My Handy Dinner Rolls Recipe

Here’s Po enjoying her roll at Thanksgiving dinner this past November (and yes, it was the only thing she ate. Toddler life amirite? 🙃)

Today is a good day to share a comforting bread recipe! For those of you reading in the future, this post is coming to you from the beginning of 2021. We’re tired, we’re stressed, we’re weary. Right now, we need all the comfort we can get.

When I find myself feeling overwhelmed by things beyond my control, I often try to make really comforting recipes to soothe us. I wouldn’t say I’m encouraging disordered emotional eating here (I want to be sensitive to that very real struggle for some), but there are time when we could really use something that reminds us of a time when we felt safe. Food is a really high-powered way to access that- have you ever noticed that eating uses all five of your senses? The smell of something cooking can take us right back to our childhood. The sound of bacon sizzling on the stove can remind you of sleeping in on a Saturday morning. We look, we touch, we taste. Personally, I think we were designed this way on purpose. I don’t think food was meant to just be fuel, I think it’s a good thing that we look back on Nana’s Chocolate Cake with nostalgia and that pumpkin pie makes us remember laughing with our cousins. Food memories become very symbolic because they represent both the physical nurturing and the emotional. For me, cooking does that. It reminds me that I am taking care of myself and my family, that I am creating the life I always wanted as a child. I never really felt safe growing up, so I’m working hard to change that for the future.

Are you ready for this recipe yet or should I include more of my life story?? Haha! These delicious rolls are made with shortening and sugar- so you know they’re going to be good. These rolls are so good in fact, that more often than not I use them for hamburger buns! I make 16 of these babies every Monday. My spouse & I eat four, and our 2 year old eats the rest. I’m not even joking! I posted about this in my 2021 Goals blog post just a few weeks ago! She seriously eats them all in like two days. We also make these for every holiday meal we have. They’re fluffy and light with just a touch of sweetness. They’re just, yum. They’re very handy for a lot of different purposes (Food related ones, of course. Unfortunately these rolls cannot fix your leaky faucet).

Here’s a much less pretty close-up picture. It is literally impossible for me to get a nice picture of these on any normal week before they get eaten 😂

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1 Hour No Fail Dinner Rolls

Author: Katelyn Harper

This basic recipe is anything but! These dinner rolls elevate any meal with their perfect fluffiness & delicate flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water, 110 degrees
• 4 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup shortening*
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 3 cups unbleached bread flour (Lindley Mills is my all time fave & they’re local to me here in NC!)

Instructions

1. Warm water to 110 degrees. If the water feels pretty warm but not hot, you’re good. (Or if that stresses you out, you can invest in a simple kitchen thermometer for this purpose) Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Add the yeast, whisk gently, & let bloom for 5-10 mins.
2. Once yeast is nice and bloomed, whisk in the salt, egg, and shortening. Add in the flour 1 cup at a time and mix until combined. If you have a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes, or until the dough forms a smooth ball. You can tell dough is kneaded enough when it becomes nice and springy. It should be stretchy and bounce back when lightly pressed. It’s also important not to over-knead your dough or else you may end up with tough, hard rolls. Whomp whomp. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead by hand for roughly 8-10 minutes, or until smooth. Form into a ball, place into a very lightly greased bowl, and cover your dough with a lint-free cloth or plastic wrap and place it somewhere warm to rise. Let it rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
3. Now it’s time to form the rolls. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, then form into a ball. Then, using a bench scraper or sharp kitchen knife, divide dough in half and form both halves into balls. Keep doing this until you have 16 rolls total. Place rolls on two baking sheets prepared with parchment paper. Give plenty of room between them. (I can fit all 16 rolls on one mega industrial size baking sheet that takes up my whole oven I got at Costco a few years back)
4. Let rolls rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes or until tripled in size. If they need a little extra help, you can use the oven trick. Heat the oven to the lowest setting (usually 170) and immediately turn off. Wait 5-10 minutes, then place your rolls in the oven. They should rise fairly quickly, so keep an eye on them!
5. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Rolls should be a nice golden color on top and oh soooo fluffy inside!
6. Serve alongside your favorite dishes- especially hearty soups & roasts for extra home cooked rib-sticking goodness!

Did you make this recipe?

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Our Thanksgiving table from this past year featuring these rolls front and center on my plate where they belong. YUM. This is making me want a big ole turkey dinner again…