Easy Dinner Rolls

The smell of fresh baked bread is one that triggers happy memories for everyone that I've met. There's just nothing that smells like Home the way bread does. Fresh baked rolls dress up any meal and make a great snack for later, if there are any left over. Add some butter and jam and you have a lovely tea time snack the next afternoon. Fry up an egg and slide it between two halves of yesterdays roll and you have breakfast on-the-go any day of the week.

The following recipe is quite easy, but it is not quick. Plan for 90 minutes from start to hot buttered goodness. The good news is that the hands-on time is only 15 minutes - you can prepare these rolls in the time between arriving home from work and dinner on any night of the week.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp or one package yeast - rapid rise, instant, quick - all work the same
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup very warm tap water - not boiling hot (you'll kill the yeast) but quite warm
1 tsp salt
2 - 3 cups flour of your choice*

You will also need a medium bowl, a spoon for stirring and a 9" non-stick baking pan with straight sides.

The first step is to proof the yeast - measure yeast and sugar into the bowl and add the water. Give it a good stir and walk away for 5 minutes or so. When you return, it should look something like this -

The surface of the water will be opaque and bubbles will be forming. How long this takes depends on temperature - if your kitchen is cool, it will take longer, while a hot Summer day will produce foamy yeast in no time. Give it another stir and wait until it reaches this point -

Lots of bubbles and foam will be floating on the surface and you can see more bubbles forming. It will smell yeasty, giving just a hint of the end product. If your yeast does not produce bubbles toss it out and start again. If you use packaged yeast, check the date - your yeast may be dead. The water may not have been warm enough if the room is chilly, or it may have been too hot - stick your finger into the water to test the temp.

If all goes well, stir in the salt and then start adding flour 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition, until a sticky dough starts to form -

When the dough sticks to the bowl and the spoon and becomes hard to stir, tip it out into a floured surface and knead, adding more flour as needed, until a smooth, firm ball can be formed. It should not be sticky at this point, but don't work it any harder than you have to - the key to a good texture for these rolls is not over kneading the dough.

 Divide the dough into 12 pieces that are roughly the same size, roll them into balls and place into the pan -

 Let them rise somewhere warm-ish until they look like this-

 Rising time will vary, depending on temperature and moisture in the air. Take note and start the next batch earlier or later to time them to arrive at the table with the rest of the meal.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn out onto a cutting board or somesuch right away or they will steam up in the pan and lose their slightly crunchy outer shell. Slather with butter or topping of your choice and enjoy!

* White flour will produce rolls with a lighter texture which will rise higher than WW rolls. Using all whole wheat flour will produce dense, heavy rolls that won't rise as much. A mixture of white and wheat flours will give you the nutty flavor of the WW, but a lighter texture and larger rolls. Experiment to discover what suits you best.