Butter Crescent Rolls

Look at this picture…what else do I have to say?

1 -1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup +1 TBSP sugar
1 egg
1 TBSP salt
2 TBSP yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of flour
at least 1 cup of butter

Scald 1-1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.

Add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it). To cool it down add 1 egg and 1 TBSP of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. OR just let it cool for a while as the yeast mixture rises! Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 TBSP of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 TBSP of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly. You can stir in 1-2 cups of flour to the milk/butter mixture to cool it down further. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!

Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour. Remember to fluff your flour. Either sift it or take a whisk through it to lighten it, that way its not so dense when you go to scoop and measure. I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand. AT the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.

Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with soft butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 TBSP per circle of dough.

Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough. Roll each triangle starting with the wide end. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm to let them rise. DON’T let them rise to long or get to big..they will dry out in the baking! (This is key to this roll recipe!) Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven till they are golden brown. About 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.

While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.

recipe : howdoesshe.com