Buttery Sourdough Buns

It's only 4 days to Christmas and hope all of you have your gifts and menus ready for the big day. This year, one of our lovely friend is hosting the Christmas eve party and she asked me to bring some dinner rolls. They all love these golden pull apart dinner rolls, but I wanted to try a new recipe this year.

I found the recipe for these sourdough buns in the King Arthur Flour baker's catalog. I loved their cute little swirly shape and the addition of paprika to the butter gives them a nice reddish hue on top.

These buns are super soft on the inside and a nice crispy crust almost like a crescent roll. The swirly shape means they are fun to unravel and enjoy just like a crescent roll.

We ate some of them as is. The next day I made hummus and cheese sandwich for my son's lunch box by cutting the bun crosswise and then sandwiching it with hummus and a cheese slice. Well wrapped and stored, these buns stay fresh for up to 2 days.

Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2cups All purpose flour
• 1cup White wholewheat flour (or use 3cups of all purpose flour)
• ½cup Fed or Unfed Sourdough Starter
• 2½tsp Instant Yeast
• 1tbsp Sugar
• 1¼tsp Salt
• 1 Large Egg (or 1tbsp egg replacer whisked in 3tbsp water)
• 5tbsp Butter, softened
• ⅔cup Lukewarm Water
• 4tbsp Butter, melted (divided use)
• ¼tsp Paprika (optional)

Method:

1. To make the dough: Combine all the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix and knead to form a soft, smooth dough.
2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and allow to rise for 11/2~2 hours or until it's just about doubled in volume.
3. Gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a lightly grease work surface. Roll or pat the dough into an approximately 12"x16" rectangle.
4. Melt 2tbsp butter and add the paprika, if desired. Spread the dough with the melted butter.
5. Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log. Cut the log into 1" slices.
6. Lightly grease 2 8" or 9" round cake pans, and arrange eight buns in each pan.
7. Cover the pans and let the buns rise for 60 minutes or until they are noticeably puffy.
8. Preheat the oven to 350°F, towards the end of the rising time.
9. Uncover the pans and brush the buns with some of the remaining melted butter.
10. Bake the buns for 22~25 minutes; there won't be much change of color on the top.
11. Remove the buns from the oven; and turn them out of the pan onto a wire rack. Brush with any remaining melted butter. Serve hot or warm.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: December -- Week 3'.