WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH DATE ROLLS

Steps:

• Date Paste Filling
• Chop the dates and combine them in a saucepan with the water, butter, and salt. Bring the mixture to a low simmer, stirring occasionally. When the dates have softened, mash them with a potato masher or use an immersion blender.
• Set aside to cool.
• Starter Build
• Mix the ingredients for the sweet stiff starter, cover and let it build for 6-12 hours at room temperature. It will expand and get webby inside.
• Mixing the Dough
• Scald the milk by bringing it to 180F (I use the microwave) and then cool it by adding the cold butter to the milk. This will soften the butter for you.
• Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer, including the stiff starter (tear it into about 5 pieces so it incorporates easier).
• Mix with a dough hook attachment for 10-15 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• If you don't have a stand mixer, mix the dough by hand/dough whisk until all of the ingredients are incorporated, and then transfer the dough to your counter and knead it for about 10 minutes. See this video for the churning technique I use. Make sure to scrape up your dough and rotate it periodically.
• By machine or hand, this whole grain dough will not feel the same as a refined flour dough, but it will start to stay together and make a weak windowpane.
• Bulk Fermentation
• When the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise until it has almost doubled. This can be as little as 6 hours in warm temps and 12 hours in cool temps, or even longer if you refrigerate the dough.
• Shaping Rolls
• Grease a 9"x13" pan. I tend to use glass but metal is good too.
• Flour your countertop and scrape the dough out onto the floured surface.
• Pat the dough into a rectangle, flour the top of the dough and with a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle about 24" wide and 12" deep. No need to be precise; but try to pull the corners into outward into a right angle and keep the dough thickness somewhat uniform.
• Ensure that you can lift your sheet of dough off the counter before moving to the filling step. If you can't, then dust and rub the sheet of dough with flour and carefully pry it off the counter with your bench knife and flip it over. Do some touch-ups with your rolling pin if needed to regain that rectangle shape. Now you will have dough that can roll up easily.
• Spread the date paste onto the surface of the dough, leaving a long 1/2" stripe at the top that is free of filling.
• Paint a smear of water down that stripe. This will help your rolls seal up (if that's what you want).
• Starting from the long end closest to you, roll the dough upward until you have a tube, seamside down.
• Using your bench knife (some people prefer serrated knives or chef knives), cut the tube in half, then quarters. Then cut each quarter in three pieces for a total of 12 rolls.
• Transfer the rolls to the greased pan (3 rows of 4 rolls).
• Loosely cover and let proof for 3-5 hours.
• Bake
• Preheat your oven to 350F for about 15 minutes.
• Place the pan of rolls uncovered on the middle shelf and bake 25-30 minutes. A metal pan may take a little less time. Look for golden edges on the dough, bubbling filling, and an internal temp of a dough portion of a center roll of at least 190F.
• Optional Cream Cheese Frosting
• In the bowl of a stand mixer. combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar.
• Using the paddle attachment, and a bowl hood if you have one, mix for a couple of minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and continue mixing until the frosting is creamy and smooth.