Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Sixty Minute Rolls

Munchie Monday: Sixty Minute Rolls, Quick and Easy

This weekend we ran out of bread. I was thinking of making egg salad sandwiches for lunch on Sunday so this was a problem. To the rescue came the Sixty Minute Roll recipe from The Country Wife Cookbook that I wrote many years ago when our children were old enough to help with the cooking.  (Since then I have been preparing a book called The Country Wife Cookbook, A Culinary Memoir which I had hoped to get ready for publication while here on our mission.  Did. Not. Happen. And since we have less than three weeks left on our mission here in Oregon, it will not happen now...maybe during our next adventure...)

Anyway, here is the recipe just as I wrote it many years ago, with admonitions and all.

SIXTY MINUTE ROLLS

4-5 cups flour

2 packages (scant 2 Tablespoons) dry yeast

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter or margarine

Combine 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and un-dissolved yeast in bowl of mixer.
Attach bowl and dough hook and mix for one minute.
Combine milk, water and butter in a saucepan and heat over low heat until very
warm-120-130 degrees-but no hotter. Butter need not melt. Turn mixer on to medium
speed and slowly add the liquid to the flour mixture, taking about 30 seconds. Mix one
minute longer.
Add remaining flour as needed for dough and knead 5-7 minutes until dough is
smooth and elastic.

Place in greased bowl and cover. Place in a sink full of warm water. Let rise 15 minutes.
Turn dough out onto floured surface and shape as desired and place in greased pans.
Cover and let rise again for 15 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake in 425 oven for 12 minutes.
 Remove from tins and cool on wire racks.

This is the recipe from the Kitchenaid mixer ancient cookbook. I increased the sugar from
3 Tablespoons to 4 Tablespoons and sometimes add even more.

To make rolls without a heavy-duty mixer, put water, yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar
in a bowl and stir well and allow the yeast to rise a little. Mix the yeast and the milk/butter
mixture together and pour into a well in the flour mixture and stir all together until smooth
then beat in the remaining flour. When most of the flour is incorporated put the remaining flour
on the clean counter (I mention the clean counter because my young children will see these 
instructions and I want it clearly  in mind that we wash off the counter BEFORE putting the 
dough onto said counter! Clean hands are also critically important to healthy cooking.) and
knead until smooth and elastic about 5-7 minutes.
When you can't knead any more, look at the clock and knead two more minutes.
 Then proceed with the above recipe as directed.

Yields 2 dozen rolls, depending on the size you shape them.

This is what they looked like:

As you can see, I have a high tolerance for funky
shaped rolls.
In this case, I just rolled them out and
cut them with a butcher knife into more or less squares...

It was a good thing I had  included the "handmade" option
since I do not have our stand mixer with us
on our mission.  When we serve another mission, if it is in
the USA, I will not fail to bring that mixer!