Dinner Rolls

Warm, fluffy, and buttery soft – this is everything you’d want in a dinner roll. Seriously. I’ve made hundreds of these and they are the best. I can tell you now, if you want to be the star of the Thanksgiving dinner this year, bring these. It beats any roll you can buy – Rhodes, Costco, Hawaiian, etc – hands down!

A big thing to know about yeast is – it takes a little bit of time. So just know this isn’t something you can whip up in 30 mins. Most really good recipes for breads and rolls should take at least 2 hours (not including bake time)! Otherwise, you are sacrificing a quick recipe for the tender, light as a feather interior that can really make you a baking champion! And in my opinion, if you are going to go through all the effort and get all those dishes dirty – do it the right way! Even if that means eating rolls as an after dinner snack because you totally messed up on your timing – been there, done that!

The roll recipe is from the Stay at Home Chef – another all-star blogger! She is really someone you need to follow if you want to become a better baker or cook. The recipe is linked below: https://thestayathomechef.com/the-best-homemade-dinner-rolls-ever/ – Go ahead and click on that and watch her video for more help.

Now, if you’ve never made anything with yeast before, it’s okay because it’s really not that hard! Just make sure your milk is warm – think a little warmer than how you’d like your bath water. If you have an instant read thermometer you’ll want the milk to be between 100-115 degrees.

If you rarely use yeast then I would suggest buying just the yeast packets for now until you start making more. It’s more expensive in the smaller packets then it is in the huge block of yeast but this way you will ensure that your yeast is fresh. If you do end up buying a bigger container – keep any extra in the fridge or freezer.

TIP 1: If you don’t want to use a whole baking sheet then you can use two 9x13in pans. Separate a dozen into each. This tip works well too if you want to make half of the dough into cinnamon rolls —tip 4 for more details!

TIP 2: These rolls come out to be a good size roll so don’t be nervous to separate the rolls into smaller amounts in order to make more than 24. This has come in handy when I was making it for a bigger crowd and wanted enough for everyone to have one plus some for extra. I’ve made it into 30 rolls (5 rolls by 6 rolls in the baking sheet) and it is still a good portion.

TIP 3: Try your best to separate the rolls into similar sizes. I love to use a food scale for this to make sure every roll is the same weight. That way I know it will all cook at the same rate and make for a more uniform presentation. If you don’t have a food scale do your best to eye it out!

TIP 4: To make these into cinnamon rolls: on step 3 of the recipe you let it rise for only 60 mins. Then you punch it down and separate into two halves (here you can change it up how you want – one batch of regular dinner rolls and one batch of cinnamon rolls or all cinnamon rolls in which case you can use a baking sheet instead of the 9×13) take one half and roll it into a 12×18 inch rectangle.

Then brush the dough with 1/3 cup melted or softened butter. Melted is easier to spread but softened butter will bake better. Then sprinkle on a mixture of 1 cup brown sugar & 1.5 TB cinnamon

Then roll it up lengthwise and use dental floss or a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 one-inch slices. Put it into a greased 9x13in pan and cover and rise for 30 mins ***at the 15 minute mark start preheating your oven to 375degrees**** Cook for 15-20 mins depending on how well you like it done. You can also cook the dinner rolls at the same time if you are doing both. Just remove the dinner rolls sooner, as they bake quicker.

Make your favorite frosting to top it all off 🙂 I like to take half of my frosting and put it on the cinnamon rolls a few minutes after they come out of the oven so it melts down in all the cracks. Then after it cools more I put the rest of the frosting on and it settles on the tops. SOOO yummy!!!!

I hope you try your hand at making these delicious rolls! If you have any questions, leave a comment below! Jenny