Grandma Rabey's Saffron Rolls

 

This Saffron Roll recipe has been in Don's family for generations. Grandma Rabey, Don's dad's grandmother, was from Cornwall, and these rolls have Cornish roots. 

These rolls are quite expensive to make because of the cost of saffron. I purchased a 4-gram tin on Amazon for almost $30. I used the entire tin in the recipe, although I could have gotten away with a little less.

You would think the red saffron would create red rolls, but instead, the dough turned yellow!

Along with the saffron, this recipe uses currants. I had to buy those on Amazon, too.

Another $13! You can see why I've never made them for Don.

Actually, I finally made them because of a Christmas gift from Katherine. She gave me a coupon to help me with any yeast-containing recipe I wanted to make. If you recall, I am afraid of working with yeast.

Don is not the snooping type. It is easy to pull something off without him knowing about it. Katherine was here Friday night, so after the kids were in bed, she helped me make the dough. I was shocked at how easy it was! Don came into the kitchen once and asked what we were doing. We just said it was a surprise.

On Saturday morning, he went out to get his usual Dunkin coffee before the brunch. We took that opportunity to scoop the dough onto baking sheets and get them in the oven. We had Marina's help, so it went very fast. 

When Don came back from his coffee run, the house smelled of saffron. He recognized that smell and looked to see what was baking. One tray of rolls was already out of the oven, and he was "pleased as punch," as his mom would say.

If I had known it would make him so happy, I would have made them a long time ago! They are quite good, if I say so myself!

This is a secret family recipe, but I will share it with you here because pretty much all my blog readers are family members.

Grandma Rabey's Saffron Rolls

Do this the morning of or night before you make the dough:

3 to 4 grams of saffron

10 oz. currants

1 cup water

Put saffron, currants, and water into a small pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let steep at least four hours, but preferably overnight.

Do this the night before you bake the rolls:

8 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 t. salt

18 T. unsalted butter (2 sticks + 2 T)

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. (We used our hands to squish the butter into the flour mixture).

1/2 cup water

1 t. sugar

2 packets of active dry yeast

Combine water and sugar in a bowl. Heat in microwave until lukewarm (water temperature 100 - 110 degrees). Add yeast and let it bloom until nicely foamy.

Pour the yeast mixture and saffron/currant mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a little stir, then add an additional 1 to 1 1/4 cups of water (you want the dough to be moist and a little gooey, but not sloppy). Mix thoroughly. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise overnight.

Do this the day you bake the rolls:

Place parchment paper on two large baking sheets. Scoop up mounds of dough (between golf ball and baseball size) on prepared sheets approximately 1 1/2" apart. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them. 

Makes 30-40 rolls. Can freeze extras.