Know this: any bread recipe you love can be mixed a day ahead of time and stashed in the fridge to rise. Or, if you like making rolls, you can make your recipe up to the point where you shape the rolls and stick them in the baking pan, at which point you can stick the pan in the fridge. As I said, you can do this with any bread recipe you love, but if you don’t have one in mind, I have a thought: buttermilk pull-apart rolls. This is a recipe from Bread Toast Crumbs, my cookbook, and I made it recently with one small change: instead of splitting the dough and baking the rolls in two pans, I fit all 12 (or 24) rolls in one 9×13-inch baking pan. It’s fun seeing a whole mess of rolls all squished together, and my children enjoyed pulling the mass to pieces. Slightly sweet, soft and squishy, these pull-apart rolls resemble Parker House rolls in both taste and texture and are such a festive bread to serve at Thanksgiving or really any holiday gathering. Easy peasy, too. (There’s both video and photo guidance below.) If you like to make bread for holiday gatherings or dinner parties, a great way to get a jumpstart on preparations is to make the dough a day in advance. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Homemade Bread: Yes. You. Can. 🍞🍞🍞 Everyone will rave. (There’s nothing to it!) Happy Thanksgiving, My Friends! I hope all of your preparations are going well. Happy to answer any bread (or other) questions you might have. PS: No-Knead Thyme Dinner Rolls
How to Make Buttermilk Pull-Apart Rolls, Step by Step
Mix together the dry ingredients: all-purpose or bread flour, instant yeast, kosher salt, and sugar. (Note: For best results use a scale! Metric measurements are given below.)
Pour a scant cup of boiling water over a scant cup of buttermilk and let stand for 10 minutes.
Add the buttermilk-water mixture along with 4 tablespoons melted butter to the bowl of dry ingredients.
Mix to form a sticky dough ball.
Let rise in a warm spot for 2 hours (see recipe notes for details). Love my Dot and Army cloth bowl cover.
After 2 hours, the dough will look something like this:
Turn it out onto a floured work surface. Divide the mass into 12 or 24 small pieces depending on what size roll you wish to make. I prefer the larger size for ease… shaping 24 rolls takes a long time. I typically make a double batch and make 24 larger rolls. Plus the larger size is better for leftover sandwiches. (Video guidance here.) Shape each piece into a round and fit into a buttered 9×13-inch pan. I love this 9×13-inch USA pan for so many things.
Cover and refrigerate overnight. I tuck the entire pan into a 2-gallon zip-top bag.
The following morning, let come to room temperature for 1 hour, then bake at 400ºF for 20 to 25 minutes.
Out of the oven, brush the rolls with 2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.
Serve immediately with softened butter.
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11/15/2024 Update: I recently updated the recipe slightly in that I’ve upped the amount of flour from the start to 550 gram, and I’ve also, as a result, upped the salt. This higher amount of flour makes the dough slightly more manageable to work with and does not sacrifice any flavor.
Notes:
Scale: For best results, please use a digital scale to measure. Salt: I now make these with 15 grams of kosher salt, which is about 5 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 2.5 teaspoons of Morton. If you are sensitive to salt, use less: 12 grams or 4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal and 2 grams Morton. Note: 15 grams may seem like a lot but the rule of thumb for bread and pizza dough is that the salt should weigh 2 to 3% the weight of the flour. For this recipe, that’s 12 to 15 grams. Warm place to rise: To create a warm place for your dough to rise, preheat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. Other vessels: If you don’t have a 9×13-inch pan, you can use two 8- or 9-inch round or square pans. I love this 9×13-inch USA pan. Water: If you live in a humid environment, consider holding back 2 to 4 tablespoons of water (15 to 30 grams) — this dough is very wet and sticky, and while you can use as much flour as needed while shaping, you might save yourself some trouble by holding back some of the water from the start. Preparing the dough in advance: I have received questions about how many days the shaped rolls can stay in the fridge, and I recently experimented. I let the shaped rolls (with the pan wrapped in plastic wrap) sit in the fridge for 48 hours before baking them. While the texture was the same — as feathery light as ever — I did not like the flavor, which tasted sour, but not in a pleasant way. So, unfortunately, I cannot recommend stashing these in the fridge for much more than 18 – 24 hours. If you must make them ahead of time, I suggest baking them for 20 minutes — the rolls will not be completely brown. Let them cool completely; then wrap the pan. When you need them, place in a 400ºF oven for 5 to 10 minutes; then brush with the butter and sprinkle with salt.
