How to Make Crusty Golden Rolls From Scratch!
October 7, 2020. Sunny and cool. Crusty Golden Rolls.
Jump to RecipeI miss eating crunchy crusty rolls that are ubiquitous in European restaurants. They are usually served on the side with your order. It’s just the thing to go with your meal and tastes fabulous with just a pat of butter, or to sop up all that delicious sauce or gravy on your plate.
Since we won’t be traveling to Europe anytime soon, I figured the next best thing would be to try and replicate these golden rolls at home. I searched around and found this recipe recommended by one of my baking groups. As always, King Arthur Baking has a recipe that just seems to answer the description.
This post is focused on how I made these lovely rolls. They are not difficult to put together, but they do require patience as we wait for the yeast and flour to rise. The starter requires an overnight wait, so plan accordingly so that these rolls will be ready for dinner!
Let’s get baking!
Ingredients
I’m listing the ingredients in roughly the order in which they are used.
Starter (Overnight)
½ cup (113 g) Cool Water
1 cup (120 g) All-Purpose Flour
⅛ tsp Active Dry Yeast
Dough
3 ½ cups (418 g) All-Purpose Flour
1 cup (227 g) Lukewarm water
1½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Active Dry Yeast
Olive oil, to grease bowl for proofing
1 Egg, beaten with 1 Tbs water for Egg wash
Putting Crusty Golden Rolls Together
Mix the starter ingredients together until smooth, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight (or for at least 8 hours).
In the morning, combine the starter with all of the dough ingredients until dough is soft smooth. The surface of the dough may still be a bit rough and a bit sticky. Next, grease a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover, and let it rise for 90 minutes. Then, deflate the dough and re-shape into a ball and return to the bowl. Again, cover and let it rest for another 90 minutes.
After the rest, tip the dough onto a lightly greased work surface. Divide into 12 pieces, and then shape the pieces into little round balls. Roll the dough balls under your lightly cupped fingers to tighten up the surface.
After shaping the dough balls, place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let them rise for 1 hour, or until they are puffy. Then, cover the rolls and refrigerate them for 2 more hours.
Scoring the Rolls
Towards the end of chill time, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Prepare the egg wash by lightly beating the egg with water until combined and set aside. When ready, remove the rolls from the refrigerator and brush them with the prepared egg wash. Carefully, using a very sharp knife or baker’s lame, cut a 1/4″ (~0.6cm) deep cut across the top of each roll. Baker’s tip: to keep the knife or blade from snagging the rolls, dip it in a bit of olive oil before cutting.
Apply egg wash Slashing the rolls Slashing complete
Next, pop the rolls into the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. When ready, remove the pan from the oven and cool on a rack.
Ready for the oven Hot Rolls just out of the oven!
Your yummy Crusty Golden Rolls are ready for the table! Let’s eat!
Notes on Crusty Golden Rolls
Uneaten rolls can be kept in airtight container for a day or 2. For longer periods, freeze.
I got curious and wanted to know the different types of dinner rolls and found this useful page. Check it out if you are interested => https://www.handletheheat.com/ultimate-dinner-roll-guide/
Crusty Golden Rolls
Ingredients
Starter (Overnight)
- ½ cup (113 g) Cool Water
- 1 cup (120 g) All-Purpose Flour
- ⅛ tsp Active Dry Yeast
Dough
- 3 ½ cups (418 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (227 g) Lukewarm water
- 1½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Active Dry Yeast
- Olive oil, to grease bowl for proofing
- 1 Egg, beaten with 1 Tbs water for Egg wash
Instructions
- Mix the starter ingredients together until smooth, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight (or for at least 8 hours).
- In the morning, combine the starter with all of the dough ingredients until dough is soft smooth. Surface of dough may still be a bit rough and a bit sticky. Grease a large bowl. Cover, and let dough rise for 90 minutes. Deflate the dough and re-shape into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover and let rise for another 90 minutes.
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Divide into 12 pieces then shape into balls. Roll the dough balls under your lightly cupped fingers to tighten up the surface.
- Place the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until they are puffy. Next, cover the rolls and refrigerate them for 2 hours.
- Towards the end of chill time, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Prepare the egg wash by lightly beating the egg with water until combined and set aside.
- Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and brush with the prepared egg wash. Using a very sharp knife or baker's lame, cut a 1/4" (0.6 cm) deep cut across the top of each roll.
- Bake the rolls for 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.
Notes
Recipe adapted from => https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/crusty-european-style-hard-rolls-recipe
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Easy to make. These rolls are crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Perfect for soups and sopping up every last drop of sauce!.
Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate your kind feedback! Happy Baking! ❤
Would you be able to make this into one big loaf? or do you think it wont work?
Hi Taylor, good question! I’ve never attempted to make one big loaf with this recipe, so I’m curious too! If I have to guess, the texture would be different once baked. Please keep me posted if you plan to experiment! Thanks for visiting.. ❤️Jessica
I used this recipe and added garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil and thyme with parmesan cheese to overnight starter. I rolled out this dough recipe and used it to make Venison Wellington. Ohh so much better than puff pastry or Filo dough.
Janet, that sounds delicious! What a tasty upgrade! – Jessica