French Bread Rolls

My mom is a master bread maker!!  For any given holiday you can find her warming drawer filled with a variety of delicious rolls.  Whole wheat is my favorite of all time!!  I'm not even joking...they are the best!!  Now I have to admit that I may have gotten a little of her baking skills but I also have to admit that baking bread scares me!!  There is the whole yeast thing and the rising time and the chance that they could turn out like hockey pucks and not the light bread that you had hoped for!!  Baking bread can be temperamental!!

But since I have been cooped up inside my house with the freezing temperatures I decided to give it a go.  I am using a recipe that I have adapted from Our Best Bites for their french bread.  Instead of making a loaf I decided to make small buns/rolls.  It made 18 small size buns that were extra delish with some slow cooked BBQ beef from the crock-pot.  The perfect dish to eat while watching football!!

I began by softening 1 1/2 cups of warm water (I used warm tap water), 1 package of yeast (Rapid Rise) and 2 Tablespoons of sugar.  Once you let it sit for about 10 minutes it will look like this...

To that I added 1 egg yolk, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil...

Then I added 3 cups of all purpose flour and mixed it well...

It was at this point that I put the dough hook on my mixer and continued to add flour until I had a soft and slightly sticky dough (about another 1 1/2 cups or 4 1/2 cups total).  If you have a mixer you can continue to mix it with the dough hook for an additional 2-3 minutes and skip the kneading altogether but if not turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for the same amount of time.

Once kneaded I covered the dough with saran wrap and a towel, set the dough in a warm area and waited for it to rise or double in size (this took between 45 minutes and 1 hour)...

Punch the dough down...

To shape them into the small rolls I began by dividing the dough in half...

Then each of those half in half, and so on until you have 18 uniform pieces...

I again covered the dough with saran wrap and a towel, set the rolls in a warm area and waited for them to rise again.  This only took about 20-25 minutes...

Bake in a preheated 375° oven for about 15 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown on top.  Remove from the oven to cool and spread butter on the top of the hot rolls...

Cool completely and serve.  They were pretty darn amazing and although it is a little labor intensive...I promise you it wasn't scary!!  Give this recipe a try and you will be glad you did!!  Sweet rolls-