These homemade Granny buns (Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls) are light, fluffy and soft. They are the perfect side to your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter holiday meal or any meal! These dinner buns are also ideal for bringing along to a potluck or BBQ!
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HEADS UP: These buns are very time consuming (4-5 hours) not including clean up. But they are also sooo worth the effort! So if you're up for a challenge or for simply enjoying some zen baking (and have some time on your hands), then this recipe is for you. If you are in a hurry, do not make these!
Dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 cup water.
Sprinkle yeast and let stand for 5 minutes (do not stir in the yeast).
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together: 3 egg, s1 cup oil, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 2 tsps vinegar,
Then add yeast mixture.
Add 4 cups warm water and 4 cups of flour. Beat well with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.
Add 6 more cups flour; mix well.
Then add more flour (½ cup at a time) until dough is soft and spongy **I added about about 1 ½ additional cups flour in addition.
But it will depend on how the dough feels soft and spongy. *you don't want it to be sticky - it should come away from your fingers.
Grease the inside of a large bowl and place dough inside.
Allow dough to rise for 20 minutes, then punch down (See VIDEO in NOTES for how to punch down dough)
Let rise again until double in size (this takes about an hour). You will want to move it to a larger greased bowl at this point.*If you plan to freeze part of the dough, remove it now and place it in a labelled Ziploc freezer bag and freeze it for up to 3 months. When it's defrosted at room temperature, you can go on to the next step and form it into balls and then rise again and bake as per directions.
Spray two to three 9X13 pans with non-stick cooking spray and make buns: Take the amount tennis ball and make it into a round(ish) shape and place in greased pan.*You can make them smaller if you want to get more buns out of them (between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball)
Cover and let rise for 2 more hours!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/176 degrees C
Optional: brush tops with a little melted butter before putting buns in the oven.
Bake at 325 degrees F/176 degrees C for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.Allow to cool in pan, then remove to cooling rack (or simply leave them in the pan).
Notes
*Please see post contents for important recipe information and tips!*These are dairy-free without the butter topping