Lion House Rolls
Homemade, soft, tender, buttery, luscious dinner rolls!
Just like the kind your grandma used to make.
Imagine your house being filled with the amazing aroma of rolls baking in your oven.
Is there anything more amazing?
Well, maybe there are a few things slightly more amazing, but honestly the smell is really, really dang good!
Even if you’re a novice baker, you too can make these amazing rolls at home.
They don’t require a lot of baking experience.
The instructions are pretty simple and straight forward.
They don’t even need to be kneaded!
Yay!
Let me tell ya, that’s a huge win in my book friend!
They do require a little patience and time for them to rise twice.
All you need to do is allow for that and your golden!
The Lion House Pantry restaurant is a well known and popular restaurant in Utah.
They serve home-style food and have become famous for their amazingly delicious, pillowy, buttery dinner rolls.
Can’t wait until you’re in Utah to grab some of these rolls?
No worries, I’ve got your back.
They’re fairly simple and easy to make at home and WELL worth the effort!
As a food blogger, I try a lot of new recipes.
Because of that, there aren’t many recipes that I make regularly.
I’m always trying to find something new that tops even a great, well loved recipe.
So if I make it often, I’ve gotta REALLY love it
This recipe is one of the recipes that I make repeatedly.
I make this one over and over again!
This is my favorite, perfect, can’t imagine it’ll ever find a better, dinner roll.
This is the recipe I make for all holidays, family gatherings, or any time I want an amazing buttery roll.
They’re easy enough to make (with a little planning) for Sunday supper and special enough for any holiday.
Recipe Notes:
So, lets talk about timing.
Here’s your basic schedule for planning it out:
1.Mix your ingredients. (5 minutes plus 7–8 minute wait time to proof the yeast)
2.Allow the dough to rise.(About 1–1 1/2 hours depending on warmth and humidity)
3.Roll, cut, allow to rise a second time. (10 minutes plus 1–1 1/2 hours for the second rise)
4. Bake. (15-20 minutes)
5. DEVOUR!!!
Mixer:
I make them using my Kitchen Aide stand up electric mixer.
It does all of the “hard work,” so to say.
While there’s no kneading required in this recipe, there is quite a lot of heavy duty stirring.
As more flour is incorporated into the dough, the dough gets pretty stiff.
I for one know there is absolutely no way my biceps are up to the job of that kind of stirring!
I use the Kitchen Aide flat blade to mix the dough through the first addition of the 2 cups of flour.
Then I switch to my Kitchen Aide dough hook.
I like to use the flat blade because it seems to be far more efficient at incorporating the butter into the dough.
I like to use the dough hook because I think it works better with the dough as it gets stiff.
I’m sure you can simplify this and use just one attachment!
Let me know how it works for you 
Flour:
How much flour should I use?
When making a yeast dough, the amount of flour actually used in a recipe is greatly affected by moisture content in the air, air temperature and many other things.
The amount used can vary greatly.
Because of this, the recipe gives an average range of what you will use.
I live on the coast where there is a lot of moisture in the air, so generally speaking, I use a greater amount of flour than most.
Do not add all the flour at once!
After I’ve added the initial 5 cups of flour, I add more flour, as needed, in 1/4 cup increments, then mix it until it’s incorporated.
Then I decide if any more flour is needed.
Remember, you can always add more flour, but you can’t take any out.
Too much flour is the main reason homemade rolls can come out too dry.
It’s better to determine whether or not the dough has enough flour by its texture.
If you’re not an experienced baker, don’t freak!
It’s fairly simple to determine.
I think it’s less intimidating if you’re a novice baker, to think of it as there’s a range of texture that will work, rather than you have to figure out “the exact right texture”.
You know the dough has enough flour when the dough is soft, supple, elastic and just slightly tacky to the touch.
If it’s sticky as opposed to tacky, it needs more flour.
When the dough is sticky, some of it comes off on your hands.
Tacky feels more like how the adhesive on the back of a sticky note feels.
Butter:
In most baking recipes I use unsalted butter.
I was told by a chef, a long time ago, that unsalted butter has a higher fat content than regular salted butter.
The higher fat content, generally serves me well in baking.
In this recipe, however, I greatly prefer the flavor that the regular salted butter adds.
The butter is added in many layers.
First as a solid in the dough, then it’s melted and brushed on at different stages while making the rolls.
Using salted butter flavors each of those layers with just the right amount of salt.
When adding the butter to the dough, it’s very important to only use softened room temperature butter.
