Man cannot live on bread alone....but it sounds good, right?

Sweet Yeast Rolls
(Much like Texas Roadhouse Rolls)
 - Feel SOO sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about!-


Making bread and rolls is NOT HARD!  Sure, it's tedious, isn't an immediate satisfaction, but after you make your first loaf or dozen rolls...you'll want to never buy from the store again!


Ingredients: 
1 package of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
8 cups all purpose flour
2 TBS melter butter
2 whole eggs
2 tsp salt


Step One: Add 2 cups of milk to a small sauce pan and place it on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  This is scalding the milk.  

Meanwhile, dissolve one teaspoon of sugar in 1/2 cup warm water and add a packet of yeast.  It's not necessary to stir the yeast because one it starts coming alive, it will all dissolve itself, anyway.  You'll want to let that soften until it looks foamy

before

after

Once the milk begins steaming and tiny bubbles begin forming along the edges of the pot, remove from heat and place in a sink full of cold water to bring to lukewarm quicker.  

Add the the remaining sugar and the milk to the yeast mixture and enough flour to make a medium batter, about that of pancake batter (it took me 1.5 cups)  Beat thoroughly.  Let it sit until it becomes light and foamy.  While its sitting, melt your butter, if you haven't already.  (If you choose to wait until now to melt it, place it in the freezer right after it's melted to get it cool).  Once the mix is foamy, add the cooled melted butter, eggs, and salt.  Beat well.  Add enough flour (about 3 cups worth) to form a soft dough (so it doesn't run all over your kneading area in a minute!) to look like this:

Sprinkle flour onto your surface and begin kneading, adding one cup of flour at a time until the dough is smooth and satiny and not as sticky as it was (where it will stick to your surface).  Grease a big bowl and place your dough ball in the bowl

(here's a good video on kneading)

I've found the best way for my dough to rise is to cover the bowl with saran wrap and a warm, damp towel and place in a (not running) microwave.  Let it sit and rise to double its size.  In the meanwhile, bring your oven to 450 degrees.

This next step is very very important.  Possibly one of the most important steps there is to this whole process.  

You ready?  

Okay, close your eyes.  Find the deepest frustration you have today....find it?  

Okay.  Now PUNCH the dough.

That's right, I said punch the dough

Now, take the dough out and put it on another surface that it won't stick on and lightly knead it out to look like a long french loaf of bread.  Then, cut that into 4 equal pieces using a dough cutter.

This step makes it easier to manage.  Now, this recipe says it makes 5 to 6 dozen, but my experience has been to maybe get 2 or 3.  I like my Texas size rolls! ;)  Cut your rolls down to size, pick one up and put it on the table with your hand over it like it's a computer mouse

You don't want to roll the dough like you would playdough.  You want to kind of rock it back and forth and around in this motion to give it that rounded edge.  The bottom, however, should look like this if you've done it right:

You don't want to leave it looking like that or it won't bake like it's supposed to.  You want a tight seal.  So, grab the edges around the hole or "rip" and pinch them closed, like this:

Finish rolling them around and place them on a well oiled cookie sheet of some sort

Now, this is where your oven comes in.  Loosely cover your rolls, turn your oven OFF, place the rolls in the oven and leave the oven door cracked.  Allow to rise until doubled in size (or in my instance, till they can't rise anymore!)

(NOTE: I made my rolls a lot bigger than normal so I could use them for small hamburger buns, later.  Yours can be as big or as small as you'd like them!)

 Once they've risen all they'll rise, take them out, uncover them and set your oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the rolls for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and let them finish baking for 10-15 minutes, depending on how brown you like your crust.  Take them out, butter the tops while they're hot...and enjoy!  Yummmmm!!!

 

I hope you enjoy these rolls as much as Zach and I do!!!

LS