Dark and Soft Dinner Rolls

Cold winter weather seems to inspire me to tuck into a nice bowl of soup, and nothing goes better with soup than a nice, homemade bread.  My hubby and sons made these rolls to pair with my wonderfully chunky sweet potato soup.  My boys loved helping daddy shape these rolls, and all day long my three year old kept informing me, "We are making rolls and they have Chaaaaaaaaacolate in them."  I hated to break his heart and tell him I didn't think they were what he was thinking.  I was pleasantly surprised thought that there are faint chocolate notes.  This one was adapted from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book.  I am sending this post over to Susan at Wild Yeast for her YeastSpotting event.  Have fun baking!

Dark and Soft Dinner Rolls adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

1/3 c. orange juice

4 Tbls. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

1/3 c. honey

9 oz. whole wheat flour

9 1/2 oz. all purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbls. sugar

2 Tbls. Dutch-process cocoa

Directions:

1.  Combine the water and the yeast in a small bowl and set aside.

2.  In a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook, combine all remaining ingredients.  Mix together.  Add the water/yeast mixture.  Mix until very smooth.  You will have to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3.  Cover bowl and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours until not quite doubled.

4.  Gently deflate the dough.  Divide into 10 equal pieces and shape the pieces into 5 inch x 2 inch oval rolls.  Place the rolls on a non-stick baking sheet.  Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

5.  Towards the end of the rising time, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

6.  Uncover the rolls and bake them until the bottoms are slightly browned, 25-30 minutes.  Remove the rolls from the oven and cool on a rack.