World's Best (and Easiest!) Yeast Roll Recipe
Incredibly light (and super easy) Yeast Rolls
These Are The Easiest Yeast Rolls Ever!
This yeast roll recipe is truly easy! It makes a dozen incredibly soft yeast rolls -- light as air, soft and crying out for butter!
These are OLD-FASHIONED rolls, like the Parker House rolls of the 1950s. I like to make these occasionally for the holidays, because they remind me of the dinners my mom used to make when I was a child.
The Ingredients
2 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup hot water from the tap
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 teaspoons)
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
How To Make These Easy Rolls
Into a large bowl, put the sugar, shortening and the cup of HOT water from the tap. Stir it with a spoon until the sugar has dissolved. The shortening will soften, but it won't melt. This will only take a few minutes.
Once the water has become warm (not hot) add the yeast to this mixture, and stir until the yeast has turned the water a creamy color -- usually, about 4 minutes.
Add the egg, salt and flour. Stir it all together with a wooden spoon. Once everything is incorporated, I stir it vigorously to make sure the softened shortening is distributed fully throughout the (very very very soft dough.)
Put the bowl in a warm place and let it double in bulk. How long will this take? Depends on the heat of your kitchen, of course. If it's summer, I put it on the counter. If it's winter, I put it near my oven so they will rise from the heat as I cook the rest of the meal.
Having trouble getting your dough to rise? Here's an easy tip: bring a pan of water to the boil, then put it into the lowest rack of your (cold) oven. Put the bowl of dough on the top rack, and close the oven door. It will double in about an hour.
How To Bake the Yeast Rolls
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (220 C).
Once the rolls have doubled, spoon the dough into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray. YES, you just spoon in the dough. I fill the holes nearly to the top.
It will feel odd spooning dough into your muffin tin. You'll think: this dough is too soft to make bread! But.. just continue following these directions, okay? There's no kneading of any kind.
Let the rolls rise until they have nearly doubled in size -- they will mound up on the top of your muffin tin.
Bake the rolls for 8 -- 10 minutes. You'll know they're done when the tops are golden brown.
Freshly baked rolls still in the tin
Final Thoughts
Remove the rolls from the tins within about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. They'll come out easily. However, if you wait more than 20 minutes, they become difficult to remove.
Serve with plenty of butter!