Dark Brown and Soft Restaurant Dinner Rolls

I don't get to restaurants very often. Not nearly enough, to tell you the truth. Still, when I do go, I always check out the bread basket. You know the one. The basket of rolls and other home-baked goodies they bring you before the meal. To eat while you wait for your order to arrive. Filled with dinner rolls, made with white flour, or whole wheat or even rye. And with all kinds of decorations, like sesame seeds and so forth. The ones that intrigue me are the rolls that are dark brown in color, with a not too chewy crust, and soft on the inside. And for a while now I have been looking for a recipe to 'duplicate' these rolls. At last I think I have found one... This recipe is adapted from one I found in a new cookbook I have acquired Whole Grain Baking from King Arthur Flour, another in a long line of really informative cookbooks from KAF. These guys really know baking! Their site is great, replete with recipes, forums and even video lessons, you should definitely check them out.

The rolls are soft, and very dark (thanks to the cocoa powder, which, btw, you can barely taste), and very attractive. However like all small breads, these rolls tend to dry quickly, and so should be eaten right away. That is never a problem!

Here's What You'll Need:
1 cup (250 ml) warm water
1/3 cup orange juice
4 Tbs (60g) softened butter or margarine
1/3 cup honey (or other sweetener like silan - date honey)
2 1/4 cups (250g) whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cups (270g) AP flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs (45g) sugar
2 Tbs (30g) cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

Mix together ALL the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mix thoroughly. If using a mixer, use the dough hook at medium speed for about 7 or 8 minutes.

 If kneading by hand, then knead for longer, like about 12 minutes. The dough should be soft and smooth, and just barely sticky.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let it rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into about 10 equal-sized pieces. Place the rolls on a parchment covered baking sheet and cover to proof again, about 45 minutes.

About 20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Bake the rolls for about 15 minutes, until just slightly browned on the bottom. Cool on a rack.

A Southern Treat - The Perfect Biscuit

The first time I encountered a good Southern biscuit was in 1977. I remember it very clearly. My wife and I were still 'young marrieds', and we had gone on a road trip with her parents to Atlanta, GA. Well, what can I say. Here I was, a country mouse in the city. As you can imagine, I had never really experienced large American cities before. Sure we had visited Baltimore, where she grew up, but Atlanta was just huge. I had never seen anything like it. To top it off, there was this accent, which to my Eastern Canadian ears was some kind of lingua incognita... what was that!! The first morning, at the hotel breakfast bar I was introduced to the Southern biscuit. When, out of curiosity I asked the waitress what kind of biscuits they were she replied in her best Southern "I dunno, dey's jest biscuits!".

Now in the South, they take their biscuits seriously. Every self-respecting cook has his/her own recipe and everyone claims to be the champ. This is not anything like a Northern biscuit and is not cake-like at all. It is a combination of a bread using both chemical leaveners (baking powder and baking soda) along with yeast. The result is light and fluffy, flaky, bready and just plain delicious. In the Old South the fat of choice was usually lard - good quality lard. Most modern cooks as well as hotels, have long ago abandoned it in favor of butter or margarine. Since I will not accept the responsibility of recommending a cardiologist, I have done the same. You must try these, they will change your idea of biscuits forever.

Here's What You'll Need: (for about 25 biscuits)
5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups milk and 2 Tbs. vinegar)
2 1/2 tsp. to 1 Tbs. yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup water


Here's What You'll Need to do:
1. Mix dry ingredients together.  
2. Cut in margarine until well mixed.  
3. Add buttermilk and dissolved yeast all at once.  Stir until all flour is moistened.  
4. Store in container in refrigerator at least 2 hours before using.  (Better to wait one day.)  

5. On floured board, roll out desired amount of dough and cut with 2 inch biscuit cutter. 

6. Brush with melted butter just before placing in oven.
7. Bake at 400 degrees (preferably on a preheated cast iron baker) for 12 minutes or until golden brown. 

8. Brush with melted butter immediately after removing from oven, if desired.


These biscuits dry fairly quickly so keep them well covered. Actually, you'll find they are gone before you have to worry about that, but still...