Savory Breakfast Rolls

3/4 Cups warm water
3/4 Tablespoon yeast (3/4 packets)
2 Teaspoons salt
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 Cup honey
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3 3/4 Cups all-purpose flour

1. Combine every ingredient except flour and mix well. Then mix in the flour.
2. The dough will be very moist – gooey even. Let this dough sit and rise at room temperature for 2 hours and then into the fridge for at least a few hours, but ideally overnight. You will not be able to use this dough unless it is cold.

1 pound ground pork

½ chopped onion

Chopped fresh sage

Salt and pepper

Store-bought pesto

Shredded cheese

1. The morning of you are going to need to make the pork filling. Heat the pork and the onion in a medium pan until the pork is cooked through and the onions are soft. Add in the sage and season with salt and pepper. let the mixture cool in the pan, but do not wash it, we are going to use the drippings for gravy.
2. Take your dough out of the fridge and on a well-floured surface roll it into a long rectangle, about 20 inches by 16 inches.
3. Then layer on your toppings. Put down your pesto, then your ground pork mixture, and finally your cheese.
4. Rolling this thing is a bit of a trick. Roll it from left to right or right to left, whatever is easiest for you. If your dough is sticking to the table, go slowly, and use a dough scraper or butter knife to release the dough from the table. A bit tricky. Go slow. Patience is a virtue.
5. Eventually, you will end up, hopefully, with a tube of rolled awesomeness. Cut this with a serrated knife into eight even sections.
6. Turn these guys upright in a buttered dish and let them rise for about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375.
7. These guys need to bake for a long time. About an hour. I baked mine for 45 minutes and the outer buns were done, but the interior ones were still a bit soggy in the middle.

 

1. While those are cooking, let’s talk gravy. You should have a decent amount of fat left over from the pork and probably even some leftover ground pork. Get all of that in your pan and put it on medium heat. One tablespoon at a time you want to add flour in an equal proportion of fat.
2. It doesn’t have to be exact. I guessed that I had about 5 Tablespoons of fat from the pork, so I added 5 Tablespoons flour. Stir this together and the flour will start to cook slowly and brown. This, my friends, is a roux.
3. After about 5 minutes, you will end up with a dark roux.
4. Then, very slowly, whisk in about 2 cups of milk. There will be steam. Whisk furiously. Try to whisk out any clumps that form. I added about 1/4 of a cup at a time and eventually ended up with this lovely, creamy gravy. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. After an hour, pull out those buns. They will look like, well, breakfast perfection
6. Serve up one of these and ladle plenty of gravy over the top.