Dinner Rolls

There is nothing as delicious as a fresh out of the oven homemade roll slathered with butter.  It is one of life's great pleasures, and you cannot buy it.  It must be made.  The following is my mom's homemade dinner rolls recipe.  I've been eating these rolls my entire life- every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter for sure.  Other times as well.  This recipe makes around four dozen rolls, so if that is more than you need, it is perfectly fine to half it if you're making rolls for a smaller gathering.


Dinner Rolls

2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 eggs, plus enough scalded and cooled milk to make 2 cups of liquid
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of sugar
6 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water in a mixing bowl.  Let sit for about 5 minutes until yeast starts bubbling and is activated.  Add eggs, milk, butter, salt and sugar and stir until blended (I just stir this with my dough hook).  Stir in 3 cups of flour and combine until smooth.  Continue adding the rest of the flour until a smooth soft dough results.  Knead dough for about 5 minutes by hand.  Place into a buttered bowl and cover until dough has doubled (around 2 hours).  Punch down.

To make rolls, divide dough into smaller sections (4-5) and roll out each section into a circle.  Use a pizza cutter to cut circle into 8 triangle shapes and roll them into crescents.  Place on baking sheets and cover with dish towels.  Let rolls rise again (45 min or so) and then bake them at 375 degrees for 15 or so minutes.  I usually set my timer for 13 minutes and then watch the rolls carefully until the tops begin to brown some and they look done.

Enjoy!

P.S. this dough can also be used as a base for cinnamon rolls if you'd like.