Parmesan Skillet Dinner Rolls

Parmesan Skillet Dinner Rolls

What’s better than homemade dinner rolls? It’s okay, I’ll wait for you to think of something! Just teasing but in all seriousness with the holiday season upon us I feel the need to bake.

Makes 12 rolls

3 Cups whole wheat flour, plus more if needed (you’ll see as you make the dough whether it is too wet)

2 tbsp white granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

11 ml dry instant yeast

½ Cup water

½ Cup warm milk (not hot, it will cook the egg)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more

1 Large egg

3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese, divided

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast  and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the water, milk, extra virgin olive oil, egg and 2 tbsp of the Parmesan cheese.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture (you can use a stand mixer with the dough hook on the second lowest setting or you can knead by hand).

Mix until a dough forms, this is going to be a very soft dough at this point but you don’t want it too wet (you can tell if it’s too wet if you touch it and it stays on your fingers), add more flour to the dough until you can form a ball without out it staying on you (add tablespoon by tablespoon, up to a ¼ cup).

Roll the dough into a ball and then place it in a bowl, covered with a clean kitchen cloth to rest for 1-2 hours until the dough has risen to double it’s size.

After the dough has rested, roll out the buns and place them in a greased cast iron (or oven safe skillet).  I roll each portion into a ball, like a meatball. Look at the dough, one side will naturally look smoother then the other. Smooth this side by pulling the excess dough to the bottom (like a water balloon when you were little). Then twist the dough at the bottom so that the dough has a little knot at the bottom and press it in so the dough stays in tact.

Again, cover the pan with a cloth and let the buns rise until there is no space between them in the skillet, about an hour.

Lightly brush some extra virgin olive oil JUST before the rolls go in the oven (otherwise they’ll get weighed down).

Preheat your oven to 350 and bake the buns for 30 minutes.

Dust the rolls with the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan cheese as soon as the rolls come out of the oven.

Notes:

1. You can use half white and half whole wheat flour if you prefer.
2. You can melt some garlic butter and glaze the buns with that instead of the olive oil if you want to be fancy!