Grammy’s Dinner Rolls…the kind of rolls that melt in your mouth and remind you of your dearest childhood memories. Made with instant yeast, sugar and flour these are simple dinner rolls that never fail.
We call this recipe Grammy’s Rolls. Grammy my petite grandma who was known for her warm dinner rolls that permeated her home on any given sunday. These will make you think your sweet grandmother is sitting right next to you hand feeding you her rolls.
She made these rolls in the days of who-cares-how-unhealthy-these-are and probably in the days of we-don’t-care-because-we-have-self control. Yeah, I didn’t inherit that gene. I’ve been known to down 2 rolls with one hand in 3 seconds. Kind of embarrassing.
Grammy’s Dinner Roll RECIPE
There are many a roll recipes out there. MANY. This one, however, has proven stalwart throughout the ages to be those ONE rolls that you will want to take to parties.
scalding the milk…
Many roll recipes call for powdered milk. Grammy however used regular old milk. You CAN use powdered milk here. But the scalded milk has such a unique flavor and scalded milk makes yeast breads lighter, helps to dissolve sugar and melt the butter. So you should just use scalded milk:)
Once the milk is scalded, dump the cold butter into the bowl. Because the milk will be hot, adding cold butter will help cool the scalded milk to make it perfect temperature for the flour/yeast mixture! ta da!
while the scalded milk is cooling and the butter is melting…
Put beater attachment on mixer.
Add 4 cups flour to mixer along with yeast, sugar and salt.
**I have done a variety of mixtures of flours before….combination of wheat and white. Also, I have replaced the sugar with honey. Both turn out great. HOWEVER, if you’re going for the classic NO fail Grammy Dinner Roll recipe, dont substitute anything! You won’t be disappointed with the results.
add the milk to the flour mixture…
it is very important to wait until the scalded milk has cooled to JUST warmer than luke warm.
**I test the temp by sticking my little finger in the scaled milk/butter mixture. And when it is cool enough for me to touch it I know it is ready! It still needs to be warm to activate the yeast.
— turn the mixer on low and slowly pour in the warm milk.
adding the eggs…
have the eggs ready to add IMMEDIATELY after adding the milk.
The eggs act as the buffer if the milk is too hot…the eggs come in and cool is down quickly
Turn mixer on medium/high and mix until the wet dough is shiny. Shiny dough indicates the gluten is developed and ready for the remaining flour.
the REST of the flour…
Switch the attachment to the dough hook and add the rest of flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the side.
IF all the dough is stuck around the dough hook and nothing is left in the bottom of the mixer, THE DOUGH IS TOO STIFF– add more honey or milk or water…tablespoons at a time…until the dough is wet enough to fall off of the dough hook attachment.
“knead” for 10 ish minutes
Turn the mixture on medium speed and knead for ~10 min.
let rise..
for 1 hour or until dough is ballooning over the mixing bowl! it’ll happen.
**I dont remove the dough hook or take the mixing bowl off of the stand OR cover the dough with a damp cloth. I just turn off the mixer and let it rise as is where it is. And it always rises. NOOOO problem.
rolling your rolls…
Make sure to have softened/melted butter in little bowl, have your pizza cutter next to you and a prepared pan all ready PRIOR to rolling out your rolls.
My go to roll method is the circle dough shape, followed by pizza cutting into pizza slices.
I start by pinching off a good size ball…about 1/3 of the dough. I then roll it out into a circle about 1/8 in thick on a floured surface (or buttered if your dough if on the thicker side)
Then, using the pizza cutter, cut pizza slices starting with cutting the circle in half yada yada.
Next, starting with the big end, I wrap it around my thumb ending with the small end. done!
Pace them on prepared cookie sheet and let rise until doubled. About 45 min if your house is warm.
**If you end up having LEFT over dough…these Sunday Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls are the great recipe to use the extra!
Bake those puppies for 10 min
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Grammy’s Soft Dinner Rolls
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 min.
- Yield: 30 rolls 1x
- Category: bread
- Method: baking
Description
Grammy’s Dinner Rolls…the kind of rolls that melt in your mouth and remind you of your dearest childhood memories. Made with instant yeast, sugar and flour these are simple dinner rolls that never fail.
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk (can use any percentage of fat)
- 1 cup butter *
- 4 cups flour **
- 1/2 cups sugar ***
- 2 Tbsp INSTANT yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups flour
Instructions
- In either a saucepan or microwavable bowl, scald milk (bring it to boil). Add butter to the milk and set aside to let cool.
- In stand mixer bowl with paddle attachment, add 4 cups flour, INSTANT yeast, salt and sugar (wait to add the honey if using).
- When milk/butter mixture is cool enough to touch with your tiny finger, turn mixer on low and add warm scalded milk to the flour/yeast mixture. Once added, add the eggs. (Add the honey at this point). Let beat on medium/high for about 5 min until mixture is shiny. The gluten developes during this process.
- Once shiny, turn off and switch attachment to the dough hook.
- Add remaining 3 cups flour…1/2 cup at a time. Mixing on low after each addition. Add until the dough pulls away from the side but is still sticky enough to stick to the side. Stop adding flour even though you may think it is too soft. A soft dough is much better than a stiff dough. (my mom told me that). Knead dough using dough hook, on medium speed for 10-12 min.
- Leave everything as is and simply TURN off the mixer. Let rise for about 1 hour or until the dough is bubbling to the top of the mixing bowl or even over the top.
- While rising, prepare pan, melt some butter, have salt shaker available if using and have pizza cutter easily graspable.
- Once risen, punch down and pinch off 4 in round dough ball to roll out on floured surface. Flatten into round disk, cut into pizza slices.
- Beginning with large end, wrap around thumb until in the shape of a crescent roll. Place on prepared pan to rise. (CAUTION: once the rolls begin to rise, if you move them they will POP and begin to flatten. This produces a flat roll. AKA not fluffy. Do NOT move them when they begin to rise.)
- Let rise in warm area until doubled. Mine usually take about 45 min.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If my kitchen is on the colder side, I place my roll pan on the stove while the oven is preheating. This helps them rise quicker.
- Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt for extra savory and flaky-ier roll. (or you dont have to do this)
- Bake for 8-10 min until the top is slightly golden. Underbaking is dangerous because it will make you want to eat the whole pan.
- Enoy!
Notes
* Can use 1/2 cup butter. Of course, the entire 1 cup makes for the flakiest, buttery-iest rolls. But just in case you’re wondering…
** Have used mixture of flours for different textures. Ie: whole wheat, or white whole wheat etc. Unbleached white flour produces the fluffiest grandmay rolls:)
*** Can use 1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup honey. If you use any amount of wheat flour, I like the honey flavor mixed with the nuttiness of the whole wheat. It becomes honey whole wheat!
Keywords: bread, rolls, dinner, whole wheat
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