New York Hard Rolls 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.

NO-KNEAD DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir the flour, sugar, yeast and salt until combined. In a small saucepan, heat 2/3 cup/160 mililiters milk over medium-low until it's just warm to the touch (about 95 degrees), about 1 to 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons butter and heat until melted. Remove the saucepan from the heat. If it is much warmer than 95 degrees, let cool briefly before continuing.
• In a small bowl, lightly whisk the eggs just until combined. Gradually whisk the eggs into the milk mixture, then pour into the bowl with the flour. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir the dough until it's uniformly combined. If it seems dry or isn't coming together, stir in more milk 1 tablespoon at a time (up to 3 tablespoons) to bring it together. (This milk does not need to be heated.) The dough should be sticky.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Grease a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with butter. Divide the dough into 9 even pieces (about 85 grams each), and round each into a tight ball. Place the rolls evenly spaced into the prepared pan. (They will not be touching. There will be about 1/4 to 1/2-inch between each roll.)
• Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap, and let rolls rise until they nearly double in size, about 35 to 45 minutes: They will now touch inside the pan and look puffy and risen. Toward the end of the rise time, heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a small pot over medium heat or in a small dish in a microwave. Remove the plastic wrap from the rolls, and brush the tops of the rolls generously with about half the butter. Bake until the rolls are golden brown, 20 to 24 minutes. Halfway through baking, brush the surface of the rolls with more butter and rotate the pan.
• When the rolls come out of the oven, brush them with the remaining butter. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving warm.

KAISER ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 400°. Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds. With scissors, cut a 1/4-in.-deep cross on tops of rolls. , Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

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.