Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

These are very light rolls pleasantly flavored with pumpkin, that could be served with a main dish. Home cooked pumpkin could be used instead of the canned pumpkin. BTW, one 15 oz can of pumpkin contains about 2 cups. This recipe yields about 3 pounds of dough. Prep time includes rising times. Each roll is 1 1/2 oz

• Ready In: 3 hrs 25 mins
• Yields: 32 rolls

Ingredients

• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1  cup warm water (105 to 115 F)
• 7 1⁄2 ounces  canned or fresh pumpkin puree (about 1 cup)
• 4  ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1⁄4 ounces sugar (1/3 cup)
• 1  egg
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 5 -6  cups flour
•  extra butter, softened

Directions

1. Put warm water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the surface; stir to moisten yeast and wait a few minutes for it to start dissolving.
2. Stir in pumpkin, butter, sugar, egg, salt and 3 cups of the flour.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Mix in enough remaining flour to make a dough that can be handled, but still soft.
5. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
6. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up.
7. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour.
8. Punch down dough and divide it in half.
9. Round off each half to make 16 balls, place the dough balls into a greased 9-inch square pan.
10. Do the same with the remaining dough.
11. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes.
12. Heat oven to 350º F.
13. Bake until golden and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
14. (In my oven there were areas that browned too quickly; I covered them with foil and continued baking until done.).