Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Surprisingly flavorful for bread made without some sort of starter or pre-ferment.
Texture: Clearly the best part! Crunchy and crusty on the outside, soft and airy inside.
Ease: Just 4 ingredients and no-kneading. The hardest part is working with the sticky dough.
Appearance: I could stare at bread all day long. Is that weird?
Pros: Easy recipe for a special dinner or holiday occasion.
Cons: None!!
Would I make this again? Yes.
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4 ingredients. 5 minute prep time. Can be made ahead. SUPER CRUSTY.
This crusty bread roll recipe is truly a beautiful thing. I have tried a lot of recipes for crusty bread rolls but most require time-consuming or complicated pre-ferments, starters, or rising instructions. That’s all fine for me because I spend so much time in the kitchen, but I know most of you need recipes that are as quick and easy as possible. Especially around the holiday season when there’s so much else to make and do.
Be sure to check out the video below so you can see exactly how these rolls come together. I also share some of my favorite baking tips and explain how to achieve that crusty texture. I’ve included different make-ahead options within the printable recipe too.
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Crusty Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (11.3 ounces) bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) lukewarm water
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine all the ingredients. Stir until the mixture is thick and sticky. No kneading is necessary!
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy and bubbly on top, about 3 hours. MAKE AHEAD: Alternatively, you can also let the dough rise overnight in the fridge.
- Using a scraper, fold the dough over about 12 times, adding enough flour so that it doesn’t stick. Use the scraper to cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Flour your hands before shaping each piece into a ball.
- Place the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a clean towel. Let rise until puffy, about 35 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
- MAKE AHEAD: Store bread rolls in a container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month and re-crisp in a 325°F oven for 5 minutes from room temperature or about 15 minutes from frozen.
I made this recipe.
Followed it to the exact letter.
Turned out a pile of runny mush which went into the bin before baking.
I weighed the flour out exactly and measured the water out too.
Waste of time and money.
Can this be made in loaf pan instead of rolls. How many loafs.
Hi- can I just use whole wheat flour?
They are really easy to make, taste great and are really very crusty! The first time I made them exactly like the recipe, and my rolls were very flat, too much water. The second time I reduced the water and made the dough a lot dryer. To still get them crunchy you put an oven safe container with water (I take a baking dish) on the lowest rack for the first 10 minutes of baking. After 10 minutes you take that container out and continue baking. The steam makes sure that the rolls get crunchy!
So glad you tried these rolls out!
I thought crusty bread rolls may be a little challenging, but these were extremely simple and easy to follow. Mine did not look as perfectly shaped, but otherwise were delicious.
Hooray!
Fabulous taste and so easy
I did your recipe this afternoon but I forgot to warm the water. I know it will be a long wait to ferment. What i did I warm it in my microwave for 30 seconds. I stirred it again since it caused some lumps. When I started shaping them there were still some lumps that I just discarded. Anyway the rolls came out light golden with pimples. It tasted sweet and I love it. Next time I will remember to warm the water. I’m so used not warming the liquid using instant yeast.
I made these for dinner this evening. I halved the recipe and made 2 larger crusty burger rolls and they were fantastic!!! So flavourfull, I have never been able to make yeasted dough with such a lovely open crumb and crunchy exterior. Saving this recipe!!