Homemade Rolls! Yummy!!

One of our most favorite parts of a special meal is the homemade rolls! When Matthew was coming home for Thanksgiving, his request was homemade rolls. This is an easy recipe to follow and I've never had them fail.

Basic Roll Dough

7 cups of flour

2 packages active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup of sugar

1 stick of margarine (=1/2 cup)

2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

In a mixing bowl combine 3 c. flour and yeast. In a pot, constantly stirring, heat milk, sugar, margarine, and salt until margarine is almost melted (115 degrees on thermometer). Add quickly to flour mixture and add eggs. Beat for a couple of minutes on high speed. Stir remaining flour in by hand.

Place into bowl that has been oiled. Dough should not be too sticky.

Cover bowl with a towel and put in warm place.

Let rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

The dough is now doubled. Punch the dough, or punch down the dough. Cover again with towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

Pour dough out onto floured surface. Shape into rolls. We simply take a ball of dough about the size of a golf ball. Be sure your fingers are floured. Stretch out the sides a little, folding under, and making a smooth round top. You can shape however you want.

Spray pans with Pam. After the ball is formed, I dob the dough onto the spot where the roll will go in the pan. This puts a bit of oil on top. Turn it over and place down in that spot. Repeat, keeping fingers floured, until dough is gone. Cover again with a towel for 30-45 minutes, allowing to raise again.

When the second rising is done, your rolls are ready to go into the oven. Place into a preheated 350 degree oven. Set a timer for 10-11 minutes.

Rolls should be lightly brown on top. Take out of oven and glaze the tops with butter! We take a stick of butter, roll down about 1/2 inch of the paper, and roll the butter across the tops! Cool for 15 minutes--then eat!

This roll dough is also good to make cinnamon rolls. After the first rising, roll out on floured board with rolling pin into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle on sugar and cinnamon. You may add nuts or raisins at this time. Roll the rectangle starting with one edge until it is in a roll. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. I use a piece of thread. Scoot the thread under the dough, gather the two ends up, cross them over, and pull. This should cut right through. Allow to raise again. Bake as above for regular rolls. After they cool a bit, you may top with a powdered sugar glaze.