Homemade Crescent Rolls
Making homemade crescent rolls is worth every minute! Fresh out of the oven these babies are moist, delicious and well…homemade.
When you’re making any kind of bread, the most important step is the ‘proofing’ of the yeast. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Basically, what you’re doing is making sure that the yeast is active before adding the other ingredients.
Just make sure that the yeast is as fresh as possible, and that the water isn’t too warm, and you’ll be just fine. In fact, lukewarm water is just right! You’ll notice the yeast react right away with the sugar and water.
The yeast, water and sugar mixture should be foamy and fragrant. Once you see this, you’re ready to move on to the rest of the recipe! If you’ve taken care to follow these steps and there’s still no reaction, just try again with a new batch of yeast.
Homemade Crescent Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup water, lukewarm
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup milk, room temperature
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, very soft, but not melted
- 1 tsp egg, beaten with ¼ tsp salt (for egg wash)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the warm water, yeast and sugar until dissolved. Set aside for 5–10 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.
- Stir in the salt, beaten eggs, milk, melted butter and 3 cups of the flour. Mix until smooth, and then mix in only enough of the remaining flour so that soft, workable dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Wipe out the work bowl and place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1–1½ hours.
- Place 2 racks in the center part of the oven at least 4" apart and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside. Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal portions. Roll each half of the dough out into a 16" circle and brush with softened butter, using half of the butter on each circle. Cut the circles into 12 triangles in the same manner that you would cut a pizza into slices. In fact, a pizza cutter is just about the best tool for this job!
- Roll each triangle into crescents by placing the wide edge of the triangle near you and the small edge pointing away from you. Roll the dough away from you until the spiral shape is formed. Place the roll on the prepared baking sheet with the pointed tip on the bottom to prevent unraveling. Curve the sides of the roll into a crescent shape and repeat with the remaining dough triangles.
- Cover the rolls with a lint-free kitchen towel and allow the rolls to rise for an additional 1–1½ hours until at least doubled in size. Brush the tops of the rolls with egg wash and bake 12–15 minutes until golden brown. Allow the rolls to cool on a wire rack for just a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
