Last week HeidiH posted about her Heavenly Hard Rolls. I've made lots of rolls but I don't think I ever went after an actual hard roll with a soft chewy crumb before. So I called Stanley Ginsberg at nybakers.com and ordered some Pivetti 00 Rinzfornato flour since Heidi was so excited with her results. I really like that I have access to what I consider exotic ingredients at a reasonable price with Stan. The couple extra bucks for shipping is a bargain to be able to use premium flours for a special project in my opinion. 

Anyway, I followed HeidiH post exactly except for I only applied one coat of egg wash and seeds. Those of you who know me, know I almost always doctor up the recipe. It's a over powering urge I find hard to control. This time I was good. The rolls were scaled at 100G's each and just about filled up a 1/2 sheet pan perfectly. I baked at 375F for 35 minutes with normal steam and left the sheet pan in the oven an extra 7 minutes with the door cracked open with a wooden spoon.  The crust is crusty and the crumb is soft and delicious just like Heidi promised. Thanks!

Sometimes I just want to dance around singing "Heaven, I'm in heaven ..." when I make bread.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I finally got the "hard rolls" I've been looking for.  Rolls that have a thin but hard crust and pillowy innards with just the right amount of chewiness.  Makes this displaced Connecticut Yankee all happy.  It's gonna be harder and harder to keep my circumference less than my height.

I think the two magic bullets were Pivetti 00 Rinzfornato flour and stretch-and-fold at 45 minute intervals.  (Thank you Stan at nybakers.com for making the flour available in 5-lb bags and thank you Mike at sourdoughhome.com for the 45 minute stretch and fold videos.)

Formula for 12 kaiser-sized rolls:

700 g Pivetti 00 Rinzfornato flour

12 g salt

8 g yeast

490 g water (70%)

Procedure:

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.  Stir in water with a spoon until a ragged mass forms and all lose flour is incorporated but don't worry too much about lumps -- similar to mixing biscuit dough.  Cover and let sit for 45 minutes.

On a lightly oiled surface, do one stretch-and-fold, working in or discarding any remaining dry lumps of flour, return to bowl, cover and let sit 45 minutes.

Do a second stretch-and-fold, return to bowl, cover and let sit 45 minutes.

Do a third stretch-and-fold, oil the bowl and return the dough to it, cover and let sit 45 minutes.

Divide into 12 equal pieces.  Gently shape into balls and place on parchment paper for eventual baking.  Let rest another 20 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Score a cross in the top of the rolls. 

Paint the rolls with an egg wash (1 beaten egg +1 Tbl. water) and sprinkle with poppy seeds.  Wait 2 minutes and repeat egg wash and poppy seeds.

Bake for 35 minutes or until they are golden and the interior temperature is 200F.

Then try not to eat so many of them that you need a derrick to get out of your chair.  We had them for broiled eggplant/red-peppers/mushrooms, fresh-mozzi and arugula sandwichs last night.  I had one with butter for dessert.  And breakfast.  Sigh.

Today's experiment.  I got tired of chasing hard rolls for my husband's lunches and these worked out well.  I rolled 4 oz of dough and put three in each oval brotform to rise.  Then baked them in oval clay bakers for 30 mins and an additional 5 mins uncovered to darken.  Egg white/water wash with sesame.   Here's the recipe:

15 oz KA bread flour

1 Tbsp dried buttermilk

1.5 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp yeast

1 tsp diastatic malt powder (optional)

11 oz liquid (I use 50 / 50 water and ale)

Mix all together and let ferment overnight or 10 - 12 hours.  Stretch and fold dough; let rest 10 - 20 mins.  Divide dough into 6 equal parts (4 oz).  Bake @ 450- 460 degrees for 30 mins; remove covers and bake an additional 5 mins to darken or until 200 - 205 on thermometer.

We vacationed in France this year and had the pleasure of dining at several upscale Michelin starred restaurants. I noticed a trend toward offering small crusty rolls rather than sliced bread(s). in some cases the rolls were warm as if fresh from the oven. There were always crusty fresh rolls with chewy crumb. There would also be two or three alternate choices, usually a dark bread, and a walnut or olive bread.

I thought I could replicate those rolls but wondered if I could find a way to store them and reheat them? Could I serve rolls like this straight out of the freezer with a workday dinner having no time to bake?

After experimenting, I have had some success. The results aren't quite as good as fresh baked just out of the oven. However, the results have been better than just satisfactory and better than I expected.

For the basic French hard roll I make a no-knead refrigerated dough with 75% hydration (32 oz General Mills Harvest King, 24 oz water by weight, 2 tablespoons coarse French grey sea salt, and just 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast for a slow rise. I mix the dough ingredients without kneading, and let the dough rise for several hours. It can then be refrigerated until ready to bake several days later. It's OK in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

To make the rolls, I measured out 2.5 ounce portions of the dough. This makes a nice size dinner roll that's also big enough for a small sandwich a little larger than a typical slider. I folded each portion 5 or 6 times with a letter fold and then formed a ball by pinching the dough underneath. I rolled each ball in my flour coated hands and placed six rolls onto a cookie sheet with a Silpat silicone mat. Proofing took several hours in my kitchen. The rolls were slashed and then baked for about twenty minutes at 450 F. I used a spray bottle with water to create some steam during the first few minutes of the bake. The rolls were placed on a wire rack to cool.

