Whole Wheat Wednesday - Dinner Rolls

In our quest to use more whole wheat in our cooking and baking, I can’t think of a better way to start than with dinner rolls. Who doesn’t love hot rolls with butter and jam or honey? Think fresh strawberry jam here. They are great with a meal, leftover as a snack or for a quick sandwich. And who doesn’t love a quick and easy recipe? I sure do. This recipe is easy and can be adapted to as much whole wheat flour as you want. Start with half whole wheat flour/half white flour and give them a try. I also like to use honey in place of the sugar (about 1/3 c. honey), but they are good either way.

These rolls work up quickly, rise fast and have a great texture. This recipe is made for use in a Kitchen Aid and makes 1 baking sheet of rolls. It can easily be doubled to make 2 pans and give you enough for sandwiches the next day. If you wish, you can double the recipe, use half the dough for rolls and make cinnamon or orange rolls with the rest. This dough also makes great sandwich pocket bread not to mention great scones.

Rapid Rise Wheat Rolls
5 ¼ c. flour (part white and part whole wheat flour)
3 T. SAF INSTANT yeast
¼ c. sugar
1 ½ t. salt
1 ¾ c. warm water
½ c. oil
2 eggs
Combine thoroughly, 2 c. flour, dry yeast, sugar and salt. Mix warm water, oil and slightly beaten eggs. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Beat thoroughly and let the dough “sponge” for about 5-10 minutes. Then add about 3 ¼ cups remaining flour. Dough should be slightly sticky. Knead on floured board about 5 times. Melt ¼ c. butter and spread on 15x10” baking sheet. Pinch off dough balls for the rolls; dip dough top-side-down in melted butter; turn over and place on the baking sheet leaving ½” space between rolls and sides of the baking sheet. This will fill one pan with rolls. Put pan of rolls in pre-heated 170º oven for 10 minutes. Remove rolls from oven. Preheat oven to 425º. The rolls should have risen enough to fill all the spaces and be above the rim of the baking sheet by about 1-2”. Bake the rolls for 10 minutes or until golden brown on top.