Milk and Honey Fluffy Rolls

A lovely dinner roll with a nice fluffy texture. I love the honey flavour. I happened to have orange honey. It made an amazing addition.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp butter, melted

• 4 tbsp shortening, melted

• 1/3 cup honey

• 1 egg

• 1 1/2 cups milk (2% works)

• 4-1/2 to 5 cups flour

• 2 1/4 tsp instant or active yeast

• 1 egg, 1 tbsp water and pinch salt

Instructions

The poke test is a good way to know when your bread is fully proofed in bulk dough and once you’ve shaped it, ready for the oven.

Gently press your finger about ½ in. (1 cm) into the dough. If the dough is ready to bake, it will spring back slowly but retain a small indentation where you poked it.

If no indentation forms, the dough is not ready; leave it to proof a little longer. If the indentation doesn’t spring back at all, it’s too late—the dough is over-proofed. Oops. No worries.  Just keep an eye on it next time.

Use the same poke test for your rolls too.

Place ingredients in order preferred. (I personally use ingredients directly from the refrigerator.) Truly, it doesn’t matter if you are starting the machine immediately. If you use delayed start keep the yeast separate from the liquids.

Use the dough setting. The pan is warm and perfect for the rise. It should be light and puffy. If it seems to be heavy let it continue to rise. It may be over 2 hours. Use the poke test to determine that it has risen well. Gently punch out the air and lightly knead.

Now I would divide the dough into 15 even pieces. I measure with a scale for the most accurate measurement. This resulted in 15-83g rolls.

Place in a 9x13 foil-lined, lightly greased pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. And cover with a towel or place in an oven with a proof-setting. This rise may take 45-60 mins.

With a pastry brush cover the puffy dough balls with the egg wash mixture. Bake at 400F/ 200C for 23-28 minutes on the middle rack.

Wait 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

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Susy’s tips and Tricks

Adjust the dough ball. Start with less flour and add more as needed. 5 minutes in will tell you; it should be slightly tacky and not sticky. Why a long rise? Rather sweet doughs can take longer to rise. Time builds flavour.

Punching down the dough with your fist after it rises is important for getting rid of these air pockets formed during the fermentation process. Improper punching of bread destroys the cells responsible for holding air in the dough. This results in the bread crust becoming too hard.

Form a fist with your hand and then press it down gently in the middle of the dough to release air bubbles.