Make Way-Ahead Dinner Rolls

 7 January 2023

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2022

I like having dinner rolls available as an alternative to potatoes for dinner. I have tried various recipes and learned that often the rolls can be frozen and saved for later. But nothing is like a freshly baked roll. Given that I only need a few for dinner, and they take all afternoon to prepare, something like a homemade brown-and-serve roll would seem to be ideal. Finally, in the edition of Cook's Illustrated focussing on Thanksgiving last year, a modern recipe that might just fill the bill.

The procedure was pretty standard except for the baking. A flour paste (tangzhong) was made by heating a mixture of bread flour and water in the microwave. This was mixed with cold milk to which was then added bread flour, yeast, and an egg. This was mixed on a stand mixer until the flour was moistened. After a 15 minute rest for the flour to hydrate, sugar and salt were added and mixed for 5 minutes. Softened butter was added and mixed for 5 minutes longer. The dough was placed into a bowl to rise until doubled. It was then deflated, portioned, and shaped into 16 balls (each about 53 grams) that were placed on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. The dough was a little sticky but this was remedied with a little flour, but you don't want to use too much as the stickiness aids in shaping. After rising until almost doubled they were baked at 300° until reaching an internal temperature of 170°. At this point they are still quite pale. After cooling they were placed into the freezer before being placed into a zipper bag for storage in the freezer. To reheat they are placed in a 425° oven until deep golden brown, 7-10 minutes, and served warm with butter. Total time was 3 hours 45 minutes. 

These are very good rolls! They have a thin crust and soft, warm interior with the yeasty flavor that you would expect in a dinner roll. It will be great to have these in the freezer, always available as a replacement for potatoes or other starch course at dinner, whether for two people or more for guests. The only downside is the need to heat the oven to 425° just to have a few rolls.