November 11, 2012 - 6:48pm
Dinner rolls with wet dough
I have carpal tunnel syndrome which precludes me from kneading bread like most people. I use a very wet dough when I bake bread. Last year I tried to make dinner rolls. They turned out ok, but I ended up adding a bunch of flour to firm up the dough to get them to stay put on the cookie sheet. Any ideas how to manage this without adding all that flour? Or maybe a way to knead it without causing me pain?
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bake them in a muffin tin. Make 1 larger, 2 or 3 smaller balls for each roll and let them rise in the tin. It will hold them in place, you will know when they are proofed because you can see when they double easily and they will spring nicely in the oven. I bake rolls in muffin tins all the time because it makes high hydration rolls so much easier. Just spry them first with non stick. Larger sandwich and hamburger buns we bake on parchment.
I do the same now and again. I cut the buns with scissors right onto the scale, make any weight adjustments and then drop them into the greased muffin tins. Sometimes I scissor cut the dough right into the greased muffin tins.
Last time I think it was too wet. Rolling it into balls was not an option. Maybe a bit less hydrated this time. Or just put a ball/glob in each one and cut it like grind said.
I knead in an old cheap brreadmaker machine. It just helps as I have Ehlers Danlos so kneading can literally cause dislocations.
I am dreaming of getting a KitchenAid stand mixer with dough hooks, but the price is out of my range
Muffin tins will give you a nice looking bun. Another option is to use a small bit of oil instead of flour to avoid sticking when shaping. Lightly cover your counter top with it, and rub some on your hands. Shape however you want. Put oil or parchment on your baking tray (or slide the rolls onto a stone) to avoid them sticking while baking.
Matt
Just cut up dough into various size or shaped pieces and brush with oil before placing in a pan. Rise, bake and have pull apart fun!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/keyword/monkey-rye
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8149/monkey-bread
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17857/pullapart-bread
Sweet or savory or plain.
is that it sounds like it must be a firm dough. Read back to where I can't knead traditionally. I'm getting ready to experiment with my food process and dough blade. Though, if that works, I will try your fun.
I had surgery on both hands 6 months ago and prior to that had issues, also. Kneading is not necessary but grasping is so use any tools at hand that will help that.
Do you use a mixer to mix the dough? Or a bread machine. They don't have to do heavy kneading-just mixing. Then you can use a regularly hydrated dough.
Mix the dough so it is just a shaggy mess and then let sit for 20 minutes or so.The gluten will form on its own at this stage. Then use a plastic bench scraper and just lift the edge,pull up and plop into the center. Just keep doing this around the edge unitl the dough starts coming together. I found I could almost do this with flat hand positions to minimize pain/numbness when I curved my thumb around.Amazing how you can adapt.
Here is a video demonstrating what I mean:
http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/video/2008/03/bertinet_sweetdough
I also looked into Batter Breads-use the search box. That is an under-rated aspect of bread making. Some are quite delicious and very do-able with bum hands. A regular mixer handles that dough easily-like a thick cake batter.
Good luck!
I made dinner rolls last night, which required no kneading. I made the "White Bread 101" recipe from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion book. I didn't "knead" as such, but used the dough hook on a stand mixer for a few minutes. Then I covered and proofed the dough, and formed the dough into balls. Forming the dough was not physcially strenuous, at least in comparison with kneading. Maybe you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook?
As I mentioned a bit ago, I'm going to try my food processor with dough blade. I have a mixer but can't fiind the hooks. It's old...it was my mom's...she died in '75 so you can imagine how old it is :-D. I have a bread machine, but the bowl (?) is small. Could do a couple batches I suppose. I'll let you all know how things go.
I'm going to use the bread machine. Maybe. Wonder if I have the little kneader attachment is in there. Haven't used it in years. I made the food processor batch a bit more hydrated. Out of habit I think. It's rising now but looks like it'll roll into balls ok.