Garlic-parsley roll for one!

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I’m pretty lucky about lunch.  My wife and I both work at home, and most days, we have lunch together.  Not yesterday; I was on my own, so there was no need for a whole loaf of bread.  I took a cue from Zoe’s mom and made myself a single roll (it’s basically still winter here in Minnesota so it’s not so bad to turn on the oven.  I’m afraid I’m not kidding).

I took a peach-sized chunk of four-day old Light Whole Wheat dough (page 74), and stretched it, knotted it, and shaped it a bit (a round lump would have worked well too).  It turned out more like a Kaiser roll than I’d intended, and I can’t say it was intentional.  More about what I did for shaping in Book #2 (for which we’re busily writing/testing/eating!).  But it was the roll’s toppings that made my leftovers special (see the roasted salmon with red onion compote just north of the roll).  The topping was simple but it elevated the bread to a different level—nothing more than garlic and parsley sauted in olive-oil, with the whole mixture drizzled over the roll before baking for about 25 minutes at 450 (with steam; see page 30).  When there’s a lot of oil or butter in the picture (like here), don’t bake directly on a stone or the fat will smoke– use a greased cookie sheet or silicone pad.  After the roll was drizzled, I sprinked a bit of coarse salt all over the roll, which you can see in the picture.  Salt can be a pretty photogenic mineral.

15 thoughts to “Garlic-parsley roll for one!”

  1. It’s starting to get hotter here in Las Vegas, and once summer rolls around it’s always hard to want to turn the oven on. I just got my book a little bit ago and have so many more recipes that I still want to try. I may have to try the grill method soon!

    How far out is book #2? Will you need testers? I’d volunteer! 🙂

  2. Jill: The grill’s a great way to go. Minneapolis actually has some nasty-hot summer days but I still bake every day. The stone’s one option, the oiled grill-grates are another. Either way, flatbread is an easier success than high loaves. Pita’s my family’s default summer bread.

    Book 2’s manuscript will be done in about 7 months, then there’s a while for the publisher to turn it into the finished book. We’re hoping it will be out for Christmas 2009 but can’t guarantee it.

  3. If you need me to do any testing/eating, I will sacrifice myself! Reminds me of the rolls at Bob Chinn’s…..

  4. Any chance you could make a new “Bread Questions” so we don’t have to scroll down so far now? New people may not be finding the old one so easily…

  5. Trisha: There’s already a link, on the left-hand side of the home page, under the “Categories” heading, just click on “Bread Questions.” It’s a little less scrolling. We’ll eventually upgrade this so it’s a little more user-friendly. Jeff

  6. oops, accidentally hit submit too soon!

    Question: I have brioche dough left over enough to make a batch of beignets and I’m pondering bringing it with me to my in-law’s this weekend. Her fridge won’t hold my big dough bucket, though. Will it hurt/change/whatever the dough to move it gently to a smaller container for transport?

  7. Hi Wynk,

    By all means move the dough to a more manageable bucket. You will be rolling it out very thin anyway so a little extra handling will not hurt it.

    Be sure to roll the dough out no thicker than 1/4″ thick.

    Enjoy and I’m Sure your mom will be very pleased on Mothers Day!

    Thanks, Zoë

  8. Jeff and Zoe,
    What about switching to a forum format? That way there could be categories and threads, so the questions and replies would be kept together and one could just follow the thread.

    It could still be moderated and it is amazing that you read each and every email!

  9. Forum would be great, but at the moment, there are technical barriers. You’re not the first to suggest it! Jeff

  10. I have been searching the site and can’t seem to find a clear answer about making rolls. I have been asked to make over 100 rolls for a fundraiser. I see here that you can use a smaller amount of dough, and i saw on a comment thread that I would bake it around 20 min and go by color. This is great information! Now, on this post, you mention “knotting” the dough, and it looks so pretty. What is Knotting? Do I still need to do the cloaking method? I had also considered cutting off little nibs of dough and putting 3 or so in muffin tins and letting them rest/bake together to get a pretty roll look. How would that affect things??

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