This sweet dinner roll recipe is a tried and true family legacy. In fact, I don’t recall a good Sunday dinner or holiday without these rolls on the table. The recipe was passed down from my grandma to my mom who perfected the art of baking these perfectly. I still have some room for perfection, but I’m more than willing to keep trying.
Be careful to use warm, not hot water with your yeast or you will ‘kill’ it and it won’t rise. If your yeast is still good and potent, it should start to foam at the top and smell a little like beer, not that some of you will know how beer smells, right?
Your dough should look something like these after kneading. Using a mixer with a dough-hook makes this part so easy!
In my high altitude and dry environment it took over an hour to double the size of my dough. Place the bowl in a nice warm spot and cover with a towel. If you want it to rise faster, try preheating your oven to 200 degrees then turning it off. Place the covered bowl in the oven and close the door. It should rise in half the time or less.
This is the hardest part for me because I get a little obsessive wanting each roll to be uniformly sized and shaped. I know, I know…they will still taste just as good if they are not perfect. I probably could have placed the rolls a little closer together (so they would bake taller) but you don’t want them too close. You need to give them room to rise.
After rising, pop them in the oven to bake. Brush immediately with melted butter and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
They smell SO GOOD!
In a small bowl, combine the first three ingredients and set aside. In another small microwaveable bowl, combine the milk, salt, butter, and sugar together. Heat for one minute and stir until butter is melted. Set aside to cool. (You can also do this over the stove. Just make sure the mixture cools before continuing on. In a large mixer bowl, add your flour. Make a well in the center. Combine you yeast and milk mixtures together and pour into the well you created in the flour. Using your dough hook, knead for about 3-5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled - usually about an hour or so. Punch the dough down and knead on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes. Shape the dough into rolls and place in a greased 9x13 pan - leaving a little room in between each roll to accommodate another rise. Let them rise until they are doubled - about another hour, maybe a little less. Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Brush with melted butter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. *I buy my yeast in bulk from Costco or Sam's club then place it in a container that I store in my freezer. It will extend the life of the yeast.Grandmas Sweet Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
