I make Italian bread for my wife's family and they love it. Now and then I make rolls and they enjoy the nice wheat after taste I get from the preferment. The other day my 87 year old Father in law asked me if I could make a good old style crusty hard roll that is chewy inside and not to light. I searched here and found some information I had participated in with Norm where he said the dough is the same as the onion rolls.

After a couple attempts, I'm not getting a crusty crust that stays hard as the bread cools. I haven't sprayed water on the dough before baking yet. Has anyone had luck with getting a good crispy crust on a hard roll?

Eric

So I'm using PR's Kaiser Roll recipe from BBA and Norm's advice and this is my result.  Twice now they have risen higher than I'd like and also closed up too much after using the stamp.  Does anyone have any advice on improving them?   Thanks!