PW (No Knead) Dinner Rolls

Do you have a hard time kneading your bread by hand because you don't have a fancy machine to do it for you? Then this recipe is for! The Pioneer Woman shared these on her blog a while ago, but I just got around to trying them out because I wanted to do something new. I am so glad that I gave this a whirl! They are more time consuming than the rolls I usually make because I just throw that recipe into the bread machine and forget about it until it's time to shape them, let them rise, and then bake. With this recipe, I had to babysit my dough a little more, but it isn't hard and it gives you great results! It's also a great recipe because you can make the dough 1-2 days ahead of when you want it, and it will store great in the refrigerator. Just remember to take the dough out of the fridge 1-2 hours before you need to shape them. And the only problem I had with this recipe was that my first dozen rolls were rather toasty when I checked them at 14 minutes. When I used the rest of the dough the next day, they were done at 12 minutes when I checked them. I did also find that I could have made about 2-1/2 dozen rolls with the dough I made, even though PW says it should make 2 dozen. All in all, this is a great recipe that yields fluffy rolls! (In fact, it took a lot of restraint to keep from eating them all!)

PW Dinner Rolls- No Kneading Required!

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

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 (mine were done at 12 minutes).