Soft and tender, this roll dough is the perfect base for cinnamon rolls and other sweet rolls! Plus they make great simple rolls!
Growing up I can distinctly remember baking in the kitchen with my grandma. She lived next door to us, and I spent a lot of time over there. I think she probably introduced my to baking in the beginning.
I think one of the most distinctive things I remember about baking with my grandma was the deep drawers she had under the counters that she filled with flour and sugar. I remember filling the sifter with flour and cranking the handle and watching it fall through the bottom of the sifter.
As I got older, I learned to bake more from my mom. She had a large piece of wood she had turned into her cutting board and I remember watching her roll out her dough. She taught me a lot about baking and cooking in general.
These rolls are the rolls I grew up with. Every year we would make dozens of batches of this dough and turn them into cinnamon roll bread wreaths to take to people for Christmas. I remember spending the first few days of my Christmas vacation baking like crazy, cranking out wreath after wreath.
Whatever you use this dough for, I am sure that it will be delicious. This dough makes soft, flavorful rolls, incredible cinnamon rolls, and beautiful bread wreaths. It's a recipe I always go back to, and I would definitely recommend you try it.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 cup milk
2 tablespoon dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4+ cups flour
Scald milk in saucepan, add butter to milk. Let butter melt in hot milk mixture. In a large mixing bowl add warm water and yeast. To the milk mixture add sugar, salt. Stir beaten eggs into yeast mixture. Pour in milk mixture. Add flour and knead to a soft dough texture. Let rise until doubled (about an hour or so). Roll out into desired shape. Let rise again until doubled. If baking as rolls, bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.
For cinnamon rolls: roll dough after first rising on flat surface about 1" thick. Spread about 1/4 c melted butter on surface, then add cinnamon sugar mixture on top of butter being sure to spread to the edge of the dough. Sprinkle about 1/2 C. finely chopped nuts on top of cinnamon sugar mixture.
Roll dough up in jelly roll fashion. To cut use thread or dental floss pulled under the roll and each end brought up cross each other. Bake in greased pan 375 degrees 25-30 minutes.
Icing
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces cream cheese
2-4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Dash salt
2-3 tablespoons milk
For bread wreaths: Prepare dough as above; after first rising divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each segment of dough on flat surface about 1" thick round to fit on 12 inch greased pizza pan. Spread about 1/4 c melted butter on each layer, then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of butter being sure to spread to the edge of the dough. Sprinkle about 1/2 C. finely chopped nuts on top of cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat for a total of 3 layers. Place a glass, mouth side down, in center of dough wreath. Cut dough from glass out to the edge of the pizza pan making 12 equal wedges. Twist each section one complete turn (360 degrees). Remove glass. Let rise again. (approximately 30 minutes) Bake 20-25 minutes at 375º.
Comments