Thursday, March 3, 2011

Perfecty Easy Dinner Rolls

After tasting my friend Marilyn's fantastic dinner rolls, I begged her for  the recipe.  She confessed it was one her mother had used, but gladly gave it to me.  I've used this recipe for a few years, now and love it.  It can be easily used to make lip-smacking, ooey delicious cinnamon rolls.

Servings: 2 dozen rolls
  • 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 - 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • Additional melted butter, (optional)

INGREDIENTS

  • Servings: 2 dzn
  • 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 - 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • Additional melted butter, (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Combine the warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Stir in butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is too stiff to mix (some flour may not be needed). At this point, I do like to transfer it to the counter dusted with flour and knead to ensure smoothness of texture. Now you have two options on how to proceed:
  • Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or up to 4 days. Just take it out of the refrigerator, let rise and bake
  • Make sure the dough is floured on the outside and put in the bowl you mixed it in.  Let it rise on the counter, covered with a dishtowel, until doubled in size. Proceed as below.
When ready to bake

Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough into 24 equal-size pieces (about 1 1/2 - 2 oz each). Roll each piece into a smooth round ball; place balls in even rows in the prepared pan. Cover and let dough balls rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. If it is warmer outside, they will rise faster and if it is cooler/cold outside, it will take longer.  Adjust your time accordingly to when they need to be finished.

Preheat over to 375. Bake until rolls are golden brown, 15-20 minutes. Brush warm rolls with melted butter, if desired. It's a little messier, but I like to take a stick of slightly soft real butter, uncover one end, and run that over the tops and exposed sides of the rolls. Break rolls apart to serve.

Helpful hints, in this recipe do not use quick rising dry yeast, since it is designed to raise breads quickly.

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