Hard Rolls Using A Stand Mixer Food

HARD ROLLS (USING A STAND MIXER)

Steps:

• In a large bowl (or your KitchenAid), dissolve yeast with 3/4 cup of the water and sugar. Mix in remaining water, flour, and salt. Mix until dough starts to form. If too sticky, add a bit more flour. Knead for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a clean towel, and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in size (about 2 hours).
• Preheat oven to 400°F If you have a baking stone, dust lightly with cornmeal and put into preheated oven. If not, use a cookie sheet. Place a shallow baking pan filled with boiling hot water on bottom of your oven for extra crusty rolls.
• ROLLS: Remove dough to a floured surface. Punch down dough and shape into 4 rolls. Place rolls on a peel (large wooden spatula), also lightly dusted with cornmeal, or on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise again for 20 minutes. Slit each roll once and brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with poppy seeds. If on a peel, slide loaves onto stone or tile; otherwise put cookie sheet in oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and baked through.
• NOTE: To check for doneness, thump the bottom; if they sound hollow, they're done.

SMALL-BATCH DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• Heat the milk, sugar and shortening in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to help melt the shortening, just until the mixture begins to simmer. Pour into a bowl. Set aside to cool to about 125 degrees F.
• Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk mixture, then add 2/3 cup of the flour to the mixture. Stir until no lumps remain and the mixture looks like pancake batter. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for 2 hours.
• Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and 1/3 cup of the remaining flour to the yeast mixture. Stir well and add the remaining 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Start using your hands after the final flour addition, kneading the mixture for a couple of minutes to form a smooth, elastic dough. Lightly oil a bowl, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Lay the dough on a work surface and press it out to a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 12 inches by 14 inches) using your fingers. (The work surface doesn't need flour. Just keep picking up the dough between presses.) Cut the rectangle into 4 equal strips crosswise, then cut each of those strips into 2 equal pieces, for a total of 8 pieces. Starting on the shorter side of a piece, roll each piece into a tight cylindrical coil. Pinch the edges to seal.
• Place each cylinder seam-side down in a 9-inch cake pan, putting 7 of the cylinders in a ring around the pan's edge. Each cylinder should point inward, like the hands of a clock. Put the last 1 cylinder in the center of the pan. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Bake the rolls until golden, about 15 minutes. Brush with the melted butter and serve immediately.

UNBELIEVABLE ROLLS

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm milk, water, sugar and salt. Remove from heat, and mix in the eggs and yeast.
• Measure flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour, and pour milk mixture into it. Do not stir. Cover with a lid, and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Pour melted margarine into flour, and mix well. Add more flour if too sticky. Knead lightly. Cover, and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Shape the dough into rolls, and place on a baking sheet. Let rise again for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Bake rolls in a preheated 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) oven for 15 minutes, or until done.

MY FAVORITE SUB (HOAGIE) ROLLS

Steps:

• Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast to proof. Rest one to two minutes.
• Melt butter and, along with the salt, stir into yeast mixture.
• Mix in flour, 1 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached (this dough should not be terribly stick to the touch, but should have plenty of "give" and not be too tough).
• Knead until VERY well developed (important!). Your dough is finished when you can tear a small piece off, roll into a ball and stretch to form a nearly transparent "window" between your fingers without it tearing.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until doubled in bulk (approx 40 minutes).
• Lightly dust a small amount of corn meal over well-greased pans, roll your dough into long, thin "logs" and place about 3" apart on the pans. Slash each loaf every inch and a half with a knife, brush with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
• Let double in size.
• Bake in a 400°F oven until golden brown.

CRUSTY HARD ROLLS

Steps:

• The Starter:
• Mix the starter ingredients together until smooth, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight.
• Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine, until you've made a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface should still be a bit rough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 3 hours, gently deflating it and turning it over after 1 hour, and again after 2 hours.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface. Divide it into 12 pieces, shape the pieces into balls, and firm them up by rolling them under your lightly cupped fingers on an unfloured work surface. Place the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until they've doubled in size. Refrigerate them for several hours, or overnight.
• Remove the rolls from the refrigerator, and brush them with a wash made of 1/2 cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon egg white (you won't use up all the wash). Slash a 1/4-inch deep cut across the top of each roll, and bake them in a preheated 425°F (220°C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. For an extra-crisp crust, allow them to cool in the turned-off, door-propped-open oven.
• Yield: 12 rolls.

KITCHENAID SIXTY-MINUTE ROLLS

Steps:

• Combine 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissoloved yeast in bowl.
• Attach bowl and dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and mix for 1 minute.
• Combine milk, water and margarine in a saucepan. Heat over low heat, until liquids are very warm (120 to 130). Margarine does not need to melt.
• Turn to speed 2 and gradually add liquid to flour mixture, about 30 seconds. Mix 1 minute longer. Continue on speed 2, adding remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, as needed. Mix until dough clings to hook, about 5 minutes.
• Knead dough on speed 2 for 7-10 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Stop.
• Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, let rise in a warm place 15 minutes.
• Turn dough out onto floured board. Divide in half and shape as desired. Cover; let rise in slightly warm oven (about 90 degrees) for 15 minutes or until doubled in bulk [usually 15 minutes works just fine!].
• Bake at 425, for 12 minutes, or until nice and brown. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
• I usually make balls. But for something fancy you can make one of the following:.
• Curlicues: Divide dough in half and roll each half to 12x9 inch rectangle. Cut 12 equal strips about 1 inch wide. Hold one end of strip firmly and wind tightly to form a coil, tucking ends underneath. Place on greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
• Cloverleafs: Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and place in greased muffin pan. With scissors, cut each ball in half, then quarters, cutting through to almost bottom of rolls.