Today, I am going to tackle my dinner rolls for Thanksgiving. I love fresh baked rolls, but I don't have time to make them on Thanksgiving along with everything else. I learned some tricks a while back for making frozen roll dough. I like to make a double batch of rolls when I am baking and put the extra rolls into the freezer.
When making frozen dough, there are a couple things to consider. There are different kinds of yeast available, and which kind you use matters. When you are going to freeze some or all of the dough it is a good idea to use active dry yeast. It lives longer in the freezer. If you can find fresh yeast it is best but it can be hard to find and doesn't keep long. Keep in mind that if you are using a different kind of yeast than what the recipe calls for, you will need to convert the volume (try this calculator). If you want to use your own favorite recipe to make frozen dough, you should double the yeast.
Another thing to remember; yeast dies over time in the freezer. Most of the time, your yeast production will decline significantly after 1-3 months in the freezer unless you are using one of the specialized yeasts that are hard to come by for home use.
I used to think scalding the milk served no purpose, since it's pasteurized anyway. I learned that scalding, which heats the milk further than pasteurization, actually changes the protein structure of the milk which affects the quality of the finished bread. If you don't want to use scalded milk, you can mix up powdered milk instead, just make sure you use 2 cups of milk, not 2 cups of water plus the powdered milk.
Here is my newest (and therefore my favorite) roll recipe:
2 Cups scalded milk, cooled to skin temperature
1/2 Cup (1 cube) melted butter
2 Tablespoons (for frozen dough) dry active yeast
1/4 Cup sugar
Combine and let rest for 10 minutes
1/4 Cup psyllium husk
1/2 Cup water
Combine and let rest
1/2 Cup tapioca starch
1/2 Cup potato starch
2 Cups brown rice flour
1 Cup amaranth flour
1/4 Cup corn flour
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1Tablespoon xanthan gum
2 Tablespoons baking powder
Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and blend. Add the yeast mixture and the psyllium/water mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Turn up to medium speed and beat 3-5 minutes. The dough will look stiffer than your normal GF dough because the psyllium absorbs so much water.
Portion out the rolls. This dough does spread more than I like, so I have taken to baking it in a muffin tin. When I make the frozen rolls, I use an ice cream scoop (2 ounces) and put them on a cookie sheet, lined with freezer paper. They are not going to rise, so you can place them close together, just not touching. Place the tray in the freezer until they are frozen solid. Remove from the tray any seal in a freezer bag.
When I'm ready to cook the frozen rolls, I have a couple options. If I'm in a hurry, I thaw them in the microwave for a couple minutes at 40% power, then I put them in a warm oven to rise and bake them as usual. Or I can pull them out between 4 and 6 hours and put them on a covered tray to thaw and rise before baking.
Allow rolls to rise about double. If you let them rise too long they will shrink in the oven.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. I like to either brush the hot rolls with butter or spray with cooking spray to make the crust softer.
This makes about 20 2 ounce rolls.
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