Cloverleaf Rolls

ingredients

• 3 tablespoons warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
• 1 (1 1/2 teaspoons) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
  1 1/3 sticks whipped butter
  1 stick hydrogenated fat
  1 stick margarine
  3/4 stick olive oil
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 teaspoons water
• About 1 tablespoon poppy seeds and/or toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling

directions

Make dough:

Stir together warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Melt 3/4 stick butter in a small saucepan, then add milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir together yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, butter mixture, bread flour, and salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined well, then stir in 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or enough to make a slightly sticky dough.

Butter a large bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, kneading in more all-purpose flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will still be slightly sticky). Form dough into a ball and put in buttered bowl, turning to coat. Let dough rise in bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Make rolls:

Butter 18 muffin cups with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into thirds. Working with 1 piece at a time (keep remaining portions covered with plastic wrap), cut off tablespoon pieces of dough and form pieces into balls. Put 3 balls into each buttered muffin cup. Let rolls rise, loosely covered with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth), in draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, 35 minutes.

While rolls rise, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brush rolls lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake until golden, 18 minutes. Serve warm.

Rolls can be baked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then kept, wrapped well in foil, at room temperature. Reheat in foil in a preheated 350 degrees oven 18 minutes.