Dinner Rolls

These rolls are easy and can be prepped ahead of time. I followed this recipe from The Kitchn. I made these to go with The North Carolina Pulled Pork. While great as regular dinner rolls, these would work smaller for sliders or larger for burger buns. 

from the fridge overnight 

1 hour from the fridge

cooked!

with the pulled pork

Dinner Rolls
Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients
1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions
1. In a stand mixer: stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined.
3. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough.
4. Knead the dough at low speed for 8-10 minutes, until smooth but slightly tacky. It should spring back when poked.
5. Cover the mixing bowl and let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
6. Dust your work surface with a little flour and turn the risen dough out on top. Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Roll the dough against the counter or between your palms until round.
7. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment and spray with nonstick coating. Arrange the rolls inside the pan spaced a little apart*.
8. Let the rolls rise until they fill the pan roughly 30-40 minutes. While the rolls are rising, pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
9. Brush the rolls with butter. Melt the butter and brush it over the risen dinner rolls. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft. (I forgot this step)
10. Bake the rolls until golden, 15-18 minutes.
11. Lift the rolls from the pan using the parchment and let the rolls cool on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

*At this point you can also cover the rolls and put into the fridge to rise over night for dinner the next day. The next day let the rolls come to room temp (about 1 hour) prior to baking. Then continue with step 8.

Fresh Dinner Rolls

These are fresh and soft rolls with a slightly crunchy outside. This comes from All Recipes.

I used 2 1/2 cups wheat flour and 2 cups white flour. These split perfectly for burgers,pulled pork, or as dinner rolls. To reheat I microwaved the roll for 30 seconds.

Rolls

Makes 12

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

In a small saucepan, heat milk, water, and sugar until 115 degrees. Add yeast and let sit for 10 minutes. Chop butter into small pieces and add to the mixture.

In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 30 to 35 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

For Hot Dog Buns: Shape each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly, and pinch edges and ends to seal. Let rise about 20 to 25 minutes. Bake as above.

Dad's Pulled Pork

My dad makes a great slow cooker pulled pork so I decided to give it a shot! This is a spicy and sweet BBQ sauce pulled pork.

I did a half batch, 2.5 lbs of boneless roast pork. You can use pork shoulder too.

Combine everything into the crock pot. 8-9 hours on low, 4-5 hours on high. I did about 6-7 hours of some variation of low and high.

Spices

Cover the pork with the soupy mixture

Pork is tender and starting to break apart when you jab it with a fork

Take it out and use forks to pull it apart/shred it

Put it back into the broth

Garlic butter grilled Kaiser rolls!

I melted a pat of butter with a little less than a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder in a frying pan. Raise the heat to about 7 and then put the buns in the pan for about 3-4 minutes, until they are golden and crunchy.

Look at that!!!

Normally we serve it burrito style on a tortilla with white rice and Mexican style shredded cheese and then grilled. And this is wonderful. However, when N. and I went to lunch at Woodstock Inn in Woodstock NH, we had pulled pork served on garlic butter grilled rolls.

So, for burritos I would keep the beans and corn. If I want to serve it on rolls, I would omit the beans and corn.

UPDATE 3/9/13: Used boneless pork loin pieces, very tender.

Dad's Pulled Pork

makes enough for 8-10 sandwiches

½ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp Red pepper flakes

1 tbsp Cayenne

1 tbsp Black pepper

12 oz Coke
1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup ketchup

4 ½ lbs roast pork, pork shoulder...
28 oz of black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)

Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight in the fridge.

10 h on low

Pull it apart

Put it back in and make make sandwiches or burritos!