Recipe from Gourmet Magazine February 2009 Issue

On the cover of February's Gourmet magazine has several dinner rolls and this beautiful fan looking bread caught my attention. I am sure many many readers of Gourmet magazine tried to make this roll after they received this issue. I bake all the breads we eat especially for dinner parties as much as I can and I through I tried to make this for my next dinner party. I looks impressive but actually it was quite easy to make. To make it even much easier, I let bread machine to make a dough for me and just had fun to shape the bread. I made the bread a week ahead of the party and I reheated with 350ºF oven as they suggested.

Yield: 12 Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
• 1/4 cup warm water (105°F - 115°F)
• 1 tablespoon mild honey or sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Cooking Directions

1. Butter muffin cups with 1 Tbsp melted butter.

2. Stir together yeast, warm water, and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)

3. Mix flour, salt, buttermilk, and 6 Tbsp melted butter into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

4. Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

5. Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Roll out half of dough on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 12-inch square (about 1/8 inch thick; keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap). Brush dough with 1/2 Tbsp butter and cut into 6 equal strips. Stack strips, buttered sides up, and cut crosswise into 6 equal pieces. Turn each piece on a side and put into a muffin cup. Make more rolls with remaining dough in same manner. Separate outer layers of each roll to fan outward. Cover rolls with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and dough fills cups, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

6. Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Bake rolls until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Brush tops with remaining 2 Tbsp butter, then transfer rolls to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.
   
   Note: Rolls are best the day they are made but can be frozen (cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.