Thanksgiving pre-show

Thanksgiving 2011 was just a couple months after my weight loss surgery.  I was not able to eat much, yet I still devoured one of my home made dinner rolls.  It was fantastic... orgasmic even.  Then, somehow in all the chaos of the ensuing year, I lost the recipe!  Thanksgiving 2012 had two different roll recipes that, while both good, were not in any way in the same league as the 2011 rolls.

So this year, I was committed to finding that damned recipe.  I wasn't leaving anything to chance though, and started baking in late October.  I was testing, you see.  I didn't want to think I had found the recipe only to be disappointed on Turkey Day.  Well, my friends... I HAVE FOUND THE ROLLS OF MY DREAMS!  Yes, that's right, I found the recipe!  While browsing through my long list of bookmarks, I found this gem from allrecipes and had a major Deja Vu moment.  This morning, I set about to see if I was right.  BEHOLD!

These rolls are PERFECT.  I am not a fan of dense rolls, and these are light and fluffy and so very very tasty.  I would normally link the recipe when it comes from the web, but I intend to never lose this again so I'm also writing it out in this blog.

Lost and Found Dinner Rolls  
Makes 36 rolls 

Ingredients

2.5 c warm milk
4 t. yeast (about 2 packets)
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, softened
2 t salt
7 cups AP flour
extra melted butter for brushing

Directions 

1.)  Pour milk into large mixing bowl, and sprinkle yeast over the surface.  Allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Beat in the sugar, eggs, 1/2 c butter, and salt; blend thoroughly.  Gradually stir in the flour to make a soft dough.  Cover bowl, and set in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

2.)  Punch down the dough, cover the bowl, and allow to rise again.  Repeat this step two more times.

3.)  Break off 2 to 3 inch size pieces of dough, roll lightly into round shape, and place in prepared baking dish, edges touching.  Repeat to make 36 dough balls.

4.)  Cover and let rise for about an hour.

5.)  Preheat oven to 400F.  Bake rolls in preheated oven until tops turn golden brown, about 10 to 15 mins.  When rolls are finished baking, brush melted butter over the top and serve warm.

Tips:

First of all, your dough will be VERY soft.  You'll probably think you did it wrong.  You didn't.  It's ok.

This recipe has 5 rises.  Yeah, you read that right: the initial rise, the 3 rises after punch-downs, and the final shaped rise.  It's worth the time, I promise.

These rolls do fine touching, or separated.  Do whatever makes your skirt fly up.

These rolls are perfectly fine to bake a day or two ahead.  Just take them out of the oven a hair before you normally would, and skip the butter on top.  Then, on the day of serving, reheat them in the oven and brush with butter.

These also freeze beautifully!