World's Best (and Easiest!) Yeast Roll Recipe

Too many bread recipes say they're "easy" but what they mean is "easy to understand." The recipe I'm about to show you is truly easy -- so easy you'll wonder if these rolls are really going to be good.

Trust me -- they'll be delicious! These are incredibly soft yeast rolls -- light as air, soft and crying out for butter!

This recipe makes one dozen rolls.

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.

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

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 all vigorously to make sure that the softened shortening gets 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 just put it on the counter. If it's winter, I put it near my oven so it will feel just a tad of the heat as I'm cooking the rest of the meal.

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 on the top rack, and close the oven door. It will double in about an hour.

Once they have doubled, then you'll spoon the dough into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray. YES, you just spoon the dough into the holes. I fill the holes nearly to the top, and this recipe makes one dozen rolls.

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.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (220 C for my UK/European readers) then bake the rolls for 8 -- 10 minutes. You'll know they're done when the tops are a golden brown.

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 get more difficult to remove. I have a wicker basket I cover with a cloth, then put the hot rolls into it, then cover them while I finish the last preparations for the meal.

Enjoy!