Make Ahead Dinner Rolls Recipes

Steps:

• Warm 1/4 cup of the milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to anywhere between 100 and 115 degrees F. Pour the milk into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment. Add the sugar and yeast, and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the softened butter, half the flour, half the remaining milk and fine salt. Mix on medium-high speed just to incorporate. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated, then add the remaining flour and milk. Knead with the hook on medium-high speed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides, about 5 minutes (the dough will still be sticky).
• Lightly butter a large bowl with some of the melted butter, and turn the dough out into it. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in a slightly warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Lightly butter two 12-cup muffin tins with some of the melted butter. Punch the dough down. Divide it into 24 even pieces, and roll them into rough balls. Roll each ball in the melted butter to coat, letting the excess drip off, and plop it into a muffin cup. Cover lightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in the refrigerator at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
• Position oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven, and preheat to 375 degrees F. Remove the tins from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature 1 hour (the dough won't puff up significantly). Sprinkle evenly with sea salt, and bake, rotating the tins halfway through, until just lightly golden but still rather pale and almost cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Let the parbaked rolls cool slightly in the tins, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. Pack them in resealable plastic bags, label and date, and freeze for up to 2 weeks.
• To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the frozen rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet until warmed through and golden brown on top, about 20 minutes. Brush the warm rolls with melted butter.

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. When oven reaches 200 degrees, shut oven off. Grease large bowl with 1 tablespoon butter. Line 13 by 9-inch baking dish with foil, leaving overhang on all sides. Grease foil with 1 tablespoon butter.
• Place milk, honey, shortening, and remaining 3 tablespoons butter in large measuring cup. Microwave on high power until milk is warm (110 degrees) and butter and shortening begin to melt, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir well.
• Mix 4 1/2 cups flour, yeast, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn mixer to low and slowly add milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium, add 1 egg, and mix until dough is smooth, about 2 minutes. Add another 1/2 cup flour and knead until dough is shiny and smooth and comes away from sides of mixing bowl, 6 to 7 minutes (add up to 1/2 cup more flour if dough is too sticky). Turn dough onto unfloured surface and knead briefly to form smooth, cohesive ball. Transfer dough to buttered bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough has doubled in size, 50 to 60 minutes.
• Punch down dough on floured surface and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into thick cylinder and cut each cylinder into 5 equal pieces. Working one piece at a time (keep remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap) and following photos, form dough pieces into smooth, taut rounds and arrange in prepared baking dish. Lightly press on dough rounds so they just touch each other. Cover baking dish with plastic wrap and return to turned-off oven until dough rounds have doubled in size, 50 to 60 minutes.
• Remove dish from oven and heat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap baking dish and brush rolls with egg-water mixture. Bake until rolls are deep golden brown, 25 to 27 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Using handles of foil sling, remove rolls from baking dish and cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Remove foil from rolls, return to rack, and cool completely, about 2 hours longer. Keeping rolls together, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil; freeze for up to 1 month.
• To serve: Remove plastic wrap and foil (reserve foil) from rolls, wrap in reserved foil, and defrost at room temperature for 2 hours. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake foil-wrapped rolls on baking sheet until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve.
• Rolls without a Mixer: In step 3, mix 4 1/2 cups flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Make well in flour, then add milk mixture and egg to well. Stir with wooden spoon until dough becomes shaggy and difficult to stir. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and knead, adding remaining 1/2 cup flour (or more as needed), until dough forms smooth, cohesive ball, about 10 minutes. Proceed as directed.

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Once oven reaches 200 degrees, maintain oven temperature 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat.
• Microwave milk and sugar in microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl at full power until warm (about 95 degrees). (Alternatively, heat milk and sugar in small saucepan over medium heat until warm; remove from heat.) Whisk to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast over surface of liquid, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 10 minutes to soften yeast. Whisk egg into milk mixture, dissolving yeast.
• Combine flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on lowest speed to blend, about 15 seconds. With mixer running, add milk mixture in steady stream; mix on low speed until flour is just moistened, about 1 minute. With mixer running, add butter one piece at a time; increase speed to medium and beat until combined and dough is scrappy, about 2 minutes. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead dough until smooth but still sticky, about 4 minutes. Scrape dough out onto work surface. Knead by hand until very smooth and soft but no longer sticky, about 1 minute; do not add more flour. Transfer dough to large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in warm oven until dough doubles in bulk, about 45 minutes.
• Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Punch down dough, replace plastic wrap, and let dough rest 5 minutes. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and follow illustrations 1 through 8 (below) to shape and cut into triangles. Transfer rolls to baking sheets, then cover each with clean kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled in bulk, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove towels and (without pressing on the rolls) wrap baking sheets tightly with greased plastic wrap. Freeze rolls until solid, about 6 hours; transfer to large zipper-lock bag and freeze for up to 1 month.
• When ready to bake rolls, adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 375 degrees. Place frozen rolls on 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets; let stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheets front to back and switching positions from top to bottom halfway through baking time. Transfer rolls immediately to wire rack; cool 5 minutes and serve.