Recipe Steps

• Heat the milk in a saucepan until it just begins to boil, then let it cool down to 130 degrees F.
• Meanwhile, combine 2 cups of the flour ( 255 grams), sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Pour the 130 degree milk into the flour mixture and stir with a big spoon or preferably a heavy duty scraper until mixed. Add the sour cream and eggs and stir until well mixed. Add the salt and another cup of flour and keep stirring to make a soft goopy dough.
• Attach the dough hook and put the mixer on the stand. Begin mixing your very soft, loose dough with the hook. Add butter one cube at a time with the mixer going. Keep mixing with the hook until butter is absorbed.
• Add another cup of flour (127 grams). Continue kneading, stopping to scrape bowl often, The dough should still be pretty soft, but when you stop and scrape it it should feel slightly elastic. Continue adding flour. If you are using bleached ap it you will most likely use the full 4 ½ cups. Knead until the dough clings to both the hook and the sides but snaps off when you scrape it. This is a soft dough. You should have 43 oz. Scrape it into a tub with a lid or a big bowl.
• Cover the bowl and chill if baking the next day or cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.
• Next day (or in an hour, after dough has risen), remove the dough from the refrigerator or wherever you’d set it to rise and punch it down gently, not violently, leaving some air in the dough. It should be soft.
• Place the pieces on lightly greased or parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets or 9x13 inch pans, leaving about an inch between them. Brush with melted butter or whatever fat you prefer. Cover with a greased sheet of plastic wrap and let sit for about an hour or until they’ve risen. Note: If you are working with chilled dough, it may take the shaped rolls up to two hours to really rise.
• Make filling while dough rises. For the topping, just mix dry ingredients together and toss with butter (and a splash of vanilla, if using) until crumbly. For cheese, just beat softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth, then beat in yolk, zest and vanilla.
• Press a small indentation in the center of each roll and add a spoonful of cheese filling or canned pie filling. Brush with a little more butter and sprinkle with crumb mixture. Let sit while oven preheats to 350F
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until very lightly browned.
• Serve the fruity ones hot, but let the cheese ones cool down a bit.