There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh baked bread, and offering your family their own individual rolls cuts down on the fighting over who got the bigger slice!

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make a big batch and freeze them! Just pull out what you need and finish baking them for 5-10 minutes for fresh-baked bread with dinner.

What You Need:

1 3/4 C warm water, should be 105 to 115 degrees (check with thermometer)
2 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 C sugar
1 T salt
1 egg
1/4 C soft butter or margarine
6 C sifted all purpose flour
1 T butter or margarine, melted
Freezer paper

How to Make It:

Rinse a large bowl with hot water. Pour the warm water into the bowl. Add the yeast, sugar and salt. and stir until completely dissolved.

Add the egg, soft butter and 3 C of flour – 1/2 cup at a time. Beat together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Slowly add 1 more C of flour and continue to beat another 2 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 C of flour to the mixture.

Use your hands to work in the flour.

Continue until all the flour is mixed in well and the mixture becomes smooth and elastic.

Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow the dough to rise 2 hours. The dough should double in size.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch down the dough.

Dough may be stored in the refrigerator 1-3 days before use. Be sure dough stays covered and punch the dough once a day until ready to use.

When you are ready to make the rolls, remove 1/3 of the dough from the refrigerator.

On a lightly floured surface divide the dough in half.
With your palms roll each half of the dough into a 16 inch rope. Cut each rope into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball.

Place 3 balls in each of a muffin cup that has been sprayed lightly with a non-stick cooking spray.

When all the muffin cups are full, cover with a towel and place in a warm place. Let rise again for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Bake the rolls 20 minutes. If you are planning to serve them right away, cook them for 5-10 minutes longer, or until nicely browned.

Remove the rolls from the oven and cool completely.

You can serve them right away or store them in the freezer to warm up as needed.

Wrap in the freezer paper and freeze for up to 12 months.

When ready to use preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Unwrap rolls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until light brown.