Whole wheat and oat dinner rolls

Makes a dozen dinner rolls. The preparation is a little involved, requiring a portion of the dough to be made the day before, but the end result is worth it. Really, this is probably the best whole wheat-ish roll I've ever had.

Soaker

• 2.8 oz. oats, coarsely ground
• 4 oz. water @ 70°F

Use regular (not instant or quick) oats. I ground them for about 30 seconds in the food processor until coarsely ground. Add 4 oz. of water in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the next day.

Poolish

• 4.5 oz. whole wheat flour
• 0.02 oz. instant yeast (1/4 tsp.)
• 4.0 oz. water @ 70°F

Mix together the yeast, water, and whole wheat flour until a paste forms and all of the flour is hydrated, but not longer. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours. Then put into the refrigerator overnight.

Dough

• 4 oz. bread flour or white whole wheat flour
• 2 oz. whole wheat flour
• 0.2 oz. salt
• 0.1 oz. instant yeast (1 tsp.)
• 1.0 oz. honey
• 0.3 oz. vegetable oil
• 1 egg lightly beaten

Remove the poolish from the refrigerator 1 hour before preparing the dough.

In the mixer bowl combine the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the poolish, soaker, honey, oil, and egg. Mix at low speed with the paddle attachment for 1 minute or until dough forms. Adjust consistency adding more water or flour.

Switch the mixer to the the dough hook and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball.

Lightly oil a bowl and a ball of dough to the bowl and roll to coat the dough lightly with oil. Cover with a towel and let rest for 2 to 3 hours until it doubles in size.

Punch down the dough and pinch off 2.0 oz. pieces and form into balls. There should be 12.

Lightly grease a 10" cake pan and place the balls into the pan.Spritz with oil, loosely cover with plastic wrap.

Let proof for 90 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375°F. When hot, add the pan of rolls and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe is partially from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, from the Whole Wheat Bread recipe pp. 270-272.

Trivia: Cultured butter, which is very delicious, is made by adding Lactobacillus to cream. This actually makes it a closer relative to sour cream and crème fraîche than regular butter. I recommend putting a little cultured butter on one of these dinner rolls.

Update: I made another batch of these rolls and they are as good as I remembered:

Update: I replaced the bread flour with King Arthur unbleached white whole wheat flour . It was an excellent replacement! The white whole wheat is 100 % whole grain, and because it's high-gluten it's a good replacement for the bread flour. I'm going to make it with the whole wheat flour (as listed above) and the white whole wheat instead of the bread flour, from now on. And that makes the recipe 100 % whole grain!