Parmesan Italian Dinner Rolls

I always make a big family dinner on my husband's day off work.  I made these Italian dinner rolls to go with our Chicken Cacciatore.  I also made a pan of plain dinner rolls for my girls to fill with honey butter...their favorite!

When I saw this recipe posted on Jamie Cooks It Up! I just knew I had to make them ASAP.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as pretty as Jamie's though.  These rolls are quick and easy.  You just need to make sure all your liquids are hot so that your rolls rise quicker is the big tip I learned from Jamie.  I used Jamie's recipe and just added some Italian seasoning and grated parmesan before baking.  I'm new to bread making, but really enjoy learning tips and tricks from all the great cooking blogs out there.  And this new kitchen helper arrived on my door step yesterday...it makes the process so much faster.  Where have you been all my life?  I've been wanting one of these forever and finally bought one to help expand my culinary abilities.  Thanks to my very giving husband for telling me to go ahead and get it!  

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk

4 T unsalted butter

3/4 cup HOT tap water

4 T white sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

4 - 4 1/2 C all purpose flour

1 heaping T active dry yeast

Topping:

2 T melted butter

1 T Italian seasoning

2 T grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. 

Pour the milk into a microwave safe container.  Add the butter and heat for 1 1/2 minutes. 

Put the milk/butter mixture and hot water in your Kitchen Aid mixer bowl.  Add the sugar, salt, and 2 Cups of the flour.  Mix for 1 minute.

Add the yeast.  Turn the mixer back on and add the rest of the four, 1 cup at a time.  

Jamie's tip:  You have enough flour when the dough scrapes the side of the bowl clean.  

Mix on medium low speed for 5 minutes.  My mixer was jumping all around my kitchen counter at this point.  Is this normal?  I'm not sure, but I stayed close by so my new helper didn't fall on the floor!

Turn off the mixer and remove the bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap to trap the heat.  Let sit for 5 minutes.

Coat whatever pan you're using with non-stick cooking spray or slather with butter.  Spray your work surface and knife so the dough doesn't stick to it.  Turn out dough and cut into 12 equal pieces.  Form into balls and place them in your pan(s).  This probably works best in a 9x13 pan since they will all fit snugly once they have risen.  They will be softer around the edges and more uniform if your pan is full.  Just look at the after pictures below and you will see the difference.

Brush on the melted butter and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Put the pan(s) in the oven and let them rise for 20 minutes. 

Turn the heat up to 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.  They are done when the tops are golden brown.  Brush with more melted butter when they come out of the oven.  Enjoy! 

To make honey butter for the plain dinner rolls, stir together 2 parts softened butter with 1 part honey.  Or you can just spread some butter on the warm roll and squeeze some honey on top.  It's good either way!  My mom got me hooked on warm rolls and honey, and now my girls do it.  Isn't it funny how much we take away from our Moms.

Here's some rolls baking in a small  casserole dish.  I made these to go with our Ultimate Lasagna on Halloween.  I might have used too much yeast in this batch of rolls...they were huge!