This recipe is a recent favorite of ours - I've made it three times in the last week! It's another good one for those of you who might be a little nervous about working with yeast breads because it's quite simple and forgiving. So what are you waiting for?
Kaiser Rolls
Makes 16 sandwich rolls or 32 small-ish dinner rolls
6 PPV each if you make 16 rolls
5 tsp active dry yeast, or two of the little packets
2 C warm water, divided
4 T sugar, divided
1/3 C canola oil
2 tsp salt
6 - 6 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 egg white
2 tsp cold water
Optional: Poppy or sesame seeds
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 C water. I don't bother with precise measurements here - I use hot tap water and I usually get my whole 2 C of water and just pour in about a quarter of it, saving the rest for use in a few minutes. Add 1 Tbsp sugar and let stand about 5 minutes. The yeast should bloom and look a bit foamy or spongy.
Add the oil, salt, remaining water, sugar. It should look like this -
Then toss in about 4 cups of the flour and mix until it's fully incorporated and somewhat smooth.
Stir in enough of the additional flour to make a soft dough. I usually end up using almost exactly 6 C, so if you're not sure, that's a good starting place.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic, about 6 - 8 minutes.
Place the kneaded dough into a well greased bowl and cover it with small, thin-ish towel. Let it sit in a warm spot for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size. When it's this warm out, I just leave it on the counter in the sunshine, but in the winter I turn the oven on to 200*. When it gets up to temperature, I turn it off and then let my dough rise on the stovetop near the oven vent.
When it's done rising, have a small child whip the towel off the top in grand fashion. It adds so much to the experience!
Now you get the fun of punching down the dough! I typically just dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it into itself, pushing the gas out as I go. Then it's very easy to cut it into the appropriate number of pieces. Today I'm making the rolls to be used in place of regular bread in sandwiches, so I cut my dough into 16 pieces.
Then, with floured hands, pull the dough down and tuck it under the roll until you have a smooth surface. Or, just roughly shape them into balls, whichever your preference. Either way, they should be about this size, if you're doing 16.
Place the dough balls on greased cookie sheets, at least 2 inches apart. They will probably grow together a little, but that's okay, it just adds to the fun later when you get to decide if the grown together rolls count as one sandwich or two!
Let them rise, covered again, for another 30 minutes or so - just enough to puff up a bit. They won't grow dramatically during this time, but it's important to let them rest for good gluten development. Near the end of that rise time, preheat the oven to 400*.
Beat the egg white with the 2 tsp cold water (again, just cold tap water) until just frothy and use a pastry brush to paint the egg wash onto the rolls. If you want to use seeds, now is the time to sprinkle them across the top of your rolls. In addition to seeds, you might consider things like
garlic bread seasoning (actually, I hadn't thought of it before, but that would be amazing added right into the dough...) or herbs.
With a pair of sharp scissors, cut a 1/4 inch deep cross in the top of each roll. It seems weird, I know, but once they have the wash on them, they're slippery and a knife just isn't going to be practical. Trust me, use the scissors.
I don't have a pair of kitchen snips, so I use my regular everyday scissors and just wash the blades in hot, soapy water afterwards. As always, though, feel free to put your own personal touch on them; use a kaiser roll stamp (
like this one), cut stripes instead of crosses or skip the cutting altogether. The important thing isn't what they look like so much as that you have the fun of creating something so delicious from such humble ingredients (and then the joy of sharing that deliciousness with your family and friends)!
Bake the rolls for 18 - 20 minutes or until as deeply golden as you like them. Remove the rolls from the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely. You should end up with something like this:
See that little guy on the bottom rack? That one in the middle? Pookie shaped that one himself - he's crazy proud of it and I'm a little afraid he won't want to eat it later!
So there you have it - how to make extremely versatile rolls in just a few short hours with minimal work or ingredients!
