Soft Sandwich Bread and Rolls

These worked out perfectly for me - and they are now my official go-to summer bun recipe. I tried several other enriched dough recipes from other sources, and then finally turned to Peter in frustration with the results, and was delighted to get just what I was looking for.

These are soft, tasty, and perfect for small sandwiches and burgers. They're not quite as fluffy as restaurant burger buns maybe, but they hold up well. I used them with pulled pork and they were excellent.

The overnight fermentation gives more flavour than the quick recipes (though his quick recipe from BBA is also quite good). I added 50% whole wheat with no issues; still light and airy. I did the knotted buns, and after a few odd ones, got the hang of it - they impressed the heck out of my dinner guests the first time I did them.

This is a super easy dough to make and it smells so good. I divided it up and at one time made twelve butterflake rolls and nine knotted rolls. The rest of the dough is still in the refrigerator while I decide what to do with it.

I liked the technique used to make the butterflake rolls- rolling out the dough, stacking the pieces, cutting them and placing them on their side in the cupcake tin. The rolls look really pretty and taste extra buttery. However, I found them a little dense.

Even though the dough is the same, I actually preferred the taste and texture of the knotted rolls. They came out much lighter and fluffier than the butterflake rolls. I thought these look great too. It was necessary to let the rolled out strands rest for quite a while before they could roll out to ten inches.

I cheated on this recipe.

Like most of the recipes in Artisan Breads Every Day, this soft sandwich bread recipe utilizes a cold fermentation to enhance the flavor. The dough is mixed one day, and then refrigerated overnight or for several days.

But I didn't have an extra day. I wanted to bake this bread to give for some gifts. That evening. So I cheated with this recipe. And it worked!

This recipe makes two large loaves. Since I was giving it as gifts, I decided to use my mini loaf pans. I only had three pans. After kneading the dough, I divided it in half. One half I formed into three small loaves and allowed to rise on the counter. The other half I placed in the fridge to do a slow cold rise.

After baking the first three little loaves and emptying the pans, I removed the other dough from the fridge and formed them into three more little loaves.

I made this recipe according to the directions as far as ingredients. When rolling out the dough, I did generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar before rolling up the loaf for a spiraled cinnamon loaf.

The loaves rose beautifully. I gave five of the loaves away, but of course, I had to slice one myself just to make sure it was as good as it looked! It was! This dough would make a wonderful dinner roll.