Technique

Sure we love focaccia and fresh loaves of rustic bread for dinner. But American-style soft dinner rolls, shaped into a host of pretty, traditional shapes, never go out of style or favor. The bread machine makes the dough a snap. (You can even use a commercial bread machine mix if you like, but the rolls won’t be quite as good.) Piping hot with melted butter, dinner rolls need no embellishment. They are meant to melt in your mouth and to be a bit chewy at the same time. I was a lucky child—growing up, my mother kept all sorts of fancy dinner rolls in the freezer and brought some out every night for dinner. We had finger rolls with poppy seeds, crescent-shaped butterhorns, cloverleafs, or just plain round puffy rolls. I especially liked the fantans, which, like a deck of cards, could be pulled apart in tender stages.