I acquired this recipe right after I got married (at least 100 years ago) from my mother-in-law.
You will need 3 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast, 1/4 cup wartm water, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 4 1/2 – 5 cups of flour.
Oh my, I almost forgot the yeast. That would have been so bad!
Dissolve 1 tablespoon yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
The yeast will always be your friend as long as you don’t kill it! How do you kill it??
I am using SAF-instant yeast. You can use whatever yeast you have.
In the bowl of a mixer add eggs.
Add the sugar. My granddaughter is helping me out today. She has been coloring with permanent markers as you can see. She isn’t allowed to color with permanent markers. She told me that when I gave them to her. Whatever! Today she can!
Add the salt.
Mix the eggs, sugar and salt together quiet well. I just let the mixer keep running on low at this point. You can turn it off if you want.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter.
When the butter has completely melted and the butter starts to bubble, add the milk all at once. Then immediately take off the heat. You don’t want to get the milk, butter mixture too hot because it will cook the eggs AND kill the yeast.
With the mixer on low, add the milk and butter mixture.
Mix well.
Add the dissolved yeast.
Mix again.
Add the flour 1 cup at a time.
Mix well after each addition.
When you add the fourth cup of flour, let the mixer run for about 3-5 minutes. Now I determine just how much more flour I will add. NEVER let me repeat NEVER add more than 5 cups of flour. In fact, I rarely add more than 4 1/2 cups of flour. You don’t want to dough to be stiff. It needs to be very sticky.
One good way to tell if you have added enough flour is to look at the sides of the bowl. Add flour just until the dough starts to pull away from the sides. Remember the dough is very sticky.
I use a dough scraper to scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and to form a ball of dough.
Here you can see how sticky the dough is.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight.
The following day, about 3-4 hours before you want the rolls cooked, remove the dough from the refrigerator. The dough will have risen slightly. Not quiet doubled in size, but close.
You will now need 6 tablespoons of butter.
Melt the butter.
Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide the dough into two equal pieces.
Shape each half into a ball of dough.
Roll the dough out into a large 14-inch circle.
Pour 1/2 of the melted butter into the middle of the circle of dough.
With the back of a spoon, spread the butter.
Spread the butter to within an inch of the edge.
I like to use a pizza cutter for this part. You can use a sharp knife if you would like.
Now cut it in half the other direction. The dough should be in fourths.
Cut each fourth into thirds. Get it? You should have 12 triangles of dough.
See, 12 triangles.
To make the crescent shape roll, start at the wide end of the triangle and begin to roll toward the tip.
I like to pull on the tip and stretch it out a bit as I roll.
Done.
Place the roll onto a greased or parchment lines baking sheet point down. If you don’t put the point of the triangle on the bottom, it will unroll a bit during baking.
Repeat the process for the remaining dough.
I only like to put 12 rolls per cookie sheet. This gives them room to spread and they bake more evenly and you rolls won’t be doughy. Ugh, hate doughy bread.
Cover with a clean, dry dish cloth. Allow to rise for about 3-4 hours. During the hot summer months the rising time is only about an hour.
The test I use to see if the rolls have risen enough, is to gently push on the dough. If it feels like a marshmallow, it’s time to bake.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden.
Mmmm! I can't wait to make these. I love your blog. . . even though I am a complete stranger. I found a link to it on a friend's blog. I am so impressed by your photography!
Why thank you, Sarah. I love getting positive comments. It just makes my day. I'm such a novice at photography. I so much to learn. Have a great day.
So pretty! I can't believe those rolls didn't require all the butter and folding usually associated with crescent rolls! They look so fluffy!
They really are light and fluffy. But, the don't have the layers upon layers of buttery goodness of a croissant. Great for a family dinner.
Yes, they are great for a family dinner. I made them Sunday and they were very light and yummy!! Great blog, great recipes!!!
Whew! I'm so happy to hear when my recipes turn out great for someone. Pat yourself on the back you did all the work and made them great.
Can these be filled with sausage? or maybe tuna or chicken? They look delicious. I am looking for a soft dough recipe to fill up with savory stuff.
Sure why not. I've never tried it, but I think the dough would be great for that.
How much of yeast did you use with water?
I made using the same I use for making pizza dough, it worked the same. Great recipe.
I dissolved 1 tablespoon of yeast (all of it) in the warm water.
я готовила сегодня – получилось супер)
спасибо))
Я так счастлив, вам понравился рецепт. У вас есть блог под названием "Между небом и пирог"?
Если это так, я люблю его. Это так красиво. Спасибо за ваш комментарий.
I just LOVE this blog! I never read blogs but am always reading recipes and ALWAYS baking. The pictures are beautiful and EXTREMELY helpful when following along. The instructions have a perfect amount of info without overwhelming you. I also LOVE the little tidbits of info (didn't know about the sugar and eggs fact). Thank you for this. I will DEFINITELY read more of your recipes!
Awww, thanks Samantha. I need to get blogging again so you have more recipes to read. Busy week.
How much yeast did you use?
1 Tablespoon of yeast.
They look delicious. I think that I will try the recipe for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for the recipe and great info.
Helen
I hope you love the rolls. Happy thanksgiving.
Mine are rising, for Thanksgiving dinner. They don't look quite as nice and uniform as yours, but I'm excited to try them. And I made the Raspberry Honey Butter… Yummo!
