Recipe Collection: Perfect Dinner Rolls

Written by Kate Tietje This is a great compromise between totally “real food” (i.e., sprouted/soaked whole grains) and yucky processed versions.  It honestly takes quite a lot like packaged white bread, yet the ingredients are fairly nourishing.  Certainly much more so than that package!  (Truthfully, I buy about 5 lbs. of white flour annually and just call it good.  That tiny amount isn’t going to kill us.)

These are also super easy, so this might be a recipe you could pass along to someone unsure they are ready to “make their own” yet.  It’s a yeasted bread, yet it requires no proofing of the yeast — just dump, stir, knead, and go.  A mixer can even do all the work for you!  (And probably a bread machine, too.)

So, try it out, save it for a special treat.  These could be dinner rolls, hamburger buns, or even loaves of bread.  I know I’ll be baking some this weekend when we’re having dinner with family so that we can all enjoy the bread!

This would also work great as a mix.  Keep the dry ingredients mixed up in your pantry, then toss a bag into the bowl of a mixer with the wet ingredients any time you need rolls!  Since they don’t need to be soaked (white flour doesn’t have phytic acid because that is found in the bran), you only have to plan a couple of hours in advance, not a whole day.

Perfect Dinner Rolls

This recipe makes 24 rolls.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 3 tsp. yeast
• ¼ cup sucanat
• ½ cup butter, melted (learn how to make butter)
• 1 cup milk, warm
• 1 egg

Directions:

Step 1: Add all the dry ingredients in a large glass bowl or the bowl of a mixer.

Step 2: Stir them together.

Step 3: Melt the butter and add it.

Step 4: Add the egg.

Step 5: Add the milk.

Step 6: Stir together until it forms a ball of dough.  It will be shaggy and maybe a bit sticky.

Step 7: Turn it onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth.  Alternately, allow the mixer to run on low with a dough hook for 10 minutes until smooth (you may add a slight amount of extra flour as this happens).

Step 8: Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.  Then, punch it down and divide it into 24 small balls.  Shape into rolls and place in a greased baking dish (9×13 should be right) so they are slightly spread apart.

Step 9: Let rise for about an hour until doubled.  The rolls should now be touching.

Step 10: Bake at 350ºF for 30 – 35 min until the tops are golden brown.

What’s your favorite topping for dinner rolls?