Pull-Apart Cardamom Bread Rolls

Everybody loves fresh bread.  Braving bread making from scratch can be intimidating to many, however, as there is a common belief that there are so many things that can go wrong.  What I like to say to my students is that, as long as your yeast is still active (and you don’t use hot water or milk which will kill that yeast), you really can’t get it wrong. There is one more factor:  patience.  You cannot rush bread making, it simply has to take its time to rise, and then rise again.

This recipe uses a rich dough with milk and eggs and, with the help of a stand mixer, it comes together in minutes.  Even without a mixer you can still blend everything by hand and come up with a velvety, easy to work dough.  It just takes a little longer. Depending on the coating, this dough can do double duty.  When rolled in sugar and cardamom (or sugar and cinnamon) you get a sweet (but not too sweet) breakfast roll.  The same dough, if rolled in seasonings like garlic powder, thyme and rosemary can produce delicious savory dinner rolls.  Either way, this recipe is fool-proof and really worth trying this Hallowe’en weekend! It makes a lot, so, make sure to share one batch of bread rolls with a good friend or a lucky neighbor!

Pull-Apart Cardamom Bread Rolls (Step by Step)

• 1 cup milk, warm
• ¼ cup butter at room temperature
• 3 TBSP. sugar
• 2 tsp. instant yeast or active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 TBSP. mashed potatoes at room temperature (or potato flour)
• 4½ to 4¾ cups unbleached All-Purpose Flour

For the coating:

• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• 1½ tsp. ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. lemon or orange zest

1. Cut the butter into cubes and place the cubes in the bowl of a stand mixer, equipped with a dough hook. Pour the warm milk over the butter to melt it. Next, add the sugar, stir and let it cool slightly, so it is comfortable to the touch.  At this point, it is safe to mix in the yeast. Once the yeast dissolves, add the eggs, salt, mashed potatoes, (or potato flour) and all-purpose flour.

2. On low speed, mix until the dough comes together in a ball and clears easily from the sides of the mixing bowl.  If necessary, add a little water (if the mixture is too dry) or a little more flour (if the mixture is too wet) and mix again.  Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm spot in your kitchen to rise for an hour.

3. Check to see if the dough is ready by pressing it with your finger.  If the indentation remains without springing back, your dough is ready.

4. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter two 8″ round pans, making sure you do not forget the sides.  Fit a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of each of the pans and set aside.

5. Place your risen bread dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut about 1” chunks of the dough (or slightly bigger) and roll them into balls.

6. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cardamom and lemon zest. Mix well and set aside. Fill a second small bowl with water and set that aside too.

7. Dunk each dough ball in water and then roll it in the cardamom-sugar mixture. Place the coated dough balls in the 8″ pan, pressing them against each other in concentric circles until the pan is full. (For richer rolls, replace the water with melted butter).

8. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes or until golden brown making sure not to over-bake. If you have an instant read thermometer, you can check a roll and if it registers a temperature of 190° F the rolls are done.

9. Let the rolls cool slightly in the pan. Place on a rack to cool completely or eat them right away, straight out of the pan!

Note: The addition of mashed potatoes, or potato flour, keeps the rolls very soft and moist. Potato flour, ground from peeled, dried potatoes, is a clever and simple way to increase the moisture content in baked goods. If you don’t have either one, just leave this ingredient out. 

You can make the rolls earlier in the day and refresh them by warming them up for 5-10 minutes in a low temperature oven, set to 275°F.