Soft Dinner Rolls

Name: Soft Dinner Rolls
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 2 h 35 min
Total time: 3 h 10 min
Ingredients: 25 g (3 tbsp) bread flour; 125 g (½ cup) whole milk; 400 g (3¼ cups) bread flour; 7 g (2¼ tsp (1 sachet)) instant yeast; 35 g (3 tbsp) sugar; 8 g (1¼ tsp) fine sea salt; 150 g (⅔ cup) whole milk, lukewarm; 1 large egg (about 50 g); 50 g (3½ tbsp) unsalted butter, very soft; 20 g (1½ tbsp) butter, melted; flaky sea salt, optional

Pillowy pull-apart rolls, made extra tender with a cooked flour paste

Makes: 12 rolls
Hands-on: 35 min
Total: 3 h 10 min
Level: Easy

Rolls for a holiday table or a Sunday roast: golden on top, cloud-soft inside, and still soft the next day. A spoonful of flour cooked with milk into a paste (the Asian tangzhong method) lets the dough hold more moisture without becoming hard to handle.

Ingredients

Flour paste

25 gbread flour (3 tbsp)
125 gwhole milk (½ cup)

Dough

400 gbread flour (3¼ cups)
7 ginstant yeast (2¼ tsp (1 sachet))
35 gsugar (3 tbsp)
8 gfine sea salt (1¼ tsp)
150 gwhole milk, lukewarm (⅔ cup)
1large egg (about 50 g)
50 gunsalted butter, very soft (3½ tbsp)

To finish

20 gbutter, melted (1½ tbsp)
flaky sea saltoptional

Diet: Vegetarian
Allergens: gluten, egg, milk

Method

Make the paste: whisk the 25 g flour into the 125 g milk in a small pan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for 2–3 minutes until it thickens to a pudding that holds whisk trails. Scrape into a large bowl and cool 10 minutes. 13 min
Add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, lukewarm milk and egg to the paste and mix into a shaggy dough. Add the butter and knead on the counter for 10 minutes by hand, or 7 minutes in a stand mixer with the dough hook on medium-low, until smooth, soft and elastic. 10 min
Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 60–75 minutes. 1 h 10 min
Butter a 23 × 33 cm (9 × 13 in) baking pan. Divide the dough into 12 pieces (about 70 g each). Cup each piece under your palm and roll it in small circles on the unfloured counter to form a tight, smooth ball. Arrange in the pan in 3 rows of 4.
Cover and let rise 40–50 minutes, until the rolls are puffy and touching. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). 45 min
Bake 20–22 minutes, until deep golden and the center roll reads 90°C (195°F). Brush straight away with the melted butter and sprinkle with flaky salt if you like. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then pull apart and serve warm. 22 min

Why it works

Cooking a little flour with milk gelatinizes its starch, so it can hold several times its weight in water. Added to the dough, that paste carries extra moisture into the bread without making the dough slack, which gives a softer crumb that stales more slowly. Baking the rolls touching each other means the sides steam rather than crust, so they pull apart soft.

Common mistakes

Adding the paste hot, which can damage the yeast. Let it cool to warm.
Shaping loosely. Tight balls rise tall and even; slack ones spread and flatten.
Overbaking. Pale-sided, deep-golden-topped is right; dark rolls are dry rolls.

Variations

Herb and garlic: Mix 1 crushed garlic clove and 2 tbsp chopped parsley into the melted butter for brushing.
Whole-wheat rolls: Replace 150 g of the bread flour with whole-wheat flour and add 15 g more milk.

Make ahead and storage

Shape, cover and refrigerate overnight; let them rise at room temperature for about 1 hour before baking. Baked rolls freeze for 2 months; reheat wrapped in foil at 160°C (320°F) for 10 minutes.

Notes

Hydration about 76% counting all the milk and the egg (325 g) against all the flour (425 g). Fan oven: 170°C (340°F).