Name: Feather Rolls
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 24
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup milk; 2 teaspoons salt; 1/3 cup sugar; 1 pkg yeast; 4 1/4 cups bread flour; 2 eggs, well beaten; 1/4 cup butter or shortening, melted

Jump to Recipe

Light and delicate dinner rolls. Delicious yeast rolls. Delicious with soup, chowder, or stew or simply slathered with butter.

This easy Feather Roll recipe is one of my favorite roll recipes ever. It is wonderful for any meal, especially for holiday dinners! This is a very simple recipe. I think you will love these soft, fluffy, rolls. They turn out perfect every time.

Easy To Make Feather Rolls

This Feather Roll recipe is not only simple, but they are also truly melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I bet you can’t eat just one, I know that I can’t. This recipe is my Great Grandmother’s recipe, which she was famous for making every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s been my favorite recipe for over 50 years! Try this wonderful recipe and let me know how you like it!

If you are concerned about having each roll precisely the same size, you can weigh each of your little dough balls. It’s not necessary though.

Makes 24 rolls

Feather Rolls

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

These yeast rolls are so light and fluffy, hence the name feather rolls, they are light as a feather.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 pkg yeast
4 1/4 cups bread flour
2 eggs, well beaten
1/4 cup butter or shortening, melted

Instructions

Gather all ingredients.
Scald milk. Add salt and sugar; cool until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm milk mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes; add to remaining milk mixture.
Stir in two cups of bread flour, mixing thoroughly. Beat eggs until thick and lemony colored; add.
Melt butter or shortening and beat until well blended. Add remaining flour gradually, beating until a soft dough is formed that begins to leave the side of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding small amounts of flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the board. The less flour that is used, the lighter the rolls will be. It helps to oil your hands lightly with vegetable oil to keep from having to use more flour; a large silicone pastry mat may also be used for the kneading to keep from sticking.
Alternately, the dough may be mixed entirely in an electric mixer.
Knead by hand for 8-10 minutes, or 4-5 minutes if using the dough hook of an electric mixer.
Coat the inside of a large, clean bowl with oil. Put the kneaded dough into the bowl and turn to coat it well with oil and prevent drying and forming a crust (which would keep it from rising fully). Cover. Let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk.
Turn out and knead again. Allow dough to rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Then shape them into rolls and arrange them on baking sheets or in muffin pans. The dough may also be shaped into balls and placed in a greased cast iron skillet with an inch between each.
Let rise again until light and puffy. The dough may be brushed lightly with cream or an egg wash before baking, for extra color, if desired.
Bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and light.
Brush tops with melted butter after the rolls are removed from the oven (if no cream or egg wash was used before baking). This makes for soft and tender crusts. Cool on a wire rack, or serve warm.
Makes about 24 rolls.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

Proof the yeast to find out if it's still active by adding 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast (one envelope) to 1/4 cup of warm water. Then, wait 10 minutes. If the mixture bubbles and develops a yeasty aroma, the yeast is still good.

Yeast, like a lot of other baking products, usually has a best-before date and not a use-by date or expiration date. Because of this distinction, you may safely use yeast for your baking needs for a time after the best-before date has lapsed.