Dinner Rolls

I wasn't going to post about these rolls. I've been making them forever, but they're just so good and I think I've finally gotten to where I really know how to make them. The recipe comes from one of my mom's cookbooks. I honestly don't know the name of it. We just always called it the "Mormon Cookbook".

If these are made just right they come out so soft and fluffy. Breads are fun to make, but I've noticed everytime I make some sort of bread it's always done a little differently. Sometimes I have to add more flour, while others I don't add quite as much. It's all about the touch I think. You can do exactly what the recipe calls for, but it might not turn out quite right. This recipe calls for 6 cups All-Purpose flour. I usually end up with 7-8 cups, just depending. If you have a scale and are able to weigh out your ingredients you can usually get a more accurate about of what you're suppose to put in. Weighing is better than measuring:)

When mixing dough you want to be able to touch and pick it up after it's done kneading, but you don't want it to be compeltely dry. I like my dough where there's still stickiness to it. If that makes sense. I usaully have to get a little flour on my hands to handle it and form it into a ball and let it rise. If you get it so that it's really easy to handle, then the rolls usually turn out hard and dense, not light and fluffy.

One thing that I loved learning in school was the window technique. A recipe will tell you to knead for 8-10 minutes, but how do you know you're done? The kneading process is done to make your dough elastic and that's exactly what you want. If you take a piece of the dough and slowly start to spread it and it just tears, it's not done. You want to create a "window". I usally roll a little piece into a ball and then slowly start stretching it. If I can get it pretty thin and it hasn't ripped then I usually let the rising process start.

For these rolls I weigh my pieces out into about 3 oz. portions. I'm not good at eyeballing and I like my rolls to look somewhat similar in size. 3 oz. makes a pretty good size roll. For this batch I made 2 dozen rolls with that size. If you have something to cut each roll out it works better then tearing the dough apart. I use a metal bench scraper. After cutting I rolled them, let them rise for about 30 minutes and then I baked them for 10 minutes and once they came out started rubbing butter on the tops. They're so good and make the house small so nice. I love the smell of cooked bread!

Dinner Rolls

2 packages (2T) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
6 cups flour scooped
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 T. salt
2 cups warm water
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil

Soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm water to which sugar has been added.

In a large bowl stir together flour, dry milk, and salt. Making a well in the center, add 2 cups warm water, yeast mixture, eggs, and oil in that order. Stir until well mixed, adding more flour, if needed, to make a soft dough.

Cover. Allow to rise in a warm place until double. About 1 hour.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board. Knead a few times to make dough easy to handle. Pinch off smooth round pieces about egg size; arrange 2 inches apart, on a greased baking sheet. Cover lightly with a clean towel. Allow to rise 20 minutes. Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown, at 400F.