Steakhouse Rolls

I went with rolls to fulfill my baking urge this time. They're supposed to be like the dark brown ones you would get at a steakhouse. Mine aren't dark brown if you haven't noticed, that's because I didn't have the caramel coloring. I thought I would need to freeze some of these since we don't always finish off bread before it starts to get hard, but I didn't. Between the 3 of us, we ate them all up right away. These are thicker/heavier than a regular dinner roll, like a small loaf of bread. I'm always trying new bread recipes but this is one I would definitely make again.

Steakhouse Rolls
from King Arthur Flour


Ingredients:
Dough
1 1/3 cups warm water
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
2 3/4 cups Unbleached Bread Flour
1 3/4 cups 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon powdered caramel color OR 2 teaspoons liquid caramel color (optional, but without it the rolls will lack their distinctive color)
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Topping
yellow cornmeal

Directions:
Combine all of the dough ingredients in the bucket of a bread machine, or in an electric mixer. Mix and knead until you’ve formed a smooth, slightly sticky dough.

If you’re using a bread machine, program it for the dough or manual cycle. If you’re using a mixer, start with the flat beater, then switch to the dough hook when the dough starts to form a ball and come away from the sides of the bowl.

Note: You may also prepare this dough by hand; it’s very sticky and a bit messy at first, but just keep at it, flouring your hands and trying not to add too much additional flour to the dough; eventually it’ll smooth out.

Let the dough rise in the bowl (or bucket of the bread machine) for 1 hour. It won’t have doubled in size, but should be just a bit puffy. Divide the dough into 10 even pieces (about 4 ounces each), and shape the pieces into 6 x 2-inch oval rolls. Coat each roll, top and bottom, with some yellow cornmeal. Place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, and allow them to rise, covered, in a warm place, for 90 minutes to 2 hours. They won’t have doubled in size, but will appear puffy; when you gently press your finger into one, the indentation will rebound quite slowly.

Bake the rolls in a preheated 350°F oven for 24 minutes, until the bottoms appear slightly browned (you’ll have to carefully pick one up to look), or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a roll reads about 200°F. Remove the rolls from the oven, and cool them on a rack.
Yield: 10 rolls.