Quick Rolls

If you saw the picture in yesterday's Easter Dinner post, you may have noticed a strange looking dinner roll on the plate.  I am supposed to avoid wheat, but I gave myself a "cheat day" for the holiday.

I had remembered late in the day that while I was avoiding wheat, others weren't.  So I needed a quick recipe for dinner rolls.  I found a couple "30 minute dinner rolls" recipes on Google (like this one), but they didn't exactly strike my fancy.  So what I did was use them with my own twist.

Be warned, this dough rises fast! I had to punch it down twice, and because of that I didn't have enough time after the final punch down to allow it to fully rise again.  They were still very good tasting, with a texture about halfway between a biscuit and a roll.  Had they been allowed to rise that final time I'm sure they'd have had a good roll texture.

Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
1 egg
3 to 4 cups flour

Mix the yeast and water and allow to sit until the yeast hydrates a little (about 10 mins).  Add the sugar and let it sit another 10 mins and look at how it is going to town!  Add the yogurt and egg and mix well.  Add a cup of flour to start.  I'm a bit old fashioned and I add it with a spoon.  Mix it in, then begin adding 1/2 cup of flour at a time until you can't stir it any longer.  Add another 1/2 cup and begin mixing by hand.  When you've added about 2-1/2 to 3 cups of flour you should be able to turn it out onto a floured board.  Once you're working it on the floured board, add flour 1/4 cup at a time until you have a good textured dough ball. Continue working (kneading) the dough for another 5 minutes.

Here's where I was stuck yesterday.  I had the dough ready but was still about an hour from time to put it in the oven. So I put the dough into an oiled bowl, turning the doughball to get it covered with oil.  Had I been closer ready to cook the rolls, I would have skipped this step and went right to forming the rolls.

As I prepped other items for the dinner, I checked the dough.  It was rising fast!  I punched it down once at about 30 minutes, and again at 1 hour as I was ready to form the rolls.

I oiled my hands and pinched off a piece of dough slightly smaller than a tennis ball (about the size of a medium lemon).  This gave me 7 pieces, which was perfect for the cast iron skillet I planned on using. Spacing 6 around the sides of the oiled skillet and 1 in the middle I covered them with a towel while I finished other items (another 10 minutes).  They hadn't risen the way I would like, but it was time to cook!

I cooked them in a 400*F oven for 20 minutes.  They came out good, I just wish I had been able to allow them to rise a little more before cooking.

The roll in the picture is the center roll, and the others were similar.  While these are ready quickly, I wouldn't start them too far ahead of time in the future!