quirk: Big Fat Yeast Rolls

Okay, I have a confession to make.

I'm not a fabulous cook.

I'm not a terrible cook or anything. I'm just not one of those people that whips up fabulous dishes on the fly with a couple of sweet potatoes, a jar of roasted red peppers and a can of whipped cream.

But there are a couple of things I seem to manage to excel at cooking, and one of those is the big fat yeast roll. Now, that's not the name of the recipe that I use, but there was a steak restaurant in Alabama and that's what they called them in their ads...

Come in for a Big. Fat. Yeast Roll!

The recipe is actually called Heavenly Yeast Rolls, and that's a pretty good description as well...

It always has to start with this bowl...

I love this bowl. I have a whole set. They're vintage. I got them on Etsy. Use a fun bowl, people...it makes cooking awesome.

Anyway. Here's what you need:

1-½ cup Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Yeast
3 Tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons Butter
4 cups Bread Flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with the sugar. Add the salt, butter, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix until smooth. Add in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough, adding more flour if needed. Push your fingers into the dough; the dough should feel like it’s going to stick to your fingers as you pull them away, but doesn’t. That’s how you know the consistency is just right.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 to 20 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.

(Okay, I'm sorry - I don't knead anything like 10 to 20 minutes. Are you kidding me? 20 minutes? Last time I made these, I kneaded for almost 10 minutes, just to see what a difference it would make. They were terrible...)

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

(I don't have a good warm place in my kitchen, so I set my oven on about 175 and set the pan on top of the chimney which makes it nice and warm...)

Punch dough down. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, measure out the dough for 12 rolls. Shape each into a ball. You may have a little bit of dough left over, so make whatever you want with that. Place the rolls into a greased 9″x13″ pan.

Okay - I was using my one and only 9 x 13 pan for my spaghetti casserole, so I used my cake pans instead...

Cover and let rise until they are at least double in size, about 30 to 45 minutes. You can let them rise longer to get even larger rolls, but you need to watch them carefully so they don’t over-rise and then deflate when they bake. I always let them rise to their maximum capacity. Also, note if you are using regular yeast or rapid rise yeast; this will change the rising times, as will the temperature in your house.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. After I take them out of the oven, I always spread butter over the tops of the rolls.

(Uhm, duh. Yeah. Without butter, what's the point?)