I must admit when I saw the bread I was going to bake this past week I wasn't thrilled. Kaiser rolls? Those soft, squishy things my Mother used to buy in the grocery store when we were kids to make my Father's lunch? Well, luckily these BBA rolls are NOTHING like those, and in fact if I bought the Bread Baker's Apprentice cookbook to make just these rolls alone the money would be well spent. Out of all the 16 breads I have baked so far, this is certainly my favorite. I LOVE these rolls!!! Of course I love the focaccia and Italian bread we recently made, but I make those breads all the time anyway so baking them wasn't any great challenge. I have for years though been searching for a great sandwich or panini bun. I wanted one with a good chewy crust and a soft crumb that would hold together when used for a basic panini or even as a bun for a hamburger. 

These Kaiser rolls are on page 175 of The Bread Baker's Apprentice cookbook, and are once again a two day bread. The starter is made the day before and refrigerated overnight and then allowed to come to room temperature the next day. The ingredients for the dough include the starter, unbleached bread flour, salt, malt powder, instant yeast, 1 egg, vegetable oil, and water. I did not have the malt powder so I simply left it out and considering how much I loved these rolls I do not think it was really necessary. The ingredients are mixed together and then kneaded until the dough passes the window pane test. I used my stand mixer to knead and it took about 8 minutes to get to this point. The dough is then allowed to double in size before it is shaped. I actually made this recipe twice as I liked it so much and the first time I shaped the rolls I divided the dough into 6 pieces and found the rolls once cooked were just a little too large. The next time I made the rolls I weighed the dough and used 100 grams for each roll and they were the perfect size for a panini or to be used as a hamburger bun.

Once shaped the rolls are sprayed lightly with oil, covered and allowed to rise once again until doubled. The recipe states that if you want to top your rolls with seeds that you should spray them with water. I did this but found the seeds were not sticking and noticed the photo of the rolls in the cookbook had a very shiny finish. I then made an egg wash and brushed the rolls first with this and then sprinkled on the seeds before baking. This resulted in very shiny, golden rolls after baking, but my husband wasn't fond of the egg wash despite liking the basic rolls. The second time I made the rolls I used a very watered down egg wash before sprinkling the rolls with the seeds and really preferred this despite the fact the rolls were not shiny like those in the book. Once again I used a steam pan to ensure a nice crispy crust on the rolls.

To shape the rolls, I simply rolled them out into a long cigar shape about 10 inches long and then tied each into a love knot. One end is then wrapped around the bottom and tucked in while the other is wrapped around the top and tucked in. This gives the rolls a great shape as well as adding more texture to the roll itself. Even if I used a different dough recipe I think I'd shape them using this method as they look great and really have a wonderful shape. I will certainly be making these rolls many more times in the future as they have become my favorite choice for panini. Can I just say one more time how much I LOVE these rolls? On to Lavash crackers next week which should be an interesting change!