Parkerhouse Rolls

Servings: 24  Yield: 1 roll


Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup butter, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 whole egg

1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water

3 1/2 cups flour, up to 3 3/4 cups

Instructions:

1. Scald milk in microwave (appx. 1.5 minutes).

2. Add buttler, salt, and sugar to milk until completely dissolved.  Add in egg.

3. Dissolve 1 package yeast in 1/4 c warm water. Add that to milk mixture.

4. You will be adding 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cup flour to the mixture as follows.  I add half at first stirring with a large spoon. Then add more flour a cup or so at a time incorporating it with a potato masher.

5. When it gets on the dry side, start the kneading process which takes five minutes.  As I knead I add any remaining flour as it begins to feel sticky.   I knead the dough right in the mixing bowl and find doing it at the kitchen table a comfortable height for me. Inside the sink works great too.

6. After the five minutes the dough should be silky; take the dough out and remove any loose flour from the bowl.

7. Lightly grease the bowl and put the dough back in.  Turn the dough around in the bowl so it all becomes greased.

8. Next, turn the oven on for thirty seconds and then turn it off. Turn on the oven light and keep it on.  These two things will make the oven just warm enough for good rising.  Put a clean cloth over the bowl and put it in the oven.

9. Let it rise until double; it takes about 1 1/2hrs. Punch down and let rise again for about thirty more minutes.  I put the oven on for another thirty seconds at this time.

10. Shape into rolls. The easiest way to shape them (called crescents) is to roll the dough out on a lightly floured counter with a dusted rolling pin.  Brush with soft butter. Then take a pizza cutter and cut them as you would a pizza so that they are about 1 inch at the large end.  Starting at the large end, roll them up and put them in a greased pan.

11. The real parkerhouse rolls are made by cutting circles out of rolled-out dough.  Pick up the circle and brush the inside of it with butter as you hold it in your hand.  Fold it over and take a sharp knife and make a cut in the fold

12. Put them in a pan.  If you like crispy ones, put them far apart in the pan. If you like them soft, put them next to each other. That is how I do it.

13. Cover with the cloth when the pan is full and let them rise in the oven again until they look fluffy….about thirty minutes or so.  

14. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.  Watch closely.