You get home from work on a chilly day and want to open a can of soup for dinner. That's easy enough, but nearly substantial enough. So, you want some bread with your soup. Of course, you don't have time to make bread.
Or do you?
Impressive fresh homemade bread rolls that are to die for in about an hour? Where do I sign up?
These are easy, especially if you have a stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, they're still pretty easy.
I got this recipe from this site, and it's such a good hit, I'm reproducing it here. I adapted it a bit, but it's close enough that it's not an original recipe. Still bread is pretty universal, so there are some variations on the mixture of yeast, liquid, and flour, but when you find a good one, you stick with it.
Ingredients:
3 3/4 to 4 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP yeast (this would come to a little less than two yeast packets)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2/3 cup milk
4 TBSP butter, diced
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
First, turn on your oven to the lowest setting. 180 degrees is fine. Let it preheat as you put the ingredients together.
First get the lukewarm water. (Lukewarm water is about 100 degrees F. That means when you stick your finger in it, it should feel approximately the same as your body temperature to you. Water that is too hot can kill the yeast, so it's better to err on water being too cold than too hot.)
Add the water, sugar, and yeast to the mixing bowl. Mix until yeast is dissolved. Let stand a few minutes while you're gathering other ingredients. After about 5 minutes, it should be foamy.
A yeast packet is 2 1/4 teaspoons. One tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. So, two packets of yeast will give you the tablespoon the recipe calls for, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons. You can add the entirety of two packets in if you wish. It won't hurt the recipe to have a little more yeast. If you have extra time and aren't trying to make the rolls in 1 hour, you can also just add one packet. Keep in mind, though, that one packet will make it rise slower and you'll have to probably double the rising time. I prefer to get a jar of yeast and just measure out a tablespoon. I store my yeast in the refrigerator.
To the frothy yeast mixture, add the milk, lemon juice, and butter. Mix.
Add in 3 cups of flour and the salt. Mix. It should look doughy, but still very sticky.
Add in additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until you get a good dough that is soft but not sticky.
Pro-tip: If you accidentally add too much water and the dough is not soft, you can add a little more water. Add it 1 TB at a time and mix until you get dough that's the correct consistency. You will know you have the correct consistency when the dough is slightly sticky, but pulls all of the bits of dough away from the side of the mixing bowl.
If you have a stand mixer, let the mixer knead the dough while you get out a 13 X 9 baking dish and spray it with cooking spray (or rub it with butter to grease it). You can also use a cookie sheet for this, but again, spray it or grease it.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes.
Stop the mixer and shape the dough into balls. The bigger the balls, the bigger the rolls, of course. To make the balls even, I divide the dough in half (approximate). Then I divide one half in half again. and then each of those halves into half again. That gives me 8 rolls. Then, I go back to the other half of the dough in the mixer and do the same thing. I get 16 rolls this way.
You can, of course, save the other half of the dough for another day if you have a small family or your family doesn't like bread all that much, but these rolls are so good I can't imagine too many scenarios where I would not want 16 rolls.
If you do save half, put it in a gallon sized Ziplock bag, label it clearly, and you can either refrigerate or freeze it. If you are only making half the rolls, you will want a smaller baking pan. 13 X 9 will be too large. You want the rolls next to each other with a slight bit of space between, but not much.
Once the rolls are all shaped, get your hands wet and wet the top of each roll with your wet hands. This will keep the top from drying out while it rises.
Pro-tip: If, despite your best efforts, the rolls aren't exactly the same size, put the larger rolls toward the edge and the smaller rolls toward the center.
If you have an hour or-more before dinner, turn off the oven and put the rolls into the oven. The ambient heat will help them rise.
If you only have 40 minutes before dinner, leave the oven on at its lowest setting and put the rolls in. They will rise faster this way.
About 20 minutes before dinner is to be ready, turn up the heat (or turn on the oven) to 375. These rolls will bake for about 15 minutes. They are ready when their tops are golden brown (don't let the bottoms get burned).
Serve with butter. You can make a nice garlic butter by softening a stick of butter and adding some minced garlic to it. Or regular butter is fine.
