The benefits of homemade sandwich rolls do not require me to wax poetic, so I won’t. Let’s say that a good sandwich is better with a fresh roll, which you already know.
These rolls were terrific for pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches. The recipe is from King Arthur Flour. I didn’t alter the ingredients, but I did not mix the dough according to KAF’s instructions. The KAF says to mix the ingredients until they form a smooth, soft dough. As a novice bread maker, I found these directions a bit vague. With the help of my husband, who broke down the mixing process somewhat. Below is the recipe and our detailed mixing process.
Delicious Hamburger Buns (or Sandwich Rolls)
courtesy of King Arthur Flour
8 ounces of warm water
One large egg
14.75 ounces of AP flour
1.75 ounces of sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1.25 tsp of active dry yeast or 1 tsp of instant yeast
plus 1 ounce of room-temperature butter
Mix the water and the egg.
Mix the egg/water mixture with about 1/3 of the flour in a stand mixer until you have a moist, spongy consistency about halfway between soupy and spongy. Combine the rest of the flour and dry ingredients with a dough hook at low speed.
Add the remaining water and eggs to the mixer at a higher speed. Knead the dough at high speed until it becomes elastic. It should take about 3-4 minutes. Try stretching the dough without breaking it to determine its elasticity.
Add the butter little by little at high speed. After the butter has been fully incorporated, knead the dough again for a few minutes until it comes together in a ball.
In a well-oiled bowl, cover and let rise until double in size. Turn dough out onto the counter once doubled. You can use a scale to do this. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces.
If you bake and use them right away, form them into balls and flatten them to about 3″ wide. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. (flour your hands lightly if necessary.) Bake on a pizza stone. Rolls can be placed directly onto the stone in the oven after rising on parchment paper, making it much easier to get the whole thing into and out of the range.
You can freeze them if you aren’t going to use them all right away. Wrap the rolls in plastic wrap or press-n-seal them after rolling them into balls. Chill. Allow defrosting overnight in the fridge or at room temperature before use. If they are cold, the second proof will take longer. Alternatively, you could bake the rolls at once and then freeze them, and that also works well.
Apply sesame seeds to rolls if desired, and brush with egg wash. Melted butter is also an option. Cook at 375 degrees F until golden brown, 12-15 minutes.
Between spongy and soupy:
Pull the dough like this without it breaking. This indicates that the gluten has formed properly.
Please place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise.
Do this for about 30 minutes. The dough grew nicely.
There were eight little balls.
The following are two frozen dough balls that I defrosted in the fridge overnight. When they were ready, I lightly floured my hands, patted them down, and let them rise.
After about 1 hour and 15 minutes, they were puffy.
A light egg wash and sesame seeds were applied to those bad boys.
Here they are, right out of the oven. We baked them directly on a pizza stone and then put them under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the tops.
Beautiful fresh rolls, ready for whatever deliciousness you can dream up:
My first batch of rolls was shinier and more demanding, and my second batch was puffier, softer, and wrinkled. In either case, they were delicious either way.
This is the first time. (Doesn’t it look like boobies?)
The second time, it looks more like conventional burger rolls.