Dinner Rolls

Dinner Rolls—makes 30 rolls (15 rolls per 9 x 13 pan)

1½ cups very warm water
1 Tbsp. plus ¾ tsp. yeast
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 egg
½ cube softened butter (4 Tbsp.)
5-6 ½ cups bread flour (can also use all-purpose flour)
1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in water in Kitchen-Aid or mixer with dough hook attachment. Add a little bit of the sugar and wait about 5-8 minutes until mixture to begins to bubble and foam. Add the rest of the sugar, milk, egg, butter, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix well. Add 2 more cups of the flour along with salt. Mix well. Gradually add in one more cup of the flour. Add any additional flour as needed in order to knead the dough into a ball. Dough should not be too dry however. Keep it on the stickier side, adding just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the bowl. Knead for 10 minutes. Remove dough from mixer and place into a large greased bowl. Turn the dough over so greased side is up. Cover with a thin towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about one hour or so until double in size. (I turn the oven on for about a minute to take the chill off and then turn it off and let the dough rise in there.)

Punch dough down and allow to rise again. (Second rising may be shorter than 1 hour.) Punch down again and shape into rolls. I do three rows of five in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. (I like to use a shiny aluminum pan--airbake style.) Dark, non-stick pans tend to make the bottoms of the rolls come out darker so reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees if your pans are dark. Cover with thin towel and allow rolls to rise until double in size.** Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. (Check after 12-13 minutes and turn pan around if your oven is hotter in the back.) Rolls should be nicely browned. If they are getting too brown on top before the bottoms are done (this will probably only occur if using air-bake pans), lay a piece of foil over the top and continue to bake for another 2-3 minutes until the bottoms catch up. Remove rolls from pan by placing another 9 x 13 pan over the top and tip them out upside down and then right side up on a wire rack to cool.

**If you want rolls to have a shiny "finished" look to them, lightly brush tops with egg yolk mixture (one yolk mixed with 1 Tbsp. water) just before baking. At this point you can sprinkle on sesame seeds if desired.

This recipe sounds really fussy, but once you get the hang of it and what pans/cooking times etc. work for you, it will be a keeper. Also, this is an excellent dough to use for cinnamon rolls.