Parker House Rolls

Not great pictures.

Sorry about that.

We were SOOOOO ready to eat some dinner, I was taking pictures on the go.

Literally.

I will say that if you can get past the really bad pictures, this is an awesome recipe.

One of my favorite roll recipes to date.

In fact, probably in the top 3.

Right along with the cheese stuffed rolls and the yeast rolls.  (I have French bread in a category all on its own...)

And why shouldn't it be good?

It has a stick and a half of butter in it. And half a cup of sugar.

Really, it has no choice BUT to be good.

Oh, and if you click on the original link (and if you are a fan of food shows), you will recognize the "author" right away...

Parker House Rolls
Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water

1 packet dry active yeast (I just use about a tablespoon of instant yeast which is what is in my freezer)

1/2 cup sugar (I will admit, I thought that was a typo at first. I have NEVER seen a bread recipe with that much sugar in it!)

7 1/2 to 8 cups all purpose flour (I used my favorite King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose...I think I actually used closer to just 7.  I have learned with doughs and flour to just use a conservative amount and then slowly add to it until it is just right...not too sticky!)

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled (Okay, I didn't wait for mine to cool really.  And it still worked. That is a stick and a half of butter in case you are wondering...)

2 cups milk at room temperature (again, mine wasn't at room temperature because I didn't plan ahead...it still worked. The original recipe called for whole. I only had 1%. That worked.)

2 eggs, room temperature (unless you don't plan ahead like me :)

1 Tbsp Kosher salt

Additional softened butter and salt for the finished roll

Directions:
Add yeast and sugar to warm water in a LARGE bowl.  Stir and give a few minutes to "bloom". I do not check the temperature of the water anymore; I have learned it should feel a lot like bath water. Unless you are like me and prefer really hot water. In my bath, not in the dough.

Add in eggs, milk, and melted butter.  You can use a mixer (and if you do, check out the original recipe for the proper order). I just hand mix. I do wear rubber gloves because of my long fingernails and to keep from having a big mess on my hands...literally.  And when I say hand mix, I actually use my hands to squish it and stir it. 

Add in the flour and salt. Like I said, add in flour conservatively (like 6 cups of flour) and then add additional flour slowly until it reaches the right consistency.

Knead for a few minutes until you form a large ball.

Most recipes call for buttering or oiling a different bowl and putting the dough in there to rise. I already make a big enough mess. I just use the same bowl.  I don't oil or butter it at all. There is usually a little stray flour and that keeps it from sticking. Anyway, cover and put in a warm place (if that is possible when it is snowing outside) to let it rise until doubled. The recommendation was 2+ hours which I did.  It might be shorter but I was I napping so I didn't check.

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a floured surface.  The rectangle should be about 8 x 16.  The dough should be about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Don't use a rolling pan. Just use those trusty hands. :)

From short side to short side, cut the rectangle in half in the middle.  I just don't have knives that work well with dough. I used kitchen shears instead.

Then cut each half into 12 strips. 

Take each strip and fold into thirds.  It is like you are folding it in half but overdo it so you tuck the extra in underneath.  There are pictures on the original recipe (under "pictures") that show this better than I can explain it. :)

Put the roll seam-side down on the baking sheet in three rows (8 in each row). They should be "tightly" packed. 

You don't have to let them rise again but I did give mine a few minutes to rest before I baked them.

What I really like is you can freeze them at this point by covering with plastic wrap.  Then you can pull them out within 3 weeks to cook at a later time. I will definitely do that in the future if I know I won't have time to do the whole rising thing on a given day!

Bake 18-20 minutes at 375.  If doing it from frozen, then bake at 325 for 25 minutes followed by 375 for 10 more minutes.

Brush warm rolls with softened butter and sprinkle with salt (I used freshly ground sea salt for that).

Enjoy.

Oh, the bad news? They are 265 calories a roll. 

And that was using 1% milk!

But believe me, they are worth every bit of exercise I did for them. :)

Even Hubby who can be a hard sell on bread loved them. And my picky child 4 (who usually only eats Rhodes rolls) ate 2 of them...

Happy cooking!

Reba