Mix together and set aside
till bubbly (about 10 minutes)
½ cup warm water
2 Tablespoons powdered instant yeast
1 cup melted butter – Marge uses1 sq unsalted butter and 1 sq margarine which she says makes the best rolls, and she melts the butter/marg. in the microwave and lets it cool slightly.
In very large mixing bowl,
mix till sugar and salt are dissolved:
2 cups water
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
Stir in cooled melted butter
and yeast.
Mix well.
Add:
7 ½ cups flour (exactly)
Mix with large spoon for
about 3 1/2 minutes (till gluten starts – that stretchy look). The dough will be very sticky.
Cover with tight lid and
refrigerate. If you are in a hurry
and want them that day, refrigerate at least 2 or 3 hours. Dough can be refrigerated 3 days. Refrigerating helps the dough to be
very easy to work with and roll out but it is still very light.
To roll out, cut dough in
half and put on floured surface.
(Marge uses a pastry cloth and floured hands and rolling pin).
Roll about ½” thick and about
13” long and 9” wide. Spread with melted salted BUTTER – not
margarine, sugar (like you’d sprinkle on cereal) and cinnamon (quite heavy). Roll up to be a jelly roll and even out
ends to be the same width. Pat and
pinch where necessary. Each long
“jelly roll” yields 12 rolls. I
cut them with a pizza cutter about 2 – 2 ¼”.
Place 12 rolls on each baking
pan. Let rise till double. This varies in a warm kitchen but can
be roughly 1 hour. I cover them
with a towel and put them on the top of my stove and then preheat the oven so
it is a cozy warm place for them to rise evenly. Don’t let them “over-rise” but they will look light and
fluffy when ready.
Bake at 375 for 10 – 15
minutes – depending on your oven.
I bake them on convection and
bake for about 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit
for about 15 minutes before frosting.
Frosting:
About 1 – 1 ½ lb powdered sugar
¾ cube soft butter (not melted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
about 7 Tablespoons evaporated milk (cream or ½ and ½ or milk
won’t work)!!!
Stir till smooth and creamy.
Add additional evaporated milk if needed till it spreads like soft butter.
