In an effort to wedge in a post this week that is relevant to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be cool to make some dinner rolls.  I recently purchased a bunch of awesome bread books, so I took the opportunity to use a dinner roll recipe from one of them.

The Bread Baker’s Apprentice is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn, or learn more about, how to bake bread.  In this book I found the recipe I wanted.  It’s technically a recipe for white bread, but that’s the variety of roll that I wanted to make.

This is a versatile recipe.  You can make boules (round loaves), regular loaves, dinner rolls, hamburger rolls, or hot dog rolls.  To make dinner rolls, divide the dough into 18 balls.  To make hot dog rolls, divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape them into long hot dog roll shapes.  I was planning to make dinner rolls, but I changed it up to burger rolls.

Ingredients:

• 4 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 3 1/4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten, at room temperature
• 3 1/4 tbsp butter, melted or at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp to 1 3/4 cups water, at room temperature
• 1 egg, whisked with 1 tsp water until frothy, for egg wash
• sesame seeds

Directions:

I generally use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast.  The difference is that the active dry yeast needs to be proofed first, while the instant yeast can just be added with the rest of the ingredients.  I placed the yeast into the bowl first, with 1/2 cup of the water.  After 10 minutes, it was ready to go.

Into the same bowl, I added the egg, butter, and another cup of water.  Then I added the flour, salt, powdered milk, and sugar.  I mix by hand (KitchenAid, how you tease), so I mixed together the ingredients with a spatula until they started to some together.  When I could form a ball with it, I dumped it out onto the counter.

I kneaded it on the counter for maybe ten minutes until it made a smooth ball, and then I placed it into an oiled container to rise until it doubled in size.

I Then I accidentally divided it into 12 pieces, when I wanted to make 18.  In my laziness, I just went with it.  Hamburger rolls it is!  I shaped the pieces into balls.

I covered them with a towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.  After that, I placed them onto a sheet pan with a piece of parchment on it.

Then I covered the dough with a towel and let it proof for 60 minutes until they doubled again.  I preheated the oven to 400°F, and while I was waiting I brushed on egg wash and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top of each one.

These rolls are only supposed to bake for 15 minutes.  And that is all it took.

Hmm, I wonder what I could use these for?