Milk Rolls
Instructions
Crush the brewer's yeast in a bowl, add 2 teaspoons of sugar and half a cup (100 ml) of slightly warmed milk; stir to melt the lumps and cover the bowl with a small plate, waiting until the milk skims a little bit. In the meanwhile warm slightly the remaining milk, add the remaining sugar, the melted butter and the salt, then stir well in order to melt everything. Put the flour into a bowl (or onto a pastry board), make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and yeast mixture, which in the meanwhile is skimmed (1). Initially blend all the ingredients in the bowl, then transfer the dough to a flat board (2) and knead it with hands (3).
Blend well all the ingredients to form a ball (4), be sure and knead it for at least 15 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Put the dough into a bowl and cover with a slightly wet cloth; let it rise in a warm place free from drafts for at least 2 hours: the dough should double in volume (5). Once the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and roll it up like a sausage.
Cut this loaf of dough into many pieces of about 1 oz (30 g) each, shape them to small balls and lay them in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. In order to shape the bread rolls you should not form a ball by rolling each piece of dough between your hands (as you do for meatballs), because they would get wrinkled, instead of smooth. On the contrary, you should take every little piece with your fingers, fold the edges downwards and pinch them together with thumbs in order to seal them (8). In this way you'll bring all the wrinkles to the bottom of the bread roll, obtaining a smooth surface; those wrinkles at the bottom will be softened after the dough has risen again. Brush the obtained bread rolls with some warm milk and let them rise for at least half an hour in a warm place free from drafts (9).
In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 420F (220C) and, when the bread rolls will have risen again (10), brush them with the whisked egg (11) and bake for about 18 minutes. Once browned (12), take your milk rolls out of the oven and let them cool down.
