Homemade Dinner Rolls with Sweet Milk

Homemade dinner rolls.  Good any time of the year, right?  But just about an ABSOLUTE requirement for the holiday season.  These homemade dinner rolls made with sweet milk are delicious year-round, but they are super special on your holiday table.  So, thinking about your Christmas dinner?  Whether you plan to serve turkey, ham, or prime rib roast, you cannot go wrong with these dinner rolls.  That’s because they have just a hint of sweetness that makes those savory, salty proteins shine!

I got this recipe from a bread machine cookbook years ago, entitled Bread Machine Magic, Book of Helpful Hints.   The recipe was designed for baking a loaf in the bread machine.  But I NEVER bake any bread in my bread machine.  My bread machine’s sole purpose is to mix, knead, and proof my dough.  That’s it.  And it does a FANTASTIC job of it.  If you don’t have a bread machine, don’t sweat it.  You can also use a mixer with a hook attachment.  Or, if you are really ambitious, make the dough by hand.

Now, I’ve been making these rolls for years.  I don’t think my family would consider it a holiday table if these rolls weren’t present.  All my guys also love the leftover rolls to make sandwiches the next day with whatever holiday meat I made.  That’s why I usually have to make a double batch.  But I must say that my biggest fan of these rolls is probably my youngest nephew, Luke.  I’m pretty sure that all of my brother’s family enjoys these homemade dinner rolls, but Luke LOVES them.  I have fun making them just to watch him eat them.  Then again, his big brother Cole is pretty good at putting away meat and oven-roasted potatoes, too.  I have fun making those just to watch him have seconds as well.  Nephews and nieces are precious and I love every single one of mine.

Let’s see what goes into making these homemade dinner rolls with sweet milk

By the way, I’ve shared this recipe before when I showed you how I make sausage kolaches.   Five little ingredients.  That’s it!  And if you let a mixer or a bread machine do all the work, it is as easy as it can be.

And here’s one of the reasons I love this homemade dinner roll recipe.  Many bread recipes call for you to mix your yeast with sugar and water, let it sit, then add ingredients slowly, in a certain order, a bit at a time.  Yeah, not this one.  Dump everything in.  It won’t mind in the least, and it will still deliver the same wonderful dinner rolls every time.

Once the mixing and kneading are done, this is what it should look like.

Keep the bread machine lid closed to let the dough rise for the first proof (just a little over an hour).  If using a mixer with a blade attachment, leave the dough in the mixer bowl and cover it with plastic to keep it moist.

My bread machine dough setting is for an hour and thirty minutes.  At the end of that time, the dough looks like this, close to double in size.  It’s now ready to shape.

Drop the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface, shape it loosely into a square, then cut into 12 equal pieces.  Now, I am telling you to cut it into 12 equal pieces, but my brain ALWAYS sees 13 equal pieces when I make these homemade dinner rolls.  It never fails.  I always end up with 13 dinner rolls.

Roll each piece into a ball.

Place the rolled dough into a greased baking pan, spray with cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap to keep moist.

Give it 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the second proof.

Puffy little cuties, aren’t they?

Ready for the oven!

After which they come out looking like this!  Well, they will as soon as you brush them with liberal amounts of melted butter.  Ahhhh, I know!  But it is SO GOOD!

And of course, you have to eat them warm and buttered.  So that the butter melts and pools inside.  Because the natural order of things calls for just this outcome.  Though my scale…not so much.    Mmmmmm…a moment of reverent silence.

Ok, Lukey.  Every Thanksgiving, right buddy?  Aunt Lori’s got you covered!

Homemade Dinner Rolls with Sweet Milk

 

Author: Lori

Prep time:  2 hours

Cook time:  25 mins

Total time:  2 hours 25 mins

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Ingredients

• 3½ cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup +/- warm water

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients but the water in a bread machine pan set to dough option. Or you can use a mixer with a hook attachment.
2. Then add one cup of water and start mixing the dough.
3. Watch it as it mixes. The dough should be ready when it comes together and separates from the side of the bowl. Add more water and/or flour in small amounts, as needed, depending on how the mixture behaves.
4. Allow to rise until almost doubled (about an hour or so).
5. Once it has risen, transfer to a lightly floured surface and shape into a loose rectangle.
6. Using a cutter, cut the dough into 12 equally-sized pieces.
7. Then roll into balls and put into a greased rectangular baking pan, equally spaced three wide and four deep.
8. Finally, spray lightly with cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap to keep moist.
9. Allow the rolls to grow to almost double in size (about 1½ hours).
10. Place in a pre-heated oven at 375° F and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Or until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when lightly tapped on top.
11. Remove from oven and brush generously with melted butter.
12. Serve warm.

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