Recipe for Rich White Dinner Rolls with Thyme

My husband’s family were getting together for a holiday dinner and I was asked to bring dinner rolls. I knew immediately I had to make my favourite rolls from the book Canada’s Best Bread Machine Baking Recipes. My personal touch? Adding some chopped fresh thyme. I only used the breadmaker for the dough so you can make this recipe without a breadmaker. Just proof the yeast in some warm (not hot) water with a little sugar. Add it to the milk, making sure it is warm (not hot). Then add to the dry ingredients and knead for at least 7 minutes. For those with a breadmaker add the following to the loaf pan in this order:

1 1/3 cup of milk warmed in microwave but not hot!
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp softened butter
3 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast
1 tsp finely chopped thyme

Select dough cycle. Now it has been really dry here lately so I had to add some warm water into the dough to help bring it together, I even added a little oil. You have to check on the dough to make sure it is all coming together. When the breadmaker beeps for the “add delicates” cycle, add the thyme.

Because the get together was in the early afternoon, I had to make the dough the night before. I have had my dough make a break for it before, oozing out of the container I put it in, so this time I put it in a bowl with a tight lid, greasing the sides and the dough. 

Here is the dough the following morning, safely contained! Perfect…

I rolled out the dough and cut into 12 portions.

I nestled them together in a springform pan, covered and let rise for 35 minutes in my microwave with a glass of hot water since my house was quite chilly.

I brushed on some melted butter and baked in a 375F oven. After 20 minutes it was starting to get golden but I had to keep it in a little longer. You do not want to over bake these rolls so it is finicky, you have to keep an eye on them to make sure they are baked through without getting too dark.

This is how we normally eat them and my husband says that they are the closest thing to his dad’s rolls he has ever had. My father-in-law’s family used to have a candy, ice cream shop and bakery and he used to make the best rolls in the world so this is the highest praise I can get. These buns were a huge hit at the family party. We love them so much I just to make another batch the next day for me and my husband. This time my house was really warm, I decided to experiment by rolling them into balls and they rose a little longer ending up making a huge batch of rolls:

Beautiful! I think I will make them this way from now on. So soft, melt-in-your-mouth… once you have these you will never buy store-bought rolls again. I certainly haven’t! Yes, time consuming but so very worth the effort. For me, these are perfection! I hope you try making them, they are one of my favourite things to make in the whole world. Enjoy!

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