Rustic (and easy!) Dinner Rolls

Sustainable Pantry played host to a dinner party on Saturday night, where we executed a menu from Eric Ripert’s blog aveceric.com as part of a dinner social contest.  We’ll be submitting a photo for the contest this week (wish us luck!).  You can read more about the contest here.

One thing that wasn’t listed on chef Ripert’s menu was bread.  Everyone’s a sucker for fresh bread, and dinner rolls seemed like a great choice.

This recipe falls under the ‘impressive, but surprisingly easy’ category.  The rolls were made in practically the exact same way that I make boules and sandwich loaves, but when it was time to shape, I just divided the dough into 16 pieces.  For a bit more texture, I soaked some flax seed meal, millet, rolled oats, and corn meal in water, and added the mixture to the dough.

Four-Grain Rustic Dinner Rolls

• 500 grams (16.9 ounces or 4.5 cups) Bread Flour
• 1 Cup Spring Water
• 2 tsp Sea Salt
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• Grain Mixture: 2 Tbsp flax seed meal, 2 Tbsp millet, 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup coarse corn meal.

Soak the grains in 1/2 cup of water for 5-6 hours.

Mix the flour with with the yeast and salt, and add the water.  Stir until its a bit lumpy, then let it sit covered with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb more of the water. Then mix it up some more and add it to a stand-mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the grain mixture and knead for 10 minutes on low,  (or knead by hand) until the dough is smooth and a bit springy.

Let the dough rise for 3 hours in a lightly oiled container covered with plastic wrap.

Turn the dough: put it on a flour dusted counter, pat it into a rectangle, and fold like a business letter: the top 1/3 comes down, the bottom 1/3 goes up, and then flip it seem side down.  Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Shape the dough: Pat it down into a square about 3/4 of an inch thick, and divide it into 16 equal pieces.

Place the dough pieces on parchment paper being careful to give them enough room to rise.  Dust with flour and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow the rolls to proof for 1-2 hours.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking stone placed in the center, and a cast iron skillet beneath it.

Score the rolls with a lame or sharp knife dipped in water.

Bake at 450 degrees, for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Add a few ice cubes to the skillet so the dough steams for the first few minutes of baking (this allows it to rise more).

Cool on a rack, and serve as soon as possible!

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