Fluffy Dinner Rolls

Yes they are exactly what the title says. Fluffy and roly-poly. And I am addicted. Carbs equate comfort, at least to me. If I had to give up bread, I will turn into a very cranky person. I try to keep the carb-craving to a minimum, but this recipe grabs me. Cooks Illustrated and Andrea Geary lures me into trying a 'new' version of an old classic.

I find this compendium of Cooks Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes very interesting.This is dinner roll 101, with a few twists. You need flour, eggs, yeast and milk and large bowl of patience. Bread is worth the wait when you can step away from the dough. As impatient as I am, I follow instructions to a tee.  Dinner rolls start with a warm, thick paste of flour and water, which is whisked with cold milk and an egg. Bread flour is added, along with yeast, salt, sugar and softened butter. I've exchanged bread flour for regular all purpose flour. Then comes the patience part. The dough has to rest. It has to proof for an hour the first time. Squares of dough are stretched and rolled to form logs. These logs then proof again for the good part of an hour. Please refer to NOTES for proofing methods. Baked in a hot oven, the rolls promise the intoxicating aroma of baking bread. If ever there was a perfume I would like to bottle, it is this one!

Brush the rolls with melted butter and tear into them. They come apart in in flaky strips. No butter needed!


FLUFFY DINNER ROLLS
Marginally Adapted from Andrea Geary in Cooks Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes


Flour Paste
1/2 cup Water
3 tablespoons all purpose Flour

Dough
1/2 cup cold Milk
1 large Egg
2 cups all purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise Yeast
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
4 tablespoons Butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon Butter, melted



Make the paste by putting flour and water in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk to combine.

Microwave paste for 20 seconds. The edges will have thickened. Whisk paste well. Microwave again for 20 seconds. Whisk well again. Microwave for 10 seconds. The paste should be thick and pudding like.

Start the dough by scraping the paste into the bowl of a stand mixer. 

Use a whisk hook. Add cold milk and whisk till smooth.

Add egg and whisk again till dough is smooth and egg is incorporated.

Change to a dough hook.

Add flour, yeast, salt and sugar to dough. Mix on low speed for a couple of minutes.

Let dough stand for 15 minutes.

Cut butter into 4 portions.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Let dough go for about 5 minutes, until all the butter is mixed into the dough. The dough will look shaggy and wet at this time.

Transfer dough onto a lightly floured counter. Knead for a bit to form a smooth ball.

Lightly butter a glass bowl. 

Place dough in bowl. Spray top of dough with oil spray.

Cover with a cloth towel and keep in warm place for 1 hour or till dough has doubled.

Grease a 13x8 baking dish.

Lightly flour a counter. Scrape dough onto floured surface.

Press dough gently into a 9x9 square. 

Cut dough into 12 even squares.

Take one square of dough and stretch it vertically about 9-10 inches. Lay it flat on the counter. Start rolling the dough from the top. Place the roll seam side down on prepared baking dish.

Finish all squares the same way.

Cover rolls with a cloth towel and place in a warm area for 1 hour to double. 

Heat the oven to 375F.

Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes till the tops are golden brown.

Brush rolls with melted butter and serve.

The rolls could be refrigerated in a plastic bag for up to a week. Reheat at 250F for 10 minutes.

NOTES

Proofing Methods

There are many proofing methods. I have used all of the ones below at different times of the year.
#The best one is to proof at room temperature on a warm day. Place dough in a sunny spot.
#I had a covered pot of hot stock on which I placed the rolls. The residual heat from the hot stock allowed the rolls to proof in 45 minutes. Use hot water in place of stock.
#Another method I use is to light the oven to 250F and then shut it off. Put the covered dough in the oven till doubled.
#Try placing the dough in a cold oven with a large bowl or dish of boiling water under the dough. 

The recipe says to wait for twenty minutes till the rolls cool. With the aroma in kitchen I will go mad if I have to wait that long. I tear into a roll. And another.They are soft, fluffy, warm....small buns of sheer delight.  Reason prevails or else carb overload will consume me.  

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