I have made this recipe 100x. The trick? Do NOT use water that is TOO hot or it will kill the yeast. Also, make the rolls a decent size or they dry out when baking. Third – do NOT bake in the bottom of the oven or you will get hockey pucks.. 😉 Yes, it has happened to me as I had too much in the oven, so thought “Oh I’ll stick these on the bottom and rotate” but the rotating didn’t help and the bottoms got soooo dry.
So now, here you go:
1 cup hot water (not boiling)
1/4 cup butter (softened)
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold water
2 1/4 tsp (1 package) dry yeast (can use quick rise or regular)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
Melt butter in the hot water.
Add sugar and salt and stir.
Add cold water – stir.
Add yeast – stir. The mixture should be become foamy – the yeast is working. Let it sit about 5 minutes for yeast to dissolve.
Foaming yeast
Mix in 2 cups of flour.
Mix in last cup of flour, and the egg.
The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl – and not be sticky any longer.
I always put my dough in front of the fireplace to rise!!
(I use a stand mixer but you can mix by hand).
Place in a greased bowl and turn to coat the dough. Cover, let rise in a warm place til it doubles in size.
Punch down, form rolls about the size of a golf ball (or smaller depending on how big you want them to be!)
Ready to rise again
Place in greased pan, about 1 1/2 – 2 inches apart. Cover, let rise again until doubled in size.
Bake at 350 for approximately 30-35 minutes (and the time really depends on the size of the rolls).
Watch closely, when they start to brown, remove from oven. DO NOT OVERBAKE and do NOT bake in the bottom of the oven!
Brush with melted butter and serve.
Enjoy!!