Pioneer Woman's Dinner Rolls

I made these for Thanksgiving dinner you say? Like 2 months ago? But if I have some in my freezer then this post still counts as recent and up-to-date, right? Good.


What I love about The Pioneer Woman's dough recipe is that fact that it is all done in one bowl! It makes clean up a breeze, and your job a whole lot easier. It also make a whole lot of dough. Like a lot a lot. And because there aren't very many members in my family, I wasn't going to make 12 dozen rolls. That means, I have tons of left over dough to mess around with and make things like cinnamon rolls, or monkey bread, or calzones or whatever!


So the recipe may look intimidating, as all yeast recipes do, but I swear it isn't. It's like, "no messy hands" easy. And, forming the rolls couldn't be easier. And that's why I choose it. I loved the little three leaf clover formation of them. And it was especially fun when it came time to gently rip the rolls open and butter them.


The taste was awesome and kind of hard to describe. They are different than your average roll and I can't put my finger on why that is so. But I honestly loved these!!!

Pioneer Woman Dinner Rolls
from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
4 cups Milk
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
9 cups Flour
2 packages (4 1/2 Tsp.) Active Dry Yeast
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons Salt

Preparation Instructions
Pour 4 cups of milk into a stock pot or Dutch oven. Add one cup of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil. Stir to combine. Now, turn the burner on medium to medium-low and “scald” the mixture/lukewarm (between 90 and 110 degrees).

Before the mixture boils, turn off the heat. NOW. Very important stuff here: walk away. Walk away and allow this mixture to cool to warm/lukewarm. The mixture will need to be warm enough to be a hospitable environment for the yeast, but not so hot that it kills the yeast and makes it inactive. I don’t usually use a thermometer, but if you’d like to, a good temperature is between 90 and 110 degrees. I usually feel the side of the pan with the palm of my hand. If it’s hot at all, I wait another 20 minutes or so. The pan should feel comfortably warm.

When the mixture is the right temperature add in 4 cups of flour and 2 packages of (4-1/2 teaspoons) of active dry yeast. After the yeast and flour are nicely incorporated, add another 4 cups of flour. Stir together and allow to sit, covered with a tea towel or lid, for an hour. After about an hour it should have almost doubled in size. If it hasn’t changed much, put it in a warm (but turned off ) oven for 45 minutes or so. When it had risen sufficiently add 1 more cup of flour, 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder, 1 scant teaspoon of baking soda and about 2 tablespoons of salt. Stir (or knead just a bit) until combined.

Butter 1 or 2 muffin pans. Form the rolls by pinching off a walnut sized piece of dough and rolling it into a little ball. Repeat and tuck three balls of dough into each buttered muffin cup. Continue until pan is full. Cover and allow to rise for about 1 to 2 hours.

Bake in a 400-degree oven until golden brown, about 17 to 20 minutes.