Super Quick Dinner Rolls – (from Betty Crocker)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees)
• 1 tbs shortening
• 1 egg

Sift the flour.

Then add 1 1/4 cups flour, the sugar, salt and yeast into a large bowl.

Add the warm water, shortening and the egg.

Beat until smooth.  I found that it never quite got as smooth as I was hoping for.  This is just fine, my rolls turned out to be delicious.

Then stir in the remaining flour.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled.  It is noted that this is a wet batter more than a dough.

Grease 12 muffin cups.  You could use cupcake liners, but there is no need.  Then uncover the batter and beat it down by stirring about 25 times.  Then spoon the batter into the muffin cups.  I found an ice cream scoop worked best for this.  It helped me portion the batter.  Let the batter rise for 20-30 minutes, until the batter starts to round over the top of the muffin pan.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake the muffin for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  The cool slightly then remove them from the muffin pan.

These were super simple, super quick and super delicious.  If you are looking for some quick rolls that take little to no effort, these are for you.

I made dinner the other night and wanted to eat while the rolls were hot.  So I took some quick photos of the rolls in the pan and then ate dinner.  When I came back to take a nice single photo of the rolls, they were all gone.  Yep, Tucker (my dog) ate them all.  Dana and I had 4 of the twelve.  For that reason I do not have the best photos of the rolls.  But take my word for it, they are delicious.

Quick and Easy Hamburger Buns – (Adapted From Allrecipes.com)

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbs butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 1 1/14 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbs melted butter for brushing the top

In the bowl of your mixer add the milk, sugar and yeast and let sit until foamy, roughly 5 minutes.

Next add the egg, butter, salt and bread flour to the mixture.  Combine the ingredients with a dough hook.  This dough will be a little stickier that normal.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it for a couple minutes.  Then place the dough in a greased bowl and let double in size, roughly 1 hour.

This is where I screwed up.  I was going to roll the dough out to about 3/4 of an inch thick but instead rolled it out too thin.  However, this ended up making the perfect buns.

Turn the dough back out onto a floured surface.  Roll the dough out until it is a little thicker than 1/3 inch.  Using a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter or cookie cutter cut the dough into rounds.

Place the round on a greased cookie sheet.  Then top each of the rounds with another of the rounds.

Brush the tops with the melted butter.  You could also brush the tops with a little egg wash and then top with sesame seeds.  I tried using sesame seeds with the melted butter and they failed to stick.

Cover with a towel and let rise for 45-60 minutes.  During this time preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the buns in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

As you can see stacking the rounds ended up giving me the perfect hamburger bun.  You get the perfect round bottom and a nice domed top. They also had a defined line where you could cut them in half.  Overall these were some of the easiest and best hamburger buns that I have ever made.

Homemade Hamburger Buns - (From King Arthur Flour)

• 2 tbs granulated sugar
• 2 packets or 2 scant tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
• 2 cups warm milk (105°F to 115°F)
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 to 7 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• egg wash of 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
• sesame, poppy or caraway seeds or coarse salt (optional)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the sugar and then the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, oil, salt and 3 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.  Be careful and start out slow, otherwise the flour will go everywhere.

Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  I used about 6 cups of flour.  This will vary depending on the time of the year and the humidity.  That is why the flour measurement in the recipe varies.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Because this dough is so slack, you may find that a bowl scraper or bench knife can be helpful in scooping up the dough and folding it over on itself.  You want this dough to be soft so make sure that you do not add too much flour.

Spray a large bowl with vegetable spray and place the dough into the bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover tightly with a lint free dampened towel and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide into 16-18 equal pieces depending on the size of the rolls that you require.   Shape each piece into a ball.  Then either flatten into disks or use a round ring to make the buns perfectly round.  I used a 5 inch round ring to shape the balls into flat disks.  Place the dough ball in the ring and spread the dough out into a disk.  The ring will make the dough perfectly round.

Once you have all of the buns formed, cover with a damp towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes. Fifteen minutes before you want to bake your buns, preheat your oven to 400°F. Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with your favorite topping.  I love sesame seed buns so I went all out.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the buns are nicely browned.  Remove the buns from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack.  If you skip this step the buns will get a little soggy.

These buns were excellent.  I used them for a couple great recipes that will be posted throughout the week.  Check back Thursday for my favorite recipe of all time.

You can use this same dough to create hot-dog buns, roll the balls into cylinders, 4 1/2-inches in length.  Then bake according to the same instructions above.

As you can see the buns come out nice and golden brown. Hot Dog Buns – (from allrecipes.com)

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

In a saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, approximately 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).

Then in the bowl of your mixer (with a dough hook), mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.

Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a 6×4 inch rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly, and pinch edges and roll ends over to seal.

Place on a greased baking sheet, or on parchment/silpat.  Cover, and let rise for 50 to 60 minutes or until they are just under the size that you would like the final rolls to be. I like to put my dough in the oven and then place a pan of hot water at the base of the oven.  This way you get a controlled temperature that also has moisture.  I find that bread dough rises better this way. 

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

The buns were very tasty.  Although, I was rushed for time and only let them rise for 30 minutes.  I found out the hard way that they do not get that much bigger when baked.  The final rolls were slightly undersized and needed another 15-20 minutes to rise before I baked them.  This recipe produced some of the best rolls that I have eaten. 

The tip to getting them to come out to the perfect size is to let them rise to just under the size that you would like them to be.  Let me know what you think.