Amazing Dinner Rolls

So I was in charge of bringing the rolls to our Thanksgiving dinner. Truth be told... I have only made rolls from scratch maybe three times - EVER! The times I have made them they haven't really turned out. Not sure if it was the recipe or me? So making rolls for a crowd at Thanksgiving was a bit intimidating. Luckily, I came across this amazing recipe. These rolls were light, fluffy and buttery! And they will probably be making a weekly appearance at our table! I doubled the recipe and it came out great with 36 beautiful rolls. The original recipe used a bread machine, which I didn't have- so I changed it up to make it work without.

Sweet Dinner Rolls 

(slightly adapted from allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (0.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened

Pour warm milk and water into a bowl, add sugar to dissolve, then add yeast. Allow to proof for about 20 minutes until creamy foam appears. Add 1/3 cup butter and salt, mix. Add egg, mix to combine. Add flour a cup at a time, after each cup mix with a hand held mixer (I'm sure a Kitchen Aid mixer would work just as well but we our resources are limited here). Knead for a good 10 minutes. Allow to rise for 45 minutes in a warm area, covered.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 cup softed butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover and put them in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Take rolls out and rub butter over hot rolls.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Pizza Crust

Tonight I had planned to make pizza. It was just going to be a basic pizza, marinara, cheese, olives, pepperoni, onion... nothing special. I tried a new pizza dough recipe and since I don't have my pizza stone here in Dominica, I was left to use my cookie sheet. The recipe said it made two medium sized pizzas. It wasn't enough to half it in the pan, but when I rolled the whole thing of dough into the pan it ended up being a little too much. Since it was already in the pan, I had an idea to use the excess dough into a stuffed crust. That transformed this basic pizza into something fun and out of the norm! The garlic butter Parmesan glaze topped it off perfectly! (Thanks to the hubs for thinking of adding that goodness to it!) It was delicious and filling. I think I am going to initiate Fridays as PIZZA night. It goes so perfectly with my Friday night movie dates with Crew! 

Homemade Stuffed Crust Tutorial

Make your pizza dough according to the recipe. I used this one from Annie's Eats and substituted 2 cups of whole wheat flour. It made the perfect amount to make the stuffed crust in a cookie sheet sized pan. 

Roll out your dough and place in pan. Stretch with hands to make sure the dough is evenly distributed.  There should be an excess of about an inch of dough hanging off of the edge. 

Place a good amount of cheese around the very edge of the pan. 

 Fold over excess dough and press it down.

Make sure it is pressed down completely all the way around.

At this point you can add your sauce and toppings.

Then melt about 3 tablespoons of butter. Mix with about 1-2 teaspoons of minced garlic. Brush it onto the crust and top with a good amount of Parmesan cheese.

Ready to be baked.

Enjoy!