Lion House Dinner Rolls
Soft, fluffy and buttery traditional Lion House Dinner Rolls are fun to make and can be made and shaped the day ahead so all you have to do is bake!
Ingredients
- 2 cups very warm water
- 2/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk
- 2 Tbsp dry instant yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup shortening, butter or margarine (I put mine in the microwave for 15 secs to soften it)
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- 5 to 5-1/2 cups AP flour
Instructions
- In your large mixer bowl, combine the water and the milk powder and stir until the milk dissolves.
- Add the yeast to the mixture and let proof for a minute or two.
- Add the sugar, salt, shortening, egg and 2 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture. Whisk everything together well.
- Place the bowl on the mixer with the dough hook, and add 2 more cups of flour then mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Add another 1 cup of flour and mix again.
- If needed, add the remaining 1/2 of a cup of flour – The dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff. (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour. The softer the dough, the lighter the roll.)
- Scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl and move the dough around as you spray non-stick spray around the sides of the bowl. Spray the dough with the oil too. (This helps prevent the dough from drying out.)
- Cover with plastic wrap and/or a cotton towel and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. (I preheat my oven to just about 100 degrees then turn it off and let the dough sit in there for an hour.)
- After the dough has risen, sprinkle a pastry mat or your counter with flour and scrape the dough out on to the prepared surface.
- Roll the dough in to a large rectangle. (For 3 rows of 8 make your rectangle about 20×12.)
- Brush melted butter over the entire dough rectangle, then cut your rolls 2-1/2 inches by 4 inches, using a pizza cutter and your fingers as guides as she shows you in the video.
- Flip the rolls with the butter on the inside and place the rolls on a greased baking pan, spacing them equally apart doing 6 rolls on the long side x 4 rolls on the short.
- Optional: If you are making these the day before, you can now cover the rolls with saran wrap and place the tray in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours. When ready to bake, remove from the refrigerator, let rise for one hour, then skip to instruction 15.
- Cover loosely with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until the rolls are double in size (approx. 30 minutes.)
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375.
- Remove the cover from the rolls and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until they are browned to your satisfaction. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with melted butter. (Yields about 2 dozen rolls.)
Notes
Note: If you would like to make the dough the day before to help cut down on the work you do on Christmas or Thanksgiving, you can make the dough, let it do it's first rise, cut, shape and place on the baking tray, then before the second rise, cover the rolls with saran wrap and place the tray in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours. When ready to bake, remove the tray of rolls from the refrigerator and place on the counter or in a warm place for 1 hour, then bake as directed.