parker house rolls

Not much beats these soft, buttery rolls, warm out of the oven. Their tenderness comes from the whole milk, their chewiness from the bread flour, and their incredible flavor from the butter. They’d be great at your next dinner party!

Parker House Rolls
From Gourmet, November 1999

3 tbs. warm water (105 to 110 degrees)
3 tbs. sugar
1/4 oz. active dry yeast
1 stick unsalted butter
1 c. whole milk
2 c. bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 to 2 c. all-purpose flour

Stir together warm water, 1 tbs. sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Melt 3/4 stick butter in a small saucepan. Add milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir together yeast mixture, remaining 2 tbs. sugar, butter mixture, bread flour, and salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined well, then stir in enough all-purpose flour to make a slightly sticky dough that forms a ball.

Butter a large bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, kneading in more all-purpose flour if dough is too sticky, 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic, but still slightly sticky. Form into a ball and put in buttered bowl. Turn to coat with butter, then let rise in bowl, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Butter a 9-inch baking pan. Divide dough into 20 equal pieces and roll into balls. Arrange evenly in 3 rolls of 3 and let rise, covered loosely, in a warm place 45 minutes, or until almost doubled in bulk. Make a deep crease down of each roll. Let rolls rise, covered loosely, 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt remaining 2 tbs. butter and cool slightly. Brush tops of rolls with butter and bake in middle of the oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let rolls cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool to warm.