Stand mixer Sunday on Monday: Sourdough dinner rolls

Ever seen Spongebob Squarepants in one of those episodes where the narrator saying in an annoyed voice "Three days later"? That was the story of my sourdough rolls.

The first batch I just could not get to rise. I knew it wasn't my sourdough sponge because it is growing at a healthy rate and I feed it as prescribed. So I had to start again .... here's is my modified recipe after painstaking trials.

Day one: before you go to bed, feed your sourdough starter to make a sponge. Add one cup flour and one cup warm, filtered water and then stir well. Leave it in a draft-free area of your home overnight or until it foams.

Day two: It's a labor of love. Here's where the fun starts.

Start with a cup of warm water, a pinch of sugar and a half a teaspoon of dried active yeast. Set it aside for five minutes so it too can foam.

In the meantime, start this in your stand mixer:

1 and 1/2 cup of the sponge

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix that all together until incorporated. Next, add the yeasty water mixture, then:

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time (you may need a little bit more, depending on your climate, starter, etc.)

Phew, that's the hard part. Next, put this in a greased bowl, cover it with cling wrap and then put it in a cool spot (60ish degrees) to rise until doubled, about six hours. This slow rise helps develop the flavor. Next, take it out, punch it down and knead again, then allow it to rise until doubled one more time, this time in a warm area, like your microwave with some warm water in a shallow dish to help keep things moist and warm.

After this, turn the dough out on a floured counter top and divide the dough into equal parts until you have dough pieces somewhere between the size of an egg and a tennis ball. Roll them into dinner rolls and put on a greased baking sheet. Cover the 16 to 20 rolls with a damp cloth and let it rise one more time, about a half hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and glaze the rolls in the meantime with one egg beaten with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Make sure to make little crosses with a sharp knife so the dough has a chance to rise in the oven.

Finally, after all this work, bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy the fruits of this long labor.