Thanksgiving approaches, that greatest of all cooking and
baking holidays, so I thought I’d make this month’s update relevant to this, my
favorite of holidays.
With all the food that Thanksgiving entails—turkey,
dressing, gravy, veggies, salads, desserts, etc, it’s easy for things like
bread to become an afterthought. To help
manage a busy kitchen, frozen or canned rolls or biscuits are often pressed
into service to simplify matters. Baking
fresh bread for the holidays just seems so time consuming in an already
time-crunched day. Well, it shouldn’t, ‘cause
there’s nothing that puts an accent on your majestic meal like fresh-baked
bread. It fills the house with a savory,
mouth-watering scent, it warms to the touch, and, slathered with creamy melted
butter, the taste is out of this world.
So this year, why not take a little extra time (and with
this recipe, a little is all you’ll need) and wow ‘em with these wonderful and
easy-to-make Cloverleaf Rolls. Because even though adding fresh-baked bread
to your Thanksgiving table can seem time consuming, mainly because of the hours
between start to finish, the actual hands-on time is slight (most of the time
is allowing the dough to rise), so you can work the prep into your cooking
schedule quite easily.
Cloverleaf Rolls
3 Cups Bread Flour
1 Cup + 1 Ounce Warm Water
1 Tablespoon (or one packet) Active Dry Yeast
1 Large Egg
3 Tablespoons + 1 Tablespoon Melted Butter
3 Tablespoons Powdered Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Cup + 1 Ounce Warm Water
1 Tablespoon (or one packet) Active Dry Yeast
1 Large Egg
3 Tablespoons + 1 Tablespoon Melted Butter
3 Tablespoons Powdered Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt
Add the flour, powdered milk, salt and sugar to mixing
bowl and give a few stirs to incorporate.
Add your dry yeast to the cup of warm water and let sit for a few
minutes for the yeast to start working.
Then add the yeast water mixture, egg and 3 tablespoons of the melted
butter to the flour mixture and mix, preferably in a mixer with a dough hook,
until all is incorporated into a cohesive dough ball. If necessary, use the extra ounce of water,
adding it a little at a time to the mixture if there is not enough moisture to moisten the dough
properly. Only add this if necessary,
you don’t want the dough to be too moist...it should have some firmness to
it.
Once the dough ball is incorporated, continue to run the
mixer on setting 2 for about seven minutes, moderately developing the glutens
in the dough.
Next, place the dough in an oiled container, cover, and
let sit for one and a half hours to rise.
At this time, you’re ready to make the rolls. Divide off a piece of dough of about 20 grams
and roll it into a ball. If you don’t
have a kitchen scale, the amount of dough you need should be enough to make
about a 1 inch ball.
Make two more
balls, then place the three into the greased cup of a muffin tin.
Repeat the process until you’ve used up all
your dough.
This recipe should make about 18 rolls. Doubling it will give you enough dough to
fill three 12-cup muffin tins, just about perfect for a grand holiday gathering.
Let the unbaked rolls rise again in the muffin tins for
at least an hour and a half, but preferably three hours or so. The longer you go, the better rise you will
get, and more flavor with develop.
After
the rise, brush the rolls with melted butter, then bake in a 400F oven for 15
minutes, or until golden brown. Remove
from oven and, if desired, brush with additional butter. Serve immediately.
These rolls are best served hot (with lots of softened
butter, of course!), so I usually don’t bake them until right before I’m serving
my holiday dinner. But they bake fast,
and can be turned out into a bread basket quickly, so this is never a
problem. I use the convection setting on
my oven, which bakes them even faster, usually in around 10 minutes at 350F
(Convection Bake)
Until next time,
Bake some bread!
Chris
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