We had the weekend to ourselves (I would have preferred being in Seattle, but alas those vacation plans were utterly crushed by the weather) so I didn’t bake at all this weekend.

Luckily, I had some pictures from previous weeks on hand, so I still have something delicious (which is good, because I’ve been slacking recently).

I really like Marcy Goldman’s book, A Passion for Baking, and have been making lots of recipes from it recently. This recipe is for yeasted sweet rolls, which may be somewhat misleading, since sweet rolls make me think of gooey, sticky, cinnamon rolls, which is not what these are. These are simply an enriched yeast bread with extra sugar, and the fabulous added touch of vanilla.

But I may actually like these better than any of the cinnamon rolls I’ve been making recently–the rolls last for several days, and actually get better as the days pass. Not that they aren’t delicious immediately.

Old-Fashioned Yeasted Sweet Rolls
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 tsp salt
5 to 7 cups bread flour

The recipe also calls for an egg wash, which I skipped.

The dough starts out very sticky.

But soon firms up into a gorgeous soft dough.

After an hour rise, the dough is divided into multiple pieces. The recipes calls for dividing the dough into 12 pieces, but I discovered the first time I made this recipe, the resulting rolls are entirely too large.

The pieces of dough are shaped into balls. The dough should be folded over upon itself several times, so the “skin” on top is tight. This helps promote a higher rise.

The rolls are then placed on a cookie sheet with low sides (or something similar), and after a 45 minute second rise, the rolls are baked at 375 F for 25 to 28 minutes.

And very very very delicious. They’re best with butter, but they’re also good plain.

From A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman