Ricotta Garlic Knots
My wife requested some of these tasty rolls at the last-minute for our belated holiday family dinner this past weekend. She wanted something to go along with her eggplant parmesan and lasagna and these really went well.
Since I didn't have a lot of time to make these with yeast water or sourdough starter I used some instant yeast but to try to build some extra flavor I retarded the dough overnight in the refrigerator.
The garlic flavor is subtle in these so since my wife wanted some extra garlic punch, she made a compound garlic butter and brushed the knots before putting them in the oven to warm up before serving dinner. It really brought out the garlic flavor and made these more decadent and tasty in the process.
I used some fresh milled Kamut flour for a little extra nutty flavor along with AP flour for the majority of the flour.
All-in-all these are a simple recipe to make and quite good for dipping in some homemade tomato sauce.
Formula
Directions
Melt the butter in a small heavy-duty pot and then add the ricotta cheese, minced garlic and milk until combined. Let it cool to around 90 degrees before adding to the flour.
Mix flours with yeast to combine. Next add remainder of the ingredients and mix on low for 1 minute and then for 5 minutes at speed number 2. The dough should form a ball and clean the side of the mixing bowl.
Take the dough out of your mixer and form it into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl or dough rising bucket. Immediately place the dough in the refrigerator overnight for up to 2 days.
When ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for about 1 hour.
Next gently deflate the dough and form into knots or rolls and place on cookie sheet with parchment paper. Cover with a moist towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour until the rolls have almost doubled in size and pass the poke test.
Around 30 minutes before ready to bake the rolls, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and prepare your oven for steam as well. I use a heavy-duty pan in the bottom shelf of my oven and pour 1 cup of boiling water in right before placing the rolls in the oven.
Right before you are ready to bake the rolls prepare an egg wash and paint your rolls.
Bake the rolls at 450 degrees for the first 5 minutes and lower the oven to 425 degrees until they are nice and brown. You can brush them with some garlic butter when you take them out or if and when you warm them up later for serving. My wife also sprinkled on some grated parmesan cheese for good measure.
These should take about 25 minutes to cook thoroughly. When done let them cool on wire rack for at least half an hour before digging in if you can wait that long.