Butter Rich Dinner or Sandwich Rolls

If there’s one thing I love in this house it’s homemade bread and rolls.  This was the first time I’ve ever made this recipe and it definitely won’t be the last time.  I got 15 absolutely perfect rolls from the batch.  They’re soft, fluffy, light and soooooo very good!  I can’t even count how many my son and I ate straight from the oven!  Later on we decided to try them out as sandwich rolls…..

Oh yeah, anyway you use them your mouth will be doing a happy dance!  I’ve decided this will be my sandwich roll for the Summer when I have family parties and we get the grill fired up..  Make ’em and freeze ’em for hamburgers, sandwiches and dinners.  I took pictures while I was making these so let’s get started!

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix the dough up. The recipe starts by putting yeast in a bowl and adding warm water to it to soften. I like to proof my yeast before adding it to the other ingredients.  The recipe has 1/4 cup of sugar, I took 2 teaspoons out of the 1/4 cup and added it to the yeast and warm water.  Yeast loves sugar, it proofed perfectly.  While the yeast is softening or proofing, heat your milk to scalding.  What is scalding?  The milk will be hot, but not boiling.  Combine the sugar, butter and salt in a mixing bowl.  Pour the scalding milk over all, stir to melt the butter.   Cool to lukewarm.  Your next step is to stir in the eggs and yeast so please make sure that you have let the mixture cool down enough so you don’t have scrambled egg in your dough.    After the eggs and yeast are added its time to incorporate the 4 1/2 cups of flour.   I did use the whole 4 1/2 cups of flour, which gave me a very nice supple dough.    

 

You may be asking how do you know your dough is tacky?  Tacky is when you lift your dough from the board and it holds onto it ever so slightly , just for a second as you lift it up.

It’s time to oil your bowl, shape the dough into a ball ,put the bread dough in the bowl and turn it completely around to coat the dough all around.  Cover with a towel and put this is a draft free location in your kitchen.  I have a gas stove , the oven is always slightly warm, a great place for the dough to rise.  Let’s talk about the rise, this recipe has 3 rise times.  Each will be about an hour.  On the first rise, after your dough has risen up, punch it down, shape it back into a ball , put it back in the bowl and let it rise again.

After the second rise, cut and shape the dough into balls, I just eye ball this but you could use a scale if you wanted to make them all the exact size.  Oil a jelly roll pan and place the balls on the pan without touching so they have room to rise.  Cover with a towel and let them rise for the third time.  They will rise up so they will be touching each other, preheat your oven and bake.  I brushed the rolls with melted butter straight out of the oven. These are DELICIOUS , light and fluffy!  I think that letting them rise 3 times has a lot to do with how light and fluffy they are.  You can make these and only do 2 rises, but I just had to see what they would be like with 3.  I absolutely LOVE THEM!!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• • 2 packages dry yeast( I used active dry yeast)
  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup sugar( I used 2 teaspoons of this to proof my yeast)
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup scalded milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 1/2-5 cups flour

Directions:

1. Soften yeast in warm water.  ( to proof yeast, add 2 teaspoons of sugar from the 1/4 cup in the recipe)
2. In large mixing bowl combine sugar, butter, salt and scalded milk.
3. Cool to luke warm.
4. Stir in eggs and yeast.
5. Gradually add flour to form a supple dough, beating well after each addition.
6. Knead methold: Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny and slightly tacky (about 5 minutes). Oil a large bowl, turn the dough in the bowl to coat with oil on all sides. 
7. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
8.  After the first rise, punch the dough down, shape into a ball and let rise again till doubled in size. 
9. After the second rise, cut and shape dough into balls.  Oil a jelly roll pan, place balls on pan, cover with a towel and let rise till balls are touching each other and double in size. 
10. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
11. Brush with melted butter straight from the oven.