Buttery Sourdough Rolls

 I made some delicious rolls tonight!  These will be perfect for Thanksgiving!  I made these pretty big so that we could use them as buns, so if you make rolls I would recommend making them half the size.  I cut them in half for the buns, aren't they pretty?

 Ingredients
1 cup sourdough starter
3 cups flour (I used two cups unbleached white and one cup hard white whole wheat)
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda (helps with the rising for a fluffier roll)
1 large egg
5 tablespoons soft butter
2/3 cup lukewarm water

Directions
1)  Combine all of the ingredients in a large bow, mix and knead to make a soft, smooth dough.  I let it mix in my stand mixer for five minutes on a medium setting, but my mixer has a 1,000 wattage, so your mixer might be different.  This does all the kneading for me.  I did add a little flour since it was  too wet and kneaded it for a couple of minutes by hand while forming it into a ball.
2)  Place the dough in a lightly greased container and let it rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
(You can go ahead and form into balls here and bake or do a second rising.  Both worked well.)
3)  Lightly grease a casserole dish or cookie sheet.  I think next time I will use my stoneware.  I made big buns, for rolls, make them half the size.
4)  Cover the pans and let rise for 60 minutes. Don't let them rise too long.  Towards the end of the  rising time, preheat the oven to 350F
5)  Bake the rolls for 22-25 minutes and buns for 32-35 minutes, depending on your oven.
6)  Brush the tops with butter after you take them out of the oven.  Serve warm!
We put barbecued beef on ours.

If you are having problems with your dough rising (this is for yeast and sourdough), there are a couple of tricks you can try.  I keep my house pretty cold in the winter.  (a)  You can fill your sink with hot water and turn a bowl upside down and set the dough in a bowl on top of the upside down bowl.  The steam and heat will help your dough rise.  (b)  wash your dishes and set your dough on top of the dishwasher, again the steam and heat from the dishwasher will help with the rising.  (c)  today I sat the dough right next to my crockpot and the heat from the crockpot helped.

Be sure you do not leave the burner on!  We were sitting there eating supper and I asked my husband if he smelled something burning.  He ran into the kitchen and my favorite pot holder, which hangs above the stove, had caught on fire!  He said a couple of more minutes and there would have been flames!  I'm so sad over the loss of my potholder, what a stupid thing to do!  Luckily I had pulled the pan off the burner already.  My kitchen is green and yellow and matched perfectly.  Can you see my sad face?

If you have extra rolls, you can put them in the freezer and pull them out as you need them.
If you have any questions, be sure to ask!
Happy Baking!
Missy