Sunday, December 27, 2009

Just Call Me Butter, Because I'm on a Roll

Help Wanted! As some of you already know, I'm putting together an American cookbook for Parragon Publishing. If you'd like to help, I'll be posting a series of photos from recipes being produced for the book, and I'd love to have some of you loyal readers testing them.

Beneath the photo, you'll see a link to the written recipe on my American Food site, where the recipes are also being published. Since I'll be doing so many recipes, I'll also be posting a couple videos a week from the collection, but I really want to know if the instructions in the recipes work even without seeing them.

































Click here to try this Classic Dinner Rolls Recipe. Please report back! Thanks and enjoy!

30 comments:

KrisD said...

Happy to help, is there a preferred means of reporting back or should we just post in the comments??

KrisD said...

One comment on the rolls recipe--people who aren't familiar with yeast won't know what "warm" is for the temperature to dissolve the yeast, so "lukewarm" or provide a temperature (110°F-115°F.

Chef John said...

Thanks, good point. Yes, comments or I can also include an email. foodwishes@yahoo.com

Susanne said...

About the dry yeast. Is it the equivalent of 50gram of fresh yeast ?

Chef John said...

not sure, ive only used the dry packets. should be online though

Anonymous said...

But, that would mean we'd actually have to follow a recipe rather than consider it 'suggestions' for how to make a dish:)

Chef John said...

yes, that would be my suggestion ;-)

Allison Arevalo said...

Hey John! Can't wait to try this recipe, it looks awesome - I can just imagine how these rolls must melt in your mouth. I will give you a full report. Hope you had a great holiday!

Anonymous said...

"Combine milk, butter, sugar, honey, and salt in another glass or plastic bowl" makes it sound like it was necessary that the first bowl with the yeast mixture was glass or plastic as well.

Connie T. said...

I will make them, but I will use my mixer to mix them, I don't mix by hand. I always mix with my Kitchen Aid beater hook.

Anonymous said...

glad to help :D im really excited for your cookbook

Reggae Chef said...

These rolls are gorgeous and the recipe seems simple enough to follow.

I just started working with yeast and will be making my first loaf of bread next week, but so far I have made danish, croissant and cinnamon buns and they all turned out great and it was my first time making them. Now I will add these rolls to my list of things to make. Thanks

Goodluck with your cook book.
http://reggaechef.blogspot.com/

Dawn0fTime said...

I make bread all the time. I haven't made this particular recipe (yet!), but I read through it. Two comments:

1. Include the amount of yeast (2 1/4 t.) along with saying 1 packet. Some of us don't buy yeast in packets because it's cheaper by the jar or bag.

2. When dividing the dough into 16 equal portions, it would be helpful if you gave the weight. Granted a person could just weigh the whole batch and divide by 16 to get the weight, but it's just something I've seen in other recipes that I find helpful.

I'm excited to see your book when it's published! Maybe you could offer some signed copies through your blog. ;)

Luatica said...

I did this recipe a while ago, and I recall I had to add way more flour, but it might be more related to AP flour quite likely having different strenghts in different countries.

Chef John said...

Thanks for all the tips, everyone!

jccraia said...

Chef,
I followed the recipe as written.
It reached the point about two minutes into kneading...so I stopped there and put it into a glass bowl with canola cooking spray instead of oil.
It did not rise much after 1-1/2 hours.
I cut the dough up by taking the ball and cutting it in half, in half, in half, in half..easier than "make a square, etc."
After 40 minutes, I threw it in the oven - then the transformation occurred.
Wow, my wife dug into those tasty, fluffy rolls immediately...I had to have one too...
After 20 minutes they were even better.
Thanks Chef!
How do I post a picture???
/Users/jccraia/Dinner Rolls.jpg

hazharpo said...

I'm a new devotee to your site and I'm not quite sure what "punch down the dough" means--you might have gone over it before. Also, the prep time is listed as 2 hours but you have the dough rising the first time for 1.5 hours and the second time for 40 minutes. There is also all the work you have in between; so the prep seems more like 2.5-3 hours.

Looks great, though, like everything you do.

Chef John said...

thanks! send pic to foodwishes@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Speaking of coincidences, I wanted to make dinner rolls to go with turkey pot pie tonight for supper but couldn't find the copy of this recipe I had printed before. I knew it was from Foodwishes so I was going to search your site for it. Look at that, todays blog, the very thing I was looking for. Made it, ate it, great as always.
Now to dry age a prime rib roast for Perfect Prime Rib of Beef with the Mysterious "Method X"

rosemary said...

I suck at following written recipes. Watching videos has been a major breakthrough for me. I am sure when I try to follow your recipe I will be visualizing you doing your thing. You can put a tips column or chapter and add the following tip: lukewarm water = 1 part boiling water + 2 parts tap water. Always perfect for me. Also oven light provides good warmth for rising/proofing.

Anonymous said...

I am horrible at making bread, usually it turns in to a rock. But this recipe was very user friendly and my bread rolls turned out delicious. One suggestion for this recipe is instead of using temperatures for the warm water just say as warm as bath water, for not all of us has a magical thermometer up our sleeves.

Chef John said...

Thanks everyone!! Please go to the recipe page on About and leave a review (5 star I hope!) if you made the recipe and it came out well. Thanks!

Connie T. said...

I made your recipe on these rolls.
I put up a picture of them on my blog.
http://connieemeraldeyes.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/my-dinner-roll-experience/

It is probably my oven...they came out a little hard. But they were good. It is really, really cold here though, maybe that has something to do with it.

Chef John said...

thanks connie!

ChefJohnsBiggestFan said...

sadly after bragging on facebook about how i was making homemade dinner rolls they ended up being hard little potential weapons. I think my yeast was old because i didn't get a whole lot of rise. The bottoms got real hard (imagine concrete) and the whole roll itself was a hard spongey on the inside. Was really sad. on a happy note, the sloppy Johns were GREAT

Valerie said...

1) Would this be the recipe to use for the dough part if I want attempt cinnamon rolls?
2) can I convert most bread recipes that list "cup" into weighing out 4oz
Thanks so much!

Chef John said...

You could use for cin rolls. Would be more like 4.25 or 4.5.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. The exterior is a bit tough. Second, the bread is not sweet like butter rolls. Last, not sure if this is relevant, but my dough rises really quickly. Is it necessary to wait the entire 1.5 hours?

Thanks

Chef John said...

No, once it doubles, you can proceed. On the other issues, I'm not sure. This is not a sweet roll. You can always add sugar if u want.

Tricia said...

OH. MY. GOD.
This recipe is amazing! It's beautiful and sooo delicious! Hands down the best dinner roll I have ever tasted. Thank you so much Chef John!