Parker House Rolls

When I'm short on time, but still want something delicious and home-made, this fantastic recipe from the Joy of Cooking will be my new standby.  It is essentially the same recipe that I used for the hot crossed buns earlier this week, but leaving out the sweet ingredients.  These dinner rolls would be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner, but would be equally excellent for making a tiny lobster roll.  They are as delicious for breakfast and lunch as they are for dinner.  The only danger is that, since they make such small sandwiches, you might end up eating five sandwiches for lunch, like I did today!

I learned my lesson from earlier this week and was careful about the length of time I kneaded these rolls.  In fact, when I looked back over the recipe, it merely directs to knead the remaining flour into the dough, not to do any additional kneading.  I kneaded until the dough had absorbed all the flour in the bowl and the dough was spongy and still a bit sticky on the inside, then tried to handle it as little as possible when forming the rolls.  Although the recipe called for the rolls to be cooked for about 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven, I cooked them for about 12 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and they came out golden brown and wonderfully soft.  I will definitely make these again!