I know you may think there is no possible way you have time to add one more item, let alone homemade dinner rolls, to your Thanksgiving Day timetable, but I’m here on this snowy November morning to encourage — to insist! — that you do. You absolutely have time.
Homemade Dinner Rolls? Yes. You. Can.
How to Make Dinner Rolls Ahead of Time
If you’d like to cross one to-do off your list, know this: you can mix this dough the day before you plan on baking it and stash it in the fridge. (You can do this with any bread recipe in fact.) In the morning remove the bowl, and let the dough continue to rise at room temperature until it has doubled. If it already has doubled, punch it down, and let it rise again. About an hour before you plan on serving the rolls, butter your muffin tin, portion the dough among the muffin cups, and let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes; then bake the dinner rolls as directed.
How to Freeze Dinner Rolls
There are two ways to freeze dinner rolls:
More Recipes for Homemade Dinner Rolls
Buttermilk Pull-Apart Rolls (another holiday favorite…tastes like Parker House Rolls)No-Knead Brioche Buns (you can bake these brioche buns as instructed below in a muffin tin)Hot Cross Buns (a sweet, pull-apart roll)Rosemary-Olive Dinner Rolls (you could also simply add rosemary and olives to the recipe below)Honey-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
I know that from getting the turkey cooked to keeping the stuffing and the vegetables and the plates warm to keeping your guests entertained Thanksgiving can be a logistical nightmare challenge. And when there truly are so many wonderful take-and-bake options in your supermarket freezer, why not cross one thing off your to-do list? Well, because if there ever was an occasion to push your domestic stamina to its limits, to display your culinary prowess, it’s Thanksgiving. I mean, where is the fun in effortless entertaining? Pony up, Friends! Nothing says you care like freshly baked bread (and turkey and stuffing and gravy and pumpkin (squash!) pie and punch). Happy Thanksgiving!
How to Make No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, SAF instant yeast, and thyme: Add water. Stir to form a sticky dough ball: Let rise in a warm spot for 1.5-2 hours or until doubled in volume: Deflate the dough using two forks. (See video for guidance.) Divide the dough evenly among a 12-cup muffin tin: Let rise again for 15-20 minutes or… … until dough has puffed above the rim of the pan. Transfer to the oven, and bake until … … evenly golden, about 25 minutes. Optional: butter the tops and sprinkle with sea salt. Maybe not optional … the buttery, sea salt crust is irresistible. Transfer the rolls to a bread basket, and pass the butter! I mean it, I could totally skip the turkey.
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