Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

Last Friday I blogged about my new Foodie Linky Party and I gave a recipe for Baked Meatballs.  On Sunday, I made said meatballs and they were SO good!!  I also made whole wheat dinner rolls to go with them, (and fried apples...  mmmmm!).  I always forget to take pictures, (even though it was required in Culinary school), so I only have pictures of the wheat rolls.  They were an absolute hit and there was not a single roll left by the end of dinner!

Here are the rolls before I baked them:

And here they are after:

And here is the recipe:

Makes 2 large loaves or 35 dinner rolls

2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder

18 fluid ounces warm water (warmer than room temp, but not hot)

3 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 tablespoons honey

5 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

1. In a mixer bowl, add milk powder, water, yeast, honey, and enough flour to make a pancake-like batter.

2. Sprinkle flour on top to make a 'blanket'.

3. Cover bowl with a towel and place in a warm spot, until flour on top cracks.

4. Pour rest of flour on top, then salt.

5. Mix with a dough hook attachment until dough starts to come together.

6. Add butter and mix 5-8 minutes.  Dough should be elastic, but not tough.

7. Pour dough out on clean counter, cover with plastic wrap and let sit 5 minutes.

8. Punch dough dough to knock all the air out.

9. Portion dough as desired and shape into loaves or rolls

10. Cover with towel and let dough rise until doubled in size.

11.  Put dough in sprayed pans and bake at 375 degrees (loaves - 1 hour, rolls - 20 minutes)

12. Immediately remove from pans and allow to cool.  May be brushed with melted butter.