Whole-Wheat Dinner Rolls

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful time spending time with family; I know I did!

I made two types of rolls this year, and I thought for sure that The Pioneer Woman no-knead rolls would surely win out.  I was wrong. These rolls from my Healthy America's Test Kitchen Cookbook were the winner by a landslide, even the baby cousins loved them! They're fairly simple to make and turn out so light and fluffy.  Next year I better make more!

Photo courtesy of americastestkitchenfeed.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm buttermilk (110 degrees)

5 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

2 Tablespoons honey

1 large egg

2 1/12 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 - 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon instant or rapid-rise yeast

2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Whisk the milk, butter, honey, and egg together in a liquid measuring cup.  Combine the whole-wheat flour, 1/12 cups of the white flour, yeas, and salt in a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook.  With the mixed on low speed, add the milk mixture and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.

2. Increase the mixer speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  If after 4 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand to form a smooth round ball.  Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size 1 to 1/2 hours. 

4. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gently press it into a 10-inch square, then cut it into 16 equal pieces.  Working with one piece of dough at a time (keep the remaining pieces covered with a towel), round the dough into smooth, taut rolls and lay them in two slightly staggered rows on the prepared baking sheet. (The rolls should be close together.  They will rise into each other to create pull-apart rolls, which prevents them from getting dry and crusty).

5. Spray the rolls lightly with vegetable oil spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until they have nearly doubled in size, 45-75 minutes. 

6. Preheat an oven to 425.  If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven while it heats up and let heat for 30 minutes.

7. After the rolls have risen, place them in the oven (the rimmed baking sheet directly on the baking stone), and immediately reduce the heat to 400 degrees.  Bake until the rolls are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.