Delicious Homemade Rolls – Based on a Japanese Recipe
I have been searching the internet for a recipe resembling specific rolls dating back to the early ’70s, as per my memory of summer camps in Ellenville, NY. Mrs. Kormeluk was the cook at that time, baking these rolls daily, and serving them with a cup of cold milk as an afternoon snack for all the campers.
I have tried several recipes, and my children were my judges for the texture and flavor of these rolls, as they also remembered them from their camp in the ’90s. However, this time they were baked by Mrs. Tinio.
Once both of these cooks/bakers retired, the “secret” recipe was misplaced, so no rolls were baked at the camp for a long time, yet everyone reminisced about them and wished to restart the tradition.
The final consensus was that the closest resemblance to the camp rolls was a recipe for Japanese White Bread Rolls, by King Arthur Flour Company, and Hokkaido Milk Rolls.
Since I “tweaked” these recipes a little bit to achieve the sought-after flavor and texture, these may be known as “Mrs. Z’s” camp rolls, and I have no problem sharing.
### Please scroll down to the end of this post for a Printable Recipe ###
My best dough-rising results were using the above yeast, and other brands were not as successful.
This is what these rolls look like, after rising in the pan for 40 minutes, just before being basted with egg wash, and ready for baking.
They are all baked, filling my house with an awesome aroma of freshly-baked bread. Are you drooling yet????
If you’ve never had these before, I suggest you whip up a batch very soon and join our club 🙂
These are very easy to make because all the mixing is done in a stand mixer, equipped with a dough hook. Of course, you can manually mix the dough if a mixer is not available.
This recipe yields 9 dinner rolls in an 8 x 8-inch or a 9 x 9-inch pan. You can divide the dough into 12 smaller-sized dinner rolls to bake them in the 9 x 9 pan.
Update: I recently purchased a 9 x 9 baking pan made by Food Network and baked 12 rolls, with some wonderful results. To make 12 rolls, you cut the dough rectangle into 3 even strips, then cut each strip into 4 even sections, and form rolls.
You can also double the recipe and use two 9 x 9-inch pans to make 24 dinner-size rolls or 18 larger ones.
Ingredients
- 3 Tbs. water
- 3 Tbs. whole milk
- 2 Tbs. bread flour
- 2 cups King Arthur Bread flour
- 3 Tbs. dry milk powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbs. dry yeast (1/4 oz. = 1 packet..I always use the RapidRise or Quick-Rise yeast)
- 1/3 cup whole milk, warm (20 sec in microwave)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 5 Tbs. sweet butter, melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg to use for egg wash, or use the left over egg white with 1 tsp of milk mixed in
Instructions
- Prepare the Tangzhong (the starter).
- In a sauce pan, add 3 Tbs. water, 3 Tbs. milk and 2 Tbs. bread flour. Cook slowly, mixing constantly, until it begins to thicken slightly, resembling pudding (less than a minute).
- Remove from heat, and transfer to a dish. Cover with plastic wrap, and cool off to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, mix the bread flour, salt, powdered milk, dry yeast and sugar. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix the whole egg, egg yolk, warm milk, melted butter and vanilla extract, then mix in the Tangzhong, until well incorporated and smooth.
- Use a dough hook to fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Change the speed to 4, and mix for another 20 minutes, until the dough is silky and smooth, and not sticking to the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough in a greased plastic bowl, and turn the dough over once, to grease it on all sides.
- Cover it with a tea towel. Keep it in a warm place for 1.5 to 2 hours, until double in bulk. If you let it rise too long, it will collapse and rolls will not be fluffy.
- Line the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking pan ( I use now a 9 x 9 pan and love it) with parchment paper, then grease well the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Punch down the raised dough, remove from the bowl, knead it few times on a work area, then form into a rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle into 3 even sections lengthwise, then again into 3 even section width-wise.
- Create a roll from each piece, by folding the sides under, leaving the top nice and smooth, repeating the process until all 9 rolls are formed.
- Place the rolls in the prepared baking pan, side by side, leaving a small space between them, .
- Cover with a tea towel, and again keep it in a warm place for 40 minutes, until the rolls rise above the rim of the pan (see the picture in the post).
- Prepare egg wash, by mixing an egg with little bit of warm water (or milk, if using only egg white), and brush the tops of the rolls.
- Bake on a middle rack, for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, and immediately brush the tops with melted butter. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan onto a cooling rack.
- May cool them completely before serving, or enjoy them while still warm.
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