Today was freezing cold. For once we’re actually not being dramatic Austinites, the temperature was 32 degrees pretty much the entire day. While we remain ever grateful this winter that we are not living in the impenetrable snow mountain that was once known as the city of Boston, and we fully appreciate that our suffering is laughable by comparison, we still totally hid inside and complained all day. On the plus side, this icy day of horror (Dramatic? No way. Our windshield had a little ice on it!) prompted us to whip up our favorite cold weather comfort food: homemade soup and bread.
We made these awesome dinner rolls, which turned out just right, with a crispy crust and a fluffy center. For soup, we cooked up some more of the completely perfect broccoli soup that Jake invented a few weeks ago.
- 1 ½ cups plus one tablespoon room temperature water
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 1 ½ tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 3 cups bread flour
- 3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Either by hand or in a standing mixer, whisk together the water, yeast, and maple syrup until completely combined. In a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the bread flour and whole wheat flour to the yeast mixture and beat on low for 3 minutes until a cohesive dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and wait 30 minutes.
Add the salt to the dough and mix for 5 minutes on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for about a minute, until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky. Transfer the dough to a large, lightly greased bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Fold the dough over itself by lifting from the edge and folding toward the middle. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and fold again. Repeat twice more. Then flip the entire dough ball over, so that the smooth side faces up. Cover with plastic once more and set the dough in a warm place to rise for 40 minutes.
Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a 16-inch log. Cut each log into 8 equal pieces and dust with flour. With floured hands, roll each piece into a ball. Shake off any excess flour before transferring the dough balls to the prepared cake pans. Each cake pan will have one dough ball in the center, with 7 others forming an evenly spaced circle around it. Once all the pieces of dough are arranged in the pans, cover each pan with plastic wrap. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Wait 30 minutes to allow the dough to rise and the oven to properly preheat.
Remove the plastic from the pans and bake the rolls for about 10 minutes, until the tops are brown. Take the pans out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dump the rolls onto the baking sheet. When the rolls are cool enough to handle, pull them apart, turn them right side up, and arrange them evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes more, rotating the sheet halfway through baking, until golden brown. Transfer the rolls to a wire rack to cool.
(recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
