Buttered Rosemary Rolls

Today I have for you the best rolls you will ever make. My friend Leanne sent me a link to these just before Easter. I made them...and then made them twice more that week. They are that good.

Pioneer Woman is a genius. These rolls have it all. There's the bread (awesome texture). Then butter. Fresh rosemary. Coarse sea salt. All in a cast iron skillet.

And I learned two new things. First, I have been seriously missing out in having never used fresh rosemary. It smells divine and has a spectacular flavor.

Second. Scalding milk. In the past I have ran away from any recipe that required scalding milk...I was never quite sure what the right-before-boiling-point was. But it turns out it's not so bad.

To scald milk:
- heat it in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-low heat
- keep a-stirrin' so it doesn't form a skin
- and watch for it to steam AND form small bubbles around the edges (I've also seen the temperature 185 degrees thrown around, if you have a candy thermometer)
- if you do accidentally boil it, you should probably throw it out and start over. Supposedly, it can make the bread taste bad.

One more thing. You don't have to use a cast iron skillet to bake these babies. I fit as many as I can in my skillets, and then just use a glass baking dish.

Buttered Rosemary Rolls

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups (plus 1/2 extra cup, separated) white wheat flour*
1/2 tsp (heaping) baking powder
1/2 tsp (scant) baking soda
1/2 TB (heaping) kosher salt
melted butter
fresh chopped rosemary
course sea salt

*If you use all wheat flour, throw 2 TB vital wheat gluten in the bottom of one of the cups, then fill it the rest of the way with flour. Half wheat flour/half white flour works great, and of course you can always do all all-purpose flour.


Directions:

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan.

Scald the mixture (see scalding instructions above). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When the mixture is lukewarm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in yeast. Let it sit for a minute and then add 4 cups of flour (and gluten).

Stir it up, cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising, stir in 1/2 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. (Pioneer Woman says: At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

Spray a small iron skillet (or glass baking dish) with cooking spray. Form small rolls and place in the skillet. Cover with a clean towel and let them rise 20-30 minutes. (I get about six rolls in my 9" skillet, 8 rolls in my 12" skillet).

After rising, liberally brush rolls with melted butter and sprinkle on chopped rosemary and coarse sea salt.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. The rolls should be a nice golden brown.

I believe I got 12-14 rolls from this recipe.

Adapted from:

Pioneer Woman Buttered Rosemary Rolls

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls