My 93rd experiment: dark and soft buns

The KAF whole grain cookbook has a recipe called the dark and soft restaurant dinner rolls, which have looked really tempting to me for a while. Today we have guests over. What better occasion than this to make it! Good things are meant to be shared.

Recipe: Dark and soft buns (Make one 9" pan of small buns, and 2 more large buns)

Ingredients:
- 1+3/4 cup KAF whole wheat flour
- 1 cup KAF bread flour
- 2 tp active dry yeast
- 3/4 tp salt
- 1+1/2 TB white sugar
- 1+1/2 TB Dutch-process cocoa
- 3 TB honey
- 2 TB unsalted butter, chopped
- 1 cup very warm water
- 1 tp oil for greasing pan

Procedure:
1. Proof yeast in 1/2 cup very warm water for about 15 minutes.
2. Sieve together whole wheat flour, bread flour, salt, sugar, cocoa.
3. Add proofed yeast with water to the dry ingredients. Mix.
4. Dissolve sugar and melt butter in the remaining 1/2 cup of very warm water. Add to the flour mixture.
5. Knead for 10 minutes. Allow to rest on warm stove top for 30 minutes.
6. Punch dough down. Shape into log. Then cut into small pieces. Roll each into ball of about 1.5" to 2" diameter. Freeze any reserved portion for future use.
7. Grease a 9" pan with 1 tp oil. Place balls on pan. Cover and let sit on warm stove top until volume doubles.
8. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
9. Brunch top of buns with a little butter. Loosen from pan. Serve right away.

Results:
4:40pm, mixing all dry ingredients:

5:16pm, final dough after adding yeast, warm water, honey and butter:

5:38pm, dough allowed to prove for 20 minutes:

5:41pm, dough sliced up:

5:49pm, dough shaped into small balls for same day baking:

5:49pm, dough reserved for future use:

6:12pm, dough covered with plate and place on warm counter top, warmed 23 minutes:

6:21pm, dough warmed 30 minutes and just before baking:

6:43pm, pan baked 22 minutes at 350F:

6:47pm, top brushed with butter:

6:47pm, bottom of a bun:

6:50pm, to serve:

Observations:
1. Spectacular!! These buns are very tasty.
2. To prevent the dough balls from drying or overheating, do not leave them on stove top for too long because the metal pan transmits heat quickly.
3. Cover the buns with dry and clean cloth to keep warm on dinner table.
4. The flavor of cocoa is noticeable in these buns. The amount of cocoa may be reduced to 1 TB if only for its color, and not its flavor.