My favorite dough recipe

Freshly baked bread has got to be one of the best smells ever.  Nothing says "homey" more than the scent of hot rolls straight from the oven wafting through the house.   As with most of the things I do, I only do them half way homemade.  While I DO make homemade bread... I let my bread machine do the hard part.  Here's the recipe I use the most in my breadmachine... I believe it comes from Betty Crocker's Dinner Roll recipe, however, I use it for so much more than just dinner rolls.

Put ingredients into the bread machine in the order they are listed:

1 egg

1/2 stick butter (1/4c.)

1/2 c.hot water

1/2 c. warm milk (I usually mix the hot water and milk together and call it warm)

1/2 tsp. salt

 3 3/4 cups flour... often I use half wheat flour and it gives it a nice sweet taste.

1/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. active dry yeast (or one packet)

Set your machine for "dough"

When the dough cycle is complete, take the risen dough out of the machine and divide it into portions.  I like to use a scale to make sure I'm getting equal sized rolls.  Once the dough is divided I start to roll it.  This particular day, I was making small hamburger buns so the portion sizes were 3 oz.  Normally, if I was just making dinner rolls, they would be 2 oz. each.  

My senior year in highschool I started working at a bakery. (The Heavenly Bake Shoppe now A.J.'s on 10th St. in Tracy, CA).  I worked there for three years and gained a wealth of knowledge about bread and cakes.  I watched the baker roll the dough and eventually learned how to do it myself.  It's quite easy and makes the dough look very professional.  

Here's an attempt at videoing the process of forming rolls.  You'll notice I'm not as proficient with my left hand as I am with my right.  Serves me right for trying to show off using both hands at once! lol

After the rolls are formed, put them on an ungreased baking sheet.  I use a silpat liner.  Cover them with a light towel and let them rise until double... about an hour.  If you're making the 2 oz. rolls, bake them at about 400 degrees for 12 minutes.  I lower the temperature to 375 and bake for 15-20 minutes when I'm making larger rolls.  My family does not like their rolls done... In fact, they'd be happy with gooey dough in the middle  if I let them...ugh.  So you might find you want to bake them for longer if you like that truly golden brown tint. (Which is how they should be baked... just sayin'.)     

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Like I said in the beginning, this is my favorite dough recipe. Some other things I do with this dough:

•  I will roll out 2oz.into a flat circle, slap a piece of cheese on it, roll a hot dog up and bake them for 12-15 @375. "Vwah-law", a family favorite.  
• Frozen:  Make 2oz rolls like above, only instead of letting them rise, I put them on a baking sheet and freeze them.  After they are frozen, I put them in a ziploc bag to use later.  
• To thaw:  I take them out in the morning, putting them on a baking sheet and covering them with a light towel.  They take all day to rise, then just bake them like normal. 
•  If you need them quicker, put them frozen on a baking tray, spritz them with a little water and lay a piece of parchment paper over them.  Put them in a 250 degree oven with a small oven safe bowl half full of water.  This will make your oven more like a proofing oven, causing the dough to rise and not dry out.  After they have risen-about an hour-, remove the bowl and parchment paper and bake as normal.



Hamburger buns

• Fresh is always better, so don't expect these to be as good... but they are certainly convenient.
• Garlic bread sticks.  Shape the dough into sticks instead of rolls.  After baking brush with melted garlic and butter.  
• I've even used this dough for pizza.