My Homemade Rolls

Just in case you didn't know... there is nothing better to go with turkey and the trimmings than homemade rolls to soak up all that gravy that goes over everything (well at least I put gravy over everything, but that is my own preference). And, contrary to popular belief, rolls are not hard to make at all, they just take time. If you have the time, then homemade rolls are the way to go, rather than store bought. They are more economical and taste better. Rather than spending $3 for a package of rolls at the store, I can make 24 rolls for just pennies a roll with the ingredients I already store in my kitchen on a regular basis. Here is how you do it (this is what my grandmother had done for years, so I am not totally sure where the recipe came from, but it is pretty easy):

My Homemade Rolls

4 1/4 to 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg of active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, margarine, or butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. Heat and stir milk, sugar, shortening/margarine/or butter, and salt just till warm (120-130 degrees) and shortening/margarine/or butter almost melts. Add to flour mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. (I recommend using an electric stand mixer with dough hooks or electric hand mixer with dough hooks to make mixing easier).



Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl; turn once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 hour)



Punch dough down. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired rolls (I will show how to do cloverleaf and rosette rolls below) Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes)

Bake in 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or till golden brown. Makes 24-32 rolls.

To make cloverleaf rolls:
- grease 24 muffin cups. Divide the dough into 3 small balls per muffin cup. Place 3 little balls in each muffin cup. For fast cloverleafs, you can make a larger ball for each muffin cup then snip the top in a criss cross fashion on top and they turn into cloverleafs.

To make rosette rolls:
- Lightly grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, make 24 thin 12 inch ropes. Tie in a loose knot, leaving 2 long ends. Tuck top end under roll, bring bottom end up and tuck into center of roll. Place 2-3 inches apart on cookie sheet.