Fifteen minutes to homemade bread

I recently started making my own dinner rolls again. I stopped making them at some point during my last pregnancy and now it's been so long since I've made them that I almost forgot how easy it is.

Almost.

I started timing myself recently to see just how time consuming it is to have homemade dinner rolls.

Step 1: Dump ingredients into bread machine.  This takes 5 minutes.

My instructions say to put dry ingredients in first.

Step 2: Put it on the dough setting. Press START. I know, this is hard work, isn't it?

Step 3: Form bread rolls.  This takes 10 minutes.  Someone taught me this great technique that takes very little time. It's similar to this video. You can always roll them in your hands instead, just like rolling meatballs, but this method is much faster, once you master it, and they look nicer too.

Step 4: Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray. Cover rolls and let them rise. This can take an hour or two, depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Step 5: Say hi to the little pixie playing nearby.  She said "Mommy, take a picture of meeee!"

Step 5: Bake for 10-12 minutes. Brush with butter or margarine if you want.  *I prefer butter because I believe that real food is always better for your body than synthetic junk.  And butter tastes better.


Step 6:  Eat.  A pan this size lasts us for at least 2 meals. 

The kids love my rolls.  I think it's one of those dishes that my kids will beg me to make when they come home from college.

I said "Say cheese," but evidently she heard "Open your mouth and show us all of your yucky food."

Andrew is a bread snob, but he'll eat my rolls and Hawaiian bread.  That's about it.

Here's the recipe, which I got from a friend, Leslie A.

Dinner Rolls
1 cup water
2 tbsp butter/margarine
1 egg
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups flour
3 tsp bread machine yeast

Make dough in bread machine.  Divide dough into 15 or 18 pieces, depending on the size of roll you like.  Shape each into a ball. Place in greased baking pan.  Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking oil or spray, let rise 40 minutes or until doubled.  Bake in preheated oven at 375 for 12-15 minutes.  Brush tops with butter or margarine if desired.

*If you're curious about using a bread machine, check out Jessica Fisher's article on Why I Love My Bread Machine.  I couldn't say it better myself. 

**If you want to get a bread machine, scope out garage sales and estate sales.  I'm not big on getting up early to go garage sale-ing, but I did manage to score a machine for $15 at an estate sale down the street.  And I didn't even have to wake up early for it.

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