Refrigerator Dinner Rolls

You're going to love this recipe! If you've been intimidated by making dinner rolls from scratch, be afraid no longer! These are so easy to mix, so easy to shape, and so easy to bake. And the best part? They taste phenomenal!!!!! These rolls have a lovely flavor, are light and soft, and are the perfect vehicle for sopping up whatever gravy or juices you've got going on in your meal.

This recipe makes a good sized batch of rolls, somewhere in the neighborhood of three dozen. The other nice thing about the dough is that once it is made, it keeps fairly well. You can leave it in the refrigerator up to three days or store it in the freezer for up to a month. If you freeze the dough, thaw it completely in the refrigerator before proceeding. This is a fairly soft dough that can be mixed by hand fairly easily, but if you have a stand mixer, it is the easiest dough ever to mix.

Refrigerator Dinner Rolls
Yield: approx. 3 dozen rolls

4 1/2 tsp instant yeast (or 2 pkg active dry yeast)
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
5 1/2-6 1/2 cups of flour, divided
2 tsp table salt
1 whole egg
1/3 cup shortening, melted and cooled slightly
egg yolk wash (one yolk and 1 TBS water) optional

If using active dry yeast, mix the yeast, water, and sugar together first until it become frothy. If using instant, you can simply mix the ingredients together. Add 4 cups of the flour to the yeast, water, and sugar. Stir together and then add the salt, egg, and shortening. Add as much of the remaining flour as is necessary to make a soft dough. Knead a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth. It will still be sticky at this point, but once it rises in the refrigerator, it will be a nice dough to handle.

Place the mixed dough in a greased bowl, at least 4 quarts in size. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for two hours or until doubled in size. If you want to store the dough at this point, punch it down and put it back in the refrigerator or in the freezer. If you are ready to make rolls, dump the dough out and punch it down. Cut the dough into strips to make shaping easier. Cut the strips into small pieces such that when you roll each piece into a sphere it's about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Spray a muffin tin with oil and place three of the dough balls in each cup. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour. Brush the tops with egg wash and bake at 400F for about 12 minutes or until nice and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes before removing from tins.