MAKES 16 ROLLS
Because this dough is sticky, keep your hands well floured when handling it. We do not recommend mixing this sticky dough by hand. See the sidebar that follows the recipe.
|
1½ |
cups plus 1 tablespoon water, room temperature |
|
2 |
teaspoons honey |
|
1½ |
teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast |
|
3 |
cups plus 1 tablespoon (16½ ounces) bread flour, plus extra as needed |
|
3 |
tablespoons whole-wheat flour |
|
1½ |
teaspoons salt |
1. Whisk water, honey, and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer until well combined, making sure no honey sticks to bottom of bowl. Transfer bowl to stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add bread flour and whole-wheat flour and mix on low speed until cohesive dough is formed, about 3 minutes; cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle salt evenly over dough and knead on low speed for 5 minutes, scraping down bowl and dough hook as needed. Increase speed to medium and continue to knead until dough is smooth and slightly tacky, about 1 minute. If dough is very sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour and continue mixing for 1 minute. Transfer dough to large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Spray rubber spatula or bowl scraper with vegetable oil spray. Fold partially risen dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees; fold again. Rotate bowl again and fold once more. Cover with plastic and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat folding, replace plastic, and let dough rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes longer.
4. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Transfer dough to floured counter and sprinkle top with more flour. Using bench scraper, cut dough in half and gently stretch each half into 16-inch log. Cut each log into 8 equal pieces and dust top of each piece with more flour. With floured hands, gently pick up each piece and roll in palms to coat with flour, shaking off excess. Arrange rolls in prepared pans, placing one in center and seven spaced evenly around edges, with long side of each roll running from center of pan to edge and making sure cut side faces up. Loosely cover pans with lightly greased plastic and let rolls rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. (Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckle.)
5. Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Spray rolls lightly with water, bake until tops of rolls are brown, about 10 minutes, then remove them from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees; using dish towels or oven mitts, invert rolls from both cake pans onto rimmed baking sheet. When rolls are cool enough to handle, turn them right side up, pull apart, and space evenly on sheet. Continue to bake until rolls develop deep golden-brown crust and sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer rolls to wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, before serving. (Rolls can be placed in zipper-lock bag and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. Wrapped with aluminum foil before placing in bag, rolls can be frozen for up to 1 month. To recrisp crust, thaw rolls at room temperature, if frozen, and place unwrapped rolls in 450-degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes.)