Sunday Burger Rolls

Once again, I've changed up the formulation for these rolls. Here's the rundown:

Burger Rolls

• 1000 grams flour
• 500 grams of Almond Milk
• 100 grams of water
• 100 grams of olive oil
• Teaspoon of Instant Yeast (also known as bread machine yeast)
• 22 grams of sea salt

Combine dry ingredients first. And wet ingredients separately. For faster rise times, heat wet ingredients in the microwave for a minute or so until warm (not hot!)

Using a hand mixer with dough hooks, knead well - about 5 minutes.

Let rise until double in size (at least)

Scale portions to 143.5 grams each (more or less - if my math is correct, that should make 12 rolls for a 3x4 matrix on the sheet pan).

Form into balls and let rest for about ten minutes.

Form with fingers into disks about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter with a depressed center. Three of these should fit across a half sheet pan and just barely touch.

Bake at 390° F for 20 minutes or until golden brown (inside temperature should be at least 190. 200 is better. Remove and brush with Earth Balance. Cool on a rack. Slice and store in zip lock bag for up to two days. Freeze for longer periods.

Comment One: These are unquestionably the best rolls I've made to date. The same formulation could be used for dinner rolls, and/or hoagie, and/or hot dog rolls. Sesame or poppy seeds could be added prior to baking.

Comment Two: These are the best rolls I've had from anywhere!

Burger Rolls

Burger Rolls

Quite by accident, I baked some bread last weekend that came out with a much softer crust. This happened because I used a lower temperature, not much lower, maybe 20° F degrees or so. I had been using initial temperatures of around 450° and lowering to 400°. During this bake, I started around 400 and reduced to 380. The crust was soft, almost like what you'd find on a grocery shelf.

It then occurred to me that this may have been my problem all along in my efforts to make soft rolls. So, Sunday, I put these 125 gram burger rolls (buns?) into the oven at 380 for 15 minutes. And they came out just wonderfully soft! My 1000 grams of flour produced about 15 rolls altogether (70% hydration and 10% olive oil).

Ripening Tomatoes

I should be able to use the same method to make dinner rolls, sub rolls, or 'brat rolls. I sliced these, wrapped individually, and dropped them into the freezer, each one awaits a thick juicy slice of tomato, ripe from the garden!

Rosemary Potato Rolls

These rolls are based on a recipe I found at The Fresh Loaf blog, an excellent resource by the way. I used half vanilla almond milk and half plain soy at 65% hydration and substituted olive oil and Earth Balance for the butter. With a 1000 gram whole wheat flour base, I added about two heaping tablespoons of dried rosemary leaves, and two mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, previously boiled and cooled with the skins. I also added about two tablespoons of agave syrup and a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. They were baked on sheet pan, lightly sprayed with EVOO, in a 450 convection oven, fully hydrated for the first 10 minutes by pouring hot water into a very large cast iron skillet.

In another 6 minutes (but who's counting...) we'll be having these for breakfast with some... guess what! Jam!

Cast Iron

Regardless of how well you form your rolls, hydration is key. I used a cast iron skillet this evening to produce these rolls. They came out very well.

Kaiser Rolls

If I were going to teach someone to bake bread by giving them some "how not to" lessons, today would have been a good day to begin.

I made the dough yesterday by using what I learned from reading three different recipes, and then used none of them. I substituted egg-replacer for eggs, and almond milk for cow's milk. Then I miscalculated the measurements of the sugar and salt by an order of magnitude and compensated for the inadequate amount by guessing.

Next, while preparing the evening pizza, I forgot that I left the dough sitting on the kitchen counter top covered with an "unbreakable" Corelle porcelain plate.

I woke around 3 AM wondering what I had done with the dough. If I left it on the counter top, it probably leavened to the point where it would lift the plate right off the bowl.

Sure enough, I turned on the kitchen light to see tiny shards of broken porcelain all over the floor, and the dough looked like The Blob That Ate Kansas City. I was more upset about the dough than the plate.

Anyway, I cleaned up the mess and punched down the dough so it would re-hydrate, turned on the oven and eventually shaped the dough into small loaves placed on an oiled 13 inch pizza pan. After an hour or so of final rise, I put them into a 425 convection oven for 20 minutes and this was the result.

They're cooling now. Mary and I sampled one and declared it was quite suitable! Next, Kummelweck rolls!