Dinner rolls fail

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newbrian

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jun 22, 2016
97
56
NW Indiana
I tried to make dinner rolls using this recipe and they came out crunchy on the outside. I was hoping for soft dinner rolls. Can anyone see where i went wrong? Thanks for your input

Ingredients
  • 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
  • 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups (390g) all-purpose flour or bread flour*
  • optional topping: 2 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter mixed with 1 Tablespoon honey

Instructions
  1. Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/rubber spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula is a better choice.*
  1. Add the remaining sugar, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. With a dough hook or paddle attachment, mix/beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough, similar to the photos above. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
  1. Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 3 full minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 full minutes.
  2. 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
  1. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.*
  1. Shape the rolls: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
  2. 2nd Rise: Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
  1. Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the rolls towards the bottom of the oven so the tops don’t burn.)
  1. Bake the rolls: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, brush with optional honey butter topping, and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 days or in th
 
Maybe try a different rack, bake not as long, or a little lower temp. I'm not a huge baker so hope you get better answers.
We have a gas double oven, heat source is under each half so baking too low could burn them. Have you verified oven temps? Some can be off as much as 25 degrees.
I've been baking some buns lately...

20230306_224853.jpg


Turned out really well... except for our last batch... that came out with a harder crust. But in our case it was personal error... busy doing too many things, got late, and a couple less drinks might have helped!

Ryan
 
Bake them on the middle rack at 350 . Spin half way thru or if they start to brown uneven .
Brush with melted butter when they come out of the oven .
I temp breads at 190 / 200 or look for a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom .
 
Chop's spot on, bake on the middle rack, do the spin thing, cover with a piece of foil if they get too brown before they are done, and brush them with butter as soon as they come out of the oven. I just whack off a slice of butter and rub it across the tops, not bothering with a brush. Brokenhandle Brokenhandle 's rolls look great, now I'm off to visit the website that sawhorseray sawhorseray posted!
 
Chop's spot on, bake on the middle rack, do the spin thing, cover with a piece of foil if they get too brown before they are done, and brush them with butter as soon as they come out of the oven. I just whack off a slice of butter and rub it across the tops, not bothering with a brush. Brokenhandle Brokenhandle 's rolls look great, now I'm off to visit the website that sawhorseray sawhorseray posted!
Follow chopsaw chopsaw Advice... he's the reason mine look the way they do! He's also right to the fact that sawhorseray sawhorseray has a really good recipe as well!

Ryan
 
Maybe try a different rack, bake not as long, or a little lower temp. I'm not a huge baker so hope you get better answers.
We have a gas double oven, heat source is under each half so baking too low could burn them. Have you verified oven temps? Some can be off as much as 25 degrees.
I've been baking some buns lately...

View attachment 660828

Turned out really well... except for our last batch... that came out with a harder crust. But in our case it was personal error... busy doing too many things, got late, and a couple less drinks might have helped!

Ryan
those look great! that was what I was looking for
 
No idea Brian, tho it's always good to verify your oven temp. Check out this site, I've scored quite a few bread recipes from it. RAY

I have not verified my oven temp. I will have to do that
 
Hmmm. Bread flour will give a chewier roll than AP flour due to the higher gluten content. I use AP flour when I want a soft bread/roll.

If there was a lot of moisture in the air, moisture actually creates a crunchier crust than a dry oven (counterintuitive but a fact). My natural gas oven always fogs up, which is moisture in the gas condensing on cooler surfaces.

A LOT of honey contains high fructose corn syrup even though the ingredients indicate only honey. Pure honey will crystallize in a relatively short time (easy to fix). Honey that has been doctored never crystallizes. I've got a cabinet full of different honeys (my wife loves the stuff). One store brand, at least two years old, is as clear today as the day I bought it. It's obviously not 100% honey. If you baked it brushed with bogus honey and butter, that could also make it crunchy.


That's all I got.

Ray
 
I don't bake much these days. After the kids left home, no need to make orange rolls (kids favorite) or cinnamon or caramel rolls. My bread never met Grandma's level so I gave up.

I do remember potato bread and rolls to give a soft crust and texture.

Sorry thread hijack coming.
...
A LOT of honey contains high fructose corn syrup even though the ingredients indicate only honey.
Maybe not on the "A LOT" factor. Read on.
Some of the "pure" maple syrup one finds in the local stores has significant corn syrup.
Pure honey will crystallize in a relatively short time (easy to fix). Honey that has been doctored never crystallizes. I've got a cabinet full of different honeys (my wife loves the stuff). One store brand, at least two years old, is as clear today as the day I bought it. It's obviously not 100% honey.
...
Most raw honey will crystallize (called "granulation" in the honey business) at various rates.
Some natural sources have amazing shelf life.
Pure North Dakota sweet clover honey is one example. It has a different moisture level that prevents granulation.
Your chances of getting pure clover honey is slim to none and slim retired years ago.

Most of the store brand honey is pasteurized.
Honey is pasteurized for a few reasons.
Legitimate reason is to kill yeast (prevent possible fermentation) and to give the shelf life without granulating. Most pasteurized honey will not granulate for years and years.
Illegitimate reason is to destroy all yeasts, pollens, and other organic material that would identify the source of the honey. Some store honey products stating "100% US produced" contain a significant amount of imported honey from Central and South America.

I don't remember when the phrase "raw honey" or "unfiltered" hit the shelves.
All honey is filtered to a degree. I don't remember our filter size, but most people don't want a random bee body part in their jar of honey. Get over it, true raw honey is a filtered and natural product.
The "raw and unfiltered" is a counterattack to the unscrupulous suppliers that import honey, pasteurize, and microfilter to remove the killed yeasts and pollens. The micro filtering is what masks the true source. Honey is honey and the source is all good product. The deception is the source. The sweetener business is a highly regulated business.
I currently fight it as I am part of the beet sugar production.
That is another thread.

Ray you earned your Wings.
I earned my Stings. I did 2 years in the honey business. Big regret is not staying.
 
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Thanks for the great info, John. The honey I suspect was adulterated is a clover honey souced from Mexico, India, and Ukraine: says so on the label.

We took the first of three honey education classes from UC Davis last month, an agri uni. If I remember right, a honey labeled clover only has to have 27% clover honey in the jar as a minimum.

I'll let you know soon on the other thing.

Ray
 
I'm no baker, but when I do I always throw a sheet of Al foil over the top as soon as I see some browning...approx at the halfway point. It slows down browning/burning and helps cooking on the inside.
But I'm in awe at the way-smarter comments from Ray, et al.
 
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