Skip to main content

Fluffy Dinner Rolls

Absolutely the best dinner rolls I've ever made. I probably ate about half the tray when they first came out of the oven, knowing they would never be as good again. These come from Cooks Illustrated, and I found their instructions unnecessarily fussy with regard to dimensions. I know, I know - you should follow their directions to the letter. But frankly, I think with a couple of shaping adjustments, as included below, this is even easier to put together than what they suggest.

Note - the dough will be very sticky. Very. Do not dust counter with additional flour. Instead, consider dampening your hands to keep the dough from sticking to them.


Fluffy Dinner Rolls
Cooks Illustrated

Flour Paste:
1/2 c water
3 T bread flour

Dough:
1/2 c milk, cold
1 egg
2 c bread flour (11 oz)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 T sugar
1 tsp table salt
4 T unsalted butter, softened
1/2 T unsalted butter, melted


FOR THE FLOUR PASTE: Whisk water and flour together in small bowl until no lumps remain. Microwave, whisking every 20 seconds, until mixture thickens to stiff, smooth, pudding-like consistency that forms mound when dropped from end of whisk into bowl, 40 to 80 seconds.

FOR THE DOUGH: In bowl of stand mixer, whisk flour paste and milk together until smooth. Add egg and whisk until incorporated. Add flour and yeast. Fit stand mixer with dough hook and mix on low speed until all flour is moistened, 1 to 2 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Add sugar and salt and mix on medium-low speed for 5 minutes. With mixer running, add softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue to mix on medium-low speed 5 minutes longer, scraping down dough hook and sides of bowl occasionally (dough will stick to bottom of bowl).

Transfer dough to very lightly floured counter. Knead briefly to form ball and transfer, seam side down, to lightly greased bowl; lightly coat surface of dough with vegetable oil spray and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Grease 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.

Transfer dough to counter. Press dough gently but firmly to expel all air. Pat and stretch dough to form 8 by 9-inch rectangle with short side facing you. Cut dough lengthwise into 4 equal strips and cut each strip crosswise into 3 equal pieces.

Working with 1 piece at a time, stretch and press dough gently to a rectangle slightly less than half the diameter of your pan. Starting on short side, roll dough to form snug cylinder and arrange shaped rolls seam side down in prepared pan, placing 10 rolls around edge of pan, pointing inward, and remaining 2 rolls in center.

Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When rolls are nearly doubled, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake rolls until deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let rolls cool in pan on wire rack for 3 minutes.


Invert rolls onto rack, then re-invert. Brush tops and sides of rolls with melted butter. Let rolls cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Labels:

Comments

Caroline said…
Yum! Have you ever read the CI recipe for Chicago-style deep dish pizza? Ridiculously complex and not at all authentic. Uncle Joe at Star Pizza in Houston never, ever made his pies with rolling pins, butter, cornmeal, Dragone's mozzarella, or any of that nonsense, and a Star Pizza pie is my gold standard. Thanks for paring this recipe down - I've saved it with every intention of making them someday soon. I bought some Sister Schubert's rolls at Central Market last month, and was disappointed. Have you ever tried freezing these, and if so, at what point do you freeze them?
January 2, 2016 at 12:47 PM
Donut Army said…
Hi Caroline - ha, thanks for the comments on the deep dish pizza. I hadn't tried it, but I do tend to gloss over any recipe that rolls over onto a second page.

Sister Schubert's were my Mom's go-to rolls for years, but I've never had any luck with them tasting close to homemade.

I've not yet tried freezing these rolls. I would imagine you would want to freeze them after shaping (and placing in the pan) and before that final rise. Theoretically, I suppose you could shape them and wrap separately in waxed paper, then, you could freeze as individual rolls, stored in a baggie, rather than taking up a baking dish. That might be very convenient...
January 2, 2016 at 1:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chicken Traybake with Roasted Poblano and Tomato Salsa

  This dish is delicious! Easy! And, beautiful to look at! The original recipe calls for you to process all the cooked vegetables together into a chunky salsa, but I recommend serving it as is so you have an automatic side dish. The original also calls for cooking chicken bone-in, but, the more I cook traybakes, the more I advocate for slicing chicken into tenders and cooking boneless. Just a safer bake that way because everything comes to the same temperature at the same time. Chicken Traybake with Roasted Poblano and Tomato Salsa  Milk Street 1 T chili powder 2 poblano, stemmed, seeded, chopped 1 yellow onion, root end intact, in 8 wedges 1 pint cherry tomatoes 1/4 c olive oil 1 T brown sugar 1 T oregano, dried 3 lb chicken, bone-in, skin-on, trimmed 10 cloves garlic, peeled 1 T vinegar 1/4 c cilantro, chopped Heat oven to 450. In small bowl, stir together chili powder and 2 tsp salt. In large bowl, toss together pobloanos, onion wedges, tomatoes, and 1 T of the chili-power/salt mix
Post a Comment
Read more

Mayocoba Beans with Green Chiles

I love this dish so much that I can barely stand it. Delicious the night it was made, and fantastic as leftovers throughout the week. Mayocoba beans are easily replaced -- try pintos, if you can't find mayocobas. Mayocoba Beans with Green Chiles Baptism of Fire 3-4 green chiles, roasted and chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 T lard or olive oil 1/2 tsp oregano 1 tsp cumin pepper 1 c mayocoba beans, dry 3 c water 1 tsp salt Cook the green chiles, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, and black pepper in the fat until the onions begin to caramelize. Add the water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the beans sit, uncovered, for an hour. You may drain the water to remove some of the slightly indigestible sugars that cause gassiness. If you decide to drain them, add enough water back into the pot to cover the beans with about 2" of water above the beans for cooking.  Bring the beans back to a boil and cook, until tender. This will take
1 comment
Read more

Crustless Couscous and Spinach Quiche

This "quiche" is so simple to make - you can prepare everything the night before, assemble it in the morning, and have it ready to go soon after waking up. An ideal dish to serve company, too. Crustless Couscous and Spinach Quiche The Garden of Earthly Delights 1 1/2 c water 3/4 c couscous, uncooked 3 eggs, beaten 1 bunch spinach 3/4 c cottage cheese 2 c cheddar cheese, shredded 3 T salsa 1 tsp chile powder 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/2 tsp oregano, dried 1/2 tsp coarse salt 1/2 tsp pepper Preheat oven to 375. Lightly coat a 9" pie plate with vegetable oil and set aside. In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. Add couscous. Stir once, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer couscous to a large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Spread couscous evenly in the bottom of the pie plate. Placein oven and bake until a knife comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Remove quiche from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
2 comments
Read more