Paradise!

I am embarrassingly proud of these rolls. I admit it . I adore bread of all kinds, but aside from using my bread machine, I have never made yeast bread from scratch. I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and give it a try, and when I saw these Hawaiian Rolls on Pennies on a Platter I knew they were destined to be my first. I did not, however, have high hopes for their success. First of all, I may be the only person on earth who does not love her stand mixer, but it's the truth. I don't think I ever properly bonded with it (or learned how to operate it) but when I tried to use it to knead this dough I wound up with a big, frustrating mess. I ended up kneading it by had. Then, the dough didn't appear to rise after it sat for 2 hours. In fact, I almost tossed it right then, certain it was ruined. But then I figured I had come this far and I might as well finish.

I was a little more optimistic after I shaped the dough into rolls - they did seem to rise this time, which was a good sign. So I crossed my fingers and popped them in the oven. I can't even describe how excited I was when I opened the oven door 40 minutes later expecting flat, white rolls only to be greeted by these big, fluffy golden beauties. Woo hoo! And even better, they tasted as good as they look. They were soft and subtly sweet with a hit of pineapple. Yum! Joe and I both had 3 each. I can't wait to make these again. I halved the recipe, since I didn't need 18 rolls, but now that I know how good they are I may make the whole batch next time!

Hawaiian Rolls

1 1/4 cups pineapple juice
2 packages instant dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
5 1/2 to 6 cups flour

1. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter. Beat in the yeast packages and the pineapple juice. Beat in 3 of the eggs, the vanilla, salt and ginger until well combined. Add 3 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour (about 2 1/2 cups) to make the dough easy to handle.

2. Using the hook attachment on your stand mixer, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes, using up to 1/2 cup more if necessary. Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn greased side up. Loosely cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Dough is ready if you poke it and the indentation remains.)

3. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Divide one half of the dough into nine equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and pull the surface taut by tucking the dough in at the bottom of the ball. Place in a greased 9-inch round cake pan, tucked side down. Continue until the pan is filled. Repeat with the other dough half. Cover the rolls and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, lightly bat the remaining egg. Brush over the rolls and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of sugar. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.