Quick Sandwich Rolls from a Dinner Roll Dough

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Some days I want rolls for sandwiches, but I don’t feel like divvying the dough, rolling them up, etc. So here’s the “cheater” method that gets sandwich rolls from the flour (or grain) bin to fix-a-sandwich in about 60 minutes.

I started with the 60-Minute Dinner Roll recipe from Everyday Cooking. (See recipe at the bottom of this post)  This makes 16 standard dinner rolls (or 24 minis), but since I want them bigger for meal-size sandwiches, I’ll plan on one dozen per batch. So I decided on two batches so I can have a good stash in the freezer. (Here’s what they look like as dinner rolls or minis….)

60-Minute Dinner Rolls from Everyday Cooking

 

So here’s the double dough batch, rising….

Double batch of dough from mixer, rising

and after a 15-minute rise:

15-minute rise  – That’s a dinner teaspoon

 

I deflated the puffed dough, turned it quickly into a “ball,” and gave that a quick dredge in flour before putting it on my silicone mat to shape into sandwich rolls….

Rolled in flour

 

Then I rolled it out on the silicone mat to a thickness of about 1/2 to 3/4 inch (if you like your rolls thicker, roll the dough thicker)….

Rolling out the dough

 

I used my bench knife to cut the dough into 12 “squares” – just eyeball them–they don’t have to be perfect. The corner ones will be slightly rounded–these don’t have to be exact. If you use another sort of knife, be careful not to cut your silicone. (If you don’t have silicone, use a piece of parchment that will fit on your large cookie sheet.) No measuring, no weighing dough, no rolling up little dough balls….

Cut the dough

I let the dough rise for about 15 min while the oven preheated to 350. (Because I was doing two batches, I moved my oven racks to positions 2 and 5 in my oven to give adequate spacing for heat circulation.) You can see how the dough has puffed up somewhat. Because I am making sandwich rolls (not regular dinner rolls), I don’t want these big and puffy–I want to taste the sandwich filling!

After a 15 min rise.

 

Baked for 20 minutes in a 350 oven, until they register 190-200 on an instant-read thermometer (they are a bit darker than they look–wonky lighting as I leaned into the oven. Wow. Guess it’s time to scrub the oven rack. Oops. Keepin’ it real, folks!)

Ideal bread temp

 

Out of the oven — you can get an idea of the height I was aiming for. They remind me a bit of ciabatta rolls, but are very soft.

Soft, tender crumb inside.

Out of the oven

 

A few quick sandwiches

(BTW, the fried egg on this sandwich was made in a jiffy — non-stick! — in a STAINLESS STEEL mini skillet. For more on cooking non-stick in stainless steel, you’ll want to check out this post.)

I even have several bags of rolls to pop into the freezer for next week!

What do you like on YOUR sandwiches?

You may also like: How to Freeze Dough for Make-Ahead Rolls

For recipes and tips, see my cookbook, Everyday Cooking (available in pomegranate or blue cover, in print or e-book).

60-Minute Dinner Rolls
Author: 
Recipe type: Bread
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16 med or 24 small dinner rolls
 
Easy, quick, basic dough -- adaptable for other types of rolls, bread, sweet rolls, and more.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ stick butter
  • 4 cups flour, divided (AP or bread flour, or mixed whole grain and AP are best)
  • 3 Tbsp sugar (or Sucanat with Honey, or about 2 Tbsp honey)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp instant yeast
Instructions
  1. Combine 1 cup milk, ½ cup water, and ½ stick butter and heat to very warm (120-130 F) – butter may not melt. Pour into the mixer bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk or paddle attachment. (You can do this by hand; just increase the kneading time at the end, and your recipe may take longer than 60 minutes.)
  2. Add 1½ cups flour, 3 Tbsp sugar (or Sucanat with Honey), 1 tsp salt, and 2 Tbsp instant yeast. Mix to incorporate ingredients, then beat 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer.
  3. Add ½ cup flour. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
  4. Change to dough hook attachment and gradually stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough – about 1 - 1¾ cups.
  5. Knead 5 minutes.
  6. Put in greased bowl and cover; let rise 15 minutes.
  7. Preheat oven to 350.
  8. While oven preheats, shape dough into 16 rolls in 2 greased round cake pans (8 rolls per pan: 7 in a circle, 1 in the center. See link just below this recipe box to view shaping process for rolls or loaves.)
  9. Rise 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes till golden or until rolls are 190-200 F inside (an instant-read thermometer is your friend).
  10. Makes 16 rolls, or 2 mini loaves (1/2 size) and one pan of 8 dinner rolls. Or 2 full size loaves.
  11. For smaller rolls (for a bigger crowd), I make this into 24 rolls, baked in a 13x9 baking dish. Add about 5 min baking time (check at 15 just in case--ovens vary).

Check out this video for  some shaping tips for dinner rolls and this one for loaves (video 9) See the original recipe in Everyday Cooking for other variations.

A few products you might be interested in…

(As always, these affiliate links do not change your product cost in any way, but they do provide me a bit of change to fund this site, so I can keep bringing you fun content!)

 

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