Marcella’s Famous Italian Garlic Rolls
You can make the dough out of pre-packaged pizza dough. If you use a pre-packaged dough, add a little extra yeast.
Ingredients shown are for a small batch. Double or triple it for guests. They are great the next day and freeze well.
Dough:
- 2½ cups of flour
- 1 package yeast (I usually put an extra ½ package for extra rise)
- ½ cup warm water
- 3-4 tablespoons of oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- A pinch of salt
Turn the oven to lowest temperature and then turn off.
Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix warm water, sugar and yeast (sugar primes the yeast). Let it sit for a minute or two, then add it slowly to the flour mixture. Stir with a fork, then start using your hands to mix it and mold it. Add the oil at this point and knead into mixture. You might want to do this in a food processor and use the knead attachment or the cutting blade. It saves a lot of time and energy especially for large batches.
Keep kneading the mixture and add extra water as needed until the texture is right – not too doughy, not too floury. Adjust the mixture’s consistency by adding more flour, oil or water depending on consistency until it is easy to form into a large ball without leaving residue on your hands. You might want to use the pastry dough hook on your food processor (you can also use the cutting blade) and just run it until the mixture turns into a ball. Let it spin about ten times or so until it is kneaded well.
Let the dough rise in a bowl covered with a dish towel. Put it in the warmed oven – make sure the oven is off! Let it sit for about twenty plus minutes. Take it out and keep it covered while you pre-heat the oven for baking.
Preheat oven to 400-425° depending upon your oven (some ovens run hot).
Take the dough out of the bowl, shape it into a log the size of your index finger but thicker. Roll between your hands for a few seconds and then shape and tie into knots. This will make a little roll. You can make them bigger but I prefer them crunchy like Marcella’s. Lay the rolls out on an ungreased cookie sheet. Let them sit until the signal sounds for the pre-heated oven. Place the cookie sheet on top rack and half way through baking, move it to the bottom rack. This keeps the bottom of the rolls from becoming too brown. Take the rolls out in 13-15 minutes or when golden brown.
While rolls are baking, chop garlic into very small minced like pieces. Again, you may want to use the food processor to chop the garlic into small pieces. If you like a lot of garlic, chop a whole bulb and use as much as you want (depending if you have doubled the recipe).
Put chopped garlic in large bowl add olive oil (add a little canola oil if you want to make it lighter). Add Italian spices (fresh is always best) including basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary and salt (coarse is best). Throw in hot rolls and toss like a salad. Then garnish with fresh parsley!
Enjoy!