DIY Frozen Rhodes Rolls

Frozen dinner rolls make having fresh, hot bread every night for dinner a reality! This recipe for homemade Rhodes rolls come together quickly and last for months in your freezer.  Plus, this recipe turns out even better than the expensive packages at your store 🙂

Last month, I was psychotically busy preparing to be the camp cook for our church’s girls camp.  I was alone in my assignment to cook for 90 mouths so I really can’t put into words the amount of time, stress and craziness that was my life over those weeks.  To keep myself from going completely insane, I kept the week’s menu very simple and I hope no one was disappointed.  I’m sure everyone was thinking they would be eating a ton of homemade goodies and treats since a food blogger was doing all the food.  Oh well 🙂

My inner foodie couldn’t be completely ignored however so I decided to treat the campers and make 240 homemade rolls for dinner the first night.  Yes, it was ambitious with everything else I had to prepare so I knew the only way I could make it work was to break out my technique for DIY Frozen Rhodes Dinner Rolls.  It is a huge time saver!
To make frozen dinner rolls, first mix up a batch of your favorite dinner roll recipe.  (Don’t have one?  Click here for my rockstar dinner roll recipe that people just can’t get enough of!)  Allow your dough to raise until double while it is covered.  After it has risen once, shape your rolls as desired on a lightly greased cookie sheet then cover lightly.  I like to use my favorite heavy duty half sheet pan in the freezer for this job.
You don’t want your rolls to raise completely at this stage.  In fact, you just want them to begin to puff up a little bit.  Compare my first picture to this second picture to see what I mean by just beginning to puff up.  Once they hit this stage, put the whole pan into the freezer, uncovered, until they are frozen solid.  This take between 8-12 hours.
Once your rolls are completely frozen, just toss them into a large freezer bag and put them back into the freezer until you need them.  They will stay good in the freezer for about a month.
When it comes time to turn your frozen dough into amazingly delicious rolls like these ones here, just place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover them lightly.  Let them rise until doubled in size.  Since they are frozen, this can take anywhere from 5-7 hours depending on how warm your home is.  If you need to speed up the process, you can always heat your oven to 150 degrees and let them rise in there, which will cut the rising time in half.  Once they are fully risen, bake them according to the original recipe’s instructions.