I like to do ahead as much of a big meal as I can, and since I love crusty, holey bread, I developed this recipe for what are basically brown ‘n’ serve mini breads, shaped like rolls. They’re a mainstay for holiday meals. I make them in the food processor with the metal blade or in a stand mixer with the dough hook, but the recipe is small enough to do by hand or in a bread machine on the dough cycle.
Ella’s Par-baked Crusty Rolls
13 1/8 ounces (375 g) bread flour – that’s about 3 cups
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted and cooled butter
1 large egg white
10 ounces water – cold, if using the processor, baby-bottle warm for all other methods
Place flour, sugar, salt and yeast in workbowl and mix thoroughly. Add the oil/melted butter, egg white and 8 ounces of the water and pulse/mix until the dough forms a ball. If too dry, add some or all of the remaining water. Once you’ve got a ball, process/knead until it’s mostly smooth - about 45 seconds in the processor, 2 minutes in a stand mixer. 
Remove dough to a lightly floured surface; if the dough is a bit sticky, wet your hands rather than add flour. A slack dough will give us holes. Knead lightly, form into a round and place in a greased bowl, covered, for about an hour, until you can poke your knuckle into it and the indentation remains.
Punch down the dough, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 10 pieces. Round each into a ball. Some or all might show blisters on the surface now – that’s a good thing. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment and let rise for another 30-35 minutes, till nicely risen.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When the rolls have risen, bake for 6 minutes. They’ll just be starting to brown. Let cool briefly on the baking sheet then move to a rack to cool competely. Wrap well and pop them into the freezer.
When you need rolls, remove and bake at 400 degrees for 9-12 minutes. If your oven’s already going at 350 with other things in it, bake at the lower temp for 11-12 minutes, up to 14 if needed. 400 is preferable.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I made these rolls tonight and did not par cook them. They were very good . However, I did not get a real crusty top. I think my problem was that I covered them with plastic wrap for the last 35 minutes. Can you advise if this was my problem. Thank you.
Hi, Janice. You mean you covered them with plastic wrap for the final rise? That shouldn’t affect the crispness of the crust, but when cover I yeasted goods for the final rise I usually use a towel to avoid any stickiness and tugging from the plastic wrap.
A couple things come to mind. Your rolls might have been overproofed, preventing full oven spring. Or your oven temp might be off — most are. I always keep an inexpensive oven themometer in there and I preheat fully.
If neither sounds likely you can do one of two things — or both. Lightly spray water on the rolls right before they go into the oven and/or increase the temperature to 425, even 450, and adjust the baking time slightly.
I have two posts here that might help further. One is called something like About Bread Baking and the other, probably more helpful re:crusts, is the Herb-Garlic Baguettes. If you click on “bread” in the category cloud you should find them easily, although the first one was more than a year ago.
Please let me know how it goes if you try again. They are delicious and I’m sure even without a crackling crust, they were better than anything from the store. And there are no trans-fats; have you ever looked at the nutritional label on those cans and tubes of prefab rolls? Clogged arteries waiting to happen.
Thank you so much for your quick response. I do plan on making them again. I should have covered them with a towel. because you are right, the plastic wrap stuck.
I have a Wolf oven and use convention bake and lowered the temperature to 375. Perhaps that had an effect on the crispiness.
I will also look at the two posts you reference.
Yes, they were tasty and the best I have made. I consider myself an experienced cook but lack success and experience with breads and rolls.
Again, thank you for your help. I will let you know when I make them again.
My pleasure, Janice. I’m not working or blogging this week but I am keeping up with comments.
Convection oven – oh, try this, since you’ve got the fan. Bake them at 450 and adjust the timing. I’d start checking them after 10 or 12 minutes if made without par-baking. If you have an instant-read thermometer, plunge it into the center of one. If it reads 190F or higher, they’re done. BTW, when you cover yeast doughs with a towel, lightly flour the towel first. Just rub the flour into the towel.
I’ve just used up some cake yeast and I feel a bread binge and some bread-related posts coming up. One or more might be of interest. Or not!
Thanks for the tips. I will try the convention oven at a higher temp. I look forward to your bread related posts.
You’re welcome. Happy New Year.
I have a tip for the plastic wrap sticking incident. Just spray it with non-stick spray and your dough will be just fine. I agree a towel or a damp towel do work great, but sometimes the towel a person has available to them is the one that leaves all the little fuzz bunnies, so in that case….. plastic wrap coated with non-stick spray will always win out in my book
)
Happy baking everybody, and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi, Shawna – Thanks for stopping by. Yep, spraying the plastic wrap works well. Sometimes if I have a really sticky dough, I spray the proofing bowl instead of oiling it. What did the world do without cooking spray?
I hope you like the recipe and happy baking to you too!