Easy Dinner Rolls

A couple years ago for Thanksgiving my mom asked me to make the rolls. I chose a biscuit recipe that required cutting butter into flour, something I'd never done before. Since I didn't have a pastry cutter I just used two knives (as suggested by food blogs and recipe sites). I thought everything was going great until it was time to put the dough on the baking sheet.

And that's when the breakdown began, as I discovered that there was still chunks of butter in the biscuit dough (I tend to cry like a child when I get frustrated, especially when it's something that shouldn't be hard). So I tossed the dough and asked my mom to make a last minute run to the grocery store (surprisingly she found some). (Over the last year and a half that I've been watching Food Network regularly I've discovered that I didn't screw-up - there's supposed to be chunks of butter. If I remember correctly it makes the bread fluffier). So last year when Mom asked me to make the rolls again I decided to stick with a yeast dough since I'd made some before and was successful. I found some very fluffy dinner rolls from Recipe Girl. They were a hit! So much so that Kati asked me to make them for Easter when she and Anthony hosted. I can't remember why I didn't do a blog post either time - forgot to take pics I guess (something I do from time to time since, you know, I don't do this daily like a normal food blogger). So when I needed rolls for myself, I knew exactly which recipe to look for.

Easy Dinner Rolls (source)

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (105° F. to 115° F)
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups (or so) all-purpose flour
• additional melted butter (all three times I didn't use this and the rolls still tasted fine)

Directions

1. Combine the warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. If it does not become foamy, your yeast is probably old and not active- it's best to throw it out and start again.
2. With a wooden spoon, 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 or more flour will be needed). The dough should no longer be sticky. Place round ball of dough into a new bowl that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or up to 4 days.
3. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough into 24 equal-size pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth round ball; place balls in even rows (4 rows by 6 rows) in the prepared pan. Cover with a dish towel and let dough balls rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour (or so). You can leave them to rise longer if you need to.
4. Preheat oven to 375° F. Bake until rolls are golden brown and cooked through, 15-20 minutes. If they are browning too quickly on top, tent foil over the rolls until finished baking. Brush warm rolls with melted butter, if desired. Break rolls apart to serve.

They turned out the same as last time, even after being in the freezer and having to be defrosted. So fluffy! (like Stitch! And Agnes's unicorn!)