Dinner Rolls

For years I have wanted to be able to make great dinner rolls. The kind that make your house smell like a warm hug and taste like a yeasty dream come true. My mission was to discover this recipe by Christmas. So I set out to test a bunch of recipe candidates. I finally did my victory dance just 2 days short of Christmas. I found the recipe on Cooks Illustrated's website and followed it exactly. (I can take no credit here for this perfect recipe!) 

What I like about these besides their flavor and fluffiness is their shape. I tried both a round traditional dinner roll, which worked great, but preferred the recipe's shape choice of a triangle. Just something a little extra home-stylish about this shape.

I also found that these can be baked and frozen with almost no side effects once you thaw them. However my preferred eating method is and always will be right out of the oven!

Ingredients:

1 1/4	cups whole milk
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1	package rapid-rise yeast
1	large egg , beaten lightly
3 1/2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour , plus extra for work surface and dusting rolls
1 1/2	teaspoons table salt
8	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into 8 pieces and softened

Instructions:

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Once oven reaches 200 degrees, maintain oven temperature 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat.
   
2. 2. Microwave milk and sugar in microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl at full power until warm (about 95 degrees). (Alternatively, heat milk and sugar in small saucepan over medium heat until warm; remove from heat.) Whisk to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast over surface of liquid, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 10 minutes to soften yeast. Whisk egg into milk mixture, dissolving yeast.
   
3. 3. Combine flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on lowest speed to blend, about 15 seconds. With mixer running, add milk mixture in steady stream; mix on low speed until flour is just moistened, about 1 minute. With mixer running, add butter one piece at a time; increase speed to medium and beat until combined and dough is scrappy, about 2 minutes. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead dough until smooth but still sticky, about 4 minutes. Scrape dough out onto work surface. Knead by hand until very smooth and soft but no longer sticky, about 1 minute; do not add more flour. Transfer dough to large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in warm oven until dough doubles in bulk, about 45 minutes.
4. 4. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Punch down dough, replace plastic wrap, and let dough rest 5 minutes. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and follow illustrations 1 through 8 (below) to shape and cut into triangles. Transfer rolls to cookie sheet, then cover with clean kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled in bulk, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 375 degrees.
5. 5. Slide each cookie sheet with rolls onto another cookie sheet to prevent bottom crust from overbrowning; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating cookie sheets front to back and switching positions from top to bottom halfway through baking time. Transfer rolls immediately to wire rack; cool 5 minutes and serve.