Bickleton Dinner Rolls

Bickleton Dinner Rolls made by my friend Xiangyu

The recipe for these dinner rolls (which also make awesome cinnamon rolls and orange rolls) was given to me at one of my wedding showers (I had asked everyone to bring a favorite family recipe).  This recipe came from one of my husbands aunts who live in a small wheat farming town called Bickleton, in Eastern Washington.  My husbands family settled in this area when before Washington was a state. How cool is that?

I've been making these rolls since the early days of my marriage. Recently one of my co-workers asked me how to make bread. I wanted to give this recipe to her but I had lost the directions. Since we couldn't get together for a baking session to teach her how to make these I reworked the recipe for a novice and as a result I learned how to make these better than before.

All I can say about these rolls is that they melt in your mouth. And if I don't make them for a major holiday dinner it is the only thing I hear about from the family.

Bickleton Dinner Rolls

3 1/2 - 4 cups flour

1 scant tablespoon yeast (1 package)

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoons salt.

1. In mixing bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

2. Scald the milk (heat until it is just under a simmer) add the butter to melt

3. When milk has cooled to slightly warmer than room temp add to the yeast and water in the mixing bowl

4. Beat  the egg in a separate bowl and add to the mixing bowl

5. Add the sugar and salt and with the paddle attachment on your mixer, thoroughly combine all above ingredients.

6. Slowly add 2 cups of flour to the wet ingredients and  mix to combine.

7. Switch to dough hook.  

8. For the 3rd cup of flour add to dough mixture 1/4 cup at a time and knead with dough hook for about 4 minutes after each addition.

9. Continue this process until the dough is starting to hold together and is elastic to the touch.  It should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl in strings, cleaning the bowl as the hook and dough move around the bowl.

10. With 1/4 of the remaining flour, sprinkle a surface (counter) on which you can finish kneading the bread by had to the proper consistency (you need to do this by had because it is hard to tell when it is in the mixing bowl).

11. Knead the dough, mixing in the flour on the counter and adding 1/4 more flour at a time the dough is no longer sticky, but still elastic to the touch...you don't want this dough to be firm. Form the dough into a ball by pulling it around and tucking it under.

12.Using cooking oil or butter/margarine, grease a bowl that is large enough to allow the dough to double in size.

13.Put the dough top side down in the greased bowl so that the top of the dough is "greased".  Turn the dough over so the that greased part of the dough is now on top.  Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free location (a good place is in the oven with the oven light turned on).

14. Allow to rise until double in size (depending on the temperature - might take 2 hours - but if it is warm may be less)

15. Make a fist and punch dough down 1x.  quickly make the dough into a ball (by pulling in and tucking it under itself) and let the dough rest on the counter for about 10 minutes to make it easier to work with.

16. After the dough has had a chance to rest you are now ready to form into dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls.  

17. Ways to shape rolls.

        a. Roll dough circle (or 2 circles if you want smaller rolls).  Cut each circle like a pizza into wedges.  Roll each wedge from wide end to narrow end into and make a crescent  shape. Place on a cookie sheet, spaced far enough apart to allow the dough to rise (again double).

        b. roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2 thick.  Using a biscuit cutter or a glass, cut the dough into circles.  The circles.  Fold each circle in 1/2 and lightly pinch in the middle of the rounded side to hold the dough together. Place on a cookie sheet, spaced far enough apart to allow the dough to rise (again double)

        c. Use a muffin pan.  Fill each "muffin" with 3 round balls of equal size that fill about 1/2 the depth of the muffin.

        d. any other shape of you choice...you get the idea

18.  Which ever you chose to do in step 17.- once the rolls are shaped cover them with a clean towel and allow to rise until they once again have doubled.  This rising won't take as long as the first time...should be no more than 1 hour.

19. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees (Though I often only bake these at 375 so I don't have to watch them so closely).  Bake rolls until a  very light brown on top and no longer "doughy" inside.  The amount of time will depend on the size of the rolls.  (15  - 30 minutes, depending on the size of the rolls and the temp. of the oven)

(note,  if you are making cinnamon or rolls orange rolls decrease the oven temperature to 350 so the sugar doesn't burn)

20.  Remove from oven and eat when they are cool enough to handle.  The are best eaten within 24 hours but I've had them up to 3 days.

21 (optional).  Some people brush the hot rolls, just removed from the oven, with a bit of milk...but I never bother.