Buttery Yeast Dinner Rolls

Homemade yeast rolls are a wonderful way to treat yourself and your family. They bake up soft and light and are the perfect accompaniment to any meal.  They can also be a meal in themselves. Cut them in half and slather on some butter.  You can also use them for hamburger buns. 

Ingredients

1 Tbs. yeast
1/3 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. warm water
3 eggs
3/4 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. dry milk
1 tsp. salt
7 1/2 to 8 c. flour *

Directions

Grease two 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and water. Stir to dissolve the yeast and sugar, and then place the bowl in a warm location for 10 minutes, so the yeast can bloom. 

Add the eggs, butter, dry milk, salt and 1-cup flour. Beat with a wooden spoon for a minute or two until they are thoroughly combined. 

Add the remaining flour, a cup at a time, stirring until it forms a soft dough. When it gets too hard to stir, turn out the dough onto a floured surface.  Knead in the rest of the flour.  Knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Place the dough in a greased bowl. Turn the dough over so the top is greased. This prevents the dough from drying out. I usually put my dough in the same bowl that I mixed it in and pour a little oil over the top of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm location. It can take about 90 minutes for it to rise until doubled in size. 

Punch the dough down and turn out on to a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 36 pieces.

Form the dough into balls.  Divide the dough buns between the 2 baking pans. Brush the tops with oil and place in a warm location to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. *

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.   Brush the tops with butter.

Tips

The amount of flour depends on the type of flour and the humidity in the air.  Some days you will use less and some days you will use more flour. 

I have a stove/oven that uses a pilot light.  What I do is I place the dough in the oven to rise.  On the last rising, when the rolls are formed and ready to be baked, I leave them in the oven until doubled in size.  Then, I turn the oven on and allow the extra heat to help the dough rise more, so they are lighter and fluffier. 

To cut down the mess on buttering the tops of the baked rolls, remove the wrapper over part of the stick of butter.  Run the exposed part of the butter stick over the hot rolls.