It doesn't matter what they look like, I'm sure they will taste amazing.
My 14 yr. old daughter loves to bake and she just made her first batch of these rolls. They are awesome! We are wondering where you got your pastry cloth from. Your blog is very informative and the photos are beautiful and very helpful, thanks for sharing!
Way to go 14 year old daughter! I purchased the cloth at a local kitchen store. It's basically canvas that has been serged around the edges. I have made a few my just purchasing the canvas at a fabric store, pre-washing. You can sew the edges or not. Pretty simple. I love the cloth it's awesome.
Wow these look absolutely amazing!
Thank you for your kind comment. I hope you try them some time.
Hello! This recipe looks amazing. I have been trying to find rolls to make for thanksgiving and I think this is the one. I was wondering if you use salted or unsalted butter. According to "Martha" you should always use unsalted when baking but I followed that rule when making cinnamon buns a couple of weeks ago and you there was definitely something missing. (Previously I had always used salted butter) Thanks again for the recipe
Depends on your taste. This recipe doesn't have a lot of salt in it. I would use what you have. If you used salted butter, you shouldn't have to adjust the recipe. If you use unsalted butter, I would add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon more salt. Good luck. Let me know how they turn out.
Dear Janet,
I would really want to thank you for this adorable recipe, I made the rolls today and they are already gone. The only thing I changed is I made them stuffed 🙂 Thank you!
Janet,
I LOVE your blog and have spent hours searching recipes. I have yet to try one that is not absolutely delicious. Thank you!!!!
i made this recipe today and it was amazing out of this world fluffy and melts in ur mouth 🙂 thank u soo much for the great recipe i am thinking to re-do it again for tomorrow !!! i stuffed some wz cheese and sprinkled them with za'tar
we ate them for breakfast along side the plain ones with some homemade strawberry jam 🙂 in our house they were breakfast rolls not dinner rolls 😀 by the way i love love love ur blog this was my first recipe to try but it's not the last one thank u for inspiring me to bake some more 🙂
Ahhh, thanks for your kind comment. I think breakfast rolls are a great idea, especially the cheese. Thanks for reading by blog.
hey janet 🙂 i made the rolls again as i said and his time i followed the recipe the 1st time i had a loose batch of homemade yogurt for unknown reason and i used the yogurt instead of th milk bcoz i didn't want it to go to waist (my yogurt had consistency of heavy cream) and the dough way fluffier and triple in size when i let it raise in the fridge….the 2nd time the dough was barely doubled….the out com of the 1st batch was by far the best i will be replacing the milk next time with thinned yogurt with a some milk or water…i thought u would be interested in trying it 🙂
I will try it! Thank you so much for the advice. Happy baking.
You are the best!
🙂
WHAT is thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ???!
very professional indeed
Can these be frozen? Thanks
Yes they can. My mother-in-law used to freeze before baking. Freeze the unbaked roll on a baking sheets until frozen then transfer to a covered container or ziplock. The freeze well baked too.
Can they b made day aheade for thanksgivin? maybe in covered dish in fridge. then placed on counter to rise a few hours before baking?or if u freeze how do u thaw before baking
Yes you can put refrigerate them after shaping them. They should be ready to bake within an 1 -1 1/2 hours. Freeze the shaped rolls on a baking sheet. Cover and freeze. Remove from baking sheet and place in a ziplock bag. Thaw and allow to rise for 4-5 hours. Bake as usual.
Have to compliment you on this rolls … they look amazing!!! Anyways, I love your blog and I have been following it for the longest time. I bake and cook pretty well (that's what everybody says) but I am afraid of making any kind of bread or anything with yeast. But this year for the first time my house is going to be full of family for Christmas and I would like to give this recipe a try. So … my question is, what kind of yeast did we use and what is the brand that you like the most. Thank you so much for your time and please continue with this wonderful blog … and HAPPY HOLLIDAYS!!!!
So sorry … now that I have read the all recipe I found the answer to my question. Anyways I had the opportunity to tell you how much I like your blog.
Bye now!!!
No worries. Remember, "yeast is your friend". You can do it. email me if you have any questions while you are making the dough simplysogood@hotmail.com.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. You have made my day. Happy Holidays to you.
Happy Holidays to you to and thank you for being so nice!!!
Any time. I hope your rolls are a great success. Just keep practicing and playing with yeast. Happy Holidays to you.
Oh this sounds so yummy! Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany, I'll have to try this really soon. Your recipe and the brilliant photos made my mouth water 😉 Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your kind comment. You don't need a special occasion to make these rolls. I make them often for our Sunday meal.
Your instructions are awesome, but I suck at making bread – all bread, which makes me worry about these. They look beautiful so I am going to give them a try and possibly freeze part of the batch because we are just a family of four. How long can the frozen ones stay in a chest freezer – six months or just 3? Thank you!!
Hi Lisa, You can do it! Remember yeast is your friend. Just follow the instructions and you will have the best rolls ever. Yes they can be frozen. I think the longest I have kept them well has been about 3-4 weeks. You can reheat them in a 300F oven for about 5 minutes. Keep me up to date.
I'm really looking forward baking these dinner rolls! I would like to ask if the dough of the rolls hasn't rise enough, do I still need to cover them with the dish cloth and wait for the time it rise enough ? Thank you ! 🙂
It is best to cover the rolls so they don't dry out. Let them rise until they are double in size. I hope this helps.