Recipe #46 - Dinner Rolls

Homemade rolls are always so much better than store-bought rolls.  Always.  But I never make them as much as I (or my husband) would like.  Why?  Because I don't plan my dinners well enough to make them often.  You have to be available for a couple hours, even though the actual time needed to make them isn't that long.  Typically, I'm not around long enough to pull them off.

However, we recently had a different church schedule on Sunday and I was home long enough to make rolls.  My family was so excited!  I even had the needed ingredients.  Amazing!!

You'll find this recipe on page 34 of the cookbook or online here.

You start by combining the milk, sugar, butter, and salt in a sauce pan.

While it is heating up, mix the yeast, sugar and warm water.  Set it aside. 

Once the butter is melted in your mixture on the stove, take it off the heat.

This needs to cool until it is lukewarm.  I followed a tip in the book that says to rub the pan with ice cubes.  "Oh slave labor, I mean, son...I need your help..."  He was actually willing to do it too.  It was really weird.  I was all prepared with the Little Red Hen story and to tell him that if he was going to eat the rolls, he would have to help make them.  But instead, I asked and he said he would.  Pretty sure it wasn't really my son.

Once the mixture is cooled down, you should have "puffy" yeast.

In a large bowl, combine three cups flour and the milk mixture.

Then you add the yeast mixture and beat for 3 minutes.  Next add the eggs.  Finally you add just as much flour as you need to get the dough to a super soft feel, where it still sticks to your fingers but is pulling away from the bowl.

Cover and rise for an hour.

After an hour, it looked like this:

Now punch that dough down.  Literally.

The dough is divided into two blobs.

Then you pat the first blob into a rectangle.

Next use a pizza cutter to divide it into 12 even-ish pieces.

Yes, I'm fully aware that this picture only has 10 pieces.  I had already formed two rolls when I realized I needed to take a picture.

Roll the pieces into balls and put them into a 9x13 pan.  (Makes 24 large rolls)

It needs to rise again for about another 30 minutes.

After the second rise, they are ready to put into the oven for 15-18 minutes.  They will be golden brown when they come out.  Rub the tops with a stick of butter.

These are an awesome addition to so many meals.  If you've got the time and the ingredients, make them.  We even lathered honey butter (review found here) on them.  Ooooo!  So good.