Fantastic Dinner Rolls
These wonderful rolls taste and look like * real * bread. You can make them the night before, leave them in the fridge overnight and then bake the next night for dinner. Don't these look yummy?
Yeast proofing ingredients
4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 Tablespoons yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons sugar
Wet ingredients
2/3 cup melted butter or margarine or cooking oil
4 eggs
Dry ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon and 2 teaspoons xanthun gum
1/2 cup non-dairy milk powder (optional, can add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of GF flour mix)
1 Tablespoon salt
5 cups Holy Grail GF mix
Proofing the yeast
Take a large ceramic or glass mixing bowl and rinse it with warm water to warm it up. Pour in warm water and slowly mix in gelatin, being careful that it all dissolves and doesn't clump. Whisk it thoroughly and scrape down the sides to make sure that there is no chance of any stray lumps. Add yeast and sugar and whisk until mixed. Put bowl in warm place and let sit for 15 minutes. The mixture should now be foamy and frothy, if it is not you need new yeast and to start all over again.
While the yeast is proofing, in another mixing bowl, mix sugar, xanthun gum, milk powder, salt and flour.
Mixing and Kneading the Dough
When the yeast is done proofing, add in melted butter or cooking oil, whisk, then add in eggs one at a time, whisking after each egg. Then gradually add in flour, making sure not to leave lumps. I usually use the whisk for the first cup and then switch to my bread whisk to mix in the rest. If you don't have one of these cool flat whisks it is worth getting if you make a lot of bread.
Dump the dough onto a clean large flat surface, I have a big wooden cutting board that I like to use. You don't need to add anymore flour to it until it starts getting sticky during the kneading process and then I just add regular rice flour to the board and dust the surface. Knead the dough until it comes together and forms an even, cohesive ball with structure. So when the dough is in ball form you should be able to drop it onto the board and it will still be a ball, it won't smoosh all over the place. The surface of the dough will be smooth and firm.
When it has reached this point, I roll it into a thick log so that it is easy to cut into even sized pieces. You could be fancy and use a kitchen scale to figure out how much dough for each roll depending on how many rolls you want but I usually just eyeball it. This amount of dough makes between 16 and 24 rolls depending on how big you want them to be.
Grease the pans, you can use baking sheets, cake pans or pie tins. Then put a little bit of tapioca starch on the back of the cutting board. The majority of the board should not have excessive flour on it; otherwise the dough won't catch and roll out smoothly.
To make knot rolls
Take a piece of dough, put it between your palms and roll into a ball firmly. This is sort of a second kneading for each little piece, it helps to activate the xanthun gum and allows the dough to stretch and behave the way you want without cracking. Now that the dough is in a ball, lightly daub it on two sides in the tapioca starch, and then roll it into a long snake of dough on the board, I usually make mine about 12-14 inches long. If it starts getting sticky during rolling, put a tiny bit of tapioca starch on it.
Then take the dough and tie a loose knot like the first step in tying your shoes, then tuck one end in the center of the knot from the top and the other from the bottom. You might have to experiment a few times to get a pretty knot, but don't worry, the rising before baking will make even ugly knots look pretty and fluffy. Gently place knot in greased pan. Repeat until all dough is knotted.
To make round rolls
Take a piece of dough, put it between your palms and roll into a ball firmly. This is sort of a second kneading for each little piece, it helps to activate the xanthun gum and allows the dough to stretch and behave the way you want without cracking. Now that the dough is in a ball, place it in the greased pan. Repeat with rest of dough.
Next day refrigerator instructions
If you are making these for baking the following day or just later the same day, cover surface of pans with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge. At least two hours before you want to start baking them, pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees and then turn it off. Remove pans from fridge, take off plastic wrap, cover with dish towel and put them in the warm oven. This will take off the chill and bring them up to rising temperature the fastest and gives it the best rising conditions. Let them sit in the cooling oven until they have doubled in size and look big and puffy. Remove from oven and brush with a beaten egg.
Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake for around 20-30 minutes, possibly longer, until golden brown and they thump hollow. Cool on rack or pan. Here's a picture of what they look like done.
Same day baking instructions
Place pans in warm place and let rise until they have doubled in size and look big and puffy. Brush with a beaten egg. Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake for around 20-30 minutes, possibly longer, until golden brown and they thump hollow. Cool on rack or pan.