Dinner rolls - what is it that makes them so light and fluffy??

[PattyCakes]

Dinner rolls I think might be an American thing, or maybe it's just that I haven't come across the term over here yet. Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by them because they look so amazingly light and fluffy! The nearest thing I can relate them to is sandwich buns or baps as we call them here, but even these are not as fluffy as the dinner rolls I see everyone making on YouTube, or reading about on blogs.

I've bought what looks like light and fluffy rolls from supermarkets and bakeries in the past, but they're a let down most of the time, and the ones I've tried making myself are ok, but they lack that fluffiness that seems to be the fundamental quality of the dinner roll.

Can anyone enlighten me, please?

 

[barkingsquirrel]

My mother used to make homemade dinner rolls every Saturday for the evening meal. Where I'm from, it's a tradition to have baked beans every Saturday night and the rolls went perfectly with that. Anyway, her rolls were so light and fluffy ... when you added butter it was like heaven! I've never been able to duplicate them, and I've never had them the same way elsewhere. Making the rolls was an all day process, and I wouldn't know how to begin explaining her process - no measuring!

 

[PattyCakes]

I found a recipe online that came out rather good - the rolls were quite fluffy, but I had to bake them for longer than the recipe suggested. Any of the dinner roll recipes I've come across don't seem to bake the rolls for very long, but mine needed longer - I draw the line at under-baked bread dough!

They came out well though, so maybe I'll keep trying and see if I can improve them some more.

 

[DancingLady]

There are different kinds of dinner rolls, so there are different textures. My family usually made Bisquick biscuits, which are a type of dinner roll that comes from a mix and you just add water. They are a little on the crumbly side. The mixing makes them light and fluffy though, if you mix them like you would a muffin, just enough, not anymore, they will be super fluffy.

Another kind of roll is made with a yeast dough which is divided into many pieces for the rolls. These are fluffy because of the rising and also because of the particular ingredients in the recipe. I have not made them in so long I can't really remember, but I think rolls have more butter in the dough than bread.

 

[ScottAnder]

I have good luck when i use a poolish starter. Just Google Poolish dinner roll recipe.

 

[Becky]

I have never heard of a poolish starter! You learn something new every day Welcome to the forum!

 

[ChesterV]

I have never heard of a poolish starter! You learn something new every day Welcome to the forum!

You sure do!

I laughed when I saw that word "poolish", but I looked it up online, and it's an ACTUAL THING!!!
HA HA HA

http://www.thedailymeal.com/recipes/poolish-starter-dough-recipe

 

[ScottAnder]

Have you tried making rolls/buns with a poolish yet?

 

[Margot Howe]

I don't know about poolish (yet) but know the recipe I use most often is found in the Kitchen Aid cookbook that comes with the machine. They are called 60-minute rolls. They are light and fluffy when hot, but dense and delicious the following day. Great toasted. I make them into crescents, but they will make into any shape you desire.

 

[Apocalypso]

Hmm, I find I do not have a dinner roll recipe in the book that came with my KA. I've made some of the dinner rolls that are on the King Arthur flour web site, but I just looked and I've never made the Amish Dinner Rolls off their list from a couple Thanksgivings ago. http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2015/11/22/dinner-roll-recipes/ I'm going to have to try those sometime! I did find the 60 Minute Rolls on a blog post (http://erincooks.com/kitchenaid-sixty-minute-dinner-rolls/).