Dinner Rolls
Oven Fresh Buttery Soft and Fluffy Dinner Rolls in three different styles. With the aroma of fresh-baked bread filling the air, sometimes all you need as a side dish is a good Dinner Roll.
Dough
With only a few simple ingredients, you can make the best dinner rolls to serve at the table. The base is just Flour, Sugar, Salt, Oil, Milk, Yeast, and an egg. But it is how we prepare the dough that really takes this up a notch.
The Dough starts with a slurry that is proofed for just a bit, 30 minutes to an hour. Additional Flour and Salt are added and mixed to create a dough. The Dough should take on a whiter color and should be tacky. Add more flour if needed to achieve a good, tacky dough.
The dough is then portioned into 90 g dough balls and dipped in melted butter before being placed into a baking pan with walls. This is left to rise again before being baked until golden.
Slurry
Use a clear plastic Garbage Bag and cover the slurry when initially making the dough and for covering the rolls in their final proofing.
Make use of the oven to proof the dough. Turn the oven on for about 10 – 30 seconds, then shut it off and place the dough inside, covered with the plastic bag. This significantly improves proofing times, causing the dough to rise faster.
This is the First Proof or Dough Slurry. All ingredients are mixed with only 2 Cups of Flour added to create a Dough Slurry. This gets covered and set in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a good amount of bubbles form.
Proofing
Add in 2 more cups of flour, reserving the last cup of flour to add more flour to the dough if needed. You will use most of it, if not all. But you want to see where the dough is at. I have had some days when all wasn’t needed and others where it was and more. In general, look for a tacky dough.
You really do need a dough mixer. I have made these by hand, and you can get away with it. You just have to knead for a pretty long time for the best results.
What you’re looking for is the dough to take on a whiter appearance and to be tacky, it pulls away from the mixing bowl. It will stick to your hand, but not leave any dough stuck to it.
For this, we need to knead very well to develop the gluten bonds, and a Dough mixer makes this a lot easier. Mix for about 5–8 minutes, or when you see the dough take on a whiter appearance.
This will get covered and placed into the oven to proof again for about 1 hour, or until doubled.
Preparing Dinner Rolls
Once the dough doubles in size, you are ready to portion and shape into Dinner Rolls.
Weigh the Dough
I hate it when recipes say to eyeball the dough. You do not want to do this. You want the Dinner Rolls to be exactly the same every time – Consistency. In order to do this, you need to weigh out the dough.
The scales are not that expensive, and you will use the scales for other things too. I am able to cut my dough weights almost all the time to pretty close to what I am looking for (I do make it a game) and I still use the scale to make sure it is 90 g.
- Dinner Rolls at 90 g – Casserole pan with high walls.
- Clover Rolls/Trinity Rolls at 30 g – 3 to make 1 Roll. Place in Muffin Tray
- Twin/Split Rolls at 45 g – 2 to make 1 Roll. Placed in Muffin Tray
At 90 g each, the yield is anywhere from 12 to 16 dinner rolls.
Shaping Dinner Rolls
When making the Dough Balls, you want to form into a tight ball. Sort of wrapping the dough around towards the bottom and sealing. This takes practice, but once you get it you will be able to shape dough balls extremely fast.
Lay them into a Baking Pan with high walls. Cover with a Garbage bag and place into the oven again to proof. They are ready to cook when they have doubled in size and are touching.
Other types of Dinner Rolls
For Clover Rolls, weigh out three 30 g dough balls and place them into a muffin tray. Dip or brush on butter, and place into a muffin tray for final proof.
With Split Rolls, weigh two dough balls out at 45 g. Dip or brush on butter, and place into a muffin tray for final proof.
How to Freeze Dinner Rolls
Wrap the Rolls in Tin Foil and cover with a Bag. Place in the freezer. You can do this one by one or by batches.
Reheating Dinner Rolls
Either take the Dinner Rolls out of the freezer an hour before cooking or cook straight away. Place the Tin foiled wrapped Dinner Roll/s in the oven at 350 F until defrosted and nice and warm.
How to Bake Dinner Rolls
Bake Dinner Rolls in a preheated oven at 350 F in the middle rack position for 20 – 30 minutes, or until nice and golden color. Take them out of the oven when done and brush with butter. Let it rest, they are still cooking.
Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Dough Mixer
- 1 Baking Pan
Ingredients
- 5 C Flour - or more if needed to achieve a tacky dough
- 2 C Scalded Milk
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 C Sugar
- 1/4 C Oil or Lard
- 1 Tbl Instant Bread Yeast
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
- Melted Butter as needed
Instructions
- Scald the milk, remove from heat and pour into a Bowl. Add Oil/Lard and Sugar to the milk and let cool. Add 1 or 2 Ice Cubes to cool down faster but keep the liquid at room temp or slightly above.
- Add an Egg to the Milk mixture and mix well. Sprinkle on the yeast and add 2 Cups of Flour. Mix vigorously with a fork or whisk. Cover and proof for 30 minutes.
- Add 2 more cups of flour with the salt and mix well in a dough mixer for 5–8 minutes, or Knead by hand. Add more flour from the remaining 1 cup of flour or more if needed to achieve a tacky dough.The Dough will change to a whiter color and be tacky. When handling, it won't stick to your hands.Cover and let proof until doubled in size.
- Divide the Dough into 90 g portions. Form into a ball and dip in melted butter, or brush on melted butter all the way around. Place on a Baking Pan with high walls. Cover & Let Proof until doubled in size.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F, with rack in middle position, for about 20–30 minutes or until desired golden color. Brush on Butter and let cool.
Notes
- Jerk Chicken
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- Swiss SteakFork Tender Swiss Steak with a Flavorful Beefy Tomato Sauce. Done Stove top, in a Slow Cooker or Oven Braised for a Delicious Comforting Meal. Add in your choice of herbs to shape the Flavors and serve with Mashed, Roasted or Steamed Potatoes, Crispy Fries, … Read more
