Easy Homemade Dinner and Cinnamon Rolls

A lovely friend of mine shared this roll recipe with us at a "What's For Dinner?" Cooking club meeting in my ward. It is really easy, especially because you mix the dry ingredients ahead of time and keep them in your pantry for whenever you might feel like making rolls!

Also,

THEY ARE THE BEST ROLLS I HAVE EVER TASTED.

Here it is:

 Roll Mix:

5 lb of flour (about 17 Cups) Either white, whole wheat, or a combination of the two.
1 C Sugar
1 C Powdered Milk (the secret ingredient, I think!)
4 tsp Salt.

Wet Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Hot Tap Water
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 Tbsp Sugar

2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Oil

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or just a large mixing bowl if you don't have a mixer), add yeast and sugar to water. stir to combine. 

 Allow to sit for a few minutes until it looks foamy like this.

Add eggs and oil. Mix well.

It's a good idea to break your eggs into a cup, then pour them into the bowl. This helps you avoid shells or rotten eggs in your food.

Mixture should be well combined- I like to do it until it's foamy.

2. Continue mixing the wet ingredients with the dough hook attached to your mixer, add roll mix one cup at a time, up to 6 cups. You will be able to tell when you've added enough when the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. If you need more than six cups, just add 1-2 tablespoons at a time. The dough will still feel a little sticky and very soft to the touch. That's good! Don't add more flour, or your rolls will be dense and heavy. If you're not using a mixer, add the flour while stirring with either a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. When the dough is still soft and sticks to your fingers just a little (not ooey-gooey, but stringy and moist), you're done.

This dough (with 5 1/4 cups roll mix) is ALMOST cleaning the sides, so I added a tbs of flour, and got...

This! Much better.

3. Cover your bowl (I like to use a shower cap...not a used one! one I save specifically for bread making :) you can also use plastic wrap or a damp towel ) and allow to rise until it is double in size. (about 45 minutes)

4. Form your rolls (there is a great resource here for fun-shaped rolls) and place the rolls in a pan prepared with cooking spray or greased with soft or melted butter. Little tip: spreading or dipping the roll dough pieces (before baking) in melted butter will make them extra succulent when they come out of the oven!

Divide in half- I am divide the other half in half too, to make 3/4 batch of regular rolls and a 1/4 batch of cinnamon rolls

Roll out dough in a circle

Spread Butter

Cut, I like to do 1/4s, 1/8s, then each 1/8 piece into either 2 or 3 pieces depending how big they are.

Roll from the wide end to the skinny end, place in pan

Cover and let rise. I use a piece of plastic wrap that is sprayed with some  cooking spray

5. Allow the rolls to rise for about 30-45 minutes or they've obviously grown. They'll also rise a bit in the oven.  Don't let them rise too much or they'll collapse and look terrible. (not as tasty that way either.) You can add an egg wash here if you want to be extra fancy. Beat an egg well and brush it lightly over the top of the rolls right before putting them into the oven. It'll give them a really nice golden crust on top.

6. Bake at 400* 12-14 minutes, or until golden around the bottoms. A little tip I learned is to take the temperature of the center roll with a food thermometer. Between 170-200* is perfectly done bread! Combine the temp with the coloring (golden brown around bottom edges and light golden on top) for a good bake.

Allow the rolls to cool a little and serve! 

This recipe also makes great cinnamon rolls. I often split it in half and make a pan of dinner rolls and a pan of cinnamon rolls. 

For Cinnamon Rolls:

1. Start with a log shape of dough ball. Roll the dough out in a flat rectangular shape.

2. Spread with melted butter, then sprinkle with a mixture of 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1-3 teaspoons of cinnamon, depending on your cinnamon and how cinnamon-y you want it. This Saigon Cinnamon was stronger than I thought, and they turned out a bit too cinnamony for me!

3. Roll into a spiral shape, rolling from the LONG SIDE of the rectangle (if you roll from the short side you'll get only a few really fat rolls :)

4. Cut into about 1 1/2 inch sections using string or dental floss by sliding the middle of the piece of string under the end of the long roll about 1 1/2 inch, then crossing the ends of the string and pulling tight. Repeat until the dough has all been cut.

                                      

5. Place in a greased/sprayed pan (I like to smash them down a bit before covering), cover and allow to rise. Follow baking directions for the dinner roll recipe.

6. Cover with your favorite glaze or frosting! 

7. Optional: Add raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, bits of apple, or anything else that sounds tasty before you roll up the roll dough!

My Favorite Glazes:

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Roll Glaze

3 C Powdered or 1 C Granulated Sugar

1/2 package of Cream Cheese, softened in the microwave or left out to reach room temperature

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2-3 tbs Milk

Cream together sugar and cream cheese until very smooth. Add vanilla. Add milk 1 tbs at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Yum!

Raw Sugar Caramel Glaze:

1/4 C Butter, softened
1/3 Cup Raw Sugar
1/3 Cup Granulated White Sugar
2-3 Tbs Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla

Cream all ingredients in the mixer. It will look curdled and strange. Put into a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until there is no more gritty sugar on the bottom (you'll be able to feel it) and it starts to bubble a bit. Remove from heat immediately. As it cools it will thicken slightly.

Enjoy!