When you go out to eat a nice dinner, you may have to wait quite a while to get your food. To keep all their visitors happy, restaurants often bring out some freshly baked bread to make sure everyone stays satisfied before their entrées arrive—and this happens at restaurants of all different price points! While the temptation might be to think that the more expensive restaurants have the better bread, anybody who’s been to a Red Lobster or an Olive Garden knows that that’s not always true.
Regardless, having fresh rolls with dinner can really take the entire dining experience to the next level. Still, we rarely do this at home—hopefully, until now! That’s because today we have a delicious and easy recipe for fresh cloverleaf dinner rolls that are truly tasty. These rolls will come out perfectly soft on the inside and perfectly crisp and browned on the outside (and you can even pull them apart as well). No matter what you’re cooking for dinner, these are a great addition.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup of warm water
- 1/4 cup of milk
- 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
- 1 packet of active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- muffin tin
- stand mixer with dough hook
- sunflower seeds and oats (optional)
Here’s what you do:
1. To get started, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In the meantime, get your muffin tin and make sure to grease it down with butter or non-stick cooking spray before continuing with the recipe. To begin, get a saucepan going over low heat and add in your milk, sugar and two tablespoons of your butter. Heat it until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves into it.
2. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool until it’s lukewarm, somewhere between 90 degrees and 110 degrees (if you have a kitchen thermometer). Next, pour that mixture into a stand mixer and add in your warm water and your packet of yeast. Let it all sit together until the the mixture starts to foam, which should take about five to 10 minutes.
3. After that, add two cups of flour to the mix and set it to mix on low for one minute using a dough hook attachment. As the dough starts spinning, add the rest of your flour gradually a half-cup at a time. Keep mixing for about two more minutes, until the dough starts to come together. Mix it for about two more minutes until it starts to get smooth and elastic. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also mix everything with a wooden spoon until it holds and then knead the dough by hand for several minutes.
4. Next, get a large mixing bowl and and spray it down with non-stick spray or oil. Put your dough in it and turn it around a couple times to make sure the entire thing gets coated in the grease. Cover it with a clean towel and let it rise in a warm part of your kitchen for 15 minutes.
5. Once it’s ready, put the dough on a well-floured surface and start pinching off pieces of it and rolling them into one-inch balls. For every muffin tin cup, put in three of those little dough balls gently stuck together. Once again, cover the tin with a clean towel and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
6. To finish up, melt the rest of your butter and brush the tops of your dough balls with it. If you’re using oats and sunflower seeds, sprinkle them on as well and bake the rolls in the oven for nine to 12 minutes. Once the time’s up, they should be golden brown and ready to eat!
As you can see, this recipe does take a little bit of prep work when it comes to making the dough, kneading and waiting for it to rise. Still, it’s easy enough that anyone with a little bit of time can accomplish it—and the results will take all of your dinners to the next level. Now, you won’t have to go out to eat to get the deliciously fresh rolls that you and your family crave! As always, have fun with the recipe and add in any twists as you see fit. Happy baking!
Have you tried this recipe yourself? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment.
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