Pull-Apart Buttery Dinner Rolls

These are my favorite homemade soft dinner rolls. They're really easy to make, and the flavor is reminiscent of a traditional holiday meal. They are baked in 8 inch round cake pans, which help keep them extra soft. I've never managed to have any leftovers of these, but I'm pretty sure they would also make excellent buns for turkey sandwiches.

I've also used this recipe as a base for Thanksgiving Stuffing Rolls. 

Pull-Apart Buttery Dinner Rolls 

Makes 16 rolls - adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

14 3/4 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

2 tsp instant yeast

3/4 ounces potato flour or potato flakes

3/4 ounces nonfat dry milk

2 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 ounces of soft butter

2/3 C lukewarm water (about 100 degrees)

1/2 C lukewarm milk

Melted butter for brushing on top

Instructions

• Place all of the dough ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir until the ingredients are moistened.
• Knead the dough with the dough hook until you get a soft dough, about seven minutes. Alternatively, you can knead by hand or by bread machine. 
• Put the dough into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until doubled, approximately 60 to 90 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the bowl/bucket and press down gently to deflate.
• Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces (a scale is really helpful here) and round them into balls by cupping the dough under your hand and rolling it around. 

• Butter or spray two 8 inch round cake pans, evenly place 8 rolls in each pan, and cover the pans with with plastic wrap. 
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and let the rolls rise until they are puffy and are touching each other. This should take 60 to 90 minutes. 
• Bake the rolls for 24 minutes, or until golden and reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. 
• Remove the pans from the oven and brush the rolls generously with melted butter. Let them sit for two minutes and then remove them from the pan and place them on a cooling rack. 

Worried about producing freshly baked rolls while managing the rest of the holiday meal? While these rolls are unbelievable warm from the oven, they also are pretty outstanding baked the night before and then reheated. I've also served them at room temperature a few hours out of the oven and was really pleased with how they tasted.  Just wrap them well and store at room temperature.

You can also make and form the rolls, let them rise about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way, and freeze the partially risen dough in advance. The night before you plan to bake them, move them to the refrigerator. When it's time to bake, remove the shaped rolls from the refrigerator, preheat the oven, and bake - possibly a little bit longer than the original recipe.

Are you unsure about baking your own dinner rolls? Don't be. Do a practice run with this recipe. It works. I promise.

Submitted to Yeastspotting.