French Bread Rolls

I'm not very good at bread and yeast, but I have gotten a ton better the past few months.  Once I got over being scared of yeast, rolls and pizza dough and bread have been a lot better!

I made these tonight when the missionaries came for dinner.  I made a few mess ups, like the 2nd rise...instead of 45 minutes, I let them go for about 2 hours!  Yikes! 

Prep:  1 hour for first rise, 45 minutes for 2nd rise

1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 TB. instant yeast (or 1 TB. active dry yeast)**Read note below**
2 TB. granulate sugar
2 TB. canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 tsp. salt
4 C. all purpose flour, give or take a few tablespoons

**NOTE**If you are using active dry yeast instead of instant years, let the yeast proof in the warm water and sugar for about 3-5 minutes until it is foamy before adding the oil, salt & flour.

Combine the warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt & 2 cups of the flour.**

Begin mixing and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.  Please note that you shouldn't just add all of the flour the recipe calls for, judge it by how the dough feels.  The dough should be soft and smooth, but still slightly tacky to the touch.

Knead the dough by hand (8-10 minutes) or in a stand mixer (5 minutes).  Lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl.  Cover the bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap.  Let the dough rise until it has doubled (about an hour)

Lightly punch the dough down and pour onto a lightly greased countertop. (I just used cooking spray).  Divide the dough in to 12 equal pieces (*I used a food scale and measured 2.1oz for each one)and form into round balls.  This is the best tutorial I have EVER seen for forming round balls. 

Place the rolls on lightly greased baking sheet about an inch or two apart.

Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising (like mine did-oops!).  Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls, but not press them down.  Let the rolls rise until double, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400*.  Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

*After 12 minutes I noticed that the rolls were still white.  I beat and egg white and put it on top.  I put them back in for another 3-5 minutes, watching carefully. 

THESE WERE A HIT!  We served them with BBQ Pulled Chicken.  The family and missionaries really liked them!


Found: http://melskitchencafe.com