The Best Buttery Dinner Rolls

So I woke up this morning, walked to my computer to publish my blog post and this is what I saw:

I was up 45 minutes before I had to leave, and it was still running when I left.  Gah!  Luckily I posted this to my draft folder vs. keeping it on LiveWriter, which I could only access on my desktop.

So enjoy these buttery dinner rolls! 😀

I remember when I dreamed of being a bread baker.  Getting up early to make the dough, let it rise, and greet people as they come in for their morning coffee and hand them samples of my delicious cinnamon bread.  But after working the farmers markets this summer, and having to get up at 3:45 a.m. and all the manual labor that goes with it?!  Um, let’s just say I glamourized that job and I know how hard that work is, and while I wouldn’t mind doing it once in a while, I realize that’s a tough job to have full time.

That being said.  I love bread.  Always have.  I love working with the dough, waiting for it to rise.  There isn’t a lot of hands on time, especially if you let your stand mixer do the work of kneading the bread.  I normally love the hand kneading process, but after watching the Chef’s at The Chopping Block make these dinner rolls in the stand mixer, I was quickly convinced that this was the way to go.  And it is worth the wait.  The smell of fresh bread is probably one of my favorite kitchen smells.

These dinner rolls are literally foolproof – even for a novice.  Just make sure that your yeast is fresh, and all should go well!

Here is how the dough looked after 90 minutes:

I only made half the dinner rolls last night just as a dry run, since I hadn’t actually made these, I’ve only watched the Chef’s at work make them.

You want to have them not touching at this point, because they will still rise for the second 30 minute rise.

Then bake!  For some reason, mine were done at 40 minutes, so set your timer for 35 minutes and watch accordingly so they don’t get too brown.  Brush with a bit of butter and sprinkle with sea salt.

I baked mine in my Lodge cast iron skillet, but you could use a cookie sheet, or a cake pan.  These will be a hit on my Thanksgiving table! 

Make it a great day!