Dinner Rolls – Dutch Oven

Directions

• Combine the yeast, milk, sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl and whisk till just combined.
• Add 2 1/2 c flour and salt and stir well for 1 minute.
• Add remaining flour a little at a time to create a soft dough.
• Turn the dough onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.
• Shape the dough into a round and place in a large glass bowl. (metal reacts negatively with yeast)
• Cover with plastic and place in a warm spot. I use my oven at 95F.  Let rise until double in bulk…about 1 hour.
• Melt butter in the dutch oven and spread along the sides, leaving the extra melted butter in the bottom.
• Once the dough has doubled in bulk, place it on a clean flat surface…silicone mat works great.
• Pinch off 1 1/2″ to 2 ” of dough and shape into round ball. Use fingers to pull dough slightly down from the top and tuck underneath the ball to form smooth surface.
• Place the balls  smooth side up in dutch oven. The balls will likely touch each other which is ok.
• Cover the dutch oven with clean cloth and place in a warm spot.  Let rise until double in bulk…about 40 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Put the dutch oven (with lid) into the oven to bake.  Bake with the lid on for about 25 minutes.
• Remove lid and bake another 10 – 15 minutes till rolls are lightly browned.
• Remove the rolls from the oven.  Turn dutch oven upside down onto baking rack to let buns cool. I leave the dutch oven resting on the rack over top to keep the buns warm.   If you like crunchier buns, leave them in the dutch oven and the residual heat will crisp them up.
• Enjoy