Pull Apart Bread with Smoked Paprika Butter

Instructions

In a small saucepan, warm the milk and honey to 110F. Pour into a large bowl and add the yeast. Stir and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.

In the meantime, heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Shake the pan and toast until aromatic, 30 seconds. Remove from the pan immediately and place in a mortar. With a pestle, coarsely grind the seeds. Reserve 2 teaspoons of the seeds for the top when baking the rolls.

Add the flour, butter, 2 of the eggs, coarsely ground seeds, sweet, smoked and hot paprika and salt and either by hand or in a stand mixer knead the dough until soft, and smooth, about 4 minutes, adding additional flour as needed.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in size, 1 to 2 hours. This can also rise in the refrigerator overnight. If so, remove from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, 1 hour.

Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment and draw a 10 X 10-inch square on the parchment centered in the middle of the baking sheet. Turn the paper over.

Punch down the dough and turn out on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and each of those pieces into 6 pieces making 36 balls. Form each into a round seamless shape. Place 1 ball on each corner of the square. Arrange the remaining balls evenly, 4 on each side, to fill the square. Arrange the remaining 16 balls about 1/2-inch inside the square of dough. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until double in volume, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 375F. Whisk the remaining egg with milk or cream and brush the top of the rolls gently with the egg wash. Sprinkle the reserved toasted and coarsely ground seeds and flake salt onto the top distributing evenly. Bake until golden brown, about 18 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve warm with Smoked Paprika Butter.

SMOKED PAPRIKA BUTTER

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon smoked Hungarian paprika
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Place the butter, sweet paprika, smoked paprika and salt in a bowl and mash together.

Makes ½ cup