Parker House Rolls

The best way to top off an amazing dinner party, other than a decadent dessert would be with some homemade bread. That wow factor can be acheived with homemade rolls, which gives any good dinner party an extra special touch. Making bread is a labor of love, but trust me its completely worth it and once you start, you will instantly fall in love and always want to make your own bread.

Classic's are always supposed to be phenomenal, because how else would they have become so classic? This bread epitomizes the classic dinner roll, with its soft, buttery, fluffy texture. Its easy to make and shape the dough, and even better it freezes beautifully so you can bake from frozen and always look like a superstar when hosting a dinner party.

 Parker House Rolls
(adapted from Alex Guarnaschelli)
- 1 packet (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 7 1/2 to 8 cups AP flour
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 cups whole milk, room temp
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp kosher salt

First, you need to bloom the yeast and wake it up. Take 1/2 cup of water between 110-120F in a bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and add the sugar. Whisk together and let it sit  for a minute,and add 1 cup of flour and let it get nice and foamy for about 5 minutes. [If the yeast doesn't foam up and get bubbly, start over].

Using the dough hook in a stand mixer, add butter, milk, and eggs and mix to combine. Add the yeast mixture and mix to combine. Add 6  1/2 cups of flour and 1 tbsp of salt and mix until it forms a ball, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour by the 1/2 cup fulls until the dough is not too wet and sticky and knead with the dough hook until it looks uniform and smooth.

Spray a bowl with nonstick spray, place the dough in it and cover with plastic wrap and let rise until its doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or a silpat.

Turn out the dough onto a floured area, and punch out some of the air. Flatten by hand in to a 16 x 8 inch rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut the dough in half lengthwise, and then crosswise into 12 even strips.

Take each strip and fold in thirds so one of the thirds overlaps the others.

Place them seam side down onto the baking sheet in tightly packed rows.

Bake for 18-20 minutes and brush with softened butter and sprinkle with salt when they are hot out of the oven. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!