A little lighter than their traditional counterpart, with fewer eggs and less butter, these sourdough brioche dinner rolls have a thin, crisp crust, a cloud-soft interior and a rich, buttery taste. They pair perfectly with a bowl of homemade tomato soup.

Makes 12 dinner rolls
Preparation – 40 minutes active time and about 7 hours resting
Baking – 30 minutes

Ingredients

50ml (10 tsp) tepid milk
100g (just under 1/2 cup) 100% hydration mature starter
250g (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose (plain) flour
12g (1 tbsp) granulated (white) sugar
3g (1/2 tsp) fine salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
115g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 egg, lightly beaten, for egg wash

Directions

Heat the milk in a small bowl, add the starter and stir to combine.

Put the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and pour in the starter mixture and beaten eggs. Mix on low speed for five minutes, until completely combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula,increase to kneading speed and mix for about 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth.

Scrape down the bowl again and, with the mixer running at low speed, add the butter a teaspoon at a time. It will look very buttery at first, and will take about ten minutes for the butter to be completely incorporated.

When the butter is all incorporated, increase the speed and knead for about ten minutes, until the dough is very smooth and comes away from the bowl.

Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl with a damp towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about five hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

Knock the dough back by folding it over two or three times with a bowl scraper.

Heavily butter a 12 hole muffin tin.

Scrape dough out onto work surface, knead gently together and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Roll the dough pieces into balls, arrange seam side down in muffin tin and brush lightly with egg wash.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 2 hours, until doubled in sized.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Brush the rolls lightly again with egg wash. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C (360°F) and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Turn rolls out onto a wire rack and allow to cool a little before serving warm.