Little Red Hen's One-Hour Rolls

Hot, buttery, salty rolls in one hour? From scratch? That aren't as heavy as concrete? Surely you jest!


Nope, I jest not. The unbelievable is achievable and easier than you think. It takes an hour to make these rolls, but it only takes 13-15 minutes to bake the rolls. Most of the time is actually the dough raising- once in the mixing bowl and then again in the pan before baking. Plus, these one-hour rolls taste better than those frozen rolls that you bake and serve.

The idea of those bake and serve rolls is nice- rolls you can take out of the freezer, bake, and people will think they are homemade. Here's my problem with them: you have to let them thaw and raise ALL DAY. There's usually no way I'm remembering to take out the dinner roll dough to thaw at 8:30 in the morning. At that time, I'm trying to remember to put on deodorant before I take the kids to school. There is the fast raising alternative, but that still involves steaming the frozen dough in a warm oven for a couple hours. For me, those frozen bake and serve rolls are just not worth it.

It is amazing what homemade rolls can do to a meal. Soup turns into a meal with one-hour rolls. Salad turns into a meal with one-hour rolls. Left over chicken, roast or pork turns into a meal with one-hour rolls. I love making this recipe because in an hour I can combine these rolls with a fairly basic, (or potentially mediocre) mid-week meal, and VOILA! There is at least one thing on the table that I can guarantee my family will eat.

The recipe for Little Red Hen One-Hour Rolls makes about 2 dozen rolls. I usually make 20 rolls rather than 24 because the rolls end up just smaller than my fist, (which is the perfect size for rolls if you ask me), but you can do what you like. The rolls are best the day they are baked, though they continue to be addicting for another two days. For larger gatherings, the recipe is easily doubled and can still be done in about an hour, leaving you time to take a nap before dinner!

One slight digression- I used my Bosch mixer to make these rolls. I grew up watching my mom make bread and cookies in a Bosch, I learned how to do the same in a Bosch. I considered it a rite of passage when I received my own Bosch, up there with having my own Pyrex and the first time one of my kids threw up in the middle of the night and suddenly I was the mom who had to clean it up. One of those times when you realize you are a grown up. A defining moment in my life. I love my Bosch, so I have sometimes felt that KitchenAids are like the cool-kid-cheerleaders of the kitchen scene with their bright colors and that great clicking sound it makes when you raise that lever up and down. Darn cool kids. A KitchenAid will, I'm sure, work just as well when making these rolls. Still, they might just taste better when made in a Bosch. Maybe.

Bake the rolls. Share the rolls.

Little Red Hen One-Hour Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tbs instant yeast
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs butter, softened
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups of flour, give or take a few tablespoons
• 3 tbs melted butter- to spread on top before and after baking 
• coarse sea salt- to sprinkle on the unbaked rolls

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm water, sugar and yeast. Let rest until frothy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the butter, salt and 2 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture. Begin mixing on low speed. Gradually add flour until the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, but is still soft to the touch. Increase mixer speed to medium as flour is added. 
   
3. Knead the dough until it is smooth, about 5 minutes. 
4. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let dough raise in a warm place for about 20 minutes, or until dough is almost doubled. 
5. Remove dough from mixing bowl and put dough on a floured surface. Divide evenly into two parts. Grease or line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.
6. Take one half of dough and form a long "snake." Cut dough into 10-12 pieces.
   
    Roll each section of dough into a ball. Place in pan. Repeat with other half of dough making 5 rows of 4 (20 rolls) or 6 rows of 4 (24 rolls). 
   
   
   
   
   
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the unbaked rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over each roll. Let rolls raise while oven is heating, or about 20 minutes. 
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Brush with remaining melted butter and ENJOY!