Saint Drena Rolls

Saint Drena Rolls

         Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 pkg yeast
6 cups flour


         Mix milk, butter, salt & sugar over low heat in pot until butter melts. Don’t get it too hot or it will kill the yeast!

         Pour over yeast in large bowl, stir well.

         Add eggs & stir well again

         Add flour slowly (3 cups to start) until it's mixed in well

         Add extra flour as necessary until dough is not sticky

         Coat with oil, place in bowl & cover. Place bowl in warm area.

         Let rise 1 hour

         Punch down

         Roll between hands (small balls, 1, maybe 2” diameter), place about 2" apart on greased cookie sheet

         Let rise 1 hr.

         Bake @ 325 until golden brown & hollow (~ 8 minutes) You'll get about 40-50 rolls from this recipe.


         In the mid-80's I was stationed at Bangor Submarine Base in Washington State. We lived in base housing, which was a lot nicer than you might think, since the base housing was less than 10 years old. We became friends with the nearby neighbors of course, and ended up spending a lot of time with a couple next door. They had four young children, we had three, and their children were close in age to ours. Several times the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread would waft our way. It was enough to make your mouth water. We asked about the bread she (Gail) had made, she was only too happy to talk about it. At their last duty station, they had lived off base. One of their neighbors was a woman who grew her own vegetables, and cooked only fresh food, and never served processed food. I'm not sure of her full name, they called her Drena for short, that was the only name they knew to call her. She is the person who gave them the recipe for these wonderful rolls. Because she was a person living naturally, they thought of her as a Saint. To them, it seemed natural to call these Saint Drena Rolls. Gail shared the recipe with us, I've made them many times, they are great with any dish, especially stews or soups.

Jim Dorrell
10/21/23