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. The inside is so soft, warm, light and airy, and fragrant with a rich yeasty scent.
If you’re crazy about hard buns, you’ll love our Crusty Italian Sandwich Rolls that make perfect hoagies, grinders, subs or heroes.
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A pat of butter melting into the warm crumb of the bun is all it needs for utter perfection.
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, in a large bowl of an electric mixer we add the starter to the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough.
Then we place the dough ball into a container and allow it to rise.
To get a uniform roll we bench and scale the dough. We are huge proponents of kitchen scales.
We let the rolls rise for another hour or two.
We brush the rolls with an egg white wash.
After we score the rolls, we put them on a baking sheet and then immediately into a preheated 425F oven.
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 Recipe {Panini Duri Italiani Recipe}
Ingredients
Starter
- 4 ounces cool water — ½ cup*
- 4 ¼ ounces– 1 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- ⅛ teaspoon Instant yeast
Dough
- all of the starter
- 15 ½ ounces — 3 ½ cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour Keep ¾ ounce or ⅛ cup out to see if needed
- 8 ounces — 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
- olive oil for the bowls
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg white mixed with ½ cup cool water
Equipment Needed
Instructions
- To make the starter: In a medium size mixing bowl, mix the starter ingredients of 1 cup flour, ½ cup cool water, and instant yeast until smooth. Cover* and let rest at room temperature overnight.
- Next day, in a large mixing bowl combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together — by hand, stand mixer with dough hook or bread machine — until you've made a soft, somewhat smooth ball of dough. You may not need all of the flour. Add the remaining ¾ ounce (⅛ cup) if needed.
- Allow the dough to rise, covered in an oiled 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 with a clean towel 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 ¼" deep cut across the top of each roll. Immediately slide loaves onto a baking stone in the oven. If you don't have a stone keep the bread rolls ons the baking sheet.
- Bake 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.
- If you like, sprinkle the rolls with sesame or poppy seeds.
- To cover the bowls we like to use those cheap shower caps. We save them whenever we take a trip. Use plastic wrap if you don’t have a shower cap.
Nutrition
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