Petits Pains au Lait

I apologize for my unintended hiatus from this blog,  sometimes it's a little hard to think about the fun and simple things in life when there are challenges in the drama that is life. But I realized that I shouldn't let those things stop me from what I love, and besides it's a great stress reliever as well!

So here I am back, and I'm sharing an AWESOME roll recipe. Rolls and I, we go way back. I've always loved them, and have been making them since I was about 10 years old...actually I might have made a  batch sooner then that for the county fair back in the day!

Take note that this recipe requires 4-5 initial hours of raising time, then another 1 1/2  OR overnight in the fridge. As the author, Beth Hensperger, says "The results are worth the time."

So here we go...

In a large bowl mix together the following:
2 cups flour, 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder, 1 Tablespoon (or 1 envelope) of active dry yeast, 2 Tablespoons Sugar, 2 teaspoons Salt. Then add 1 1/2 cups hot water (but not to hot, otherwise you will kill the yeast), along with 1 egg (that has been out of the fridge for 30 minutes or more to be at room temp). Beat hard for two minutes.

Then add 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into pieces.

Add the remaining  2 1/2-3 cups of flour, half a cup at a time. Then knead the dough 4-5 minutes, dusting with flour 1 tablespoon at a time if needed to prevent sticking.

Place in a greased bowl covered with plastic. Let rise at COOL room temperature 4-5 hours OR in the refrigerator overnight.

Then gently deflate and let rise another 1 1/2 hours.

Divide dough into 4 balls, then divide each into five equal portions to make 20 rolls total.

Place in rows of 4 with two inches between each row. I used my airbake cookie sheets, which were greased with a little cornmeal sprinkled over the top

Preheat the oven to 400 F OR 450 if you have a baking stone on the lowest rack. Let the rolls rest for 30 minutes, then take a serrated knife and slash each roll quickly no more then 1/4 an inch deep.
If you have the baking stone place the pan directly on it, then immediately turn down to 400 F. and bake 15 minutes. If you don't, you would just bake at 400 F for 15 minutes.

My daughters face is priceless right there!! We put butter and garlic powder on ours and dipped them in homemade Vinaigrette. YUM! My husband also mentioned they would be good with freezer jam.