Recipe: Dark and Soft Restaurant Dinner Rolls

DARK AND SOFT RESTAURANT DINNER ROLLS

"These dinner rolls replicate the soft, mildly sweet, deep chocolate-colored rolls served at various chain restaurants (particularly steakhouses,) around the country. The taste-testers here at King Arthur Flour raved about these, so even if they're not an exact match for those restaurant rolls, we're sure you'll find them tasty.

We make these rolls about twice as large as the typical dinner roll, shaping them into little logs before baking. Now, close your eyes and imagine each roll on its own serving board, complete with a tiny ramekin of whipped butter. Conjure up a salad bar. There! You're dining out without ever leaving the house."

1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) orange juice
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1/3 cup (4 ounces) honey
2 1/4 cups (9 ounces) traditional whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
2 tablespoons (3/8 ounce) Dutch-process cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

TO PREPARE THE DOUGH:
Combine all the dough ingredients, and mix and knead them - by hand, mixer or bread machine - until you have a medium-soft, smooth dough. Cover and allow the dough until it's quite puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

TO SHAPE THE ROLLS:
Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide the dough into 10 even pieces (about 4 ounces each), and shape the pieces into 5x2-inch oval rolls (see "Dividing the dough into even pieces" below*).

Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet, and allow them to rise, covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They won't have doubled in size, but will appear puffy; when you gently press your finger into one, the indentation will rebound quite slowly.

Toward the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

TO BAKE THE ROLLS:
Uncover and bake the rolls until the bottoms appear slightly browned (you'll have to carefully pick one up to look) or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of a roll reads about 200 degrees F, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the rolls from the oven, and cool them on a rack.

*DIVIDING DOUGH INTO EVEN PIECES:
Most roll recipes call for dividing the dough into either 12 or 16 pieces, then rolling the pieces into balls to make rolls. What's the best way to divide dough?

First, make sure you have a clean, lightly greased work surface to work on. Use a baker's bench knife or a plastic bowl scraper to cut the dough in half; second choice would be a sharp knife. If you want your rolls to be perfectly even, weigh the dough, then use the reading to cut two equal pieces. If you're not fussy, just eyeball it.

For 16 rolls, continue dividing each piece in half three more times (using a scale, if you like); first you'll have 2 pieces of dough; then 4; then, and, finally, 16 pieces of dough.

To make 12 larger rolls, divide each of the dough halves in half again. Then divide those 4 pieces into 3 pieces each.

Makes 10 large rolls, 20 servings

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING (1/2 ROLL, 52G): 13g whole grains, 141 cal, 3g fat, 4g protein, 20g complex carbohydrates, 6g sugar, 2g dietary fiber, 6mg cholesterol, 189mg sodium, 99mg potassium, 20RE vitamin A, 1mg vitamin C, 1mg iron, 9mg calcium, 71mg phosphorus.

Source: King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking by King Arthur Flour