Cheesy Dinner Rolls

#MakeItWithMilk #FWCON

“Are you hungry? Sure, I guess I am.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

These are mighty fine dinner rolls. Nothing is more enticing than the aroma of freshly baked bread. With cheddar cheese that seems to melt into the dough as it bakes these irresistible Cheesy Dinner Rolls disappear as soon as they come out of the oven. The subtle flavor of green onions compliments the cheddar cheese, adding interest to the soft fluffy dough that is enriched with milk, butter and egg.

I’m entering this Cheesy Dinner Roll recipe in the Florida Food and Wine Conference #MakeItWithMilk contest. The contest rules stipulate that a cup of milk and a cup cheese be used in an original recipe. I very much enjoyed developing this recipe and found that a cup of cheese was not enough! It would be an honor to win and great fun to attend the #FWCON conference. While I dream about traveling to Florida let’s enjoy these scrumptious dinner rolls.

Essentials

Baking homemade bread is one of life’s simple pleasures. Watching the yeast come alive always amazes me. Working with yeast isn’t difficult, it just takes a little time. This recipe isn’t fussy and if you are home for a morning or afternoon, making the Cheesy Dinner Rolls is easily woven around whatever else you might be doing. After all most of the time the yeast is doing all the work.

	Dinner Rolls
1/4C	warm water, 110° or less
1pkg/2-1/4t	active dry yeast
1C/8oz	whole milk
1/3C	unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1	egg
4C/520 grams	all purpose flour
1t	fine grain sea salt
	Cheesy Filling
1/4C	unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2C/1/2 pound	medium cheddar cheese, grated
2-3	green onions or scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1	egg white

1. Butter a large mixing bowl. Lightly grease the surface of two sheet pans or line with parchment.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment add the warm water and yeast. Mix to dissolve the yeast. Stop to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the milk, cooled butter and egg and thoroughly mix, incorporating the eggs in the yeast mixture.
3. Remove the bowl and whisk attachment from the stand mixer. Add the flour and sea salt to the bowl. Return the bowl to the stand mixer and attach the dough hook. Mix the dough ingredients together on medium-low, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Continue to mix the dough for 5 minutes to thoroughly combine the ingredients and develop the gluten. The dough should remain sticky and barely cling to the outer edges of the mixing bowl. If the dough is too wet and remains flat across the bottom of the bowl add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, at the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in the buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm or draft free place to rise until puffy and almost doubled in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough to deflate. Cut the dough in half. Form half the dough into a ball and then roll the dough into a 12 inch circle with a lightly floured rolling pin. Generously brush the dough with butter and sprinkle half of the cheese and green onions across the circle. Make sure the outside edge of the circle has lots of cheese, this will be the inside of the dinner roll. Cut the circle into 8 wedges, by cutting the dough into quarters and then cutting the quarters in half. Roll up each wedge starting with the widest end. Any cheese filling that falls on the work surface can be added to the next wedge. Repeat with all 8 pieces of dough. Place the rolls on one of the prepared pans spacing the rolls evenly across the pan. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough for a total of 16 rolls.
5. Heat the oven to 350°. Set the rolls in a warm or draft free place to rise until fluffy and almost doubled in size, 30-45 minutes. In a small bowl mix the egg white with one tablespoon of water. Carefully brush the tops of the rolls with the egg wash. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes. When done, the rolls will be a toasty golden brown with rivers of melted cheese. Let the rolls cool for five minutes on the baking pan before removing them to a rack to cool completely. The rolls are best warm, but if any are leftover they can’t be ignored on the second day.