Soft White Dinner Rolls

Tonight for dinner, to go along with our lasagna, I made soft white dinner rolls and homemade garlic butter, instead of the typical garlic bread we usually have. Normally I am a huge fan of whole wheat and multigrain breads and rolls - but this is one of the exceptions. These rolls are the softest, fluffiest, most moist and buttery dinner rolls I have ever had and in order to achieve this, they must be made with white flour. Sometimes, you just have to have a little treat like these little gems. You know those soft white rolls people always pick up at the grocery store bakery to have on hand as a side dish for meals and potlucks? Well these are at least ten times better. That's not surprising, since they are homemade, but what is surprising is that these rolls are not difficult to make at all. They don't take up too much time either, most of the time in this recipe is spent waiting for the rolls to rise. Nevertheless, you can start now and enjoy hot, buttery rolls in three hours.

This recipe came from the same book at the revised panettone recipe, a book I am definitely beginning to love, as every recipe seems to turn out to be outstanding. In addition, the recipes are easy to follow, use common ingredients, and are things you have always wanted to make. I really enjoy making rolls, I love rolling them and delicately brushing each one with egg wash and butter. These rolls really don't need anything - but some plain butter or homemade garlic butter as I did go really well. Of course the rolls are best fresh from the oven, but they are almost as good cold or reheated the next day. The freeze really well too. Try them with dinner or for breakfast with jam or peanut butter.

The process for making these rolls could not be easier - it is the straight dough method where you throw all scaled, room temperature ingredients in a bowl and mix, then knead for ten minutes or so until smooth. Let it rise for an hour until doubled, form into 35g rolls, and proof for half an hour or so until doubled again. Brush them with egg wash, bake at 400◦F for 12-15 minutes, brush the warm rolls with melted butter, pull apart, and inhale!

I just formed these into round rolls, but there are a few different things you can do to make them fancier. If you place them really close together on the baking sheet, they will bake together into pan rolls. You can use a pair of kitchen scissors to make different types of cuts into the rolls or alternately use a stamp or press to add designs.