Parmesan Garlic Rolls

I have a secret.  When I get bored, particularly in the dead of winter, I play in my kitchen.  I mean, literally, I play.  I don’t quite break out the Barbie dolls, but you know I just do whatever strikes my fancy while listening to music (either of the Christmas variety or jazz or musical theater) and I sing along at the top of my lungs, using my spatula or spoon as my microphone.

It’s true.  I’ve got a screw loose.  But it’s ok.  It’s part of my charm.

Anyway, these moods strike me, almost like cravings, and I will wake up one morning and say, “I really want to make rolls, banana bread, homemade pasta, truffles, double chocolate frosted brownies, (insert some random food here).”

And low and behold an hour later, I find myself happy as a clam standing in the disaster zone formerly known as my kitchen up to my elbows in flour or chocolate or cheese or some combination of the above.  The only common denominator in this boredom busting habit of mine is the epic mess that I will inevitably make and the music.  I don’t even question it.  I just pretty much accept that it’s going to happen.

Anyhow, on this particular morning, I had awakened feeling particularly cocky and confident and with this overwhelming need to make rolls.  I mean I am still pretty proud of the victory over homemade rolls that I had won back before the holidays, and decided it was time to put a more creative spin on these puppies.  I guess for me creativity means cheese.  And garlic.  Yum.

Full disclosure:  the craving for these garlicky, cheese rolls came from desire to make meatball sandwiches from my crock pot meatballs.  I don’t particularly love hoagie rolls for meatball sandwiches.  When you are me and you bite into a meatball sub on a full size hoagie roll, the only certainties are that one, a meatball will land on my lap; and two, I will be wearing khaki or white pants.  Without fail.

So I thought, I’d fix this and make cute little slider rolls.  Aren’t they pretty?

Ingredients

• 1 package of active dry yeast
• 7/8 c of warm water
• 1/4 c of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cup of white bread flour
• 1/2 cup of melted butter, divided
• 1 head of roasted garlic
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tbs of thyme
• 1 tbs of basil
• 1/2 tbs of garlic powder

How to:

1. Chop the top off of a head of garlic and cover in olive oil (about a tbs) and sprinkle with salt.  Roast in 400 degree oven for about half an hour or until the garlic is soft to the touch.  Let cool and then mash into a paste.
2. In a large bowl, mix the yeast into warm water and let stand until foamy, about ten minutes.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, 1/4 cup melted butter, egg, cheese and spices including the roasted garlic paste.
4. Add the above mixture to the bowl with the yeast mixture and add in the flour 1/2 a cup a time and mix until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl.  (You can do this with the dough hook on your Mix Master if you don’t feel like taking some of your tension out on the dough.)  Kneed the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  Cover and let rise for about an hour until it is doubled in volume.
5. Punch down the dough and cover it again.  Let rise again until it redoubles.  This will take 30-45 minutes.
6. Grease 12 muffin tins with some of the remaining butter.  Beat down the dough again, and begin dividing into 36 ping pong ball sized balls.  Put three balls in one muffin cup.  Cover again and allow the dough to double in size again.  This takes another 30-45 minutes.  Go grab some coffee in the meantime.
7. Once doubled, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with more cheese.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden colored.  Enjoy!
   

   Parmesan Garlic rolls hot out of the oven

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Tagged: homemade rolls, meatball sandwiches, parmesan cheese rolls