Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Sour Cream Yeast Rolls

Dinner tonight was corned beef and cabbage, which I made last year in a huge batch and froze a few containers with 2 servings each. I just thawed it in the fridge yesterday and today and reheated it in a pot on the stove.

Since I was going kind of no-hassle on dinner, I wanted to do something a little special on the side, to spice it up. That's when I remembered that I'd flipped to a recipe in my Taste of Home issue I got last month. Sour cream yeast rolls! I instantly knew I was going to make them because the picture looked great, we love anything sour cream, and it was simple ingredients I always have on hand.

I will have to say, they turned out to be more work than I realized. I dirtied several dishes and the kitchen, and felt like I'd been working on them all day by the time they were ready for the oven. There's not a lot of hands-on, but two separate dough rise times, so they're occupying your attention for awhile. They were good, and I'll probably re-make them because Johnny loved them, but definitely not an everyday batch I'd whip up.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 pkg (or 2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp, butter divided (I ended up using only 2 and substituted Smart Balance)
1 egg

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the sour cream, water, and 2 Tbsp butter to 120°-130°; add to dry ingredients. (That seemed a little on the hot side to me, so I only heated mine to about 110° - 115° so I wouldn't kill the yeast). Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg and 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes longer. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. (At this point, I stirred in only about 1/4 cup more flour, because I knew I'd be adding a lot more during the kneading process)

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. (I ended up adding 1/2 - 1/3 cup more flour during this.) Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. (I put mine in the kitchen sink with a little bit of warm water and a dampened paper towel over the top of the bowl. I saw this trick on somebody elses' blog recently, but I forget whose!)

Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place in a greased 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. (Again, I did this in the kitchen sink with warm water.)

Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Melt remaining butter; brush over rolls. (I omitted this step.) Remove from pan to a wire rack.

Michelle at Lucky Taste Buds is having a giveaway here, so stop by before next Monday!

The host for this week's BSI is Laura at Hey, What's for Dinner Mom!, and she chose strawberries! I added them to my grocery list, but will have to put on my thinking cap!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

uhhh how in the world do you make such awesome looking rolls??? Yeast freaks me out, but....your rolls just look so yummy!

Christina said...

This is the 2nd or 3rd time I've used yeast, and I haven't messed it up, yet!

I have a candy thermometer, which makes it easy to regulate the temperature - which really is the biggest thing - you don't want it to get too hot and kill the yeast. I got it for <$10 at Walmart or Target.

Nowheymama said...

Fancy! I can't wait to have corned beef and cabbage next week for St. Patrick's Day.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about all the work. I love making rolls and bread with yeast, but it always demands a lot of time and attention. It looks like the hard work paid off though. Your rolls look SO good!!