These dinner rolls are so wonderful, they have a slight tang of buttermilk and a bit of sweetness from honey. They are a brioche roll which makes them soft and perfectly chewy but the best part about them? Most of the work is DONE the day before you want to serve them. Yep, that’s right. You only have to butter and bake them on the day. One last added bonus: Bake these in a lipped half-sheet pan! If there’s one thing I know about big gatherings, casserole dishes are prime real estate. Save those for casserole and use a half-sheet pan for these rolls. I absolutely love this recipe and hope you do too. Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
717 grams or 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup water
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs, plus 3 egg yolks
6 ¾ teaspoons dry active years (three ¼ ounce packets)
I recommend making this recipe only if you have a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment. The dough is a sticky mess at first and is near impossible to knead by hand!
Directions:
1. Warm the water to 100-110 degrees F, it’ll be warm to the touch but not hot. Add the warm water to a standing mixer bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it all sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast becomes frothy. If the yeast doesn’t froth it means your yeast is dead, sadly. You’ll want to start over with new yeast!
2. While your yeast is resting, make sure your cold ingredients are at room temperature. The butter and buttermilk can be warmed in the microwave. The eggs can be placed in very warm water for 5 minutes. Next, measure out the rest of the ingredients. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and give them a gentle whisk, set aside.
3. Once the yeast is ready, add in the eggs, buttermilk, honey and flour. Mix on low speed and while it comes together slowly sprinkle the salt into the mixture.
4. Once combined, increase the mixer to low-medium speed. Add in the butter a couple of tablespoons at a time, making sure it’s incorporated before adding the next bit of butter.
5. Let the mixer knead your dough for 20-25 minutes. In the beginning it’ll be sticky and almost look like a thick cake batter! At the 10-minute mark, you should notice it just starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl. At 20 minutes, the bottom should be sticking but otherwise should be a solid mass that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Check the dough at the 20-minute mark. Take a small handful of dough out of the mixer and gently stretch it out as thin as you can and hold it up near a light. If it stretches so thin that light comes through it without tearing, it’s ready! If it’s not there yet, give it another couple of minutes. Keep in mind, this dough is always a little sticky, you want it that way!
7. Once the dough is ready, place it in a medium-sized bowl that’s been lightly oiled. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours, until it’s doubled in size.
8. When your dough is ready, line a lipped half-sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Also, lightly oil the raised sides of the pan.
9. Next, gently punch down the dough with your fist and let it slide out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
10. Cut the dough in half, cut each of those in half again. At this point you have four big pieces of dough. Work with one quarter at a time. Continue cutting the quarter of dough in half until you have 8 equally-sized pieces.
11. Lightly dust your hands with flour, then take each piece and shape into a ball by pulling back the edges and pinching them underneath. The goal here is not to deflate the ball! Look at the first picture below to see how the back is pinched together.
12. Work each ball at a time, placing it on the sheet pan as you go. You’ll want 6 rows of 5 balls. They’ll be snug but that’s okay, they’re meant to be pulled apart after baking.
13. Continue this process with the rest of the dough. If one piece seems a little big, don’t hesitate to cut a little off before you shape it. Meanwhile, you’ll end up with 2 extra pieces of dough. I always have a couple I’m unhappy with, just discard your worst two!
14. Spray plastic wrap with oil then lightly cover the rolls. Place in the refrigerator. This will delay the yeast from growing until the next day.
Day Two
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions:
1. The next day, take the rolls out of the refrigerator 2 hours before you want to bake them. Simply place them on the counter and forget about them for a while. During that time, they’ll grow to be about double their size.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare the honey butter. Melt the butter and add the honey. Give it a good whisk to combine.
3. Very gently brush each roll with the honey butter then bake for 23-25 minutes, until golden brown on top. To test for doneness, find a roll in the center of the pan and tap the top of it. If it sounds hollow, they’re done.
4. Leave the rolls in the pan until cool enough to handle. Then pull them apart and serve.
P.S. Brioche freezes very well!! Place your extra rolls in a freezer baggie then wrap in foil. Freeze for up to a month.