Homemade: Sugared Rolls & Mozzarella Buns

 My oh my oh me oh my!

When I was telling y'all about the Rhodes Rolls recently, I didn't tell you how much you can do with them. 

I was worried about gaining weight because I have been eating so many things made with the dough from these rolls. To be honest though, I am not gaining weight. I think it's because if you eat 2 or 3 of these rolls, you are full for the rest of the day. The past few days I've been having about 3 o these rolls (made as dinner rolls or as mozzarella buns) and a piece of salmon. I can have that one meal and I am done for the day.

Anyway. Here is what you need:

• Rhodes Texas Dinner Rolls (or you can probably use the smaller yeast rolls)
• (For the sugared rolls) Powdered sugar & whatever other seasonings you like. I use a little fresh nutmeg and some Ceylon cinnamon and regular cinnamon.
• (For the mozzarella rolls) Mozzarella cheese. I prefer the large ball that I can easily chills and slice or the pre-cut logs that I can chill and cut down into smaller slices. I have not used shredded and I never use the low-fat, dry kind!
• (For the mozzarella rolls) some savory seasoning to coat either the inner cheese or the outer part of the roll. I like using Lawry's and/or some Famous Dave's (either chicken or rib) seasoning.
• A couple of baking pans to let the rolls rest/rise in prior to baking.
• Enough oil or butter to lightly coat the pans.
• Enough oil to over at least 2 to 3 inches of a skillet if you are going to fry the rolls.
• Cling wrap to cover the rolls for rest/rising.
• Something to drain the rolls after baking. I use my large splatter-guard & just lay it across a skillet for the oil to drain into.

Other than letting the dough rest/rise, it only takes about 1 minute for frying and about 12 minutes for baking.

If you start your dough and won't be able to fry or bake as soon as you thought, you can cover the rolls and put in the fridge to slow down the rise/proofing. This does, in my experience, make for a slightly drier bake. I notice that the bottoms of the baked goods get browner after refrigerating the dough.

Here are the ways I have been using the dough. 

For the Sugared Rolls (I couldn't think of a better name but these are like fried donut holes, sort of):

Basically, to start, you need to let the frozen rolls thaw just enough for the dough to be soft so you can cut or manipulate it. In my apartment's warm ambient temperature, that takes about 30 to 35 minutes. (You don't want the dough to start rising so you can thaw them in the fridge if your house is too warm.)

For making donut holes with the Texas rolls - which are touted to be "50% larger", you need to cut each roll into 4. Once these bad boys rise, even that will make a large roll.

Roll each piece between your palms or on a cutting board so it's as round as possible. (I have not yet figured out a non-messy way to add jelly to the centers...)

Put all the finished little balls onto a lightly oiled pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let them rise - or you could fry them without waiting. I don't know what those results are because I always let mine rise,

Fry them in hot oil (sorry, I don't know what temp; I just test a pinch of dough to check if it bobs quickly) and turn. T

Let them drain and then coat them in powdered sugar. (I use a blend of powdered sugar, a little grating of fresh nutmeg and some cinnamon in a bowl to toss & roll the dough in.)

For the Mozzarella Buns:

Same technique for prepping the dough except leave the dough whole or just cut in half - not in fourths.

I use whatever mozzarella is cheapest. I cut the cheese (see what I did there?) into small fingertip-size pieces and store in the freezer covered with wrap or in baggies. The frozen cheese is less likey to spill out during cooking. Or so I was informed by another website.

Put a little piece of the cheese in the center of a piece of dough and roll into a ball. Try pinching the dough closed first to seal in the cheese.

You can either dust the balls with seasoning (I like to use Lawry's Seasoning Salt) or you can season the cheese before you seal up the dough.

Fry the same as with the Sugared Rolls. I like to eat the "buns" dipped in Marinara sauce.

Keep in mind that the dough fries super fast! 

See how huge the sugared rolls turned out? The were the size of large marbles before I let them rise for about half an hour. Next time, I will have to make them much smaller!

I have seen a couple of recipes for making flattened fried bread using the Rhodes yeast rolls. I guess you could really get creative if you wanted to. Also, I am sure there are other brands of the dough out there, but Mama always used Rhodes.

And I am serious about these filling you up. I can have a couple of the mozzarella buns with some marinara sauce and all I will have the rest of the day is water and coffee. It's super-filling. I will be experimenting with adding some spinach and cream cheese to bake inside the rolls. Fingers crossed.

Peace

--Free