Delicious yeast rolls are a little difficult to conquer, but once you have, you'll want to make them for you and your family every week! The recipe is simple, but make sure you pay attention to your kneading, rising, and mixing. Yeast rolls are sensitive to every situation.
Instructions
Mixing the Dough
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, butter/shortening and salt. Cook over medium heat until the butter or shortening begins to melt, but never let the mixture come to a boil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the package of yeast with 2 cups of the flour. Set aside the other 2 1/4 cups of flour.
3. When the butter or shortening has completely melted, pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl with the flour and yeast. You want the liquid to be very hot when you pour so that it will stimulate the yeast - but not as hot as a boil would make it, as that temperature will kill the yeast. Stir the milk mixture and flour together with a wooden spoon for about 15 seconds.
4. Stir the batter with the electric mixer on high for about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl with the spoon or a spatula and then mix on low setting for about 3 minutes.
5. With the wooden spoon, gradually stir in the remaining flour. You may or may not be able to work in all the flour. Don't worry! Just stir in as much as you can, at least 3 3/4 cups. At this time the dough should be hard to stir with the spoon and form a rough ball shape in the bowl.
Kneading the Dough
6. Roll the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured, flat work surface like a countertop. Flour your hands well and sprinkle some additional flour onto the dough. Knead the dough for approximately six to eight minutes, turning and folding as necessary, and adding small amounts of flour when possible. The dough should be stretchy and pliable when you're done kneading.
7. Wash out your mixing bowl from steps 1-5 and dry it out thoroughly with a paper towel. Place a small amount of canola or vegetable oil (olive oil is too heavy) in the bottom of the bowl, about 1 tbsp. Place the ball of kneaded dough in the bowl, turning upside down once to coat the dough with oil.
8. Place the clean dish towel over the bowl, covering it completely, and place the bowl in a warm location (at least 70 degrees F). The hearth in front of a fire, on top of a running refrigerator, or in direct sunlight inside or outside are all good locations.
Letting the Dough Rise and Baking the Dough
9. Leave the covered dough in the warm location of your choosing for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
10. Remove the dish towel and make a fist with your hand. Punch the center of the dough firmly, with about half your strength behind it, to cause the dough to deflate.
11. Turn the dough back onto your floured work surface. Slice the dough into quarters, and then into either eight or ten pieces, depending on how large you'd like your rolls to be (I usually divide the dough into 10 pieces). Then cover the dough again and allow it to rise for about half an hour, or until the divided pieces have again doubled in size. During this time, preheat your baking stone in the oven. Place the stone into a cold oven and turn the heat to about 200 degrees F. The stone should be heated just a bit, so that the bottom of the rolls will cook simultaneously with the top of the rolls.
12. Remove the dishtowel and shape the pieces of dough into rolls. Plain round rolls work well. Place the rolls onto the preheated baking stone, sides not touching, and turn your oven up to 425 degrees F. Place the stone in the oven when the temperature reaches 425. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes, checking occasionally that the bottom of the rolls is turning golden brown.
13. Test rolls by taking one out and breaking it apart. If the inside of the roll is still chewy, you can bake the remainder at 450 for about 3 more minutes. Allow rolls to cool on the baking stone once you take them out of the oven and be careful! The stone will be hot for several hours after you take it out of the oven.
Tags: baking stone, butter shortening, dough into, mixing bowl, about half, about seconds, bottom rolls