Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

As the weather turns cooler, using my oven is a lot more enjoyable and with that comes bread making. I am still learning and improving my bread making skills but I like doing it because homemade bread tastes the best.

I found this recipe in an old Better Homes & Gardens and thought it looked simple enough. Who doesn’t like homemade dinner rolls? I’ve made it a few times now and have a couple observations and subsequent modifications with the original recipe.

-The magazine showed it being mixed by hand with a wooden spoon. However, they didn’t show the forearms of the man doing the mixing and I’m convinced that it is because he must have awkwardly large forearms to accomplish the 3 to 5 minutes of vigorous mixing they call for. The second time I made it, I used my mixer with the bread hook attachment and it worked perfectly. I’m thinking his forearms were like Popeye or Mark McGwire. (McGwire is a retired major league baseball player who, at one time during his playing years, had 17½ inch forearms. Later, however, he did admit to steroid use.)

– The first batch I made I burned because their 20-25 minute bake time was entirely too long. I thought at first that it was my dark muffin tins so the second time I made them, I did 18 minutes and still got them too dark. The third time I made them, I started with 10 minutes, checked them, and did an additional 2 minutes. That is the batch I photographed.

Other than that, I’ve made the recipe three times and there aren’t many left. My favorite part is the fact that they pull apart to smaller bite size pieces. It makes them really kid-friendly.

Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls
recipe from Better Homes & Gardens

1 cup whole milk
6 Tbsp butter
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105° -115°F degrees)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp sugar
4 to 4¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp kosher salt
Melted butter for dipping dough balls
Softened butter for putting on the top

To repeat, this can all be mixed by hand with a wooden spoon but I elected to use my electric mixer because my forearms are not at all like Popeye’s.

1. Heat the milk to 120°F to 130°F. (I did 2 minutes in the microwave). Add the butter and set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add in the cooled milk and butter mixer, beaten eggs and sugar and stir to blend.

3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in two cups of flour and the salt and stir until smooth. You can use the bread hook at this time but because the mixture isn’t very high yet, using a wooden spoon is more effective.

4. With the bread hook attachment, add the two remaining cups of flour, one cup at a time. After each addition, stir vigorously for 3-5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and only slightly sticky.

*If after 3 minutes of stirring the dough is overly wet, stir in 1 Tbsp of flour at a time to reach a better consistency.

5. Scrape out the soft dough into a greased bowl. Cover the surface of the dough with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Add another piece of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl. Let the dough rise until double. (1 to 2 hours)

6. When the dough has risen, prepare 24 muffin cups by lightly buttering them.

7. To make the rolls, gently press the dough to deflate it. With lightly buttered hands, pinch off generous 1-inch pieces of dough. Fold the dough, turning and tucking the edges to form a ball. Pinch the seam together to seal.