Mrs. Cho's Dinner Rolls
"Shaped yeast rolls"
Serves 15-20, depending on shape | Prep Time 30 minutes, Rise time 1.5 hours | Cook Time 20 minutesWhy I Love This Recipe
When money is scarce, yeast roll ingredients are still affordable. My mom brought the fancy with shaped rolls, folded napkins and other touches that made simple meals special events.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup warm water
1 package yeast (quick rise yeast decreases rise time)
1/2 cup butter (unsalted), softened
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
4 cups all purpose white flour
Garnish with:
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp honey, or
1 tsp garlic salt (or 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
Directions
Got to love the original directions:, "treat like regular rolls". That was it. The recipe was given from one experienced chef (Korean cook Mrs. Cho) to another (my mom). The following detailed directions were modified from Amish "Fancy" Butter and Egg Dinner Rolls on justapinch.com
Mix sugar and warm water in a large bowl until sugar dissolves. Don't use hot water, or your rolls may not rise (thus the year of the legendary Mrs. Cho's Hockey Pucks). Add yeast and mix well. Let stand 10 minutes.
Add butter and egg, Mix well. Gradually mix in flour until a ball of dough forms which does not stick to sides of bowl or to you.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface (I prefer a large cutting board) and knead 5 minutes.
Place in lightly greased large bowl. Cover dough and put in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Note: a good warm place is the top of a stove in which other things are already cooking.
Punch down dough. Divide dough evenly into 15 - 20 pieces.
Shape as desired. The simplest shape is the basic ball. 3 smaller balls together make a cloverleaf.
My mom rolled the dough in a circle and cut like a pizza into 10 or 12 pieces. Roll each piece from wide to pointed end for crescent rolls. See video above for other shaping ideas.
Place basic ball-shaped dough in a greased 13 x 9 pan, touching. Rolls will rise to fill the pan. Cloverleafs can go into greased muffin tins. Crescents and other shapes can go into the greased pan, not touching, as shape could be affected. Let all shapes rise until doubled, about 35-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls about 20 minutes. Watch closely. Remove from oven and brush all tops of cooked rolls with butter.
Serve with honey butter or garlic butter. Mix honey and butter together and serve in decorative dish. Mix garlic salt and butter together and serve in decorative dish.
Pairs Well With
Honey butter or garlic butter
