Prep: 1 hour, plus 3 hours rest
Bake: 35 minutes
Makes: 16 Parker House rolls
1 ½ tablespoons active dry east
1 teaspoon plus 1 /3 cup sugar
½ cup warm water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
2 egg yolks
4 - 4 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, for bowl
For top: 3 tablespoons melted butter and flakey salt
1. Proof: Drop yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Test water: a drop should feel neither hot nor cold on the wrist. Pour in water. Let stand until foamy.
2. Scald: Meanwhile, measure remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the cut-up butter and salt into a bowl or quart-sized measuring cup. Pour milk into a medium saucepan. Set over high heat and watch closely. In 2 – 3 minutes it will bubble, foam, and rise up dramatically. Immediately pull pan off heat and pour milk over butter, sugar and salt. Let stand until butter has melted and milk has cooled down. With a fork, mix in yolks, further cooling mixture. You’re after the same neither-hot-nor-cool spot.
3. Knead: Pour milk over yeast, then drop in 4 cups of flour. Mix with a fork until it’s rough going. Snap bowl onto mixer stand and, using the dough hook, knead a full 10 minutes. It will quickly form a soft dough that cleans the sides of the bowl and wraps around hook. (If the dough looks more like a swamp monster than a ball, sprinkle in the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.)
4. Rest: Rub a clean bowl with most of the softened butter. Stretch dough and tuck it underneath itself, shaping a ball. Rub with remaining softened butter. Settle dough into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then a kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down, reshape and let double again, 1 hour. Punch down.
5. Shape: Divide dough into 15 portions. Stretch and tuck each into a ball. Brush a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with melted butter. Line up 3 rows of 5 dough balls. Brush with melted butter.
6. Bake: Bake at 350 degrees to an internal temp of 195 degrees, about 32 - 35 minutes. Bush rolls again with butter and sprinkle with flakey salt. Enjoy warm.