By Tracey
Parker House Rolls
from The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl, John Willoughby, and Zanne Early Stewart
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons warm water (105 – 115 F)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 (1/4-ounce) package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 – 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
Stir together warm water, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and yeast in a small bowl until yeast in dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan. Add the milk and heat until lukewarm. Pour into a large bowl and add yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, bread flour, and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Stir in 3/4 cup all-purpose flour then dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and begin to knead and bring the dough together. Knead the dough until it is smooth, satiny and elastic, about 10 minutes. If your dough is too sticky to handle, add up to 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough is just slightly tacky. I ended up adding a little more than 1/4 cup of flour to mine. Form the dough into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl, turning to coat entirely. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. You’ll know it’s doubled in size if you press two fingers into the dough and they leave a dent which does not spring back.
Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan. Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces. Roll each one into a ball and arrange evenly in 4 rows of 5 in a baking pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft free place until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Using a floured chopstick or the edge of a ruler, make a deep crease down the center of each row of rolls. Let rolls rise, loosely covered for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cool slightly. Brush the tops of the rolls with the butter and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool rolls in the pan for 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 20 rolls.
