Bread · All year
Soft Honey Milk Rolls
The roll you want on the Sunday table, and the one a child can learn to shape.
2 hours 30 minutes · Serves 12 · 12 rolls
“Everyone ate and was satisfied.”
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk, warmed to about 105°F
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp soft butter
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus a little for the counter
Method
- 1
Stir the yeast and a teaspoon of the honey into the warm milk. Wait 5 minutes. It should look foamy. If nothing happens, the milk was too hot or the yeast is spent. Begin again rather than baking a brick.
- 2
Add the rest of the honey, the egg, butter, and salt. Stir in the flour a cup at a time until you have a soft dough that clears the bowl but still feels tacky.
- 3
Knead on a lightly floured counter 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and springs back slowly. A child can take a turn. Uneven kneading still becomes bread.
- 4
Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.
- 5
Divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a smooth ball by tucking the edges under and rolling it under your palm. Set them in a buttered 9-by-13-inch pan, just touching. Cover and rise until puffy, 30 to 45 minutes.
- 6
Heat the oven to 375°F. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops are golden and the center roll sounds soft-hollow when tapped. Brush with a little extra butter or honey if you want a sheen. Cool 10 minutes before pulling them apart.
From the kitchen
- Freeze baked rolls well. Thaw and warm them, covered, in a low oven.
- If you only have time for one baking lesson with a child this month, make it this one. The shaping is the lesson. The eating is the reward.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
