Buttery Dinner Rolls

That aroma of freshly baked dinner rolls is something that I can't explain in words but if you have baked it yourselves you would know, how heavenly it is. I am not exaggerating, but the very thought of it is making my mouth water. I had never seen or done bread baking untill I came to the US, but everytime I passed by the bakery in our small township that I grew up in, the smell of the bread getting baked has always left me tempting. Bitting into a warm bread having spread some butter, which melts with the warmth of the bread slice is the simplest of pleasures.

Getting the perfect dinner rolls was always a challenge. Yes the dinner rolls would be soft when warm, but when they cool down, they would turn dry and hard. After couple of trial and errors, I finally landed on this recipe and its a keeper. Both my boys are not bread lovers. They would like it if dunked into some spicy curry to pair with. But with these dinner rolls, I just saw them taking and bitting into them even without anything spread on them. They being not a big fan of bread, but still loved these dinner rolls , I knew I had to document it before I forget the ratios. So here it is - the recipe to soft and buttery dinner rolls.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 tbsp of yeast
2. 1/4 cup of warm water
3. 1 tbsp of sugar
4. 1/2 cup of warm milk 
5. 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
6. 1/4 cup of sugar
7. 1/2 tsp of salt
8. 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
9. 1 egg
10. 2-3 cups of all purpose flour
11. 1 tbsp of melted butter

Method

• In a small bowl, take the yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar. Mix it with the warm water. Let it stand for about 1 minutes untill it is frothy.
• In another large bowl, take the warm milk, oil, sugar and salt. Mix it well.
• Add 1 cup of flour and mix it well. Add the beaten egg and mix it well untill it gets incorporated well. 
• Now add the yeast mixture and stir it in.
• Add 2 cups or more flour in parts while you mix it. It will be a sticky dough. Place it in a grease bowl in a warm place, untill it doubles. It should take about 2-3 hours depending on the weather conditions.
• Once the dough doubles, punch it down and remove it onto a light floured surface. Divide it into two portions.
• Roll out the dough into a circle abut 10 inches in diameter.
• Brush the rolled out dough with melted butter. Using a pizza cutter cut the circle into 12 equal pieces, like pizza slices.
• Roll each piece from its edge towards the center to make the crescent roll. Lightly press the end to prevent them from opening up while letting it stand for another rise.
• Grease a baking tray and line the rolls about an inch apart from each other.
• Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and let it stand for another hour and a half, for it to rise and double in size.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the top of the rolls with melted butter and bake it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes untill the top is golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and while it is still warm, brush it with another round of melted butter.
• Serve it warm with sides of your choice or with just some hot coffee.

Tips

1. You need to have a sticky dough. So just add enough flour to make it sticky and elastic. Adding more flour would make it like the usual dough and make the dinner rolls hard and dry.

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