Dinner Rolls

If you’re in a rush, you can proof all the yeast, stir in all the other ingredients immediately (except the melted butter), knead and then let rise for 30 minutes, shape into rolls, let rise another 20 minutes, and bake. But these have a much richer taste and lighter texture if you make the starter early (to let it sit a few hours), and give the dough a couple or three short rises before baking. These rolls only keep about a day before turning hard.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups warm water
2 tsp yeast (1 tsp and 1 tsp)
1 TB sugar
4 cups unbleached white flour (1 cup and 3 cups)
½ cup dry milk powder
½ tsp salt
5 TB butter, softened
1-2 TB salted butter, melted, for brushing over the tops of the rolls just before baking

Directions:
Pour 1 ½ cups warm water into a medium-large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1 tsp yeast over the top. Then sprinkle 1 TB sugar over the yeast.

When the yeast has proofed (about 10 minutes), add 1 cup of flour. Whisk two minutes.

In a separate small-ish mixing bowl, whisk three cups flour, ½ cup dry milk powder, and 1 tsp yeast. Then whisk in ½ tsp salt. Sprinkle this dry mixture on top of the liquid mixture in the first mixing bowl. Cover (I usually just put a flat cookie sheet over the bowl and weigh it down with the bag of flour) and let sit for a couple of hours (or more, if you have time).

Add 5 TB softened butter. Stir with a spoon or your hands until everything is combined, then knead until it’s smooth (about 10 minutes of kneading).

Butter the inside of the large bowl, butter the outside of your kneaded lump of dough, and then place the buttered dough inside the buttered bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it’s doubled in size.

Then pick up the dough, gently fold it in on itself on four sides (trying to preserve as much of the air bubbles inside it as possible), turn it folded side down, and butter the smooth top of the lump. Put the towel over it, and let it rise for another ½ hour.

For Regular Rolls: Butter two muffin tins. Divide the dough into two lumps, leaving one in the bowl while you shape rolls with the other. Divide that half-lump in half, then in half again, so you have four pieces. Divide one of those pieces into three pieces. Using your hands, gently roll each piece into a ball, trying to preserve the bubbles inside the dough. Place the ball in one of the spaces for a muffin. Repeat until you have 24 rolls.

For Large Clover Rolls: Butter one muffin tin. Divide the dough into two lumps, then divide each lump into two more lumps. Divide each of those lumps into three pieces, then place each piece in one muffin space. For each muffin, divide the dough into three pieces, roll each into a ball, and place each ball in one muffin space (3 balls per muffin space).

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Leave the rolls in a warm place (I use the top of the range) to rise for about 20 minutes. Don’t let them rise too long, or they’ll collapse in the oven. These rolls rise about an extra 20% while they’re baking.

Just before putting the rolls in the oven, brush the tops generously with melted butter. Bake the rolls for 13 minutes for regular dinner rolls and 17 minutes for large clover rolls. Serve immediately.