Easy, Light and Fluffy Rolls My Momma Makes

My mother bakes rolls and scones that make people swoon.  Seriously, she has mad skills in the kitchen. A few years back this lovely lady made a mighty batch of "Mormon Scones" (aka fry bread) at our family reunion in her usual custom of just putting in this and that till it "looks and feels right"...but I made her measure it all out and I wrote it down.  Since then I have adjusted the recipe down to make a pan of dinner rolls.  This recipe is fast and simple so it can be thrown together relatively quick and still bring tasty results.

Elaine's Roll & Scone Recipe
(as recorded and adjusted by moe)
2 1/4 cup hot tap water (as hot as you can get from the tap)
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1/3 cup sugar (sometimes I use powdered honey)
1/4 cup oil
1 Tbsp salt
5-6 cups flour (I like to use half whole wheat flour sometimes if I feel up to grinding some)

Pour hot water in a big mixing bowl.  Sprinkle yeast on top and pour sugar over yeast (sometimes I let this sit for a minute but not necessary).  Pour oil and salt in and add 2 cups flour and mix.  Cover and let this mix sit and "sponge" until the surface is nice and bubbly.

Once it is nice and bubbly add 3 more cups of flour and mix until the dough is workable (aka starting to leave sides of bowl).  Put the mixing spoon down, take off your rings and start to knead dough. Add more flour as you work it until you can touch the dough with an oiled finger and pull it away without dough sticking on your finger.  Knead for a few minutes (if you're stressed out knead a few more minutes, its great therapy).  Pour a couple tablespoons worth of oil on a clean counter. Place dough on oiled counter and let dough rest and rise covered with a kitchen towel (about 30 minutes).

Coat your hands in oil and begin grabbing small bits of dough and pinching them from dough mound.

Place in greased 9 by 13 pan.  *I believe the trick to great rolls is pan placement.  Put them close enough together so that they have lots of side-to-side contact.  That makes for nice crust on top and soft fluffy sides.

Let rolls rise in the pan for 10-15 minutes while oven heats.   Bake at 350 till rolls sound hollow when tapped on top (about 20-25 minutes).  Tops should be golden brown.

Serve with soups, roasts or whatever you like.  We ALWAYS serve these with Homemade Freezer Jam and my children inhale them...sometimes I wonder if they even have time to taste them before they gobble them up.

And I feel I must warn you...this recipe actually can leave you with a little bit of extra dough...especially if you keep your dough balls nice and small in your pan.  It leaves you with a perfect amount of dough to flatten out into a rectangle.  Smother that with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and BING! you have a small pan of {cinnamon rolls} all ready for dessert :)  Just for the record--my husband and I ate these cinnamon rolls with maple frosting after the boys were in bed...the entire pan.  I think we should get a medal or something for sparing our children the calories and tooth-rotting sugar that they would have been subjected to if we let them share with us.  Just sayin :)

You can also use this dough for scones (or "fry bread"). We make {Navajo Tacos} with this recipe very often (that is the "birthday" meal for both of my sons because they LOVE it so much).