If you have leftovers, store them in a gallon sized zipper bag and reheat in the microwave for a few seconds before serving. Yeah, right. Like you will ever have leftovers of these, lol.
Or do you?
Impressive fresh homemade bread rolls that are to die for in about an hour? Where do I sign up?
These are easy, especially if you have a stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, they're still pretty easy.
I got this recipe from this site, and it's such a good hit, I'm reproducing it here. I adapted it a bit, but it's close enough that it's not an original recipe. Still bread is pretty universal, so there are some variations on the mixture of yeast, liquid, and flour, but when you find a good one, you stick with it.
Ingredients:
3 3/4 to 4 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP yeast (this would come to a little less than two yeast packets)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2/3 cup milk
4 TBSP butter, diced
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
First, turn on your oven to the lowest setting. 180 degrees is fine. Let it preheat as you put the ingredients together.
First get the lukewarm water. (Lukewarm water is about 100 degrees F. That means when you stick your finger in it, it should feel approximately the same as your body temperature to you. Water that is too hot can kill the yeast, so it's better to err on water being too cold than too hot.)
Add the water, sugar, and yeast to the mixing bowl. Mix until yeast is dissolved. Let stand a few minutes while you're gathering other ingredients. After about 5 minutes, it should be foamy.
A yeast packet is 2 1/4 teaspoons. One tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. So, two packets of yeast will give you the tablespoon the recipe calls for, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons. You can add the entirety of two packets in if you wish. It won't hurt the recipe to have a little more yeast. If you have extra time and aren't trying to make the rolls in 1 hour, you can also just add one packet. Keep in mind, though, that one packet will make it rise slower and you'll have to probably double the rising time. I prefer to get a jar of yeast and just measure out a tablespoon. I store my yeast in the refrigerator.
To the frothy yeast mixture, add the milk, lemon juice, and butter. Mix.
Add in 3 cups of flour and the salt. Mix. It should look doughy, but still very sticky.
Add in additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until you get a good dough that is soft but not sticky.
Pro-tip: If you accidentally add too much water and the dough is not soft, you can add a little more water. Add it 1 TB at a time and mix until you get dough that's the correct consistency. You will know you have the correct consistency when the dough is slightly sticky, but pulls all of the bits of dough away from the side of the mixing bowl.
If you have a stand mixer, let the mixer knead the dough while you get out a 13 X 9 baking dish and spray it with cooking spray (or rub it with butter to grease it). You can also use a cookie sheet for this, but again, spray it or grease it.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes.
Stop the mixer and shape the dough into balls. The bigger the balls, the bigger the rolls, of course. To make the balls even, I divide the dough in half (approximate). Then I divide one half in half again. and then each of those halves into half again. That gives me 8 rolls. Then, I go back to the other half of the dough in the mixer and do the same thing. I get 16 rolls this way.
You can, of course, save the other half of the dough for another day if you have a small family or your family doesn't like bread all that much, but these rolls are so good I can't imagine too many scenarios where I would not want 16 rolls.
If you do save half, put it in a gallon sized Ziplock bag, label it clearly, and you can either refrigerate or freeze it. If you are only making half the rolls, you will want a smaller baking pan. 13 X 9 will be too large. You want the rolls next to each other with a slight bit of space between, but not much.
Once the rolls are all shaped, get your hands wet and wet the top of each roll with your wet hands. This will keep the top from drying out while it rises.
Pro-tip: If, despite your best efforts, the rolls aren't exactly the same size, put the larger rolls toward the edge and the smaller rolls toward the center.
If you have an hour or-more before dinner, turn off the oven and put the rolls into the oven. The ambient heat will help them rise.
If you only have 40 minutes before dinner, leave the oven on at its lowest setting and put the rolls in. They will rise faster this way.
About 20 minutes before dinner is to be ready, turn up the heat (or turn on the oven) to 375. These rolls will bake for about 15 minutes. They are ready when their tops are golden brown (don't let the bottoms get burned).
Serve with butter. You can make a nice garlic butter by softening a stick of butter and adding some minced garlic to it. Or regular butter is fine.
If you have leftovers, store them in a gallon sized zipper bag and reheat in the microwave for a few seconds before serving. Yeah, right. Like you will ever have leftovers of these, lol.
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