Sourdough Crescent Rolls

About 4 hours before mixing the roll dough, make the levain. Mix together 70 grams of ripe sourdough starter with 70 grams room temperature water and 70 grams flour. Stir together, mark your jar so you can watch the levain double in size and put it in a warm (78 degree) place to ferment.

Once the levain has doubled in size and is bubbly, active and starting to round at the top (this should take about 3-4 hours), you are ready to mix the roll dough.

To a bowl, mix together the levain, evaporated milk, water, egg, sugar, salt, melted butter and 140 grams of the flour. Whisk together until completely combined.

Add the rest of the flour on top of the liquid mixture but DON'T MIX (alternatively you can do this in a separate bowl but I don't like washing dishes). Grate the cold butter on top of the flour and use your hands to mix it in with the flour on top of the liquid mixture. If a little liquid gets into the flour, don't worry, just continue spreading it throughout the flour as best you can. Once the butter chunks are evenly spread throughout the flour, use a spoon to mix the flour/butter mixture in with the liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Mix until you form a ball of dough.

Cover the dough and set at 78-80 degrees F, warm room temperature for about 4 hours until the dough looks just a little bit puffy. It won't rise much, but the fermentation process will be starting and activating throughout the dough.

Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator overnight. This dough can be left in the refrigerator for up to 3 days to ferment before rolling out and shaping. It needs to sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours.Note: If you want to shape the dough, roll out the crescent rolls and proof at this time, you don't have to stick the dough in the fridge. Proceed with the recipe and let rise for 3-4 hours until puffed up and almost doubled in size. Bake right away.

Pull the dough out of the refrigerator. Separate the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece out into a 10 inch circle. Spread melted or softened butter over each circle and then slice each circle into 8 pieces with a pizza cutter. Starting at the edge, tightly roll each piece of dough all the way in until you have a crescent roll shape. Repeat with the other 7 rolls.

Place each roll on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough, rolling them into circles, spreading softened or melted butter and then rolling up each roll. You should have a total of 32 rolls or about 16 rolls per baking sheet.

Cover the rolls and set them in a warm place (about 75 degrees) to rise. This rise should take about 5-6 hours depending on the temperature. Once the rolls have puffed up a bit and it has been over 5 hours (in the winter you'll most likely need closer to 6 or 7 hours), preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven.

Once the oven has preheated, place a pan with a handful of ice cubes on the bottom rack of the oven. Immediately place a pan of rolls into the oven and bake crescent rolls for about 12-15 minutes until baked through. Brush with melted butter as they come out of the oven. Enjoy warm!