Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

I have two nephews (one on my family's side and one on David's family's side) and neither of them can have eggs or dairy, so I'm always on the lookout for "safe" things to make for everyone that they can enjoy as well. No point is making dinner rolls for everyone and then having to have a separate bag of rolls if you can find a recipe that is safe for them to eat, but still delicious for everyone else, too! My friends - these rolls are those rolls. Light, fluffy, delicious, quick to make (one blogger touts them as 1-hour dinner rolls), and quicker to disappear.

Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

PheMonenon via At Home with Haley and adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup, then leveled off

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour - on low speed with the paddle attachment incorporate the flour to create a wet, sticky mixture. Still on low speed, add 1 cup of the remaining flour and incorporate. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 cup flour. On low speed, mix the dough to incorporate the final addition of flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl - turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 -30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate into a rectangle. Cut it in half vertically, then each half vertically again into thirds so you have 6 equal strips of dough. Cut each strip of dough into fourths by cutting horizontally to make 24 little squares of dough. Take each piece of dough and cup it lightly under the palm of your hand on a clean surface. Press lightly and start rotating and rolling the dough ball quickly so that it forms a nice little ball of dough. (PheMomenon says that once you get some practice, you can do this with both hands at the same time and really speed up the process.)

Place each rolled piece of dough into a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan in rows of 4 about 1/2-inch apart. Cover the rolls in the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise to double while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees F (rise about 20 minutes). Bake for 13-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!