I was digging through our refrigerator last week, reorganizing and looking for hidden “treasures” that were stuffed into the back corners when I stumbled on some packets of yeast.
I cringed a little, because I didn’t really remember when I bought them, and they were well over their expiration date.
In a waste-not-want-not mood, I did some Internet searching on how long yeast would survive in the fridge and was relieved to find I wasn’t alone in my yeast abandonment. One lady said she had 13-year-old yeast in her freezer that she still used from time to time.
Mine was nowhere near being that antique, so I decided to give it a chance (and added an extra packet to the recipe for good measure).
Luckily, the little guys survived their neglect in the back of the fridge, and we enjoyed a fantastic, quick and easy dinner roll recipe.
If you’re not into making yeast dough because you don’t like waiting for things to rise, you’ll be very happy with this recipe. You should be able to get done in about an hour, start to finish.
I found it on the blog “All Things Thrifty” by Brooke Ulrich. You can find it at https://www.allthingsthrifty.com/homemade-rolls-in-1-hour-guaranteed/. I’m not going to give you her full recipe—I quartered it, and it still made 16 rolls, which seems like a much more manageable number than the amount the original recipe makes.
Quick Homemade Rolls
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup milk I used skim
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1 egg
- 2-3/4 cups flour plus more for counter
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- about 1 tablespoon butter to brush tops
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter, milk, sugar and hot water and microwave for three minutes.
- Meanwhile, set up a mixer with a dough hook (or get ready to do some serious hand mixing).
- Add the microwaved mixture, eggs and 1-1/4 cups of the flour to the bowl and mix well.
- Add the yeast and salt, mix again.
- Add the remaining 1-1/2 cups flour, and keep mixing.
- Now let the mixer go on high for about 10 minutes. (Or get to kneading pretty aggressively by hand for about the same amount of time. The dough will be super sticky, so have more flour on hand.)
- Liberally flour your work space and be ready to keep adding to get the dough to a non-sticky consistency. Keep kneading and adding flour until it’s not going to stick to your counter when you roll it out.
- Roll the dough out into about an 18-inch circle and use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the circle into wedges. (I cut mine into 16ths for perfect dinner roll size.)
- Roll up each wedge, starting with the wider end and place on a greased baking sheet.
- Put the sheet in a warm spot in your kitchen and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the rolls rise for 15 minutes. They should look nice and puffed up.
- Bake at 375 minutes for about 10 to 12 minutes. They’ll be golden brown on top.
- Right out of the oven, brush the rolls with a thin layer of melted butter and serve warm.
I will definitely put this recipe onto a card in my recipe box for regular use, and if I’m ever tasked with bringing rolls to a family event, you can bet I’ll do the full recipe and get a ton of rolls in very little time.
These had great flavor, and we might’ve spoiled our dinner a bit by enjoying a couple before we had food on the table.
I was glad my poor yeast got its chance to shine after waiting in my fridge for so long. I suppose I should clean out those shelves a little more often.
This piece first appeared in print on May 31, 2018.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
