Honey Sesame Crescents

I'm thankful for those wonderful days in fall when the sky is blue and the sun is shining and it itsn't quite so cold outside. These days are perfect for some heavy duty house cleaning. So today I got all the windows washed. Now it's like that comercial on TV where the husband is snoozing in his easy chair and the wife washes all the windows and he wakes up and thinks he's in the wrong house. Of course, the problem arises when I moved the furniture to get to the window then I felt the need to dust. Or pull all the dead leaves off the plants. Or sweep, vaccuum and change the sheets. I will be especially thankful if my husband doesn't have a heart attack when he sees how clean the house is!

I'm also thankful on these bright and sunny falls days that I get to appreciate all the beauty of the colored leaves. And how nice it feels to have the leaves crunch underfoot.

The Dinner of Giving Thanks also had a lovely bread basket. I made the lavash crackers from that Daring Baker Challenge. This time I did manage not to eat them all by myself. Yay! I also made these really good Honey Sesame Crescents. I like crescent rolls and the idea of whole wheat sesame ones intrigued me. I thought they were really good and they weren't too difficult to make. I made them the day before though because they do take some rising time.

Honey Sesame Crescents

adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp lukewarm water

1/4 cup (3 oz.) honey

3 Tbsp (1.5 oz.) unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces

1 large egg, separated

1 1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

2 cups (6.75 oz.) whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cups (6.375 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

Heaping 1/2 cup (1 1/4 oz.) dried potato flakes

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/3 cup sesame seeds

Heat 2 Tbsp water to 100°F and add the yeast. Allow to proof for 5 minutes. Mix the yeast mixture with the rest of the water, honey, butter, egg yolk, oil, flours, salt, and potato flakes by hand or in a mixer until you have a fairly stiff dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it's quite puffy, though probably not doubled about 1 to 2 hours.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide the dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 9-inch round, about 1/2 inch thick. Brush the rounds with the egg white mixed with 1 Tbsp water. Then sprinkle each round with a generous 1 Tbsp sesame seeds. Cut each round like a pie into 6 wedges. Roll up each wedge, beginning at the wide end, and then curve the ends in to form a crescent shaped roll.

Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheets. Brush them with more beaten egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds. Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm place until they've puffed a bit but are definitely not doubled in size, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Don't let them rise too long; If they do, they'll uncurl in the oven. Toward the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover and bake the rolls until they're a light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature.