Every year I make a holiday themed bread. This year it’s pumpkins! These are so cute and delicious, such a nice addition to your thanksgiving table. If you love dinner rolls, but don’t love the work of making them look like a pumpkin, you can skip that step and just make the recipe and roll them into balls.
Start by weighing out the dry ingredients, flour and salt.
Weigh the milk and using a microwave, heat it up to 110°F. Then add 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Let that sit for 5 minutes to bloom.
Into the bowl of a stand mixer with your dry ingredients, add the yeast mixture. Mix with the dough hook attachment. Add 1 room temp egg and mix.
Once the mixture has come together, slowly incorporate the butter. Once all the butter has been absorbed, let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes, until it detaches from the sides of the bowl.
Place onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. Oil a bowl, cover, and let it rise until it’s doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Once it has risen, punch the dough down and cut into 12 small dough balls weighing about 75g each. Let the dough balls rest for 15 mins covered with a damp cloth.
Roll out each dough ball and add a cube of Fontina cheese to the center. Pull the dough around it and make sure to seal the seams well so the cheese doesn't ooze out during the baking process.
Cut 4 pieces of cooking twine for each roll, about 11 inches long.
Lay the string out in a web pattern, **see video. Tie each string once and then gather 4 on one side and 4 on the other and tie all the strings together, use a scissor to cut off an excess.
Place on parchment paper and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until slightly puffy, about 15 -20 mins.
In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Right before placing into the oven, brush with egg wash. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.