The softened butter incorporates more smoothly and evenly into the dough.
Yeast:
I used Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast from the jar.
You can also use 2 of the little envelopes.
If you measure out the quantity from the two envelopes, you’ll have slightly less than the 2 Tablespoons, but it will work.
If you only have Instant yeast on hand, you can use it, but cut down the amount to 1 1/2 Tablespoons.
The shape:
The classic rolls made at the Lion House Pantry restaurant are rolled as big, generous rectangles.
This is how I make mine at home and how I’ve written it up in my instructions.
If you prefer, you can roll these out as crescents.
Here’s the modified instructions for the crescent rolls:
After the dough has risen and doubled the first time, divide it into three equal size balls.
Cover the balls with a clean kitchen towel until they are rolled.
Roll each ball out into a 12 inch circle and cut into 12 wedges.
Roll each slice, starting with the large end and finishing with the small end forming a crescent.
Place on a well greased baking sheet and continue with my instructions at #6.
Check out this video to see how they do it at the restaurant.
Spacing:
The spacing and placement on the baking sheet is important if you want your rolls to look like the ones from the Lion House Pantry restaurant.
They spaced theirs with 1 inch between rows.
That way, when the dough rises and doubles, they bump into each other and raise a little more vertical.
Make Ahead Lion House Rolls:
If you’re planning on making these ahead of time, make them up to the point where they’re shaped into rolls and on the cookie sheet.
Do not allow them to rise a second time.
Top them with waxed paper, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
Remember that plastic wrap sticks best to itself, so wrap the bottom of the cookie sheet by, first, laying out a long sheet of the plastic wrap and place the cookie sheet on top of it.
Fold up any extra plastic over the rolls, then cover the top of the rolls with another two layers of plastic wrap.
Place immediately into the freezer so they don’t begin their second rise.
Wrapping the bottom may seem like an unnecessary extra step, but it allows you to get a much tighter wrap, keeping out extra air in the freezer.
Take them out about 4 hours before you want to bake them.
Unwrap them completely, then cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel.
Place in a warm, draft free area and allow them to thaw and rise.
Or……
You can store completely cooled baked rolls in a Ziplock, remove as much air as possible, and freeze.
Make sure that they’re completely cooled or the moisture released from the warm rolls as they cool in the closed bag will make them soggy.
These rolls freeze beautifully, with either method!
Lion House Rolls
- Yield : Makes 2-2 1/2 Dozen
Ingredients
- Warm Water - 2 Cups
- Instant Nonfat Dry Milk - 2/3 Cup
- Dry Yeast - 2 Tablespoons
- Sugar - 1/4 Cup
- Salt - 2 1/2 Teaspoons
- Butter, Softened - 1/3 Cup, Plus More For Brushing On The Rolls
- Large Egg - 1
- All-Purpose Flour - 5-6 Cups
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand up electric mixer, add the warm water and dry milk powder and mix until the milk powder dissolves.
2. While the mixture is still warm, add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar and mix. Allow the mixture to proof for about 7-8 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the sugar, butter, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Turn the mixer on low and allow all the dry ingredients to moisten, then turn the mixer up to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Add 3 more cups of flour and turn the mixer on low and allow all the dry ingredients to moisten, then turn the mixer up to medium and mix for 2 minutes. The dough will begin to come together at this point and become stiff.
4. Add more flour as needed, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough climbs up the dough hook and separates from the side of the bowl. You know the dough has enough flour when the dough is soft, supple, elastic and just slightly tacky to the touch. If it's sticky as opposed to tacky, it needs more flour. In a large clean mixing bowl, coat the inside with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and gather the dough into a ball, turn it in the oiled bowl to coat, and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Set in a draft free warm place and allow it to rise until it doubles in size. Mine took about 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle a work surface with flour. Divide the dough in half. Roll out half the dough into an 11X14 inch rectangle, about a 1/4 inch thick. Brush the rolls generously with about 1/4 cup melted butter. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough in half down the length. Then cut the dough into smaller rectangles, The rectangles should be about 2X4 inches.
6. Roll each rectangle into a cylinder, then place on a well greased baking sheet, with about 1 inch spacing around each side of the roll. Cover the baking sheet with a towel and allow to rise again in a draft free warm place until they have doubled in size. Mine took about 1 1/2 hours.
7.Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Brush the rolls generously with 1/4 cup melted butter, then bake in a preheated oven, 18-20 minutes or until they are baked through and nicely golden. Brush again with butter when they're hot from the oven. Serve
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