Anyone bake homemade rolls?

[MichelleCarmen]

Lately, I've been making home made pizza crust and found a recipe my husband and younger son love, so now I'm planning to start playing around with making bread and will begin Thanksgiving with making rolls. I don't want to use a bread maker.

Anyone have any good recipes for rolls? I have the joy of cooking...just wanted to see if anyone has any tricks-of-the trade for making perfect rolls. I'm looking for ideas and cannot have rolls with butter or milk in them...

Thanks!

 

[TooPatient]

Love home made rolls. I make this recipe all the time. It is a modification/compilation of several recipes I have. This is what I bake every week as loaves of challah. It is also really good as rolls. (for rolls do about 1 1/2 recipes for a 1/2 sheet pan of 6x8 dinner rolls)
If you shape it right before baking, you can also use this recipe as hamburger buns.

For rolls, I usually swap melted buttery sticks (we use only the Earth Balance certified vegan buttery sticks -- you can get them at Whole Foods and QFC in this area (QFC is more expensive though)) to brush on the top before baking instead of the egg wash, but either way works.

It takes about 3 hours total, but most of that is rise time.


2 cups water (about baby bath water temperature, maybe slightly warmer)
4Tbsp yeast
1/3 cup + 2Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs + 1 yolk
Salt (I usually do about 1 – 2 Tbsp)
Bread flour (1 part spelt with 3 parts bread flour is also good – all-purpose flour makes a flatter loaf because it doesn’t create the glutens as well)

Optional:
Sesame seeds for top
Poppy seeds for top
Ground rosemary or other dried herb (mix in dough)


Mix ½ cup of the water with yeast and 2Tbsp of sugar in a small bowl. This should sit until it bubbles a bit.
While it is sitting, whisk the rest of the water, sugar, oil, and 3 eggs together in a large bowl. Whisk in the yeast mixture and about 2 cups of flour. (should be soupy consistency but not super thin – exact amount is not terribly critical, just add a bit of flour). Let this sit for about 30 minutes.
Once it has bubbled up for a while, stir in salt and herbs (if using herbs). Start adding flour a little at a time (1/2 cup at a time is usually good). Once it is too thick to stir with the spoon, start kneading it in. Keep adding flour until the dough has an elastic feel to it and is not really sticky any more.

In another clean large (dough has to double in size) bowl, put a little splash (3 Tbsp or so) of oil (veggie or olive) to coat the bowl. Set your dough in this bowl and leave it to rise until doubled in size. (This takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours depending on how warm your house is – don’t leave by an open window or air conditioning vent)

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down. (I like to fold the edges into the middle after punching and then flip it over)
Let it sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes you can braid into two loaves, form dinner rolls, or shape as hamburger buns. (Use parchment paper on your pans to keep it from sticking and make clean up easier) Let sit again until almost doubled in size (it will grow a bit more in the oven). Mix the egg yolk with a splash of cold water to thin a little and then brush on top of dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds if you want.

Bake at 375 degrees until done. (sorry, cooking time varies with size of loaf/buns, oven, etc.)

Remove from pans immediately and put on cooling racks. (if you use parchment, you can lift it off of the pan and then just slide the parchment out from under the bread)

 

[sparkle-magpie]

We substitute beer for milk in our roll recipes. Pair that with some buttery sticks and you're dairy free in an instant!

Stick with a medium bodied beer to keep the flavors true. You can use oatmeal stout or darker beers for a different taste, if you wish.