This is a recipe that my stepmom Mary has been making for years. I finally decided to give them a try and they are delicious. There’s nothing like warm rolls to make any dinner special. The great thing about these rolls is you can make a large batch and then freeze them, pulling them out of the freezer and reheating as needed. That way you always have freshly baked rolls on hand.
TIPS: The original recipe uses a timeline that has the first 2 rises in the evening, and then the long rise in the muffin tins overnight to be ready to bake in the morning. I’ve had success just starting them very early in the morning. I find this makes a large quantity of rolls so sometimes I halve the recipe. I included the half recipe measurements for convenience. It’s a bit tricky using 1/2 of an egg but I just beat the egg and then pour half of it in. These are best served warm so wrap them in foil and reheat before serving.
Mary’s Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp yeast Half recipe: 1/18 tsp
- 4 1/4 C lukewarm water (divided) Half recipe: 2 1/8 C
- 1 C granulated sugar (divided) Half recipe: 1/2 C
- 1 C vegetable oil Half recipe: 1/2 C
- 1 egg beaten Half recipe: 1/2 beaten egg
- 1 Tbsp salt Half recipe: 1/2 Tbsp
- 12 C all purpose flour Half recipe: 6 C
- melted butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl, or stand mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 C lukewarm water plus 2 Tbsp sugar taken out of the 1 cup sugar total. Whisk and let stand for 5-10 min until starts to froth.
- Add the 4 cups of water, sugar, oil, salt, and egg and mix thoroughly, by hand or with the paddle of a stand mixer. Add the flour and mix until combined and no dry flour remains.
- Knead the dough 5-8 minutes by hand on a floured surface, or with the dough hook of a stand mixer. Dough will be sticky.
- Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and form into a large ball. Place ball in an oiled large bowl, turning it over to coat, and cover with a tea towel. Let rise for 2 hours.
- Punch down dough and rise for another 1 1/2 hours.
- In the meantime, butter 4 muffin tins.
- On a lightly floured surface divide the dough into 48 pieces and make rolls. place the rolls in the muffin tins. Place in a warm, draft free area and cover with a light tea towel. Let rise undisturbed about 7-8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake rolls for 12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with melted butter. Turn rolls out onto tea towels to cool. Eat same day or freeze in freezer bags for several months.
- Enjoy!