Texas Moppin' Rolls

Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 24
• 2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 6 1/2-7 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Recipe

• 1 combine yeast, honey and warm water in large bowl; stir until completely dissolved. add salt, hot red pepper flakes, onion, monterey jack cheese and cheddar cheese; stir until thoroughly mixed. add 6 cups of the flour, 2 cups at a time, mixing after each addition until the flour is completely incorporated.
• 2 turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. knead 6 to 8 minutes, adding enough of remaining flour to form a fairly stiff dough. rinse and dry the bowl, then oil surface of dough and place dough in bowl. cover with a clean, dry cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place about 1 hour, or until doubled.
• 3 punch down dough. knead briefly to expel large air bubbles. divide dough into 24 equal pieces (about 65 grams each). roll each piece into a fat oval.
• 4 place rolls in a lightly greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan (three rolls across, four down). let rise about 20 minutes, or until nearly doubled.
• 5 while rolls are rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees. place on middle rack of oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until top crust
• 6 is browned. remove rolls from pan and let cool on racks.
• 7 notes:.
• 8 with so many different palates to please, our abbey cooks are usually pretty cautious about spicy seasonings. as a result, sometimes monastery food is a bit bland, so i like to create breads with strong flavors. every time i serve these rolls, one of the brothers is sure to comment on how he expected "just another roll" and got a mouthful of pepper and cheese bread with an attitude. these rolls are actually pretty mild compared to a lot of tex-mex food, so feel free to increase the amount of crushed red pepper.
• 9 i used ordinary dried crushed red pepper (hot red pepper flakes) for this recipe, but if you keep fresh jalapenos or other hot peppers in the fridge, by all means use them. three 3-inch jalapenos, minced fine, provide moderate heat. you can experiment with other peppers as well.