YEAST ROLLS

Before I had to change my diet to exclude soy and dairy, those fantastic Pillsbury crescent rolls always made an appearance at Thanksgiving.  YUM.  They remind me of both my mom (who burns the bottoms of them every year - it's a tradition now) and my sister (who love love loves them).  Too bad they don't make the dairy-free list.  What does my sister like more than crescent rolls?  Yeast rolls.

Oh, yeast rolls.  Why are you are so delicious?  

Let's see if we can make 'em just as good but without all of that illegal butter.  Here we go!

YEAST ROLLS (soy-free dairy-free)

*adapted from this recipe

1 cup warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp sea salt
4 1/4 cups flour

Combine warm water and yeast in a large bowl.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

Stir in butter, sugar, eggs, and salt.  (Original recipe suggests using a wooden spoon; I used a rubber spatula.)  Add flour 1 cup at a time; beat as much as you can.  (Use your dough hook attachments.  It gets pretty crazy with regular beaters!)

Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.  It can be refrigerated up to 3 days.

Grease a 13x9 baking dish.  

Turn dough out onto floured surface.  Divide into equal pieces - I ended up making 16 rolls, but the original recipe suggests 24.  Roll each piece into a smooth round ball, and place into baking dish.

This was after about 20 minutes of rising.

After 1 hour... nice and stuck together!

Cover dish and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.  Bake at 375 degrees for 17 minutes.

Yum!

NOTES:  

• When I made 16 rolls, there were several spots that were still doughy after I took them out of the oven.  I would suggest following the original recipe that calls for 24 rolls. 
• To make sure they rose properly, I set the baking dish on top of a warm oven.  If you're making these for the holidays, it's a guaranteed hot spot.  If not, you could always whip up some tollhouse pie.  Then you're left with a warm spot for the rolls AND a delicious dessert.  :)  Another tip I've seen:  put the baking dish on the middle rack of a cold oven.  On the rack below, place a dish filled with a couple inches of boiling hot water.  Then shut the oven door.
• I baked mine for only 15 minutes rather than the suggested 17.  Check them early, and take them out when they've reached a nice golden brown.
• You're going to want at least 3 rolls.  Maybe 4.  It may sound like they'll feed a lot of people, but I wouldn't be so sure about that...