Traditional Parker House Rolls Recipes

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water; let stand 5 minutes. Add milk, salt, egg, oil, 2 cups flour and remaining water and sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 2 portions. Roll each portion to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. If desired, brush with butter., Using the dull edge of a knife, crease each slightly off-center. Fold at the crease. Press edges together lightly. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover with a kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°., Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter and sugar and let cool. Dissolve yeast in warm water and let sit until foamy. Combine milk mixture, eggs, yeast, salt, and 1/2 of the flour in a mixer with the dough attachment and mix until smooth. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and stir until a smooth ball forms.
• Remove from the bowl and knead by hand on a floured surface for about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 60 to 70 minutes. On a floured surface, punch down the dough and shape into desired shapes. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Cover again and let rise until doubled, about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Preheat the oven 350 degrees F.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter before serving.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• Place the milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter and sugar and let cool. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Combine the milk mixture, eggs, yeast mixture, salt and 3 cups flour in a mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix until smooth. Add the remaining 3 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until a smooth ball forms.
• Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface for about 5 minutes. Butter a large bowl, add the dough, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 60 to 70 minutes.
• On a floured surface, punch down the dough and cut into 24 two-inch pieces; roll into balls. Place on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover again and let rise until doubled, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake the rolls until golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter before serving.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS(COOK'S ILLUSTRATED)

Steps:

• 1. Whisk water, yeast, and honey in bowl of stand mixer until well combined, making sure no honey sticks to bottom of bowl. Add flours and mix on low speed with dough hook until cohesive dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes.
• 2. Remove plastic wrap and evenly sprinkle salt over dough. Knead on low speed (speed 2 on KitchenAid) 5 minutes. (If dough creeps up attachment, stop mixer and scrape down using well-floured hands or greased spatula.) 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 1 minute. Lightly spray 2-quart bowl with nonstick cooking spray; transfer dough to bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• 3. Fold dough over itself; rotate bowl quarter turn and fold again. Rotate bowl again and fold once more. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap, and let dough rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• 4. Transfer dough to floured work surface, sprinkle top with more flour. Using bench scraper, cut dough in half and gently stretch each half into 16-inch cylinders. Divide each cylinder into quarters, then each quarter into 2 pieces (you should have 16 pieces total), 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, and place in prepared cake pan. Arrange 8 dough pieces in each cake pan, placing one piece in middle and others around it, with long side of each piece running from center of pan to edge and making sure cut-side faces up. Loosely cover cake pans with plastic wrap and let rolls rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes (dough is ready when it springs back slowly when pressed lightly with finger). Thirty minutes before baking, adjust rack to middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees.
• 5. Remove plastic wrap from cake pans, spray rolls lightly with water, and place in oven. Bake 10 minutes until tops of rolls are brown; remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees; using kitchen towels or oven mitts, invert rolls from both cake pans onto rimmed baking sheet. When rolls are cool enough to handle, turn right-side up, pull apart, and space evenly on baking sheet. Continue to bake until rolls develop deep golden brown crust and sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 10 to 15 minutes; rotating baking sheet halfway through baking time. Transfer rolls to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a bowl; let stand until mixture is foaming, about 10 minutes.
• Stir warm milk, 6 tablespoons sugar, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water into yeast mixture. Gradually whisk 2 cups flour into yeast mixture until smooth. Add remaining 3 1/2 cup flour, egg, 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons vegetable oil to flour-yeast mixture; stir until dough is soft.
• Turn dough onto a floured work surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once so top of dough is greased. Cover bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm room until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough and divide in half. Roll each half on a floured surface until 1/3 to 1/2-inch thick. Cut dough using a floured 2 1/2-inch round cutter. Brush each dough circle with melted butter.
• Make an off-center crease in each dough circle using the dull edge of a table knife. Fold along crease so larger half is on top; press along folded edge.
• Grease a baking sheet.
• Arrange folded dough circles, 2 to 3 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Remove towel or plastic wrap from dough.
• Bake in the preheated oven until rolls are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer rolls to a wire rack to cool.

CLASSIC PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• In the detached bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together yeast, 1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees), and a pinch of sugar. Set aside until mixture is foamy, about 6 minutes.
• Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment. On low speed, add 7 tablespoons butter, milk, salt, remaining sugar, and eggs. Slowly add enough flour to make a sticky dough. Brush the inside of a mixing bowl with butter. Place dough in bowl; cover bowl with buttered plastic wrap. Set aside until doubled in size, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Generously brush a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with butter. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Roll into a 12-by-16-inch rectangle. Brush dough generously with 3 tablespoons butter. Using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife, cut dough into 6 equal strips lengthwise. Cut dough crosswise into 4 equal parts. You will have 24 elongated rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half, and place in prepared baking pan, 4 across, and 6 down. Brush tops with remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Cover pan with buttered plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until dough does not spring back when pressed with a finger, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool for at least 5 minutes before turning out of pan.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• Stir together warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Melt 3/4 stick butter in a small saucepan. Add milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir together yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, butter mixture, bread flour, and salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined well, then stir in enough all-purpose flour to make a slightly sticky dough that forms a ball.
• Butter a large bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, kneading in more all-purpose flour if dough is too sticky, 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic but still slightly sticky. Form into a ball and put in buttered bowl. Turn to coat with butter, then let rise in bowl, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
• Butter a 13- by 9-inch baking pan. Divide dough into 20 equal pieces and roll into balls. Arrange evenly in 4 rows of 5 in pan and let rise, covered loosely, in a warm place 45 minutes, or until almost doubled in bulk. Make a deep crease down center of each row of rolls using length of a floured chopstick or side of a ruler. Let rolls rise, covered loosely, 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cool slightly. Brush tops of rolls with butter and bake in middle of oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let rolls cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool to warm.

TRADITIONAL PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• Butter a 12-by-9-inch rimmed baking sheet. Place 1/2 cup warm milk in a small bowl, and sprinkle with yeast; stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring remaining 3/4 cup milk just to a simmer. Remove from heat; add 6 tablespoons butter, along with sugar and salt, stirring until butter has completely melted. Set aside.
• Place 4 1/2 cups flour in the bowl of an electric mixer. Make a well in the center with your hands, and pour in the yeast mixture, butter mixture, and eggs. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook, and beat on low speed until dough just starts to come together, about 2 minutes. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, 5 minutes, adding remaining cup flour as needed. Butter a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turning to coat evenly with butter. Cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough, and let rest 10 minutes.
• Melt remaining stick of butter. Divide dough into two equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece into a 12-by-10-inch rectangle, keeping the second piece covered with the towel. Refrigerate dough until well chilled, about 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Place dough on a lightly floured work surface with long-side parallel to edge of work surface. Using a sharp paring knife, cut dough vertically into six 2-inch strips. Cut dough horizontally 4 inches from bottom edge of dough. Make another horizontal cut 3 1/2-inches from the first horizontal cut. Make a final horizontal cut 2 1/2 inches from the second cut.
• Center a medium rectangle on a large rectangle, and top stack with a small rectangle; repeat with remaining rectangles. Fold each stack in half crosswise and transfer to a buttered muffin tin, folded-side in. Cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• Brush melted butter over top of each roll. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Brush with more melted butter; serve hot or at room temperature.