Listen along as Maurizio Leo makes these buttery, herby rolls with a thin and crunchy crust out of his newest book, The Perfect Loaf.

Recipe

Makes 24 mini-rolls 

Ingredients

• 342g White flour (~11.5% protein)
• 147g Durum flour (or whole wheat)
• 83g Whole milk
• 54g Unsalted butter
• 24g Honey
• 5g Fresh rosemary, chopped
• 259g Water
• 9g Fine sea salt
• 7g Ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon whole milk or heavy cream (optional)

1. Mix the levain: Warm or cool the water to about 78F (25C). In a medium jar, mix the levain ingredients until well incorporated (this liquid levain will feel quite loose) and loosely cover. Store in a warm place for 12 hours.
2. Mix the dough: To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, milk, honey, water, salt, and ripe levain. Mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes until combined. Increase the mixer to medium speed and mix for 3 to 4 minutes until the dough begins to cling to the dough hook. This dough is on the stiff side, so it should cling to the hook after just a few minutes of mixing. Let the dough rest in the bowl, covered, for 10 minutes.
3. Incorporate the butter and rosemary: With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, one pat at a time, until absorbed into the dough, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the paddle as needed. Continue until all the butter is added, about 5 minutes. Mix for 1 to 2 minutes more until the dough smooths out and clings to the dough hook once again. Add in the chopped rosemary. Mix for 1 minute until the rosemary is incorporated. The dough will be silky smooth and elastic, but will feel slightly tacky due to the milk and butter additions. Transfer the dough to a container for bulk fermentation.
4. Bulk fermentation: Write down the current time as the start of bulk fermentation, set a timer for 1 hour and let the dough rest in a warm place. When your timer goes off, give the dough one set of stretch and folds. Wet your hands. Grab one side of the dough  and lift it up and over to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180 degrees and repeat. Then rotate the bowl a quarter turn and stretch and fold that side. Rotate the bowl 180 degrees again and finish with a stretch and fold on the last side. The dough should be folded up neatly. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for the remainder of bulk fermentation, about 3 hours.
5. Divide and shape: At the end of bulk fermentation, the dough will have risen in the bulk container; it may have bubbles on top and at the sides, it should look smoother and less shaggy, and at the edges of the dough where it meets the container, it should dome downward. If you wet a hand and gently tug on the surface of the dough, it will feel elastic and cohesive, resisting your pull. If you don't see dough that's airy, strong, and "alive", leave it for another 15 minutes in bulk fermentation and check again. Using a bowl scraper, gently scrape the dough onto a work surface and use your bench knife to divide the dough into 24 pieces of 35g each. Using both hands, or a bench knife and one hand, shape each piece of dough into a very small, tight round. Place the rounds in the prepared pan in four rows of six with about 1/2 inch or so in between. Place the pan inside a reusable plastic bag and seal.
6. Proof: Put the pan in a warm place to proof for about 2 hours. The dough is ready when the rounds have relaxed outward and are puffy to the touch. If they still look or feel dense when gently poked, let proof 15 minutes more and check again.
7. Bake:  Make the egg wash by whisking together the egg and 1 tablespoon milk. use a pastry brush to brush a very light layer of the egg wash onto each roll. If desired, put some white flour in a small fine-mesh sieve and dust a small amount of flour on the tops of the rolls. Sprinkle some coarse seas salt on the top of each roll. Slide the pan into the 400F oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake about 10 minutes more, or until the internal temperature reaches 204F and the tops are golden. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the rolls to a wire rack to cool. These are fantastic warm right from the oven, or they will keep in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.

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Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/