Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls Recipe

How to make it

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• Bring ¾ cup whole milk and ¾ cup water to simmer in small saucepan. Remove from heat.
• Add butter; stir until melted. Attach thermometer to inside of pan; let milk cool until thermometer registers 120°F to 130°F.**
• Meanwhile, combine 3 cups flour, potato flakes, dry milk powder, sugar, yeast, and salt in large bowl; whisk to blend.
• Add warm milk mixture. Stir to blend; mix in egg yolk.
• Knead mixture in bowl until dough comes together (dough will be sticky). Turn out onto floured work surface and knead until very smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, adding more flour as needed, about 8 minutes.
• Place dough in buttered bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 to 1½ hours.
• Butter 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan or small baking sheet.
• Turn dough out onto floured work surface and divide in half. Knead each piece lightly until smooth. Cut each dough half into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into almost smooth ball. Arrange dough rounds in 4 lengthwise and 4 crosswise rows in prepared pan, spacing about ¾ to 1 inch apart (rolls will not fill pan).
• Cover shaped rolls with kitchen towel and let rise in warm draft-free area until rolls have almost doubled in volume and have expanded enough to touch each other, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.
• Gently brush rolls with egg-white glaze, then sprinkle generously with oats. Bake dinner rolls until light golden brown, about 28 minutes. Let rolls cool in pan 5 minutes, then pull rolls apart and cool on rack at least 15 minutes.
• Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cool rolls completely, then wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven about 10 minutes, if desired, or serve at room temperature.
• Can also be made and frozen up to 2 weeks ahead. Wrap in foil, then place in plastic bag.
• * Note: White whole wheat flour is milled from 100 percent hard white wheat. It contains all of the germ and bran (and nutritional value) of regular whole wheat, but has a naturally lighter color and milder flavor. It's available at some supermarkets and specialty foods stores and from kingarthurflour.com. I cannot stress too strongly how important it is to use high quality flour in this and other baking recipes. I would never attempt this recipe without King Arthur white whole wheat flour -- I just don't feel I can trust other brands completely.
• ** Also, it's very important to check the temperature of your water/milk mixture before adding the yeast. I have messed up my share of bread recipes by killing the yeast by adding it to liquid that is either too cold or too hot.
• *** I have found that the water is crucial. I always use bottled water -- never water from the tap -- to make certain that no unwanted chemicals or minerals find their way into my batter. I strongly advise taking this extra step.