Sweet yeast rolls: perfect on any Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday table

Sweet yeast rolls are a delight at every holiday meal, and they're not a hassle to make at all.  They're also a Southern favorite, Knoxville!  All that's required are a few simple ingredients and a little time.  The following recipe is quite simple and makes quite a good result for a small family table.  Double it for more rolls.

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 c. warmed milk;
2. 1/4 c. warm water, divided equally into two;
3. 1/2 tsp. white sugar;
4. 1 packet of active, dry yeast, or 2 tsp from a jar;
5. 2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted;
6. 1/4 c. white sugar plus 1 tsp.;
7. 1 tsp. salt;
8. 1 egg, beaten;
9. 1/4 c. (half a stick) of sweet cream butter.

Directions:

1. Combine half of the water, 1/2 tsp. sugar, and the yeast in a small cup and mix well.  Let the yeast bloom until it gets foamy.
2. Combine the other half of the water, the milk, and the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave and gently heat it until the butter is melted.  Let this mixture cool slightly before continuing.
3. To the milk mixture, add the beaten egg and roughly half of the sugar and mix well to combine.
4. Add 1 c. of the flour along with the bloomed yeast to the milk and egg mixture in a bowl and whisk vigorously for 3-5 minutes or mix with an electric mixer for 2 minutes;
5. Add the resulting batter, the remaining sugar, and the salt to the remaining flour and combine until it forms a soft dough.  Knead the ingredients together gently for 3-5 minutes.
6. Form the dough into a ball and place in buttered or oiled bowl covered with a damp towel, and put that in a warm place to rise for approximately 1 hour.
7. Punch down the dough and cut it into golf-ball-sized pieces, roughly 12-16 pieces with this recipe.  Shape the dough pieces into round balls and place them into a lightly greased baking pan about and inch or two apart. 
8. Cover this pan with the damp towel again and set in a warm place for a second rise, roughly another hour.  When the balls have roughly doubled in size, they're ready to bake.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes or until the tops just brown.  Let them stand after removing them from the oven and serve them hot!

A nice variation on the last steps is to cut each golf-ball-sized piece into three or four pieces, shape each into its own small ball, and then place those all together in single hole in a cupcake pan.  This will give you a cloverleaf kind of roll that is easy to pull apart and that has a nice appearance.

Another use of this dough is to make pepperoni rolls with it, which are great for Christmas and the unofficial state food of West Virginia because of their intense popularity there.  See here for a recipe!

Buy it locally!  All of the ingredients for these rolls are widely available at any Knoxville-area grocery store, so there's no sweat in getting them and enjoying them!

For more great recipes and cooking ideas, follow the Knoxville Gourmet Food Examiner by subcribing at the top of the page. You can also read more on his personal cooking blog: The Untrained Gourmet.