One item that was on many of our menus during our travels to the Mid-Atlantic States of Maryland and Delaware was Yeast Rolls. We ate some in Delaware and they were soft, slightly sweet, airy and delicious. They make the perfect bread for eating, warm and dripping with butter, before dinner. The problem is stopping with one! These would also be good with honey butter, which is how they served them at Krazy Kats in Wilmington, Delaware.
The first time I tried this easy recipe, I messed it up by not mixing in the yeast first to dissolve it in the hot water. Instead of rising, my rolls just flattened out like a big old muffin top. I also decided to brush the tops with butter and sprinkle them with Maldon salt before baking, but this resulted in flattening the already risen dough. By the second batch, I perfected the technique by brushing the golden tops right out of the oven with melted butter and then sprinkling them with the crunchy salt. Heavenly! And best eaten the same day, preferably straight out of the oven.
Quick Yeast Rolls from Allrecipes. Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup hot water
1 (.25) package active dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
Directions:
- In a large bowl, mix the shortening, sugar and hot water. Allow to cool until lukewarm and mix in the yeast until dissolved. Mix in the egg, salt and flour. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size. (I put the dough in a glass container and marked it with painting tape so I could see when it doubled.)
- Grease 8 muffin cups. Divide the dough into the prepared muffin cups and allow to rise again until doubled in size. (This won’t take as long as the first rise, FYI.)
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
My last step was to melt butter (about 2 tablespoons) in the microwave and, when the rolls come out of the oven, brush them with the butter and sprinkle with the Maldon salt. That should be the order, brush and sprinkle. Don’t brush them all with butter and then sprinkle the salt, because it won’t stick. Also, over-grease the muffin tins, including where they will flop over the top, as some of my muffins got stuck here.
Happy Baking! Have I told you yeast is SO much easier than Sour Dough? This recipe is proof positive.
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