No-Knead, Overnight Dinner Rolls

Tags

baking, bread, no-knead, recipes, rolls, yeast

I made dinner rolls.  Plain ol’ white dinner rolls.  Nothing fancy.

Not everything has to be exciting, though.  When you’ve got other things to make, it’s good to keep things simple when you can.

Yeast?  I guess it can seem scary.  I don’t get scary movies.  Why would a person subject themselves to that?  I wouldn’t (and don’t).

You should subject yourself to yeast, though.  These rolls are a good intro to it because they don’t require kneading.  They just go into your mixer, or you can mix them by hand if you’re feeling buff.  Plus, nothing beats fresh rolls from scratch! 

I chose to make these for Thanksgiving because you pop the dough in the fridge overnight, then shape and let the rolls rise the next day.  That’s another thing about yeast breads…they require a lot of time (though more downtime than active), so it seems too overwhelming to make them on T-Day or Christmas.  There are enough things to worry about!

Corolla check:  The rolls are under that (stained, but clean!) towel on top of a container holding pumpkin cream pie, and that’s my caramel apple cranberry crostata (pre-caramel) chilling on the floor. :)

Tender White Dinner Rolls
from King Arthur Flour (In KAF I trust.)

These rolls leave lots of room for variation, and if you go to the recipe linked above, the folks at KAF provide some ideas.  Below is exactly what I did.  Also, I baked these at my parents’ house, and due to the oven situation (there was a lot going on!), they were baked on the left side of the bottom rack, when my default baking position is center of the middle rack.  They still came out well, but were a little on the drier side.

1 tablespoon active dry yeast (fyi: a packet contains 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (I went for bath water temp)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I used unsalted)
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted (to brush on rolls after they’re baked)

Stir together the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small bowl.  When the yeast is dissolved, set aside.  (mine almost foamed over the top while sitting there!)

In a small saucepan, combine the butter and buttermilk.  Over low heat, stir until butter melts.  Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.

When the buttermilk mixture is lukewarm, transfer it to a large mixing bowl (stand mixer if you’re using one) and stir in eggs, sugar and salt.  Add yeast mixture, and about 6 cups flour.

Mix dough for 5 minutes, either with the paddle attachment of an electric mixer or by hand, with a spoon or dough whisk.  Transfer dough to a well-oiled, gallon-sized ziploc bag, or leave in bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

Remove dough from refrigerator about 3 1/2 hours before you want to bake it.  Divide the dough into 24 pieces and form each piece into a ball (mine weren’t perfect).  Here KAF says to place the 24 rolls into a large buttered pan and that they use a 14″ round deep-dish pizza pan.  I definitely don’t have one of those, so I divided the rolls into two 9″ cake pans.  Also, I used olive oil instead of butter because it was more convenient.  Let rolls rise for about 3 hours.  I covered mine with a towel, but guess that’s not necessary.

Once the rolls have filled out the pan, preheat oven to 400°F.  Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. Remove from oven, and brush with melted butter.

Makes 24 rolls.  (I gave one pan to my roommates for their family’s T-Day!)

Okay, so those directions look really long, but I promise that these rolls are easy peasy!  It was my first time making rolls. :)

Dinner Rolls