Easy White Rolls (From High School Foods Class)

Roll Recipe (From High School Foods Class)

1 Tb yeast

4 Tb sugar (use 1 Tb in one bowl and 3 in another)

¼ cup warm water

½ cup butter

4 cups flour (+ extra to roll out dough) I usually end up adding another cup or so...add enough so it's doesn't stick to your fingers and is easy to roll out. If making with a mixer, add flour until the mixer cleans the side of the bowl.

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup warm milk

Use four different bowls to prepare ingredients.

In Bowl #1-Add 1 Tb yeast + 1 Tb sugar + ¼ cup warm water (proofing).

Bowl #2-Cut ½ cup butter into 4 cups flour (do in biggest bowl).
      *TIP: "Cutting in" is a technique used to put tiny chunks of butter or other fat       into dry ingredients. This works best when the butter is at room temperature. A       pastry cutter is my favorite way to do this, but two butter knives can be used if         you don't have one. Simply cut across the butter, running the knives against each     other like you are sharpening them. You are trying to cut the butter into tiny             pieces to create pockets of air and make your rolls fluffy. The end result should        be a corn-mealy texture with no big pieces of butter left in the bowl.

Bowl #3-Add 1 tsp salt to 3 well-beaten eggs.

Bowl #4-Add 3 Tb sugar to 1 cup warm milk

Combine wet w/ dry ingredients. Here is where you add the extra flour (usually about a cup or more...don't worry if it seems like you're adding a lot!), to make the dough not stick to your fingers and easy to roll out.

Cover.

Let rise 1-6 hours (I ALWAYS get impatient and let it rise like 15 minutes...but DON'T WORRY! It works out with this recipe.) The more you let it rise, the lighter and less dense your rolls will be. I don't let mine rise much, and they are denser than some other rolls, but still good. 

Shape. My favorite way to shape these rolls is into crescents, like so:

1-Roll HALF of your dough into a large circle. You can use the other half to make another batch of rolls, some breadsticks, cinnamon rolls, or you may save the dough for a few days in the fridge, wrapped in plastic, and make scones or some other good thing later.

2-Use a pizza cutter to make 12 wedges. Try to keep the wedges as even as possible...I'm really bad at that. The best way to do this is to cut the circle in four sections. Then divide each of those sections into three wedges. 

It should look like this when you've got all the wedges cut out.

3- Now brush each piece with melted butter, vegetable oil, or olive oil. This step is not completely necessary, but I always do it. I love using the little brush to paint my rolls. It makes me feel creative. :) Brushing with butter also makes the rolls just a little bit flakier.

4-Roll up each of the wedges, starting with the wide side and rolling toward the narrow point. Place on a baking sheet with the point tucked underneath. When all the rolls are on the baking sheet, brush with butter or oil again.

Let rise 1-6 hours (again). HAHAHAHAHAHA or just pop them in the oven like I do.

Bake at 350 degrees.

Dinner rolls=13-15 minutes or until as brown as you like.

Cinnamon rolls=probably about 20 minutes. I haven't made these since high school.

 Here's the finished product! I let these rolls rise for 30-45 min at the first rising stage...and this is how they turned out! Perfectly wonderful! My husband has liked these rolls since I made them for him when we were first dating...although probably still not as much as his mom's. I try. :)