These rolls are amazing! They are very tender, and pretty easy to make. Once you learn the trick on how to stretch, pinch and roll the dough, these will turn out perfectly. They are buttery, tender and so good!
I admit, that I once had a fear of it working with yeast. Recently, my confidence has grown and I’ve learned to understand how to work with yeast. I give a lot of credit to King Arthur’s Blog called “Baker’s Banter“. If you haven’t discovered this treasure of a blog, you’re missing out. There are step-by-step tutorials. People leave reviews– and, the KAF folks answer back!
Just to show you that while I’m no longer afraid of yeast breads, this recipe went wrong, the first time I made it. The next day, I had to try it again. I suspected why my first batch turned out like hockey pucks. My signature line seems to be “let me show you how”. So… let’s begin:
I need therapy. Seriously. I love to shop at King Arthur online. This store is my toy store. I have been slowly accumulating their products, and have been experimenting with them. I discovered that the Vital Wheat Gluten really helped my Buttered Rosemary Rolls to rise beautifully. The three products that you see pictured above, were going on a maiden voyage for this recipe I’m about to show you. I’ve used Fleishmann’s Rapid Rise Yeast for ages. I decided to buy a bag of SAF Instant yeast, since bread bakers rave about it. Enough product talk… let’s talk about yeast. The SAF Instant yeast is supposed to not need any kind of “proofing”. That translates, simply, into dissolving the yeast with some sort of sugar– honey or sugar, for example and waiting for it to “foam”. I think people are afraid of killing the yeast. One more important thing– I store my yeast in the refrigerator (some people use the freezer) and check the expiration date! Yeast should be live!
The product on the left is not in the recipe. I wanted to test drive this dough improver . I added the amount on the back of the bag. On the right, you see how you literally put the yeast and all dry ingredients in one bowl. Easy enough?
I think, sometime, we second guess what is considered “lukewarm”. I use my therma-pen (an expensive but one of my favorite kitchen tools) and I like to stay between 110F – 115F. I let this cool a wee bit more, just to be sure I don’t kill the yeast. Are you still with me?
So, now I add the softened butter and the water/milk that is at lukewarm and pour it all in. I like this!
I have owned a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for years, and I love it. When my bread machine broke, I never replaced it. I don’t feel that I need a bread machine anymore. You can always mix dough by hand, if you don’t mind the elbow grease. I suppose you could have you bread mixer knead the dough, but you still need to shame them. For practical purposes, I hope everyone owns a stand mixer. I used the dough hook, on low, to combine the ingredients– then up a notch in speed for seven minutes. How easy is that? Now, it’s time to allow the dough to do it’s first rise…
Pay attention, now. I’m about to show you what went wrong on Round #1. The dough seemed stiff to me. As I always do, I turn my oven to WARM for a minute, shut it off. I put the dough into an oiled bowl (this is a dough doubler, with measuring lines and a tight lid– another gadget for me). I figured this would rise in 45-60 minutes. I shaped the rolls (didn’t photograph how to do it, since KAF has a great pictorial on how to do this)
I did the second rise for about 45 minutes. My rolls came out puny– not at all like my beautiful rolls from a couple weeks ago! I was underwhelmed by the texture. I thought that they were dense.
The next day, I decided to try the recipe again. I was convinced that it wasn’t King Arthur Flour’s fault. What went wrong? Well, I think I dumped in too much flour.
Oh, um…. well, er, I was out of KAF flour and used Brand X. A quick trip to the store remedied that. I repeated the same steps, except I added only 3 cups of flour– deciding that I could always add more. I never did add that extra 1/2 cup.
This time, I left the dough to rise for 90 minutes. Ha! that was the solution. It was fluffly and read to be shaped.
I’m getting the hang of shaping rolls. It didn’t take that long to do, either. Ten minutes, tops! I decided to make a small extra pan, to test how well these reheat. Covered with a towel, and back into my cozy oven (you don’t have to do this, but I need the counter space anyway)…
Golden Pull-Apart Buns
Ingredients
- BUNS:
- 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons potato flour or 1/4 cup instant potato flakes
- 3 tablespoons Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons soft butter
- 2/3 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
- TOPPING:
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl, and mix and knead using your hands, a stand mixer, or a bread machine set on the dough cycle — to make a soft, smooth dough.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased container (an 8-cup measure works well here) and allow the dough to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s just about doubled in bulk.
- Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.
- Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, by dividing in half, then in halves again, etc. Round each piece into a smooth ball.
- Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Space 8 buns in each pan. Can you use 9-inch round cake pans, or a 9″ x 13-inch pan? Sure; the buns just won’t nestle together as closely, so their sides will be a bit more baked.
- Cover the pans, and allow the buns to rise till they’re crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Uncover the buns, and bake them for 22 to 24 minutes, until they’re golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the center bun should register at least 190°F.
- Remove the buns from the oven, and brush with the melted butter. After a couple of minutes, turn them out of the pan onto a cooling rack.
- Serve warm. Store leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.
Notes
I came THIS close to making these rolls and I still will because your pan of rolls is gorgeous!
Happy Thanksgiving.
The photo of the rolls is a stunner. A happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Blessings…Mary
You have gorgeous buns! 😉 Sadly, I am one of those "afraid of yeast" bloggers but I like to live vicariously through others.
Hope you have a happy and lovely Thanksgiving!
Gorgeous. Thanks you to, my encouragement is back. I was in the King Arthur Flour store in May when we were in Vermont. Unfortunately, we were flying, so had to hold back on my purchases. Now when I see the catalogue, I get real excited. I really the SAF instant yeast and the KA flour is the difference. Happy Thanksgiving.
Debby ~ I like your cheeky title! And old King Arthur's buns look amazing, too.
Have a wonderful blessed Thanksgiving Day!
Nice buns! I wish I could make buns that perfect! Happy Thanksgiving!
Debby these look delicious! Thanks for the tips. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Beautiful rolls! I love your blog!
Beautiful rolls! I love your blog!
I can definitely smell them from here. I will make these! I may never come out of the kitchen until I've perfected them and eaten several dozen. Debby, my thighs thank you! And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
The Thanksgiving picture cracked me up! Have a great one!
You have been busy! My sister in law has the honor of making the rolls this year…your rolls are lovely! Isn't the smell of fresh bread wonderful on a cool, blustery day?
Congratulations on a superb roll! You have recognized the secret to bread making…try and try again. It's all about touch when adding the flour. I'm sure your friends and family will thank you for these rolls…Happy Thanksgiving!
Wish I had a few of this delicious looking rolls right now! Thanks for sharing!
We are so pleased you worked so hard on this recipe till it worked for you-really great rolls! I work on KAF hot line and it seems as if everyone made rolls this year. Hope they all turned out as beautiful as yours. Joan @bakershotline
Debby, can ya tell that I'm catching up on reading your blog posts? I just can't get off your blog! These rolls look perfect! Gosh, I'm so lazy compared to you, I bought croissants and do for every Turkey Day. I think rolling and twisting 1000 tortellini wears me out and I give up by the time it comes to the bread! LOL! Happy Thanksgiving too! Roz
You are becoming the roll queen! Those rolls are mouth watering!!
Wow. You have purchased almost every product on King Arthur hahaha. These rolls look perfect.
WoW!!! These look amazing! Next time I go to Costco I'm picking up a bag of KAF!!
wow this looks great! I love fresh baked rolls.
Hi so just a question about how you remedied the buns. Did you slowly add the flour or did you just leave out a 1/2 cup and you found that made the dough rise better? You should it wasn't maybe that your liquid was too warm? I'm experimenting with yeast and bread making too so am just interested to learn more. Thanks!
Dear Anonymous:
I would say that by adding the flour, a little at a time, did the trick. I also waited for the dough to rise. I think I rushed it the first time. You can call the King Arthur Flour hotline for live advice, by the way. Bread baking is fun, and not too complicated. Using a quality flour helps, play with different yeasts and yes, temperature is key.
I have a batch of these rising at this moment. I've been making them for years — they are great!
I would advise you to buy a kitchen scale if you're serious about baking. It helps you to avoid adding too much flour to baked goods, which results in the kind of rolls you got the first time. Volume measurement is a very imprecise way to measure ingredients, and is especially troublesome when it comes to calculating flour in baked goods. King Arthur always includes weights on all their recipes, which ensures success.