Honey Yeast Rolls

I took my roll of being in charge of bread very seriously for Thanksgiving!  In addition to the hazelnut and cranberry bread for pre-dinner, I wanted to do something from scratch for the main meal.  I thought about making the no knead bread because it always comes out well, but I wanted to try something different and something that would feed a few more people!  Thanksgiving dinner cries out for loads of bread for dipping in gravy.  I consulted a few bloggers for a reliable recipe and decided that honey yeast dinner rolls from Beantown Baker were the best way to go.

Dinner Rolls!

The recipe as stated (and below) makes 12 rolls, but I wanted there to be plenty of rolls and doubled the recipe.

The Ingredients

The Necessities...(recipe from Beantown Baker)

• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 cup warm tap water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 cups bread flour (everyone I spoke to said I should use King Arthur Flour)
• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon honey

To begin, I broke out the Kitchen Aid stand mixer and stirred the yeast and warm water with the paddle attachment.  I then added the egg, honey, oil, and mixed it up well.

Wet Ingredients

Once combined, I slowly added three cups of the bread flour and mixed it up until it was a nice and sticky mess.  I added the last cup of flour when the mixer was moving along nice and slowly.

Sticky Dough

Once the flour was fully incorporated into the dough, I changed out the paddle mixer for the dough hook.  I allowed the dough to mix away for about 10 minutes with the dough hook until it was nice and smooth - if you pull on the dough you want it to be elastic.

With the Dough Hook

Once the dough was ready I formed it into a ball and placed it into a mixing bowl with some oil in the bottom and proceeded to spin the ball of dough around in the oil so it was completely covered.

Oily Dough

I covered the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rest for a bit over 2 hours.  I then kneaded the dough on the floured countertop for about 30 seconds, covered the dough up again with a damp cloth and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Kneading the Dough

After the ten minutes had past, I punch the dough (fun!)...

Punched Dough

and then pulled the dough apart into 12 even sized pieces.

Dough Balls

I attempted the shape each of the dough balls into round balls and placed it in a greased baking dish.  As you can see, I did not really do a good job of ball forming.

Almost ready for the oven...

After the dough was put in the baking dish I let it all sit covered up by the damp cloth for another 20 minutes.  In the last 5 minutes, I combined the melted butter and the honey and brushed it over the tops.  Finally, the rolls were ready for the oven!  I put the baking dish in the 400 degree oven for about 13 minutes until the tops were nice and golden.

Golden Brown Rolls

I actually cooked these the day before Thanksgiving and once the rolls were completely cooled I covered the dish in saran wrap so it would be ready to go the next morning to be transported to the North Shore.

Delicious!

These rolls were DELICIOUS and a big hit!  23 rolls were completely gone after Thanksgiving dinner - I say 23 rolls because, of course, Nick and I had to taste one to make sure it was good enough to serve the next day (quality control is very important in our eyes)!  These rolls were light and tasty.  The honey flavor was the perfect addition to these rolls and dressed them up a bit.

As my first dinner roll attempt I was completely satisfied, and they were not too difficult to put together (although I obviously struggled making a nice round roll!).  I would totally recommend these for just about any dinner.

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