Perfect Freezer Friendly Dinner Rolls

My crazy cousin String Cheese is finally back in town and able to mix things up with me a little more often. That being said, we had way too much kookie fun today making freezer rolls. Then again...that is the whole point. If I just baked for myself, it would get old. Baking for and with other people fills a need deep in my soul. String Cheese understands me. We share the need to cook as a deep down emotional fulfillment. Not unlike the part of my Spirit that understands on a very very small level what God might have felt when the earth was finished after being unorganized matter that got put together and made into something beautiful and useful. Playing with scattered matter probably wasn't much different on a much larger scale, than me baking. Taking those unorganized things and putting them together to create something new, yet from things very old...is cool. It's deeply spiritual. If that makes weird wise sense and you understand that...then we are indeed kindred souls and should cook together often. Really...that is where cousin String Cheese comes in. She gets it. Really. She also loves bread. So...it's a shared sickness on so many levels of good. Here is a whole new world...or something. Okay, it's a cinnamon sugar covered breakfast bun made from this freezer dough. Isn't it dainty?

Everything Dinner rolls are a hit too.

Finally I have found a freezer dinner roll recipe worthy of my blog. It's taken a while to find a method I liked and one that fits my family needs. So, I did use white flour this time because well...I actually prefer dinner rolls made of white flour. We don't do them very often. You can use whole wheat as well, just adjust the liquid by adding about 1/2 cup more water or milk. This recipe comes to you from America's Test Kitchen and I applaud it fully. We had great success with it and it's outcome. Very versatile dough just sweet enough for rolls that are either savory or sweet. Some we did with "everything bagel" topping, some we did with cinnamon and sugar. Yes...they all came out superb. As a bonus we also made some into pizza bites, just to see if the dough would lend itself to freezer friendly ready to bake pizza muffins. Yes...it did wonderfully there too! So haaazaaa!! We have a winner!! This recipe yields 24 rolls, and yes, can easily be doubled.

Combine:

1 1/4 cup water (no hotter than 110 degrees)

2 tsp yeast (1 packet) rapid rise

2T sugar (1T honey)

4 1/4 cups all purpose flour (whole wheat works too)
1 1/2 tsp salt

6T oil (original recipe called for 12T of melted butter)

1 egg

2 egg yolks

Combine everything in one large bowl or mixer. I like that. Knead 5 minutes by hand or 3 minutes in a mixer on medium setting. This is a less developed dough as far as gluten is concerned. Form into a ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a lid for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. I kind of put them in a log form. this helps to keep things pretty even. You can get science-like and weigh the dough and then divide it into 24 equal portions, but on most given days, I just eyeball it. I may go to baker's heck for saying that.

Divide the two logs in half again, so you have 4 logs. Each one will get cut into 6 pieces. See...you will have to use a little math, but I think you can handle it. I really do.

Is that six pieces? Just checking.

Now, lightly (I do mean lightly) dust the counter top with a little flour...just a little. We don't want the rolls sticking too much. On the other hand, we don't want so much flour that they just roll all over the place. The point is, we want a little tacky stuff so they form correctly. Take the dough piece and pinch the sides together...

Then turn it over so the pinched side is down.

You don't want it to look loose like this...

I keep a combination of what I call "everything bagel topping". It's basically 1/4 cup sesame seed, 1/4 cup poppy seeds, 2T kosher salt, 2T dry onions, 1T dehydrated minced garlic.

You want the dough balls to look like they have a skin holding them together. Like this picture below. Place the rolls on a pan lined with parchment paper (or a freezer friendly pan for easy make and bake). If you use metal pans, you don't have to worry about the glass shattering going from the freezer to the oven. I may mention that again.

Allow to raise at room temperature, uncovered for 35-40 minutes, until the rolls are touching if originally placed 1/2 an inch apart. Cover with foil and place in the freezer. Keep frozen up to one month. Removing them from a pan once frozen and placing directly in a freezer bag will save space in your freezer...big time!

When you want fresh rolls, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove pan from the freezer. Important note...don't place glass pans directly from the freezer to the oven, they will shatter. If you keep rolls frozen in freezer bags, place frozen rolls on pan and then place in the oven.

Bake 375 degrees 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Try not to eat them all in one sitting...alone.

There you go.