Parker House Rolls *Recipe #6 - Page 216*

Nothing compares to homemade rolls!! These rolls were absolutely delicious!! They were light, fluffy and easy to make. I have never attempted to bake bread or yeast rolls before so I was a little nervous. However, my Mom bakes a lot of bread and I asked her for some tips. I was sure to have fresh yeast and followed Mom's advise on letting the dough rise in the oven over a warm bowl of water.

Overall, the recipe took about 3 hours from start to finish due to the rising time. I really enjoyed making these rolls and started to wonder why I hadn't attempted baking bread before. I think I always felt overwhelmed by the time it takes to let the dough rise. Now I feel like I have to make up for lost time. I'm thinking about baking all the bread recipes in Tyler's book right now.

Tyler's recipe uses bread flour and a/p flour and he cuts an "x" pattern just before baking. It also calls for brushing whole milk onto the rolls prior to baking. He serves his parker house rolls with a melted parsley butter. I also made the parsley butter and it was a great addition to the rolls.

When I make these again I am going to try a few different things. I probably won't cut the "x" pattern on top because I prefer a smooth roll. Instead of brushing the rolls with whole milk, I might try butter. And, I will look for another pan to bake them in so that I can increase the amount of soft and fluffy rolls in the middle. This time I used a large pie pan and most of the rolls were on the edge of the pan. Everyone fought over the soft rolls in the middle.

If you have never tried making your own yeast breads before...you should!! The possibilites are endless. I am really excited to open up a whole new world to bread.