Baking is my first love. I learned to bake alongside my mom as I grew up and love making breads and desserts more than anything! My mom made some amazing rolls and they’ve always been my top comfort food. I still use her recipe to this day for classic dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls that are better than I’ve had in any bakery. I found today’s recipe on Mel’s site– you’ll see me share a lot of her recipes in the future. I was intrigued by the addition of cornmeal to the dough and had to try it out. Now I can’t stop making these because they’re just sooo good! This picture was taken when I took them to a friend’s baby shower and let’s just say I got a lot of recipe requests.

Cornmeal Dinner Rolls

INGREDIENTS

2 cups milk (1%, 2% or whole)
2/3 cup yellow corn meal
1 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast (or active dry yeast*)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
5 1/2 – 6 cups all-purpose flour (or you can use half white and half whole wheat flour)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, warm the milk to just below a simmer; tiny bubbles will appear around the edges (this is called scalding milk). Add the cornmeal (SLOWLY) and cook and stir constantly until the mixture is thickened and bubbling. It should be the consistency of porridge before taking off the heat.
2. Pour the cornmeal mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or a large bowl (if mixing by hand) and let cool until lukewarm. Add the yeast, butter and sugar (if you dissolved active dry yeast with a bit of water and sugar until it foamed, add it now). Mix.
3. Add the salt and eggs. Mix well. Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms. Knead for 2-3 minutes (slightly longer if you use half whole wheat flour).
4. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover with lightly greased plastic wrap; let rise until doubled.
5. Portion the dough into 24 equal pieces (about 2.75 to 3 ounces each) and roll into a taut ball on the counter. Place each roll on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing about an inch apart to allow for rising (on a 11X17-inch rimmed baking sheet, I fit 24 rolls on the sheet – four across, six down). Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap. Let the rolls rise until doubled (mine took about 1 1/2 hours).
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 14-17 minutes (I baked for 12-15 min), until lightly browned and baked through. Remove from the oven and brush with butter while still warm.

*If you need/want to use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, change the amount of yeast to 2 tbsp. active dry and dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tbsp. sugar. Let the yeast mixture activate and foam (approximately 5 minutes) before adding it to the cornmeal mixture with the butter and 1/3 cup sugar

Makes 2 dozen rolls.

Recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe