Are you an Italian hard rolls type person, or do you prefer the soft, sort of sweet Parker House type rolls? We are definitely of the Italian hard rolls crowd. We like to hear that crackle and crunch when we try to break into them, and the crust is so hard that some of the crumbs fall onto our plates. Oh, but the inside, the inside is so soft, so warm, so light and airy, and so very fragrant with a rich yeasty scent.
The pat of butter that we put in the crack of the roll melts and soaks right into the interior crumb.
*sigh* Pure Bliss!!
These panini duri Italiani have everything we desire in a roll.
Yeast Starter
Yeast Rolls Start with Pre-ferment
It all begins with a starter we make the day before and let it sit on the counter. The following day we add the starter to the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough.
Hard Rolls Dough
Then we place the dough ball into a container and allow it to rise.
Italian Hard Rolls Benching and Scaling
To get a uniform roll we bench and scale the dough. We are huge proponents of kitchen scales.
Italian Hard Rolls on Parchment Lined backing sheet.
We let the rolls rise for another hour or two.
Yeast Rounds Brushed with Egg White Wash
We brush the rolls with an egg white wash.
Scoring the Italian Hard Rolls
After we score the rolls, we put them on a baking sheet and then immediately into a preheated 425F oven.
Italian Hard Rolls Baked to a Golden Brown
Next day delicious dinner bread
The key to these panini’s fantastic flavor is the extra-long fermentation and very little yeast. Use them as crispy Italian sandwich rolls. They would make excellent sliders, or you could make them larger and use them for grilled sausage or hamburgers. Let us know how you ate these tasty Italian hard rolls.
Tutti a tavola è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
Genuine Italian Hard Rolls Recipe
Italian Hard Rolls {Panini Duri Italiani}
Ingredients
Starter
- 4 ounces cool water -- 1/2 cup*
- 4 1/4 ounces-- 1 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/8 teaspoon Instant yeast
Dough
- all of the starter
- 14 3/4 ounces -- 3 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 8 ounces -- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg white mixed with 1/2 cup cool water
Instructions
- To make the starter: Mix the starter ingredients until smooth, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight.
- Next day combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine -- until you've made a soft, somewhat smooth dough.
- Allow the dough to rise, covered in a greased bowl, for 3 hours, gently deflating it and turning it over after 1 hour, and again after 2 hours.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Divide it into 12 pieces*, shape the pieces into balls, and firm them up by rolling them under your lightly cupped fingers.
- Place the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise for 1 to 2 hours, until they're puffy, though not doubled in size. They'll flatten out a bit as they rise; that's OK.
- Cover the rolls, and refrigerate them for 2 to 3 hours. Towards the end of the rolls' chill, preheat the oven to 425F.
- Whisk together the egg white and water until frothy. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator, and brush them with the wash. They may seem a bit flat but they'll perk up when they hit the oven's heat.
- Slash a 1/4" deep cut across the top of each roll. Immediately put the rolls into the oven.
- Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. For the best crunch, open the oven door, and allow the rolls to cool in the turned-off, open-door oven.
Notes
- *We never use tap water. We use bottled spring water or distilled.
- *We doubled this recipe and scaled our rolls at 3 ounces which yielded 18 rolls.
Nutrition
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Martha says
Can you make the dough and freeze individual non baked portions? I cant eat 18 rolls. Well i could but i would explode.
Martha
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Martha! We usually freeze the baked rolls and then just pop in the oven. They turn out nice and crusty on the outside and warm on the inside. We haven’t tried just freezing the Italian roll dough although we do freeze our unbaked pizza dough. Hmmmm! It could work – if you try it let me know. And as far as eating 18 rolls? — I know what you mean. That’s why we hurry and freeze the baked goods. xoxo
Dana says
I was *just* saying to my husband on Thanksgiving that I should learn to make rolls from scratch. He scurried out to the store to get some last minute—from the freezer section. Lol. I mean okay, they were good, but obviously nothing compared to homemade. These will be wonderful for the next holiday dinner 🙂
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Dana!! You’ll love the hard rolls – let me know how they turn out. Thank you for writing. xoxo
Trish Bozeman says
Any roll is a good roll in my opinion, LOL! But you are right, the crackle of the crust is truly dreamy. Then the melty pat of butter. Oh my… I could eat a whole dozen of these. I just started using yeast to make breads at home and this will be my next creation. Thanks!
Sean@Diversivore says
These look AMAZING. I’m a big fan of both flaky hard rolls like these and softer sweet rolls, because I don’t believe in discriminating when it comes to bread. I’m totally with you on the scale, especially for smaller buns like these. I don’t know what I’d do without my kitchen scale! We’re trying to transition to making most of our breads around our house, and I’m looking forward to trying these out with sliders, per your suggestion. Cheers!
Lisa says
The crusty dome on your hard rolls sort of reminds me of a French baguette (except for the egg wash shine) That crackly exterior is always my favorite part — and I’ve never minded the crumbs that generally spatter over the plate and table. I actually think I like these better than a baguette because there’s more of that crunch — and your rolls look absolutely perfect. These would be great with our Thanksgiving turkey to sop up extra gravy! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Donna says
Homemade bread is the best. This was my first time trying Italian hard rolls, and they were just delicious. I love doing a quick ferment the night before making bread, it adds so much more flavor to the end result!
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Donna! We love making bread and sharing with the family. Every weekend we try a different recipe but this one is one of our favorites.
Gloria says
Homemade bread is the best. These look perfect for the holiday dinner table. I know I would have to make a double batch for sure.
Marisa Franca says
I agree, Gloria! What would the holiday dinner be without some great bread. If you lived closer I’d make you a batch.
Janet says
Made these rolls today. They were so good. I have tried so many recipes for Italian Hard Rolls this is the best. Will make again.
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Janet! Thank you so mcu for taking the time to comment! I glad you like the hard rolls – they are our favorites!! xoxo
Duke says
I liked this recipe a lot the first time I made it but the second time made it with bread flour and some whole wheat flour, I also added 1/4 tsp of diastatic malt (It gave them a nice shine and a crumbly crust) and they were fantastic!!!
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Duke!! We always encourage people to try things out their way — and look at you!! A recipe you like even better – that’s great. I wish I could see a photo.
Catalina says
Me and my husband are the hard roll type of person. We are always looking for crunchy bread, that one that make a lot of noise! lol. I am so glad that now i can make them at home!
Danielle Wolter says
I’m not much of a baker, but your step by step instructions sure do make this sound easy. I would love to try and make these, fresh baked bread is the best!
Emmeline says
These look so dellicious, I just wanna slap some butter on one and go to town right now… Great idea with weighing the dough as well – I’ve never thought of this before, genius!!
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Emmeline! We always scale our dough. It makes for uniform pieces and it’s easy to do. Have a Merry Christmas.
Claudia Lamascolo says
I have that exact stainless mixer! LOL I had to stop by and wish my gooba a MERRY CHRISTMAS and A blessed New Year so glad we got to meet online this year.. the best to you god bless xo Buon Natale
Marisa Franca says
Merry Christmas to you too, Claudia! Hopefully, this coming year will be a fantastic year for us. Buon Natale e Capodanno! Un abbraccio forte!
Linda says
I have a question… your recipe calls for AP flour, but your ingredients photo shows Sir Lancelot flour which (if it is King Arthur brand) is high gluten. Which flour should I use?
Marisa Franca says
Hi, Linda! We purchase our flour in 50# bags. We use both flours depending on how chewy we want the bread. Not everyone can get the Sir Lancelot flour and the bread will turn out excellent using the KA all-purpose flour, just not as chewy.
Jovina Coughlin says
I favor hard rolls and you are on a roll today. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Marisa Franca says
Hard rolls are hard to beat! We are making the Pane Bianco right now and boy, do I think this is going to be a keeper. I’ll put a picture of it on Instagram and Facebook.