Hawaiian Rolls

Yesterday for dinner we had BBQ pulled pork on homemade Hawaiian Rolls.  I found the recipe for the rolls at I HEART eating.  Head over there for a printable version of the recipe, and instructions.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 1 cup pineapple juice (plus 1/2 cup water - use 1 1/2 cup pineapple juice if you have it)
• 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (original recipe calls for active dry)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar divided
• 1/2 cup margarine use butter if you don't have a dairy allergy at room temperature, plus extra for brushing rolls
• 2 large eggs
• 5 to 6 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt 

The first step said to grease two 9" by 13" pans and set them aside.  This seemed fine, but then because of the rise times, they were sitting there taking up space in my kitchen for quite a while.  I think next time I would wait until closer to when I transfer the rolls to the pans to grease them up.

To start making the rolls, I needed pineapple juice.  This isn't something we typically stock in our pantry, and there is a winter storm outside making it inconvenient to get to the store just now, so I drained a can of pineapple tidbits that we had on hand for pizzas. I added a bit of water to make the full 1 1/2 cups, but I definitely got more juice than I expected that way.

I microwaved the pineapple juice to get it up to a warm temp. I overshot 105 slightly, but it cooled down quickly while I was getting the other ingredients in the bowl.

2 Tablespoons of the sugar. (I realized later that since I was using instant yeast, all the sugar could have gone in at once, since I didn't need to proof the yeast).

4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast.

At this point I added the rest of the sugar, the eggs, and the vanilla extract. I forgot about the margarine, but you will want to add yours at this point.

I stirred it up.

Then added 3 cups of the flour.

And the teaspoon of salt.

I mixed it

And then began to slowly add flour to get the dough to clear the sides of the bowl.

I kneaded it in the mixer for one minute on low as instructed.  I covered it with plastic wrap and was going to let it rise.  In the meantime, I began to clean the kitchen up and noticed the margarine sitting on the counter.

Oh dear.  As when I dropped an entire egg into the bowl while making Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies... "this step is optional."

I plopped the margarine in on top of the dough, and began to mix it.

I have no idea how much flour I ended up using, because before I was done I was just grabbing handfuls of the stuff and throwing it in the mixing bowl.

Eventually it was once again what appeared to be the desired consistency, so I covered the bowl and left it to rise.  When I came back, I used my new bench scraper to divide the dough into roughly even pieces, by forming the dough into circles, and cutting it like a pizza.

I rolled the dough into balls and placed 12 in each prepared pan.

I covered them up with one of my new flour sack towels, and let them rise again.

When the rise time was done, they went into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Here is a sneak peak at what the rest of dinner was.

When they came out, I neglected to brush them with butter, so they don't have the typical Hawaiian roll sheen.

Nonetheless, they were tasty.  They were not as light as I had hoped, but I was the only one that seemed the least bit bothered by this.  Also, it may have been owing to the extra kneading when I inadvertently omitted the fat from the dough and had to re-work it.  I was pleased they turned out at all, considering.

I would certainly use this recipe again.  Let me know if you give it a try!