Amish Dinner Rolls (Bread Machine)

Place all the ingredients into the pan of your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (usually, liquids first, yeast last).

Program the machine for 2 lb dough cycle, and press Start.

Check the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle and adjust its consistency as necessary by adding additional water or flour to form a soft, smooth ball.

DON'T SKIP THIS STEP! Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then allow the dough to remain in the machine till it's doubled in bulk, perhaps an additional 30 minutes or so.

To make stand-alone rolls, divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. If you want to make soft-sided, pull-apart rolls, divide the dough into 15 pieces. This will make quite large rolls. If you prefer smaller rolls you can easily get 24 from this amount of dough.

Place the 16 dough balls onto a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet or sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. Or place the 15 dough balls into a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan, spacing them evenly in five rolls of three balls each. If I'm making 24 soft-sided rolls I use a baking sheet with a rim and create six rows of four buns.

Cover the pan(s) with a proof cover or lightly greased plastic wrap, (I just use a clean dish towel) and allow the rolls to rise for about 2 hours, until they're quite puffy.

Bake the rolls in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're golden brown. In my convection oven I bake two trays at a time (the large buns) on the convection bake setting for about 18 minutes.

Remove them from the oven, carefully turn them out of the pan -- the pull-apart rolls will come out all in one piece -- and brush them with melted butter, if desired.