Knotted Dinner Rolls
I think it's time for a cooking post! Lately I've been working on my bread making, both whole wheat bread and white breads. On the whole wheat side of things, I made 2/3 whole wheat 1/3 white sandwich bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice which came out quite tasty. I just bought some more wheat flour so I'm going to try that again this week and play with how much vital wheat gluten to add and how long I should rest the dough after mixing and before kneading. On the white bread side of things I've been making knotted dinner rolls. The dough is VERY EASY to work with and once you get the hang of looping the dough into a knot fairly quick to make as well.
Like the sandwich bread I made, the dinner rolls are also a Peter Reinhart recipe. (The dinner roll recipe is not in the Apprentice book but it does have lots of classic bread making technique and I highly recommend it.) I think I might try his whole grains book next. The man knows his bread.
Knotted Dinner Rolls
Knotted Dinner Rolls
Here they are while they were rising:
1 1/2 c whole milk
21/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 lb 7 oz (5 1/4 cups) bread flour
1 1/4 tsp table salt
1 lg egg
In a small saucepan, heat milk until lukewarm (about 95F). Remove from heat and stir in yeast until it dissolves. Add oil and butter (don't worry if the butter doesn't melt completely) and then stir in sugar. Let rest until yeast just begins to float to surface, about 5 minutes.
In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and egg, then mix on low speed until a coarse ball of dough forms, about 1 minute. Let rest for 5 minutes. (Alternately mix everything in a bowl with a large spoon.)
Replace paddle attachment with dough hook and mix on medium-low speed (or knead by hand on a lightly oiled work surface) until the dough feels soft, supple, and pliable, about 3 minutes (or 6 minutes by hand). If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tbsp flour at a time, kneading to incorporate. If it’s stiff, knead in 1 tbsp of milk at a time.
Rub a little vegetable oil on a work surface to create an 8-inch circle and put the dough on this spot. Stretch and fold the dough over itself from all four sides to the center, crimping it where the folded ends meet, to form it into a tight, round ball.
Put the dough seam side down in a large lightly oiled bowl. Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
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Using a bench knife, divide the dough into twenty four pieces. For pictures on how to shape them go here. And note that if you left handed you will need to do it the opposite way for it to work for you. Or at least I needed to do so.
With your hands, roll one piece into a 12-inch-long rope. If dough starts to stick, mist your work surface lightly with vegetable oil spray or wipe it with a damp towel. Don’t use flour.
Wrap the dough around your fingers into a loose knot; there should be about 2 inches of dough free at each end. Wrap left end of the dough up and over the loop. Wrap right end down and under the loop. Tightly pinch the two ends of dough together in the center to secure them.
Gently squeeze the whole piece of dough into a nice rounded shape. Put the roll, pretty side up, on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Mist the top of the rolls with vegetable oil spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Let the rolls sit at room temperature or refrigerated until they just begin to swell, 30 minutes to 1 hour for room-temperature dough, 1 to 1-1/2 hours for refrigerated dough.
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Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. For convection, heat to 375F; for conventional, heat to 400F.
While the oven heats, let rolls continue to rise at room temperature, 20 to 40 minutes. They should be 1-1/2 to 2 times their original size before they go in oven. (Once in oven, they will rise about 20 percent more.)
Put baking sheets in oven and bake for 6 minutes. Rotate sheets 180 degrees and swap their placement on the racks. Continue baking until rolls turn rich golden-brown on top and develop some browning underneath, another 6 to 8 minutes. Let rolls cool on sheets or on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before serving.
Or, alternatively, bake half the rolls and put other half in freezer right after shaping them. That's what I do. Tomorrow I'll take the frozen rolls from my latest batch out to thaw and rise and have them with dinner. Rising will take longer with frozen rolls (since not all the yeast survives) so allow for about 2 hours of rising time once thawed.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.
Like the sandwich bread I made, the dinner rolls are also a Peter Reinhart recipe. (The dinner roll recipe is not in the Apprentice book but it does have lots of classic bread making technique and I highly recommend it.) I think I might try his whole grains book next. The man knows his bread.
Knotted Dinner Rolls
Knotted Dinner Rolls
Here they are while they were rising:
1 1/2 c whole milk
21/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 lb 7 oz (5 1/4 cups) bread flour
1 1/4 tsp table salt
1 lg egg
In a small saucepan, heat milk until lukewarm (about 95F). Remove from heat and stir in yeast until it dissolves. Add oil and butter (don't worry if the butter doesn't melt completely) and then stir in sugar. Let rest until yeast just begins to float to surface, about 5 minutes.
In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and egg, then mix on low speed until a coarse ball of dough forms, about 1 minute. Let rest for 5 minutes. (Alternately mix everything in a bowl with a large spoon.)
Replace paddle attachment with dough hook and mix on medium-low speed (or knead by hand on a lightly oiled work surface) until the dough feels soft, supple, and pliable, about 3 minutes (or 6 minutes by hand). If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tbsp flour at a time, kneading to incorporate. If it’s stiff, knead in 1 tbsp of milk at a time.
Rub a little vegetable oil on a work surface to create an 8-inch circle and put the dough on this spot. Stretch and fold the dough over itself from all four sides to the center, crimping it where the folded ends meet, to form it into a tight, round ball.
Put the dough seam side down in a large lightly oiled bowl. Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
-----------
Using a bench knife, divide the dough into twenty four pieces. For pictures on how to shape them go here. And note that if you left handed you will need to do it the opposite way for it to work for you. Or at least I needed to do so.
With your hands, roll one piece into a 12-inch-long rope. If dough starts to stick, mist your work surface lightly with vegetable oil spray or wipe it with a damp towel. Don’t use flour.
Wrap the dough around your fingers into a loose knot; there should be about 2 inches of dough free at each end. Wrap left end of the dough up and over the loop. Wrap right end down and under the loop. Tightly pinch the two ends of dough together in the center to secure them.
Gently squeeze the whole piece of dough into a nice rounded shape. Put the roll, pretty side up, on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Mist the top of the rolls with vegetable oil spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Let the rolls sit at room temperature or refrigerated until they just begin to swell, 30 minutes to 1 hour for room-temperature dough, 1 to 1-1/2 hours for refrigerated dough.
----------
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. For convection, heat to 375F; for conventional, heat to 400F.
While the oven heats, let rolls continue to rise at room temperature, 20 to 40 minutes. They should be 1-1/2 to 2 times their original size before they go in oven. (Once in oven, they will rise about 20 percent more.)
Put baking sheets in oven and bake for 6 minutes. Rotate sheets 180 degrees and swap their placement on the racks. Continue baking until rolls turn rich golden-brown on top and develop some browning underneath, another 6 to 8 minutes. Let rolls cool on sheets or on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before serving.
Or, alternatively, bake half the rolls and put other half in freezer right after shaping them. That's what I do. Tomorrow I'll take the frozen rolls from my latest batch out to thaw and rise and have them with dinner. Rising will take longer with frozen rolls (since not all the yeast survives) so allow for about 2 hours of rising time once thawed.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.