For Valentine’s Day, my husband and I went to a delicious new place in Richmond, Virginia – The Rouge Gentleman. While everything that we had there was delicious, the very first thing we had was their in house, made-to-order Parker House Rolls dusted with sea salt.

Their rolls arrived four to a small cast iron square with a side of butter, and I was transported to heaven. These fluffy, buttery clouds of edible deliciousness were obscenely good, and like the good foodie that I am, I decided I had to recreate these myself.

I wish I had a picture to compare and contrast my outcome, but you can let me know what you think. Mine are nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing, but they hit the mark on flavor. I do think I need to invest in some flaky sea salt to really tip these over the edge.

While these are obviously time consuming, given the 8+ hour of rise time, they are more than worth it, and might become my staple holiday and guilty pleasure dinner side.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 1/4 cup room temperature skim milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks softened, 1 stick melted)
• 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1 large egg
• Vegetable oil
• coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Heat 1/2 cup whole milk until warmed.
2. Combine milk in stand mixer (with dough hook) with sugar and yeast, allowing it to sit for about 10 minutes, until the mixture begins to foam.
3. Combine 1 1/2 sticks softened butter, 3 cups of flour, half of the skim milk, and the fine salt to mixture and turn stir at medium speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. 
   
4. Add the egg, mixing well; then add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of flour and remaining skim milk.
5. Turn stand mixer to a medium-high speed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl, as pictured to the right.
6. Lightly brush a large bowl with vegetable oil and add the dough.
7. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set it aside. You want the dough to double in size – about 2 hours.
8. After the dough has risen, brush 24 muffin cups with melted butter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down the dough.
9. Make 1 tablespoon sized dough rounds (as pictured to the right), putting them put on the prepared baking sheet, until you have 72 rounds.
10. Dunk the dough balls in the melted butter, letting the excess drip off, and arrange 3 balls in each muffin cup.
11. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and allow to rise in the refrigerator, overnight, or at least 8 hrs.
12. Remove the muffin pans from the refrigerator, uncover and let stand at room temperature, 1 hour.
13. Once dough has proofed, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
14. Sprinkle the dough with sea salt and bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the rolls are golden, about 15 minutes.
15. Melt the reserved butter, then brush on the hot rolls while still in the pan.