of sugar in buttermilk (will look curdled). Cut shortening into flour mixture with pastry blender. Add yeast mixture + knead 30 times. Roll like biscuit ¼ in. thick using minimum flour. Cut with biscuit cutter, dip in butter + place on greased pan with buttered side up. Cover with wax paper + let rise 2 hours. Bake 15 mins at 350.
Ingredients
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1½ cups all-purpose flour
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1 cup whole wheat flour
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¾ teaspoon baking soda
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1½ teaspoons salt
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2 tablespoons sugar, divided
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1 packet (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
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1 cup buttermilk, warmed to about 105°F to 110°F
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3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
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1 stick (½ cup) butter, melted, for dipping
Method
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Sift together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar into a large bowl.
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Warm the buttermilk gently until it feels warm, not hot, on the inside of your wrist, about 105°F to 110°F. Stir in the yeast and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar until the yeast dissolves. It will look curdled. That's normal.
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Cut the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it looks like coarse crumbs.
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Stir in the yeast mixture until a dough forms. Turn it out onto the counter and knead 30 times.
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Roll the dough out like biscuit dough, ¼ inch thick, using as little flour as you can.
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Cut with a biscuit cutter. Dip each round in the melted butter and set it on a greased baking pan, buttered side up.
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Cover loosely with wax paper and let rise in a warm spot for 2 hours.
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Heat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are light golden
A few things worth knowing
Don't overheat the buttermilk. Buttermilk that gets too hot can separate, and very hot liquid can kill yeast. Warm, not hot, is what you want. A little curdled look is fine and expected.
"Using minimum flour" matters. Extra flour on the counter gets rolled into the dough and makes the rolls tougher and drier. Dust lightly and brush off any excess.
Knead 30 times, then stop. This isn't a bread dough that needs 10 minutes of kneading. Thirty turns is enough to bring it together and keep the rolls tender.
The 2-hour rise is the point. Because they're rolled so thin, they need the time to puff. Put them somewhere warm and out of drafts.
Save your scraps. Gently press the scraps together and cut again. Those rolls may be a little less even, but they taste just as good.
Modern option: stack them. Many Alabama roll recipes stack two buttered rounds on top of each other before rising, so they pull apart in layers. This card doesn't, but if you want to try it, stack them after dipping and expect them to need a few more minutes in the oven.
Good with
Anything with gravy. Serve them next to roast turkey, baked ham, or a pot of soup. For Thanksgiving, they sit nicely beside Grandma's Sweet Potato Soufflé and German Cabbage.
