Overcoming the fear of dough and a roll recipe

For some strange reason I have always had an unhealthy fear of recipes that require me to make a dough. Since I started cooking, I have avoided making pie dough, pizza dough, and bread dough. I am not quite sure as to why I have been so afraid of making dough, but I am sure it stems from something in my childhood. Or it may be because of the scary yeast factor or possibly because I don’t have very good kneading skills.

During the past several months I have overcome the fear of dough, and it has opened me up to a whole new cooking world. Thanks to fabulous, step-by-step directions from Annie, I can now say that I have made homemade pie, pizza, and bread dough. The other night I made homemade rolls for the first time, and I thought they turned out pretty good.

If you for some reason have also been scared of the dough, I am encouraging you to let go of your fear and try it out. What is the worst that could happen?

Here is the recipe for the rolls. They are perfect plain or with butter for dinner, and they are super yummy with butter and jam for breakfast. And lunch. Or snack time…

Enjoy!

 Yummy Rolls for Any Time of the Day – $

Directions

Combine the milk, ½ cup of sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat it over medium heat until the butter is fully melted. Remove from heat and allow it to cool to a lukewarm temperature. It is vital for the mixture to cool to lukewarm, because if it is still too hot it can kill the yeast (there it is, the scary yeast factor!)

Dissolve the yeast and 1 TBSP of sugar in the 2/3 cup of warm water. Let this sit for 10 minutes. If the mixture hasn’t bubbled at all, repeat with new yeast – it means that the yeast is no good.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of flour with the lukewarm milk mixture. Use an electric hand mixer and beat on low for about 30 seconds. Then add the water/yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes. Add the 3 beaten eggs.  Gradually add in the remaining 5 to 6 cups of flour, using enough to make a soft dough.

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and store in a warm place. Allow to sit and rise for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, uncover the bowl and punch the dough down. Lightly flour a large cutting board and remove the dough onto the board. Divide the dough in half.

Spray two 9 x 13 glass pans with cooking spray (I actually could not find a glass pan, so I used muffin tins), but I think the glass pan method would be much better for getting the right shape to the roll. Roll one portion of the dough in to a rectangular shape and then cut into 12 equal pieces. A pizza cutter works well for this step. Shape each piece of dough in to a ball and put in to glass pan. Repeat this step with the second portion of dough.

Cover the pans with a clean towel and allow the dough to sit and rise for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, place pans in an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees. Let bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are nice and golden in color.

Remove from oven. Serve warm with butter, or let cool a bit first if you will be storing them. If storing, store in an airtight container.

Source: Our Best Bites

As you can see from the picture, mine turned out a little more like ruffins, since I used a muffin tin. But no biggie, they were still amazing. These rolls still taste good leftover, just be sure to cut them in half and toast them before eating.

COOKING TIP OF THE WEEK – Yeast – how do you store it? An opened package of active dry yeast will keep for 6 months in the refrigerator and a year in the freezer. Keep the yeast in its original packaging and put it in a sealed plastic bag. Unopened yeast will keep for at least one year beyond the expiration date at room temperature, and it will keep even longer in the freezer.

*See the $ sign by the title of the recipe? The ingredients pricing code is found in the last posting’s COOKING TIP OF THE WEEK

Beth Whitesell

Looking for more recipes from Beth? Find recipes at bakeitmakeitwithbeth.com.
Beth loves to cook foods of all types and is not afraid to try new things in the kitchen. She has learned a lot through cooking blogs and is happy to share what she has learned in the past few years with you.