Garlicky Dinner Rolls

I made these one night last week to go along with spaghetti and meatballs.  I just wanted a simple, hearty, completely yummy dinner. 

I made the sauce with some of the remaining frozen roasted tomatoes from last summer, along with a bag of ratatouille that I thought was more tomatoes (I really need to label things better and not depend on my psychic abilities overcrowded memory to know what’s what) but, I realized, wasn’t.  

I made meatballs and, at Bill’s request, stuffed them with pieces of mozzarella.  Here’s a picture of the test meatball I cooked before browning the rest of them:

And here’s a picture of the meatballs in the pot of sauce, where I kept them warm while I boiled water for spaghetti.  You can see that one of the meatballs split open and the melted mozzarella has oozed out….

I know…it’s cruel of me to torture you like this.  I can’t seem to stop.  Forgive me.

Anyway, rather than my usual garlic bread, I also made these little rolls.

First, I minced some garlic and then warmed it in a pan with some butter.  I let the mixture sit while I gathered the rest of the ingredients. 

Next I poured most of the garlicky melted butter into some warming milk and brought the whole thing to a simmer.

A buttery, garlicky simmer.

Sorry.  I’m torturing you again.

Anyway, while the milk is warming up, whisk together half of the flour and all of the yeast, sugar and salt.

Now, once the garlicky, buttery milk reached a simmer, I pulled it from the stove and stuck the pan in the fridge for a couple minutes, just to cool it down a bit so it wouldn’t kill the yeast.

And then I slowly drizzled it into the mixing bowl with the speed on low.  Once the liquid and dry ingredients were combined, I added the eggs.

Then I switched to the dough hook and added most of the rest of the flour. 

I let the dough hook knead the dough for about ten minutes, then turned it out onto the counter and kneaded it a bit more, until it was soft and elastic.  (It smelled really good, too, by the way.)

Then I placed the dough in a covered bowl and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour – until it was doubled in size.  (I used the inside of my oven – I preheated it for one minute and then shut it off – the inside was just warm enough for my purposes.)

Once the dough had finished, I punched it down, divided it in half, and shaped it into two balls.  I let them rest for about five minutes, then rolled them out into disks about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.

Then, with my pizza cutter, I divided the dough into 12 wedges. 

Then I brushed the dough with the rest of the garlic butter…

And then I grated a generous amount of Romano cheese over the whole thing.  You could use Parmesan if you prefer.

And then I rolled up each wedge, like so…

And, finally, I placed each roll on a parchment-lined sheet pan, brushed them with even more of the garlic butter, and grated some more cheese on top.

I repeated the same process with the other ball of dough…

And then I baked them in a 400 degree oven for about fifteen minutes.

Oh, did they ever smell good!

And they went great with the spaghetti and meatballs, too.  They were a little crispy on the outside, soft and garlicky on the inside, and completely yummy.  My husband and my kids loved them, too. 

So, if you like garlic bread, you might want to make these some time instead. 

And, thinking ahead to when I make them again, I bet they’d be really good with some dried oregano added to the dough…or maybe, if you want more cheese, some shredded mozzarella in addition to the shredded Romano or Parmesan.  Oh, the possibilities!

My recipe is below. 

If you decide to make your own version, I’d love to hear what you do differently!

Garlicky Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)

4-6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup milk

5-5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

5 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs

Romano or Parmesan cheese

What to do:

1.  Combine butter and minced garlic in a small pan and warm until the butter is melted and your kitchen is filled with the intoxicating fragrance of garlicky butter.  Set aside to cool a bit while you get everything else ready. 

2.  Warm the milk in another pan, and when it’s no longer cold, pour in about half of the garlic butter.  Make sure to get some of the minced garlic in there, too.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and then remove from heat.  Place in the fridge for a minute or two while you get ready for the next step.

3.  In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together about 3 cups of the flour, and all of the sugar, yeast and salt. 

4.  With the mixer on low, and using the paddle attachment, slowly pour the milk/butter mixture into the flour mixture.  Beat together slowly until you have a thick batter.  Then add in the eggs and mix again until combined.

5.  Next, switch to the dough hook and add in about 2 more cups of flour.  Let the machine knead the dough for about ten minutes, adding additional flour if needed to make a soft dough.

6.  Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about an hour.

7.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line two baking sheets with parchment.  Arrange the racks in your oven so they divide the oven into thirds.

8.  Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in two.  Punch down each half, shape them into balls, cover lightly and let rest about 5-10 minutes.

Shape the rolls.

(You don’t have to make them into crescents if you don’t want to – shape them any way you want.  I made crescents so I could incorporate more of the garlic butter into the final product.)

9.  Roll out one ball of dough to a circle about 1/8 to 1/4” thick.  Slice into 12 wedges.

10.  Brush each wedge with the remaining (warmed) garlic butter.  Grate some Parmesan or Romano cheese over all of the wedges, and then, starting at the wide end, roll them up into crescents.  Place the crescents on your sheet pans, brush with more of the garlic butter mixture, grate some more cheese on top, and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve warm.  They go great with spaghetti and meatballs, by the way.  Trust me.

Comments

[Annette]

These.look.so.incredibly.yummy! I have to try them asap. Which probably means the weekend, or next, considering my workload at the moment.

And have you posted your recipe for the meatballs yet? These look equally great.

[yummychunklet]

Mmm...garlicky dinner rolls...those sound so good!

[judith]

Jeeez girl! You're killing me! I love rolls and I love garlic, and now I'm craving so bad I could just go bite into a stick of butter and poke a clove of garlic in my mouth.

[[email protected]]

These look really good. Do you ever make and then freeze the dough? If so, any tips? I want to try these, but don't know if I could trust myself with so much warm garlicly goodness screaming "eat me" :0)

[dreamalittle]

Wow, I love garlic and you had my mouth watering at hello! ;) Definitely have to make these!

[karenC]

I'm totally making these this afternoon. I may experiment with rolling a few with italian sausage and dunking them in marinara. YUM.