After several hours, the rolls we hadn't consumed that day went into a zip lock plastic bag and then into the freezer. It's important not to put them in the freezer too soon because warm rolls will give off moisture and form ice crystals in the bag.

When ready to thaw and serve the rolls, I put several of them in the microwave oven and microwave on high for about a minute until fully thawed. At this point they'll feel like fresh bread but the crust won't be crisp. Then I put them into a toaster oven and toast for about 3 minutes. This brings back the crispy crust. Then they're ready to serve as warm rolls. They have a crisp crust, chewy crumb with holes, and good flavor.

If I'm going to serve as small sandwiches, I would use a bread knife to slice the rolls after the micowave step and before the toaster step. Then toast each half roll.

It's a way to have a selection of small dinner rolls on a whim when you don't have time to bake.

Petite Pain No. 1 (rolls)  - S.S. France: - Bernard Clayton recipe

Petite Pain (rolls) No. 2 - S.S. France: - Bernard Clayton recipe

Petite Pains (rolls) - S.S. France Note: The following excerpt is taken from Bernard Clayton’s NEW COMPLETE BOOK OF BREADS – REVISED AND EXPANDED, page 633. “The anchor of the cuisine aboard the S.S. France was French bread in its least complicated form---flour, yeast, salt, and water.  These four basic ingredients became something special in the hands of the nine boulangers. It is not French flour that makes the difference, said the bakers.  "American flour” can be used if one understands that it must be treated with deference.  Permit it to relax.  Don't rush it or it will get stubborn.  There is more gluten in American flour and it will fight back when it has been kneaded too aggressively.  Walk away from it. Let it relax, then start again. The bakers also cautioned not to pour hot water into flour because this, too, will toughen the dough.  Use water that is baby-bottle warm---about 97 degrees Fahrenheit. One surprising practice in the France bakery was the use of a piece of well-laundered wool blanket to cover the dough as it rises.  The bakers had cut 6-by-3-foot strips from wonderfully soft white blankets that in earlier times had been used by stewards to tuck around passengers taking their ease in deck chairs.  The names of famous French line ships were woven into many.  Now they were keeping dough warm. My one regret is that I did not ask for one of the old blankets as a memento of the voyage.  I fear they were tossed out when shortly thereafter the liner was taken from French line service. This method can be adapted by the home baker.  I have since cut up an old army blanket to use in my kitchen and have discovered that even the softer doughs will not stick to wool. To allow the dough to grow and mature and to become more flavorful, the S.S. France’ recipe calls for the dough to rise three times and to rest for one 15-minute interval. The petit pain or small bread is nothing more than an elongated roll about 5 inches in length and 1 1/2 inches in girth.  It is a golden brown and crusty on the outside, white and soft inside.  The dough can be cut into four 1-pound loaves if you wish.” 

Note:  Much the same as Monsieur Clayton I regret not having one of those lovely, soft, old S.S. France’ blankets for my rolls to cuddle under.  And to make things worse, my old army blanket got stolen out of the back of my Jeep at the beach a few years back, so that’s option is gone.  Just when things seem darkest there’s always a ray of sunshine…steaming to the rescue… the S.S. Walmart.  Sacrilege that it may be… I cover my roll pans with large, rectangular, clear plastic containers that I purchased at Walmart…and they work great.  I’m fairly certain that the S.S. France’ boulangers would thoroughly disapprove of this method, as in: “mon Dieu, Monsieur Americain!”  Be that as it may, my method works just fine for me... merci.

On a more serious note. I selected this recipe because the rolls are simple, delicious and it’s a good exercise for entry level bakers.  This recipe uses the “direct” method (yeast only, no pre-ferment) and produces very good results.  I made the dough just a little wetter to produce a good interior.  I also used the stretch and fold method rather than knocking down the dough, as Clayton suggests.  I use stretch and fold for everything…well, nearly everything… I am still working to perfect this technique on pancakes J.   Finally, I made round rolls instead of oblong/oval shaped rolls.  I used these two techniques (“stretch and fold” and round roll shaping) because Bill Wraith’s video (available on TFL) shows the "stretch and fold" method and Mark Sinclair’s folding and roll shaping videos (available on TFL and his Back Home Bakery home page) show the “stretch and fold” method and “shaping” round rolls. Mark makes shaping rolls look easy, which reminds me of the old story about a tourist visting New York asking a New Yorker: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” to which the New Yorker replied: “Practice”.  So, here’s a chance to practice.  The two videos will help you immensely.  So, if you’re an entry level baker and want to tackle some “direct” method rolls this might prove to be a good way to GET “ROLLING”.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Petite Pain (rolls) Interior - S.S. France - Bernard Clayton recipe

Petite Pain (rolls) No. 1  - S.S. France - Bernard Clayton

Does anyone have a recipe for Bolillos, a hard roll made in Mexico?  It has a crisp crust and a soft interior.  Thanks...Jay.